Church Sermon - July 11, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; 1 Kings 19:19-21
Gospel Lesson; Luke 9:57-62
Sermon Text; Galatians 5:1-25

On my right hand side, I have the Ten Commandments. There is a rope connected to those Ten Commandments and it is tied to my arm. So, I am tied to the Ten Commandments.

On the other side of me there is a black robe. Today, that black robe stands for my sinful nature, which is opposed to God. Connected to that black robe, is a rope that is tied to my arm, because I am also tied to my sinful nature.

Now, the Bible describes you and me with a massive, massive dilemma. That dilemma is because of these two things, the Ten Commandments and our sinful nature.

Let’s look at the dilemma. First of all, God has given you and me the Ten Commandments. His Law. In the Ten Commandments He clearly tells us what He demands we do and not do.

There, God places His Law on me, and He obligates me to be perfect. He says,

"Be perfect,

as your Father in Heaven is perfect."

He obligates me to keep His Law. I am tied to that Law. I must keep that Law.

But, on the other hand, I have what the scriptures call a sinful nature. I can’t help it. The Bible tells me "the flesh gives birth to flesh". That means, because my parents are sinners, I was born a sinner. The Bible describes my sinful nature very clearly. It says,

"Every inclination of man’s heart

is evil,

even from his youth."

No one needs to teach me how to be evil, or do wrong. I know that by nature. Jesus said,

"Out of the heart come

evil thoughts,

murder,

adultery,

etc.,

All of those things come from within, and make a man unclean." That’s my sinful nature. I am born with that. The Bible says that my sinful nature is so strong, that by nature,

"The sinful mind does not accept the things of God,

nor can it do so."

My sinful nature does not accept the things of God! It does not want to listen to the things of God! And, it can’t listen to the things of God! My sinful nature is opposed to God! The Bible says it is at enmity with God.

In other words, my sinful nature loves what God hates and it hates what God loves.

That is how the Bible describes our sinful nature. We are slaves by nature, to our sinful nature.

So, here is the dilemma. God demands perfection. He demands perfection, by His Law, by the Ten Commandments. And yet, I have a sinful nature, and there is no way, absolutely no way I can even begin to be perfect in this life. Now to make the dilemma even deeper, God says this. He says,

"Cursed is everyone,

who does not continue in everything

written in the Book of the Law to do it."

If I cannot keep God’s Law, every part of God’s Law, then God says, "You are cursed. You deserve to be condemned."

There is another passage that says,

"If we could keep the whole Law,

and yet we stumble in one point,

we are guilty of breaking the whole Law."

So we clearly see, that we cannot be perfect, we can’t keep God’s Law, and God’s righteous judgment says, "Therefore, you deserve to be condemned."

There is nothing that you and I can do to be perfect. There is nothing at all that we can do. Now, if that troubles you. If that concerns you, then, God wants to talk to you. That is exactly who God wants to speak to. Once you are troubled by that dilemma, then God comes to you. Jesus says,

"Come onto me

all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest."

The Bible says,

"Be of good cheer."

The Bible gives us great comfort. The Bible wants us to know that because we are in this dilemma (God demands perfection. However, we can’t be perfect and therefore deserve to be condemned, because we can’t keep the Law.), God wants us to know the Good News. God loves you so dearly that He does not want you to be condemned. So, He made a way, in His love, mercy, grace and compassion, where you and I, (even though we are in this dilemma), we can be saved.

Here is what God did for us. God sent somebody to do what I cannot do. He sent His own dear Son, Jesus, to keep the Law in my place. The Bible says,

"When the fullness of time had come,

God sent His Son,

born of a woman,

born under Law,

to redeem those under Law."

God sent Jesus, who also was obligated to keep the Ten Commandments.

Jesus did this

in my place and your place,

as my substitute and your substitute,

as my representative and your representative.

The Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in every point, just like we are. And yet, unlike you and me, "He was without sin".

Jesus kept God’s Law, every bit of it, perfectly, completely, all of His life. He never thought anything wrong. He never said anything wrong. He never did anything wrong. He always lived a pure and holy life.

The great news of scripture is this. The Bible says,

"By the obedience of the one Man,

the many will be made righteous."

There, the Bible is telling you that because Jesus did what you cannot do, (He was obedient to God’s Law, in your place. He was perfect.), God in His grace and mercy declares that holiness of Jesus as yours, as a free gift! He says, "Even though you are a sinner, because my Son, in your place, lived a perfect life, I see you as if you have always kept my Commandments."

In addition to that, not only did Jesus keep the Law perfectly for us, but also the Bible says, "He redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become cursed for us". We are under a curse. The curse is that we deserve to be condemned. And so Jesus, as our substitute, took our curse for us.

That is what the cross is all about.

We deserve that, because we have not been perfect. Jesus suffered the eternity of Hell on the cross. There, in His great mercy, love, and compassion, He took all of our sins, and paid the full penalty for every one of them.

Now, God in His grace and mercy says to you and me, "Not only do I declare the holy, perfect life of Jesus to be yours, and see you as if you have lived a holy life, but I also declare the full payment of all of your sins, that Jesus paid, to be yours!"

Because of that, St. Paul, in today’s scripture reading says,

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free."

We are free. You and I are free. We don’t have to follow the Ten Commandments, in order to be saved. And, we can’t follow them in order to be saved. We are not under obligation. We don’t have to deserve God’s forgiveness. We don’t have to earn God’s forgiveness. It is ours, as a free gift, by grace, simply by believing in Jesus Christ, as our Savior. We are free from the obligation to the Law. That is freedom in our conscience. Freedom to know that God has forgiven me. I am saved by grace.

The Bible tells us, in today’s scripture reading,

"It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.

Stand firm, then,

and do not let yourselves be burdened again

by a yoke of slavery."

Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you have to earn your way to Heaven, because you cannot do it. Jesus did it for you.

Which gets us to another problem. There is still this "thing" over here, this sinful nature. There are people throughout the past two thousand years who have said that there is a real problem with Christianity. The problem is if you are not under obligation to keep the Ten Commandments anymore, if you are not saved by doing good works, if you are not saved by doing good things, if you are saved by grace, and God just freely forgives your sins, then what is going to happen to your sinful nature? Aren’t you just going to follow the desires of your sinful nature? "If I am forgiven, if it is all by grace, if it is all a gift, then I am just going to go out and sin, and do whatever I want to, and know that I am forgiven, for Christ’s sake." Won’t it lead to immorality?

I was talking to a young man, years ago, who made that conclusion in his own mind. He was following the desires of his sinful nature. He was sexually active outside of marriage, and living in that sin. As I was talking to him, and pointing to God’s Law, I said, "You know the Law says that is wrong. It is a sin, and we can be condemned because of that sin."

The young man totally agreed with me. He said, "I know it is a sin. I know that it is wrong. I know that God is opposed to that. I know that."

But then he said, "But I don’t have any intention of changing. I am still going to live in sin. I am still going to be sexually active outside of marriage, because I know that Jesus is going to forgive that. He is going to forgive that."

Now our scripture reading says that if that is what you believe, then you are a hypocrite. Then you really don’t have faith in Jesus, as your Savior. The Bible says,

In fact, the Bible says in our scripture reading,

"Those who belong to

Christ Jesus

have crucified the sinful nature

with its desires and its passions."

Now, what exactly does that mean? What is a description of a believer, a Christian? A Christian looks at his sinful nature, all the sins that he has committed. A Christian looks at that and says, "How wicked I am by nature. How evil I am."

He looks at those sins and says, "Those sins and my sinful nature are so strong, so powerful, that they could condemn me for all eternity before a holy, righteous God. I hate those sins. I wish they were gone. I know my sins are so strong, that my Savior, my dear Savior had to give up His life. He had to suffer intensely on the cross in order to pay the price for those evil sins. Look at what my Savior did for me. Look at how my Savior loves me! He has sacrificed His own life, to pay for all of those sins. Now I hate those sins. I know that they are forgiven, for Jesus’ sake, and I don’t want to follow that sinful nature, anymore. That sinful nature is opposed to God and it can condemn me."

And so the Bible says, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature." They take that sinful nature and they nail it to the cross. One nail, two nails, three nails, four nails…and they say,

"I am free! I am free! I don’t have to follow the passions of my heart anymore, my sinful nature. Now Christ lives in me. My sins are forgiven. Now I am not a slave to those sinful lusts and desires anymore. Now I am free. Christ has freed me. Now I have a new relationship to God’s Ten Commandments. It used to be that I felt like I was obligated to them. I had to follow them, in order to be saved. But I know that is not true, anymore. I know that I am forgiven. I know that I don’t have to follow the Ten Commandments to be saved. I know that Jesus has saved me, completely and fully. And because of that, I don’t have to follow the Ten Commandments. I want to follow them. I love the Ten Commandments, because I love my Savior. I love my Savior and I want to do what pleases Him. I am free. I am free now, because the Spirit lives in me, to live according to that New Man."

Now, our scripture reading for today says that it is always going to be a battle, for all of your life. We still have that sinful nature. It is hanging on the cross, but it is not dead yet. It still struggles to come free. It whispers in our ears, and says, "Why don’t you follow this passion? Why don’t you follow this desire? Why don’t you follow after this lust?" It tries to break its arm free, grab its arm around us, and pull us back into sin. And you know, sometimes it does that. It wins. In weakness, it pulls us back into sin.

What does a Christian do then? A Christian, by daily repentance, daily repentance, says, "I know that I have a sinful nature. I hate my sinful nature. I know that what it does could condemn me for all eternity."

Then in faith, a Christian turns to Christ, and says, "I know that my Savior lived a perfect life for me. He died for my sins. He gives that to me as a free gift. I am free from my guilt. I am free! Now, Jesus, I want to be free from my sinful nature. I want to follow you, more and more, day by day!"

We are strengthened in our walk with Jesus, through Word and Sacrament, where He strengthens our faith and shows us what is pleasing in His sight. So our scripture reading says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." He has freed us from the obligation to the Law. We don’t have to follow the Law, to be saved. We are saved by grace. He has freed us from the slavery of our sinful nature. Now, we are free to live for Jesus, in order to serve Him, not because it earns our way to Heaven, but because we want to serve our Savior. And so our scripture reading says,

"It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.

Stand firm, then, and

do not let yourselves be burdened again

by a yoke of slavery."

Don’t ever let anybody tie you to the Ten Commandments and say, "You have to earn your way to Heaven." That is slavery. Don’t ever let anybody tie you back to that sinful nature and lead you into a sinful lifestyle, where you will reject your faith in Jesus, as your Savior. That is slavery. We are free. We are free by grace. We are free to live for our Savior. Let us walk in step with the Spirit!

Amen.

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