What the Law Can't Do

I would like you to turn to Romans chapter 8. My mind is really buzzing over Romans chapter 8 and my heart's burning, but my mind is still buzzing. Some of this stuff isn't coming together like I wanted to. I actually wanted to talk about something in this text that is so massive and I want to talk about it next week and that is, let me read these two verses, just verses three and four. Listen to this, Paul says 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 condemns sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

There's a phrase in this verse, in verse three, that is amazing when you look at it closely. And that is that God, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, in fact in some translations it says in the form of sinful flesh, this expression that is used to describe the incarnation, the coming of Jesus Christ to rescue us, emphasizes the fact that he became one of us in a very real and profound way. He became one of us and I really was going to spend all my time talking about that today but after I got to studying the text or something else I want to look at first because it sets it up and that is what the law can do. What is it that the law can do that Paul says talks about in this text?

All of you who are parents know that the most powerful influence in the lives of your children when you want to see them really change the most powerful influence are relationships. That's why parents are always trying to get their kids to run with the right crowd, not run with the wrong crowd and one of the most shocking things in the world is when a parent discovers that their kids are the wrong crowd. Because we know that people, relationships, relationships with other persons are the most powerful influence in our lives. How can we be changed? But Paul is going to tell us in this passage as we are not changed, we are not transformed, we are not sanctified by the law, not sanctified by the revelation of God's righteous standard, we are changed through relationship and nothing less than that and relationship that is so powerful that it took God, leaving heaven and coming into this world as you heard this morning in Philippians 2.

The one who did not count it to be robbery, to be equal with God, who was equal with God from all eternity, at the heart of Christian theology is the truth of the triunity of God. Don't ever think that's a minor truth, don't ever think that it really doesn't matter whether you understand the Trinity or not. It's at the heart of the gospel. It's at the very heart of the gospel because if there is no Trinity then Jesus has no capacity to save you, but if He is truly the Son of the Father and if the Father is the Father of the Son and if the Spirit is this person who in this triune God had brings about this communion life that takes place. And then the fact that God would come in the flesh, that the Father would send the Son into this world and become one of us in order to redeem us, restore us and adopt us and bring us right into the inner circle of his fellowship.

And that experience, that living, learning to live in this overlap of the ages in the presence of God, not just in the presence of God, but living in the midst of this communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is what will transform us and nothing else will. So in this passage today I want to just drive home something and that is on the first the negative sign we'll look at the positive and the negative sign the law can't justify it, it can't sanctify either. We've seen over and over again that the law can't justify it, it can't make a person right with God, it can't correct your standing before God, the law can't do it. And Paul says it's because the weakness of the flesh and you know what? That's not a failure in the law because the law was never designed to justify.

But Paul is going to tell us here that not only can the law not justify it cannot sanctify, not only can it not make you right with God, it cannot make you do right for God. And it's totally futile for us to turn to the law, to have our condemnation lifted or to have our life turned around and changed and for us to be transformed. We are rebellious at heart against God and we are always struggling with the fact that we have a love affair with everything but God. That's what everybody in this room struggles with. You have a love affair going on with everything but God. That's our biggest struggle. We have two primary problems we're told in Scripture, we are guilty and condemned. That is, we stand guilty before God as lawbreakers, as sinners who've turned our backs on God and therefore we face condemnation and secondly we are rebellious and idolatrous.

It's not just that we're guilty and condemned but it is our hearts. We are idolatrous. That is, this is what, this is the testimony of Scripture and its experience of every one of us. The Scriptures tell us that we love God's creation more than we love Him. That's what Romans chapter 1 verses 23 through 25 tell us. It is what has sealed our doom as a human race. We have loved His creation rather than Him and we have believed the lie. The lie is a satanic lie that begin in the garden. We begin to hear it in the garden. You should worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. And we struggle with this drive throughout all of our lives and neither of these problems can be fixed by the law.

Simply telling a person what is right will not change them, will it? You've all experienced that. These problems have to be fixed or we're going to perish according to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 14. If these problems aren't fixed then we will perish and we'll be forever ruined. Well how does God do it? How does God fix these two problems? Well as we've been seeing, first of all the first problem, He turns us away from the law to Christ and look at verse 3 again. But the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh. God did by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. What sin did He condemn? Well it wasn't His, it was yours, it was mine.

And so what God does in this first problem of our condemnation, our guilt before God, He turns us away from the law because every time we come to the law it simply manifests the truth that we are guilty and that we have kind of nation hanging over us. And so He turns us to Christ who came to the world so that God could condemn sin in the flesh and so God came in the flesh. God came in the flesh, came all the way down to where you are. You know that's one of the most amazing truths in all the word of God, that God came all the way down to where you are, where you are. I have a friend who pumps septic tanks and he has some incredible stories. I remember one story told me he was at a person's house and cleaned their septic tank that was all open and here was this excrement, a huge open tank and they're pumping this thing out.

And the homeowner comes out and he's dressed in white shorts, white shirt, white shoes, kind of watching this process and his worker was moving around and he, when he moved from one side of the septic to the other, he just grabbed hold of the truck and kind of swung himself over the top of this thing and landed on the other side. And so the homeowner followed him, only he didn't make it. And so he plunged himself into this mass of fallen humanity. And he was up to his chest and excrement. And he says, the funniest thing was a guy didn't say a word. He simply pulled himself out, briskly walked away and about 20 minutes later he came out, all cleaned up and never said a word about it. What if he would have had to go down and then do that pit to pull this man out?

One time, Frankie, when he was about two years old, we were visiting my sister and there was a swimming pool in this community and we were out walking by the pool. I was in this, I was dressed like this, I just, we just came from church of the Sunday afternoon. We're walking along there and all of a sudden for some reason, he just jumped in the pool two years old. He just walked into the pool, what was only about three feet deep, it was over his head. I could have simply reached down and grabbed him, but for some reason, I don't know why in my ballet shoes, I jumped into that pool in order to get him out because what struck me just like that is he'll drown and I just jumped in the pool and pulled him out, but it was clean water.

If he would have fallen in a septic tank, I probably would have said, Judy, bring a rope. God came down to where we are, he came in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he became sin so that God could condemn sin in the flesh. But notice the second part of the problem, how does God solve this problem? Well, there are many throughout the church history who said the way that God solves this problem is the law. There are those who say God turns us away, the law for justification, but then once we are right with God, then he takes us back to the law of Moses and he says, now, live this and I'll transform you and I'll take away your sinfulness and I'll change you for being an idolatcer who is in love with my creation instead of me.

No, God doesn't do that. God doesn't take us back to the law. Paul now explains in this passage that the spirits liberating work takes place. Only within the situation which Christ has created through his life and ministry, the cross, the resurrection, his ascension to the right hand of the Father, his pouring out the sin, pouring out the spirit upon us. The spirit liberates the believer from sin and death only because Christ and his cross, and the fact that God has already condemned sin in the flesh. Notice how he highlights the inability of the law to accomplish that which God sending his son did accomplish. We have seen this over and over again throughout this text. How Paul is always pointing to the law and saying, the law can't sanctify you.

The book of Galatians is written to a church or a group of churches possibly that had fallen into the trap of believing false teaching that had come into those churches that said this very thing. If you want to be changed, if you want to be sanctified, if you want to really be holy, you have to turn back to the law. You have to be circumcised. You have to follow the commandments of the law and following the commandments of the law will transform you. You know the most amazing phenomena that took place in that church? They all began to turn on one another. Do you know that always happens in a church that embraces the law as the instrument of sanctification, people start turning on one another.

And we become judges of the law. And so Paul says, what happened to your joy, Galatians? When I first came to you with the gospel and told you how you could be made right with God through the work of Jesus Christ, you were so overwhelmed with joy you would have been willing to pluck out your eyes and give me your eyes because I had problems with my eyes. You'd be willing to lay down your life for me, but now I've become your enemy. What happened to you? And then in another place he says, be careful. You bite and devour one another. If you're not careful, you're going to be consumed by one another. Why do we do that? Why do we do that when we come under legalism? When we start to look at the law as the means of sanctification are alive and it doesn't matter whether it's a mosaic law or if it's an updated version in a particular denomination.

Why do we do that? Because the law doesn't produce change of heart. The law reveals the truth about your heart, but it won't change your heart. And so what it does is it draws out of us. It draws out of us and makes visible in us what we really would like to hide. Now notice this, here is why the law can't sanctify. First, the law cannot remove our condemnation. This is what Paul has told us. Remember what we said before that the foundation of transformation is the removal of condemnation. You can't be transformed until condemnation is removed. Until you're forgiven, you cannot be set free from sin. The power of sin in your life. And that's true of every sin. This is why God has given to us this glorious, glorious privilege of confession.

I can go before the Father and confess my sins and be free from the power of sin in experience, not completely and totally and forever in this life. But John says, my children, I write these things to you so that you don't even commit one act of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And he is the propitiation for our sins. And so he says, confess your sins. Confess your sins for God is faithful and righteous to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. You see, all the law can do. It cannot remove the condemnation. It simply points out the fact that I am condemned and condemnable. If we want to be changed into the image of Jesus, we must first have the verdict of guilty remove from our record.

We have to have the verdict of guilty remove from our record. And the law cannot do that. Only God can do that because of Christ and we receive it by faith alone and Christ alone. So the first reason that the law can't sanctify, good rules won't sanctify anybody. I don't know if you've noticed that, parents, I don't know if you've noticed that spouses, that right rules won't transform a heart. Secondly, the law can't conquer the flesh. And this is really the huge problem, isn't it? The law cannot conquer the flesh. It can't conquer our fallenness, our independence of God, this search for independence from God. It cannot change us at the root of our nature. Our fallenness and rebelliousness against God cannot be changed by the law.

It can't take away our reluctance to love God. Why are you so reluctant to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? Have you ever asked yourself that question? And you probably think, man, he must really think we're a bad group. No, I don't. I know you're just like me. Why is it so hard for you to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? The law can't change that. It can't take away this reluctance to love God. For our treasonous preference for God's gifts, more than God. You ever notice that? What you will sacrifice for the gifts of God, the things that he's put in your hand as far greater than what you would sacrifice for God, isn't it true? And so we treasure the gifts more than the giver, well, what's going to change our hearts?

It won't be the law. That's what Paul is saying. It won't be the law. In fact, the law aggravates our sins. And it stirs up our rebellion. That's what Paul has told us. And so he wants us to not be deceived. Don't be deceived. The law can't get anywhere with our deep rebellion. Now it can get somewhere with our pretend rebellion. If you minimize your sinfulness, and if you just paint it differently, if you're just a painted sinner, then the law can do wonders for you. It can produce a Pharisee. It can produce a Pharisee like Saul of Tarsus. It can produce somebody that's judging everybody around them, because they're not as holy as they are, but the law can't change your heart. It can't change your heart.

Now notice this. This is what Paul has taught us about the law. Romans 5. This is King James Version, by the way. I was using somebody else's computer. The only translation was on here, and so I thought this is a good exercise. This is a wonderful translation of the Bible. Some of these words are archaic to your ears, but it's a wonderful translation. Listen to this. Romans 5, 19 through 21, for us by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. That is, through Adam's one act of disobedience, the entire race is plunged into disobedience. We're all made sinners, constituted sinners. For over, the law entered, God gave the law through Moses, that the offense might abound, that the offense might abound.

In other words, we were already sinners, but then God lays the law alongside of everything else in order that the offense may abound. That our sinfulness would become more visible, but where sin abounded, race did much more abound. Didn't that a great expression? Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so my grace reigned through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. The law is not the remedy for our condemnation, or our rebellion. In fact, it's given to turn our inner rebellion into more blatant and visible transgressions. And it's not the only reason for the law, but that's one of the purposes of the law, to bring it out and show it for what it really is.

In chapter 7, verse 5, when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, that is when we were without Christ, the motions, which in the word motions, the translate in your motions, is the passions, the pate ma, the moods of the flesh, those inner drives that control our thinking and emotions and feelings, the motions of sins, which were by the law, that is the law provoked them, did work in our members to bring forth fruits unto death. See the law doesn't conquer the flesh, it rouses the flesh. You ever seen parents who are very careful what they say to their kids because they know their kids have such an independent spirit that if they were to try to get them to do something in front of someone, they would be embarrassed because they know the kids not going to do it.

Back like you've never seen that. Why? Because they know it's in the heart. And they know that a command will draw out of the heart what's really there. The command, the law of God comes to our hearts and our reaction to it reveals the truth about our hearts. Because the law reveals and makes manifest your rebellion, Romans 7 and 8, but sin taking occasion, that is a place of a launching pad, a place of leverage, sin taking occasion by the commandment, rotted me all manner of con-cupishions, con-cupishions, haven't said that in so long, forget out of that, lust is much easier to say. All manner of lust, for without the law, sin was dead. So it doesn't conquer the flesh, it simply gives it another platform to display itself.

Another place to show its rebellion, that's what the law does to fallen people. Verse 13 was then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid. Did God take something good and he meant it for evil? No. I did, but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. You see what he's saying? The sin that's in my heart when the commandment comes to me, the function of the law is to make sin more visible in transgression, more blatant and prevalent in arousing the flesh and showing the truth about me. It's great that we can come together on Sunday morning and look like this. You look like the most holy people on the face of the earth.

You're all, you look wonderful, but you ever run into somebody you know in church out in the world and catch them off guard? My son the other day called me and said, did you enjoy your white mocha and your Danish? I said, what? He said, didn't you order a white mocha and a Danish? I said, when you took off, we took off for a couple of days, he goes, I said, yeah, he said, yeah, I heard it. You heard it? Yeah, because of my phone. I had my cell phone and I accidentally dialed him and so he listened to my conversation. I still don't know what I said and I asked him, did you hear what your mother said about you? And he said, yes, I don't know what she said about him, but evidently, he heard too much.

You ever get caught off guard, you ever walk up to you and you know what? You don't look or act anything like you do on Sunday mornings. The law brings out the truth. We need to know the truth about our hearts knowing. So the law wasn't meant to sanctify, it was meant to reveal Galatians 3, 18 and 19, for if the inheritance be the law of the law that is based upon us keeping the law, if all the gods promised me is based on me keeping the law, I'm in big trouble. All the promises of God that have been made to you, what if I told you today, guess what? There's a little catch in the contract, I don't know if you read it or not, but in fine print it says, all these wonderful things that God has promised you.

You know those 33 things, the New Testament says Christ did on the cross, well guess what? There is a little catch in the catch as you have to keep the law perfectly or you won't get the inheritance. Then let me read it. For the inheritance of the law, be of the law, it is no more a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then served the law? What was the purpose of the law then? It was added, God added it because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, that is Christ, and was ordained by angels in the hand of the mediator. He contrasts the inheritance of life that's promised to Abraham by faith with the idea that it could be secured by law, he says, no way, it couldn't be secured by law.

It has to be of grace, but then we have to ask ourselves in light of this whole issue of sanctification, then why would God want to increase transgressions? Why would He want to increase transgressions? For these reasons, notice this, moreover the law entered that the offense might have bound where sin abounded grace did much more abound. That's it. That grace might much more abound, that as sin is reigned unto death, even so my grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. In other words, it is to display. The reason God gave the law and the reason when the law comes to our sinful hearts, it displays our sinfulness is to display more grace to us and secondly, to display more glory to Jesus Christ.

If salvation would have been based upon works and God simply lowered the standard down to your level which He would never be able to find, that you could be saved by your works, then Christ would never be glorified, but we see the law. We look at the law and we see how desperately we need grace. It displays grace. And it also brings glory to Jesus Christ because salvation comes not through the law, but through the work of Jesus Christ. So you see if the law can't remedy our rebellious reluctance to treasure God and love God and value God more than anything else in the universe, it simply stirs up our rebellion. That's what it does. If you just listen, just listen a little bit, just keep your ears open and you'll hear it.

You'll hear it in other people who hear it yourself. You'll hear the rebelliousness of not wanting to give God everything. When Jesus said to that crowd that was following Him, huge crowds following Jesus, acting as though there is disciples and He turns to them and says, no one can be my disciple unless you hate your father and mother and sister and brother and your own life and you take up your cross and follow me. Wow. What kind of, why is it that righteousness is so shocking? It's because we're so far from it in our phones. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself. Well, that's what Paul says the fulfilling of the law is.

He says here in Romans 8 that God did this so that the righteous requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. What is the fulfilling of the law? It tells you in chapter 13 it is loving one another. That's the fulfilling of the law when Jesus was asked, what's the greatest commandments? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. All the law depends upon these two great commandments. And every time that commandment comes to me in the knit and grit of life, I fall short. From you, I fall short. So the law can sanctify because it can remove our condemnation and it can conquer the flesh.

And third, it couldn't give the Son the glory of justification and sanctification. And this is exactly what God is so interested in is that Jesus Christ gets the glory not only for your justification but for your sanctification. Are you ever going to be changed? Are you ever going to be transformed into what you want? You know that God wants you to be and what you want to be. Are you ever going to be set free from these nagging things in your life that keep drawing you back and weighing you down? Those be setting sins as the writer of Hebrews calls it. It's like you're trying to run the race but you have these be setting sins and they're so heavy upon you you can't seem to make any progress. Are you ever going to be set free?

Yes. Yes. It's not going to be through the law. It's going to be through the Son and the Son is going to receive glory. God's purpose, if you notice this, we've already read this passage here in Romans 5, 20 and 21. It's for the glory of Christ. It's for the glory of Christ. God calls it. It's not to turn to the law for transformation but to turn to Christ. And here's the transformation. For me to become a to be characterized by love and holiness and Christ's likeness. A lot of people find this sermon on the Mount very disturbing because you go to the sermon on the Mount, it's absolutely impossible, impossible. You go to Jesus teaching on the Mount and notice the parallel, Jesus is on the mountain.

Just like the law was given on the mountain, Jesus is on the mountain and Jesus is giving His law, the law of the kingdom and you read the law of the kingdom, that Jesus gives Matthew chapter 5, 6 and 7. It slays you. It just lays you low. I can't love like that. I don't love like that. I don't have that kind of affection for my brothers and sisters. I don't have that kind of sacrificial love towards them. I don't value God that much. Jesus Christ is the only one who could make me that kind of person and that's what He's doing in our lives. That's what He's doing. That's what He's up to. That's His purpose. The law can't magnify the Son of God as more glorious and more valuable and more desirable than the pleasures of sin.

You've done it. You've had those moments when you knew exactly what you were about to do was a violation of the law of God. You knew it was wrong. You knew you really should do the right thing and yet you love that. At that moment, and valued that more than you valued God. It is only when Christ Himself, this is the key. It is only when Christ Himself wins our affections over all contestants. It's only when Christ wins our affection over all contestants that He'll receive the glory that God wants Him to have. It's only as your life reflects the fact that you have come to realize that Jesus Christ is more precious than anything in life that He's being glorified the way the Father wants Him to be glorified.

That's what God is up to in your life. Jesus in your relationship and your walk with Him wants to transform you so that you more and more become a person who values Christ more than all of life. That's what He's doing. That's what He's up to. It isn't a second blessing. It's not for just a little bitty segment of Christianity. It is what Jesus is doing in the heart of every person in whom He dwells. Now, even if you did turn to the law and you experienced some measure of success becoming a law-abiding person like the Pharisees or the Apostle or the Saul of Tarsus, Christ would get no honor for that. Christ wasn't glorified through the Pharisees' life. They lived a very righteous standard. The Christ received no glory from that.

They got the glory. You ever talk in terms it makes it sound like Christianity is simply a wonderful plan for your life. If you follow those principles, everything in life will be so wonderful. You'll raise your kids better. You'll be more successful financially. You'll be more successful in the world if you'll just follow this pattern, these principles. I'm sorry. The Mormons can say exactly the same thing. What's different about Christianity is this. There is only one person in the universe that can change you, and that's Jesus Christ. And He will make you see that He is more valuable than everything else in life. And when He wins your affections over all contestants, then He will receive the glory.

You will be glorifying Christ the way the Father wants Him to be glorified. When you realize that He is more valuable than anything, it's not when you change your life so radically that nobody even recognizes who you are anymore. It's when you go through the normal stuff of life, but you live it out of an appreciation for who Jesus Christ really is. Listen to this. A young mother walked into my office with a stack of newsletters in her hand. She plopped them down on my desk and exclaimed, I feel like a pile of manure. That's what this says here. I have been reading these newsletters from friends and missionaries and they are all out there doing wonderful things for God. You ever get those in Christmas time?

The family letters and you feel like scum. Don't have anybody graduating from Harvard or anything. And it just hit me. What a worthless life I have. For Pete's sake, I do three loads of laundry a day and when I'm not doing laundry, I'm grocery shopping. When I'm not grocery shopping, I'm unloading the groceries or cooking them or cleaning up after cooking them. And somewhere in there, I'm trying to keep this mess of a house presentable. Stay in touch with three kids. Keep them clothed and on schedule. Find a little time for my husband. I'm too tired even to read the Bible. What do I have to offer God? And He says, wait. Just a minute. You need to punch the pause button and rethink all this. I happen to know that just yesterday, you spent two hours shopping for a coat for your daughter to keep her warm.

And not just any coat, mine you, but one that she would like. That would be large enough to wear next year, but I'd look like it. And one that was on sale. And I happen to know that you found the right one exactly. Now here's my question, he says to her, where did your concern for your daughter come from? I mean, did you just decide that you were going to be a good mother and flip a switch that created this burden for your daughter's welfare? Did you do that on your own? What is the origin of your love for her or for your family or your concern that they eat right every day? That they are nurtured? Where did you get this burden for a neat and orderly household? You are thinking like a deist, he says to her.

You're thinking that God created this universe, wound it up like a great clock, set it running, and then stepped out of the picture. You're thinking that God is not here. And you're thinking that all this is going on in your life. You're cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping, you're love for your children, and husband, you're concerned for their welfare, and all that, that generates all outside the circle of God's life, that God has nothing to do with it. Because you were thinking this way, you were very frustrated. You've lost the fullness and joy of it all. And you are desperately trying to figure out how to do all of this and then tack on something for God. You are missing the point. And the point is that Jesus is not up there waiting for you to do something for him.

He is here in you. He is sharing his burden for his sheep, that is your little children, and their livelihood with you. And you wake up in it, live in it all day and you really love it. That makes you sing, but you do not see it for what it actually is. It has become your burden and not your delight. But the fact it is not your burden and delight, it is his. And there is no more holy thing in all the world than cooking a meal for your family. For that is nothing short of God, the Father Himself, through His Son, and in the Spirit sharing His royal feast with His loved ones. It is a divine event. There is far more going on in your life than you ever dreamed. If you do not see it, you will die the slow and painful death of Asidia, an ever-intensifying boredom that is so deep and pervasive you lose all passion.

You will raise golden goplets of rich wine to your lips and never taste it. You will despair in the frustration of your never having a glass of good wine. He goes on to share another story about a golfer, but I am not going to tell that one. Did you know that God, the Son, is with you when you play golfer? It may not look like it. Did you know that all of life, every joy you ever experience, is a part of the life of Jesus Christ in you. You know that God left heaven in the person of His Son and came into this world to became one of us, to bring God to us. And then He went to the cross and removed the condemnation, was raised from the dead, and as a man went back to the third heaven. There is one God and one mediator between God and man, man, Christ Jesus.

The man has invaded the community of the triune God. Think about that. That a human being sits in the inner circle of the universe. At the center of the universe is a relationship. The triune God has been in perfect union and communion for all eternity, and now one of the members of the Trinity is a man, and He has brought His whole family with Him. God has brought you into the community of the triune God had, and as you experience in your life with Jesus Christ, you experience Jesus loving the Father. And you get caught up in Christ's love for the Father. And you experience the Father's love for the Son, and the Spirit's communion between the Father and the Son, as you get caught up in the mix of that.

The more you experience that, the more Jesus becomes the most important thing in your life. The more He becomes more valuable than anything else, than breath. Do you ever take the promises of Jesus seriously when He says, if any man's thirsty, are you thirsty spiritually thirsty? Do you want more than just going through the motions of tending church, giving, maybe serving in a ministry, maybe giving to a missionary? Do you ever want more than that? Do you ever want what Jesus promised? Do you ever want to drink deeply from this well? Do you want to have life that's abundant and free? Do you want to experience the freedom of the sons of God to live in the presence of God? That's what He offers us.

That's what He came to the world to bring us into through His work. That's whole purpose. In the plan of redemption is that the Son gets the glory, not only in justification, but in this transforming work, this transforming relationship with Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that's going to change you is this relationship. So the key to sanctification is what Paul describes here as walking in the Spirit. Over the next few weeks, we'll see that having the righteous requirement of the law fulfilled in us as Paul describes it here is a life of Christ exalting love and the key to living a life of Christ exalting love is walking in the Spirit. Who's Spirit? Well, He tells you, a few verses later, verses 8, 9, and 10, it is the Spirit of Christ.

It is the Holy Spirit. It is Christ Himself and the person of the Holy Spirit living within you. Living in the Spirit is walking in union and communion with Jesus Christ. The presence of Christ is a life-changing presence. And that's my fervent prayer that you'll take hold of this truth. This truth will get a hold of you. I'm so tired of trying to talk or think, I don't even do it. I just think about it. I lay on my bed at night and do what you sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and try to figure out, how could I talk this person into doing what's right? How could I talk this person into loving the worship of the saints so much that actually show up for church? How could I talk them into it?

I wonder what could we offer? Maybe we could offer a premium. We'll start serving star-buck coffee free if you'll come to church on Sunday morning. If you will love Christ so much that you want to be around His people and enter into the worship of the living God, I got to tell you, I am so grateful for this worship team. The simple reason that they're willing to sacrifice to lead us in worship. They're willing to practice and be together and work at it and come together and be in the praiseman. You've got to set up the whole auditorium. You knew that, didn't you? It's costly, not the whole auditorium, but a lot of them. I'm so grateful for that because I want to enter into the presence of God with the people of God to experience what Christ purchased for us.

Nothing else will transform me except a life of union and communion with Jesus Christ. The power of sanctification is not the law. It never will be. It never has been. It is the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ. When He exerts His power in me and on me, when I experience Christ in my daily walk, I will be transformed by it. As you're living your life right now as a believer and you're ignoring Christ, he's a furthest thing from your mind. You're not entering in and maybe you don't even know how, and you need to learn how, but you're not even experienced the real presence of Jesus Christ in your daily walk. You're missing out on everything He purchased for you. That's what God's intention is for you and the fact is He is in your life, He is active in your life.

You may not be aware of it, but He's there and He's active. One of the simplest things about you that other people can see is the love of Christ being manifested in you and the power of the Spirit. You don't even know it. Notice this. At the center of the universe is a relationship. That's what Darryl Johnson said in one of his books on the Trinity and it's true. The center of the universe is a relationship between father, son, and Holy Spirit. What is existed from all eternity, a relationship, a community of love, father, son, and spirit? From all eternity. Notice this. T.F. Torrance, Scottish theologian said, God draws near to us, he's talking about the incarnation and the work of Christ. God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to Himself within, within, within the circle of His knowing of Himself.

That makes sound a little philosophical, but you see what He means? I get drawn right into this community of love, the father, son, and Holy Spirit, and I begin through my walk with Christ. I begin to experience His experience with the father. There's a simple little story here. I've got to give you. Several years ago while I was sorting through mail my son and one of his buddies stroled into the din, I get this, where I was sitting. I did not know his friend at all. We were complete strangers. I didn't even know his name. But what happened has become, to me, a concrete picture of Emmanuel, God with us. God comes to us in the person of his son. Listen to this. Well, this little boy did not know me or what I was like my son did.

My son had a relationship with me. He knew my love for Him and my delight in Him. Jesus knows that about the father. He knew the assurance of my acceptance. He was at home with me and thus free to be Himself, free to come into my presence and play, and He did just that. In the freedom of acceptance He sontered into my presence, bounded onto the couch, and engaged me in play. The next thing I knew, we were rolling around on the floor, wrestling and laughing and having the time of our lives, and his buddy was right in there with us. Later on, I realized that something quite critical had taken place. A parable had been enacted. Think of it this way. Suppose that you deleted my son from the equation for a moment.

Suppose that his buddy walked into the din alone. I suspect, given that we were complete strangers, that he would never have bounded onto the couch and engaged in play. Without my son's presence, there would have been no assurance of acceptance, no at wholeness, and thus no freedom to saunter into my presence. But my son was present. And the marvelous thing that happened was that my son's relationship with me, his knowledge of my acceptance, his freedom to come into my presence, worked his way into his buddy's heart. He was simple but remarkable. Let me tell you something. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 2 says that Jesus Christ is the worship leader of the church. He leads the church into the presence of God.

Who else would you want to do it? He knows the Father and the Father knows Him. He is a perfect peace with the Father. He knows the acceptance of the Father and the writer who says every time we gather to worship like this, these men stand up here and they sing along with Jesus. I don't know if Jesus has a strat or not, but Jesus draws us right into the presence of the Father and we enter through Him. You come here, we come together as a rag tag group. Some of us are carrying sins in our backs right now. We haven't confessed. Some of us are burdened down with things. They're just weighing us down and we don't know how we're going to go on next week. And we think how could God ever receive worship for me?

I'm in the mulligrubs. Now, there's reasons for being depressed at different times, but you know what? You can come together with the people of God no matter what your burden is, no matter what's going on in your life, no matter what you're facing. And you can enter through Christ, through Christ. The Father loves the Son to come to Him. I mean, think of this. This is the most amazing thing in the world that God, the Son, has now become a man and as a man, He worships the Father. He's the high priest, He's the lighter God. He is the worship leader that brings us into the presence of God. And we worship God through Him and we have this incredible assurance that God loves to hear us worship. He loves to receive our worship because it is filtered through His Son.

And so even though you may have a voice that is so bad, when you sing your so off key, if you sing from the heart, the Father delights to hear that sound because it filters through His Son. And it's like the little kid who has his assurance because of his relationship with the Son that you can relate to the Father. Relationships, chapter 4, listen to this, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son. Notice this, the Trinity. God, the Father, sent forth His Son, made of a One, made unto the Law, to redeem them that were unto the Law, that we might receive the adoption of the Son, and because you are the Son, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart's crying out of Father.

First, I just want you to see, you see how this is a word that the triune God had is involved in. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now notice this, right in the center of it, is He did this, notice He redeemed us. He came into the world and He condemned sin in the flesh. Why? Why did He do that? He could bring us into the family. I think adoption in our circle, in our experience in this world is the most amazing thing that a mother and father would want to bring a little child into their home and make it their home, adopt Him or her, bring them into the center of the family, and that little child begins to know the mother and the father the way they know each other, and He or she knows the love they have for each other.

All says that the triune God had in the work of Christ has done all of this to bring you into the center of God's family. And the most amazing thing about this is, not only did He adopt you, but He gave you the Spirit of adoption so that you would feel like He owns you, like He embraces you. The Spirit dwells in you and Paul says in Romans 8, a little further down in Romans 8, and He has not given you a Spirit of slavery to lead to fear again, but He has given you the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, dear father. You know what? That cry is, that's the cry of a kid who's being tickled by his father. That's what a little boy would say in Hebrew, Abba, Abba, Abba, but it's also the cry of a hurting son to his father.

Jesus came in the world to bring you there. And God says, this is where I want you to live. When you're living here, then you will treasure Christ above everything else because He is the one door into the presence and into the family of God, Father, Son, and Spirit. And notice this, what John says, and first John 1, 3, that which we have seen and heard, and He's talking about what they experienced with Jesus Christ. God come in the flesh, God came down to them for three and a half years, those apostles lived with God, the Son, come in the flesh. He says, that which we have seen and heard be declared to you, that you may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship, it was with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

I have to stop, but I want you to be thinking about this. I actually want you to come to grasp and be grasped by this truth, no matter what you feel like this week. The truth is that God has drawn you into the inner circle of His fellowship. That's where you belong. And you need to realize it. He wants your eyes, He wants your eyes to be open. He wants you to see the truth of it. And you'll know, you'll know, the way that you will know that you're understanding this truth is, you will begin to treasure Christ more than all the other things in life. You'll become more, you'll have more affection for Him than anything else in all life when He begins to open your eyes. I want to say it's good to see all of you today.

It's good to be in the household of faith because we're the family of God. And we come here, we come in the presence of our God. Let's stand together and close Him for Him. Our Father, we do want Your name to be hallowed. We want our lives to be such that people see the truth about you instead of a distorted picture of who you are. We're so weak and fallible and sinful, we're always falling short of what we want to be for you. And yet, oh God, you have given us the Spirit of Christ to live within us so that we experience Christ in our lives, the Son of God who's brought us into the family. I'm so amazed that you wanted Him to be the first born among many brethren that you actually want a large family.

And Jesus is the first born. He is the preeminent one. And Father, we take delight in coming to you today and we have confidence because we come in Christ, because you sent Christ to us. And now we come to you in Him. Please help us to live in your presence this week, I pray, for the glory of Christ. Amen. Amen.