Saturday, March 12, 2005
Romans 8:3-4 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
PUTTING AWAY SIN
Every time I look at a newspaper, turn on the television, or take an honest look at myself I find examples of sinful behavior. The works of the flesh are all around us. There is murder, adultery, pride, envy, unkindness, and much more. Can anything be done about it?
I'll tell you what won't work. It won't work just to make laws against all these things. When it comes to putting down the sinful nature, laws are quite powerless and insufficient. When Moses brought down the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai, did the people immediately stop grumbling and complaining against God? Of course they didn't. When congress passes laws against this or that, does it actually stop sinful people from carrying out horrible deeds? Law might instill a little fear, surely, but ultimately it cannot overcome the inbred sinfulness with which we are born. It cannot move us to hate what is evil and love what is good.
But the cross of Jesus Christ is able to gain the upper hand against our sinful man. "What the law was powerless to do in that it could not overcome that sinful nature, God did by sending Jesus as a sin offering." How does this come about? In this way: Christ in His terrible anguish carried the load of the whole world's sin. Every last wretched act was crucified and punished with the agony of hell. So now when temptation knocks at the door we can look that very sin in the eye, point toward the cross, and tell it to go to its rightful place. Go to Calvary, O sin! Be gone from me and meet your doom at the hands of the Father's righteous anger.
In this way God condemned sin. He gave it the death sentence so that it could be put it away in our daily lives; so that He could accomplish in us the deeds that please Him. Truly "He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the Law might be fully met in us." 