Romans 7 & 8 "Too simple??"

OBEYING THE HIGHER LAW Romans 7,8Lesson: Romans 7: (12) so then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. ... (14) For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. ... (16) ...I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. (21) I find then a principle (law) that evil is present with me- the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the Law of God in the inner man, (23) but I see A DIFFERENT LAW in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. (25) With my mind (I am) serving the law of God, but ... with my flesh the law of sin. Romans 8:2 ..the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.The Story of Naaman and Elisha It was all going very well indeed. The career was ahead ofschedule- there had been victory after victory, and promotion afterpromotion, and now Naaman had been made Chief of Staff and General ofGenerals. He was on top of his world! Then-- he noticed a few strange sensations in his hands; he sawsome white spots on his wrist. After a few days he went to see thedoctor. He was shocked by the report! The report was: "You are aleper!" This statement, this diagnosis changed all of Naaman's life.It was a death sentence! Sooner or later it would become commonknowledge, and he would be shunned, outcast, and the result wascertain deformity and death! The Bible says, "Naaman was a greatman-- BUT he was a leper!" But what makes this story worth telling is that even though thispagan general had a sure sentence of death, and by all the laws ofnature was doomed to die, HE HEARD A WORD OF HOPE, A MESSAGE ABOUT AHIGHER LAW. This word of HOPE came from the most unlikely place! It camefrom a little slave girl-- a little girl from Israel that had beencaptured in one of Naaman's conquests. The little girl evidentlycared about Naaman, and she said to her mistress-- "I WISH NAAMAN COULD GO TO ISRAEL-- THERE IS A MAN THERE WHOKNOWS GOD-- AND WHO COULD CURE HIM OF HIS LEPROSY!" It wasn't much-- but when you are desperate you don't need muchto send you looking. The little girl told her mistress and themistress told Naaman and Naaman told the King of Aram-- and the kingsaid, "GO FOR IT!" So Naaman, the conqueror of nations, the general of generals,takes a small caravan of valuables and heads for Samaria and the Kingof Israel. When Naaman arrived in Samaria, the capital city of the NorthernKingdom, he wasted no time. He went right to the top! When he gotthrough stating his reason for coming, King Jehoram (wicked Ahab'swicked son) was absolutely beside himself. "I'VE COME TO ISRAEL BECAUSE I'VE HEARD YOU HAVE A CURE FORLEPROSY!" Everyone knew that there is no cure for leprosy, but here stoodthe general of one of Israel's traditional enemies, making animpossible request. Naaman was a fearsome sight to all the neighborsof Aram, and Israel in particular. "AM I GOD?" asked the king to his subjects. "WHO DOES THISRAVING MANIAC LEPER FROM SYRIA THINK I AM? HE IS SIMPLY PICKING AFIGHT WITH US! HE INTENDS TO DESTROY ISRAEL!" Naaman, for his part, was in no mood to fight or argue. Hedidn't think there was much hope, anyway. He simply gave the word andthe caravan wheeled about and turned to go back toward the north andeast. Just about that time a man came running through the crowd. Hisname was Gehazi, and he was the servant of Elisha the Tishbite, aprophet of God. [ Now Elisha was not exactly well-accepted at court. His styleof worship was obsolete, and his idea of direct contact with God wasnot too sophisticated. And Elisha was not always civil to KingJehoram! But somehow Elisha had got word of the king's problem, andso he had sent his servant with a message to the king. ] "SEND THE GENERAL OVER TO ME!" It took the king about ten seconds to decide that sendingGeneral Naaman to the prophet would be a good idea. He didn't knowwhere the prophet lived, but Gehazi was willing to guide him. So theentourage turned and left the palace. When they arrived at the home of the prophet Gehazi went in andfound Elisha. I think Elisha was in the back garden. [Elijah was a rugged man, an outdoorsman, fond of camel skincoats and honey and locusts. But Elisha was a city person, smooth andcivilized, and yet not one bit less fearless or straightforward thanhis illustrious teacher had been. He was not over-awed by the power ofAram's armed might outside his doorway. He did not need to satisfyany personal curiosity.] Elisha sent word by the servant, and never himself spoke a wordto Naaman: "GO AND WASH IN THE JORDAN SEVEN TIMES AND YOUR FLESH SHALL BERESTORED TO YOU AND YOU SHALL BE CLEAN." "There it is! Take it or leave it! You are offered healing- - atthe price of obedience and faith in God! At the price of doing as youare bidden, not as you think you ought to do!" The Bible says, But Naaman was furious and went away and said, "Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. (5:11-12)"IT'S TOO SIMPLE! IT'S TOO HUMBLING!" The message of finding the higher law is not unique to thisstory. That message is that WHEN WE COME TO THE END OF HUMANRESOURCES, IF WE WILL ACCEPT HIM ON HIS TERMS THERE IS GOD! We may think that we have life pretty much under control-- andyet we discover that we are sinners! Like Naaman, we are undersentence of death! The wages of willful sin is death! We seek help for the symptoms of our sinfulness- the damage itdoes to our lives. We go to church-- we ask for help in many acceptedchannels and we hear things like: (1) Sin is an outdated concept. There really isn't any sin anymore-- it is a combination of our environment and our inheritance. Wehave received a bad deal from our parents. Whatever feels good is allright to do. But somehow we KNOW that we are on a collision course with a justand holy God-- and that we are not prepared. or... (2) We are offered various human therapies which are helpful asfar as they go, but which can not reach to the depths of the real needof our lives, which is freedom from the power and guilt andcondemnation of sin. We are not just people who sin-- we are SINNERS! And THEN-- we hear the simple Gospel message: The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, shed on the Cross ofCalvary, cleanses from all sin! Christ died for the sinner! Or thispassage in Romans 10: (8-11) "the Word is near you, in your mouth andin your heart that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, andif you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead,you will be saved!" And our "sophisticated" reaction is like the ancient Arameangeneral, the leper named Naaman. "IT IS TOO SIMPLE!" NAAMAN'S STORYDOESN'T END WITH HIM GOING OFF IN A RAGE: His servants prevail on him with common sense: "What can youlose?" He goes to the banks of Jordan-- maybe to the same place Jesuswas baptized, who knows? He looks up on the banks and sees the natives watching. Heknows he will look stupid! But he wades in-- and dips under the water. Nothing! He dips again-- and again Nothing! But seven times down and the seventh time up helooks-- and . . . the white spots are gone! He comes up out of the muddy water and heads, dripping, for hischariot. "Go back to that prophet's house!" he orders the driver.The caravan wheels around again and heads back for Samara. And this time Elisha the Tishbite comes out. Maybe there is evena little smile on his face. "Here is a million dollars!" says the general, Naaman. "I won't take one red cent!" says the prophet. (Evidently he ison salary, like Billy Graham; or else, he hasn't learned how to make abig prophet like the TV prophets.) The general rides away a man who is convinced of the power ofJehovah God!Summary and Application: I suppose that I have read this portion of Romans -speakingabout being bound by lower laws-- and then finding freedom in higherlaws-- a hundred times or more. It is NOT a simple, easy passage. Wethink as we read, "Why do you make it so difficult? Why don't yousimply spell it out in language that we can easily understand?" Two or three things come to mind when I think of 'easilyunderstanding' the Word of God. One is-- that the way of salvation is easily entered, simple tograsp, requiring only the obedience of faith to say, "Jesus is LORD!" But another is-- that we think that because eternal life is afree gift, then it does not require study and application and effort,like any other wonderful truth. We think in arrogance that we knowall that is to be known simply by our native intelligence. And thatsimply is NOT so! Paul speaks of the deep things which the CorinthiansOUGHT to have been grappling with, but they simply were going over andover the same elementary truths of arithmetic, not realizing thedepths of algebra and calculus and wonder that God had for them tounderstand and practice. And finally, along with this lack of willingness to study: Wethink that God should always bend to our way of thinking; we thinkthat we are the measure of understanding. But we must be willing toendeavor to follow God's teaching, and enter into His lessons. This, then, is a difficult passage. It expresses the deepest joyof freedom and life in God found anywhere in the Bible. But itdemands our full attention. We will not plumb its depths in thissermon together, and I hope that you will not solve its meaning thisafternoon and come back with all the answers tonight. But you canbegin, or you can continue-- as I am sure that we all are in somemeasure engaged in this "heart-of-Romans truth." Have you submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Are you evenNOW confessing with your mouth, and by God's grace, believing in yourheart? It is profoundly simple, and simply profound-- but the freedomand power of Romans 8 is for us all! We can obey God's HOLY law, andbe FREE from the "law of sin and death" as we submit to the "law ofthe Spirit of life in Christ Jesus!" Elisha said to Naaman, "Go, wash and be clean!" The Spirit says to you and to me: "Confess, believe, and be freefrom sin and condemnation!"PrayerHymn No. 465 Trust and Obey———————————————————————————————————
Dr. Russell Metcalfe is Pastor Emeritus of the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene. Permission to reprint or publish this material is GRANTED as long as the reprinting or republishing is not-for-profit. You can access more of Dr. Metcalfe's sermons at his scripturally indexed sermon archives web site. Now with MP3 audio sermons and audio bonus material.
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