Get out of jail free. . . Card
Romans chapter 8 verses 1 - 17
The old board game called Monopoly has a chance card that players can pick up and it means that they don’t miss three turns nor do they need to pay $50-00.
By simply possesing this little card they can effect an escape from prison.
Without the card and without the $50-00 you are simply required to do the time.
Yesterday a team of people went from our church to the Invercargill prison.
There we met the stark reality that life is not a game - we faced real stone walls - real guards and people who do not get - "Get out of jail free" - cards.
If that is not frightening enough - How then do we respond to these words of Jesus from Matthew chapter 5 and verse 30 - It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Jesus here underlines what most of the world are not prepared to face that there is a hell a place that we could conceivably end up where we would live in torment for eternity.
If you want a 3 dimensional picture of that you will find some spine chilling descriptions in Revelation which should help focus the whole issue.
Billy Graham once said - "I find no pleasure in the knowledge of the fact of hell, but I find it my solemn duty to remind you that the same book that proclaims the wonders of heaven also describes the terrors of eternal banishment from God."
However God has given us a get out of Jail free card.
As we approach Easter we come to the inescapable fact that it is only the brutal death of Jesus Christ God’s son that brings us that escape from an eternal destiny lived without God and under his wrath.
Just as it is a picture of the queen of England and the signature of the Governor of the Reserve bank that gives the New Zealand $20.00 note purchasing power - it is the blood of Jesus and the fact that he is the Son of God that gives the cross such incredible purchasing power.
In Revelation chapter 5 and verse 9 we read :-
With your blood you purchased men for God.
All of this then helps put into perspective the opening line from romans chapter 8 which says Therefore - there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
No condemntaion!!!!!!
What a tremendous thing that is.
To go back to the Monopoly discussion - you can have the card but choose to stay in prison.
The freedom that is provided for the Christian is available when we are in christ Jesus.
Romans chapter 8 goes on to describe - How we can live in that freedom and how to enjoy all of it’s benefits.
Galations chapter 5 verse 1 says It is for freedom that christ has set you free.
The reason that God has thrown us the - "Get out of jail free" card is so that we might live in freedom.
Our lives are to be pervaded by a deep sense of freedom and peace.
As a result of being "in Christ’ I would like to suggest that there are 3 things that you can know about who you are in Christ and three consequential ways of living that result from that knowledge.
The first thing is summed up in verse 2 - through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
I call this passage the "don’t have to verse."
What can we know about who we are in Christ?
We can know that the law of the spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death - so that if we are In Christ we know that our life will extent beyond this world into the next for eternity bathed in the love of God.
What a great blessing.
As I pointed out earlier we need to know we are in Christ and not suffering from some delusion or other but once we do there are a lot of "don’t have to’s" and it is these I would like you to consider this morning.
If you are in Christ - you don’t have to -
Worry about where the next meal is coming from - God will provide for your needs.
You don’t have to worry about getting older - having wrinkles - not being the best looking most popular - best dressed wealthiest or greatly endowed with any great gift - as a child of God your security is in the great love that God has bestowed upon you. Your acceptance does not depend on the approval of the world but on the grace of God.
You don’t have to worry about - illness or death - if you take ill = God is perfectly able to heal you and if you are not healed for some reason or other as many aren’t then you sipmply move into your full inheritance in Christ.
You don’t have to feel guilty when you sin or when you are reminded about some past sin - because there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
You don’t have to be conservative or even sensible so long as you are following God’s agenda - what an exciting life Jesus packed into his 33 or so years - He lived to see dead people raised to life - leprous outcasts resxtored to their families thousands upon thousands follow him to hear the good news anbout what God had done - he saw peoples eyes nearly fall out of their head as he fed 5000 of them with a few loaves of bread and a few fish -
You don’t have to be bored for God will have an exciting agenda for you.
To many people are bored today because they are living with a foot in each camp - one foot in the camp of the Spirit of life and one foot in the camp of the law of sin and death -
You can add a whole lot of "Don’t have too’s" to my list but what I am trying to suggest to you is not that you become a risk taker - but rather that you become a security taker - That is, you take the security that you have in Jesus and act out of it and you will live a dynamic life that will give you the impression of being a risk taker but really you are secure because you are "in Christ".
So we know that the law of the spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death.
The second thing we can know is that sin has been condemned.
When Jesus died for our sins on the cross the bible tells us - Galations 3 - 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
Sin has a curse with it - Jesus took that curse upon himself.
When we sin we come under the power of that curse - the curse is death - the result of the sin will be death in some way.
An example:-
During world war 2 in Holland A Pastor was asked to take a baby and hide it in his home for the baby was Jewish and One of God’s people.
The pastor knew that he would be in trouble with the Germans if they ever found out.
He refused to take - God’s risk.
As a result the child had to be hidden in an unsafe place and the Mother and the child were found in a barn.
Both died.
The pastor may have seemed perfectly reasonable - but his caution was selfishness which is sinful - The result of his sin was inevitable - death - Directly attributable to his lack of mercy.
How many babies die in New Zealand every day of abortion because some Christian somewhere has not offered the right care or help?
How many people are broken or hurt because of some careless word by a Christian.
We learn here sin is death.
The antidote - Repent - Don’t sin and I would like to take some time elsewhere to consider further what Romans has to say about it.
If we doi sin - then we need to take the spiritual medicine God has provided.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1 verse 9
The third thing we need to know is We can’t put it right on our own.
True we can apologise to another for our actions - take flowers - beg for mercy - but we can not erase the sin from our life ourselves by our own actions.
Such thinking is to deny the importance of Jesus and the cross.
Romans chapter 8 verse 3 - 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.
You can not clean up your own mess here.
In Monopoly you might be able to pay to get your way out of jail but in real life the ojnly way you can escape from your own sins is to depend on Jesus.
When I was a boy my Mother sent me to the shop for a can of paint - I put the paint can on the carrier of my bike and rode home.
On the way the lid came off the can and paint soon started leeking out of the paper bag it was in.
Instead of going in to tell Mum I tried to clean up my own mess - the result was that paint went all over me and my good trousers - what a mess there was paint everywhere and when Mum came out to clean up there was an even bigger mess to clean up.
We can not clean up our own messes all on our own.
All I needed to do was tell Mum and apologise and next time be more careful.
That’s what we need to do it is called confession and repentance.
Today I would encourage you to leave this place - more deeply knowing who you are in Christ - knowing that you have a great inheritence "in Him" and that by being in him you will see great things happen in your life - it would be great for you to know more deeply that all sin leads to death and that the power of sin is nulified as we confess and turn from our sins.
God has thrown us a "Get out of jail" free card in Jesus as we move into Easter may you realise fully what a great lifeline we have been thrown.
Feel free to comment on jgullick@xtra.co.nz
