Think about it for a moment.  Maybe Pastor’s have been too nice today! Maybe we have not shared a balanced gospel.  Have we emphasized the love of God too much?  Sure we must  preach not only the love of God as shown through Christ, but we should share the whys of the cross.  The main question why is why did God have to send His son to the cross?  As we ask the question why, we need to speak of God’s judgment and his terrible wrath balanced with His love.  Rightly so, I believe this is a heritage of the Moravian Church.

Indeed God will come to judge the entire world!  All of mankind without Christ is living in sin.  God must judge sin if He is righteous.  In Psalms 9:8; 16-27 it speaks, “He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in righteousness".  In Psalms 9, verse 16, he says, “The Lord is known by the judgment He executes; The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.  The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God".  Psalms 98:9, “for He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, And the peoples with equity".  In Nahum 1:2-3 it says,  “God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious.  The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies, The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked.  The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.”

I wonder if we have shared this picture of God who is a God of righteousness and wrath enough?  In Romans 1:18 it says, “For the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in righteousness.  Literally this means for us that God hates evil; God hates evil doers.  A true sharing of the gospel means that we should start with God’s judgment and what he will do about sin.   This is the way that Paul begins his book on Romans. 

During the early Moravian missionary era in the Kuskokwim it is my understanding that for the 1^st year the missionaries preached and taught the 10 Commandments which brought a knowledge of what sin is to the Eskimo.  The second year they then spoke of the love of God, John 3:16, and the Holy Spirit brought repentance and hearts were changed.

We must speak the truth in love and not hide anything.  When we read the beginning of the book of Romans it seems it is all about bad news.  It speaks of God’s righteousness, God’s wrath, and mans sinful condition.  And it appears that Paul shares this picture of God before he shares the good news of justification by faith.

Literally now, today, God’s righteous judgment is already upon the wicked.  This is clearly stated in Romans 1:18.  Remember Paul does not talk of the cross until Romans Chapter 3.  In Romans 6:23 it says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Paul does not mention God’s love until Romans Chapter 8 which we will look at very briefly today.

In Romans 7 if you read it and understand it, it is very clear that there is a battle between our old sin nature which we received from the 1^st Adam and the new spiritual nature we received through Jesus Christ.  Through Justification by faith (Romans 5:1) we now have the righteousness of Christ, but we know that life is not a bed of roses.  From time-to-time we fail in our Christian walk.  When we fail we must remember the admonishment in Romans 7:6 where it says, “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” 

Paul says, we should serve in the newness of the Spirit; we should not continue in sin.  He also makes clear in Chapter 7 of Romans that the law which makes sin clear, shows us that sin is awful!  It is terrible.  We can better understand it by the fact that it can take a fine and splendid thing, a lovely thing and make it a weapon of evil.

The reality is that we all battle our old sin nature daily.  If we do not walk by the Spirit we will fail due to the flesh or worldly temptations that come our way.  The best of us Christians fail, once in a while.  Paul says in verse 18 that in his flesh nothing good dwells; for to will is present with him, but how to perform what is good, He cannot!  And in verse 24 he says, “O wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death? 

It doesn't end here.  Praise God, it says in verse 25, “I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin”.  We find a big answer to our daily battle.  I would like to share that our minds and where we set our minds is the key to living victorious in the Spirit.

In Romans 8:1 it says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”   And in verse 2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”  Romans 8 is one of the most important passages for believers.  It can’t be over-emphasized - The Power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.  The Holy Spirit lives permanently in the life of the believer (Eph.1:13).  When we sin we grieve the Holy Spirit. 

We need the power of the Holy Spirit, daily.  It is my prayer as a result of this message today in our daily walk we will not grieve the Holy Spirit, but strive to set our minds on the life of the Spirit.  In verse 5 of Romans 8, it says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”  In order to live in the Spirit, it is a daily act of will to be in relationship with God and to serve God willingly, each day. 

May we set our minds on the Spirit intentionally each day, pray and read the Word of God regularly and seek to walk in the Spirit and not live in the flesh.  Romans 8:13-14 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live”. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

We should be motivated confess our sins and to live in the power of the Holy Spirit because we belong to a family of God.  The Holy Spirit will strengthen you.  Walking in the Spirit is the key to a life of abundance and victory and fulfillment.  May we all ask the Holy Spirit to fill us and empower us to be used mightily in this end times generation. 

All of creation is suffering and we await the glorious return of Christ and the fulfillment of our Redemption.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things do work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  Amen.

© Copyright 2006 Anchorage Moravian Church
Top of Page