Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
Having been freed from the condemnation of the law, from the bondage of sin, obeying the law is not out of servile fear but filial love. Life is lived with gladness in service to God through the help of the Holy Spirit. Psalm 100 depict well this life with God that enables the Christian to live in every area of life in worship to God.
By the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the believer’s life, he brings forth spiritual fruit in his life. To serve in newness of spirit is to yield to ourselves to the mind of Christ through the diligent study of the Scripture through prayer. And it is my prayer that this begins in every Christian home. Piety begins in the home under the charge of every Christian parent.
When we come to accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour, He has by the finished work on the cross set us free from the bondage of sin. In the sight of God, we are free men. Sin no longer binds us. We have the power to say “no” to sin and bear spiritual fruit in our lives. This, the Christian, shall see in his life, as he abides in Christ. Amen.
The outworking of the commandments in the believer’s is described in his love for God and for his neighbour. There is reward forthcoming from Christ when He returns to reward His servants.
The Apostle Paul illustrates the new relationship the born-again believer has with Christ to be like the termination of a marriage covenant at the death of the spouse where the surviving spouse is discharged from the marriage contract. This freedom is likened to the freedom from the condemnation of God’s law. He is “dead to the law by the body of Christ” in that Christ bore his sins when He was crucified on the cross. Christ’s death freed the believer, discharged him, from the judgment by the law for his sins.
The Jews were a special people entrusted with God’s law. Israel was a nation created by God to be His witness to the nations of the world. Moses wrote this truth concerning the great wisdom God’s law that exalts the nation to give glory to God.
This chapter is to be read and understood as a whole. The Apostle Paul is putting forth precious truths concerning the state of the redeemed man. He tells us firstly that the moral law, as summarized in the Ten Commandments, is not abrogated when one becomes a Christian. It is furthest from the truth that he can now live outside the boundaries of God’s law, forsake holiness, and live lawlessly, having been freed from the bondage of sin and dead to the stranglehold of the law. He can now choose not to sin (Rom. 7:6).
We must continue to struggle against sin in our lives. For our encouragement, Scripture gave to us in the book of Job, the earliest recorded writing of Scripture such a man of God – Job 1:1 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed (hate) evil.” The word “perfect” does not mean sinless perfection but holiness. He was a man who walked with God, who made right with God by that close communion with God. He made right with God and he interceded for his children daily. God Himself pronounced him “perfect.”
As the old saying goes, “Holiness is not inability to sin, but ability not to sin.” The freedom that we have as born-again Christians is within the boundaries of God’s Word. The Word of God sets the boundary for our protection. Just like our parents set the curfew hours that we are not to come home after a certain time. When we obey, we are protected. When we disobey, we expose ourselves to the dangers of this wicked world, waiting to devour our very souls.
There is much that God has laid upon our hands to do to serve Him. He tells us that we serve Him by serving the people God brings into our lives. What good we do in Jesus’ name for a brethren, God will reward! For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. (Hebrews 6:10) Amen.