08 August 2021
Two-Minute Features | 15 August 2021 | 01 August 2021

Having the Flesh & the New Creation (TMF:1675)

Friday, August 13, 2021
Peace to Live By: Having the Flesh & the New Creation (TMF:1675) - Daniel Litton
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       As new creations in Christ, it’s as if we have both sides of the coin now. We are a new creation in Christ, but we also still have the sin-nature. We have both. The unbeliever only has the sin-nature. He or she is not a new creation. Therefore, he or she is powerless when it comes to pleasing God. The person couldn’t be pleasing to God no matter how hard they tried. They are powerless to do what is right in his sight. Nevertheless, how are we as Christians to get the power to do what is right? Do we get it from our flesh? No, our flesh cannot produce the good results that we want. Where do we get our help then? We have to rely on the Holy Spirit, on his enablement, on his power, his empowering of us, with his grace, in order to do what is right. I think most of us haven’t come yet to understand this. Yet, this is the most important paragraph of this sermon.

Paraphrasing Romans 7:17-20 (TMF:1674)

Thursday, August 12, 2021
Peace to Live By: Paraphrasing Romans 7:17-20 (TMF:1674) - Daniel Litton
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       “So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Romans 7:17-20, ESV). I want to paraphrase what I believe Paul is saying here so that you can understand where I am coming from: “If we follow sin in our lives, sin will have its way in us. For I know that nothing good dwells within me alone, that is, in my flesh alone, by itself. For I have the desire to do what is right in my mind, but not the ability to carry it out with my flesh alone. For I do not do the good I want when I try alone to do things, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, the sin that I don’t want to do in my mind but I do it anyway, it is no longer under my power that I am doing, but I have given myself over to sin’s power.”

Laws Cannot Help a Righteous Person (TMF:1673)

Wednesday, August 11, 2021
Peace to Live By: Laws Cannot Help a Righteous Person (TMF:1673) - Daniel Litton
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       So, what was the Jewish Law’s purpose? It was to show people their sin, as Paul said earlier in this book of Romans. This also means that the righteous person is never to live by any law system in their lives. Uh-oh. Yes, you have that right. Can you bring to mind any brothers or sisters who try to live under a law system they have created? Are you trying to do that today? Paul’s got bad news for you. A series of laws cannot help a righteous person, a believer, one of us who has been born again, it can only help an unrighteous person by showing them where their sin is. That’s what he just told Timothy in saying “the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient.” Paul also said in Romans chapter 4: “For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void” (Romans 4:14, ESV).

What was the Jewish Law's Purpose? (TMF:1672)

Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Peace to Live By: What was the Jewish Law's Purpose? (TMF:1672) - Daniel Litton
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       Over in 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul says the following in talking to Timothy: “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted” (1 Timothy 1:8-11, ESV). So, what was the Jewish Law’s purpose? It was to show people their sin, as Paul said earlier in this book of Romans. This also means that the righteous person is never to live by any law system in their lives. Uh-oh. Yes, you have that right. Can you bring to mind any brothers or sisters who try to live under a law system they have created?

What Happens When We Choose to Sin (TMF:1671)

Monday, August 09, 2021
Peace to Live By: What Happens When We Choose to Sin (TMF:1671) - Daniel Litton
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       Remember what Paul said? Let us recall. Ephesians 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (ESV). Hmm. Here, Paul says we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood only. Verse 16 of Romans 7: “Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good” (ESV). Two things happen at the moment we make the wrong choice, when we choose to sin. First, when we do wrong, and then feel bad for it, we show that we agree with what God has said. After all, we have identified whatever incorrect action we have done as sin. We feel bad, coming to understand that we have sinned, and then we confess that sin with our mouths, showing that we agree with God’s law, whether we just confess it to God or whether we confess it to others.