Latest / The Daily Word / May 26 – Freedom Through Death
Transcript
- Robert Rosales: Good morning, Lakeshore family. Welcome to the Daily Word podcast. I'm Robert Rosales, and alongside my wife Yolanda, we have the honor of serving as campus pastors at our Gastonia location. This podcast is a simple space we share each day to slow down, open God's Word, and pay attention to what he's saying. As a church family, we're committed to meeting with God daily, not out of religious routine. but out of a relationship through scripture, through prayer, and by capturing what the Holy Spirit is stirring in our hearts and how it connects to our everyday lives. We're walking together through the Life Journal reading plan, and today we'll be focusing on the New Testament portion from that plan. Now, when I invest time with the Lord, I try to keep things uncluttered. Just my Bible, my journal, something to write with, and a highlighter. to mark what stands out. At times, I'll also lean in on a couple of trusted study tools to help me to go a little deeper and stay grounded in the context. We also follow the SOAP method, S-O-A-P, Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. As you know, it's just a simple and practical way not just to read God's Word, but to respond to God after we read it. Now, before we jump into today's passage, come on, if you know it, say it with me. This is my Bible. It is God's Word written to me. I am who it says I am. I can do what it says I can do. I can have what it says I can have. So I receive it as truth for my life today and open my heart to hear God speak a word revealed Jesus to me. Fill me with the Holy Spirit, then send me out to share Christ with others so that my life will be changed forever. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, church, today's passage for May 26th is from Romans chapter seven. And I journaled from verse one. I read the whole chapter, but I came back to verse one because it really caught my attention. Let me read it to you. Do you not know, brothers and sisters, for I'm speaking to those who know the law, that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives. Listen to that again. The law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives. The CEV version Bible says it this way. My friends, you surely understand enough about law to know that laws only have power over people who are alive. Now here's a title of my journal entry. You could jot it down. Freedom Through Death. What? What are you talking about, Pastor Robert? Well, let me explain. This is my observation. If you don't understand verse one, you can miss the whole chapter. Paul is speaking to people who know the law, likely they're Jewish believers or those familiar with the Old Testament Mosaic law. And he's appealing to something they would all agree on. One, the law governs the living. Two, death ends legal obligation. Now that's not just theological, it's common sense. A dead person is no longer under legal contracts, obligations, or penalties. Paul is setting up an analogy, which he explains in verses two through three with marriage. But the main idea is already here. Death changes your relationship to the law. Now friends, this is super important because this connects directly to what he said in Romans chapter six. He said, You've died with Christ. You've been crucified with Christ. Therefore, something fundamental has changed about your relationship to sin and the law. I don't know if you've ever heard of Watchman Ni, but Watchman Ni was a Chinese pastor and teacher who called Christians to stop striving and start living from their new identity in Christ. Ni said, God doesn't reform your old nature. He crucifies it with Christ. Knee's core insight was the problem isn't just what you do, sin. The problem is who you are in Adam. So God doesn't fix that old version of you. He ends it. Come on, somebody say amen. He ends it. So here's the big idea from Romans 7-1. The law only has authority over the living. So if you've died in Christ, your relationship to the law has fundamentally changed. You are free. Let me give you an illustration. Imagine you had a massive debt. Credit cards, loans, everything stacked up. Every month, the statements come in. Every month, there's pressure. Every month, you're trying to keep up. Then one day, someone steps in and pays the entire debt in full. Now here's the question. What if the next month, you still kept sending payments? Still stressing, still living like you owed something. At some point, someone would look at you and say, why are you still trying to pay a debt that's already been dealt with? Well, that's exactly what Paul's getting at. The law had authority over you as long as you were alive in that old system, trying, striving, measuring yourself by performance. But in Christ, that version of you died. So now, the bill may still try to show up. The voice of obligation may still speak, but legally, spiritually, it has no authority over you anymore. You're not trying to pay off a spiritual debt anymore. You're learning to live from a finished work. Wow. Because all this is true, we're no longer trying to serve God from an old life under sin. That guy's dead. Now we're empowered by the Spirit of Christ and we live from our new nature and our new identity in Him. Come on, somebody say that's good news. Now how does this apply to my life? How does it apply to our lives? Well, as a follower of Christ, I'm no longer bound by the Old Testament Mosaic Law. That way of life depended on the flesh to try in and through its own efforts to live rightly before God. Moving forward, I will lean into the Holy Spirit who lives in me and be mindful of the fact that I am a new creation in Christ and my old nature was crucified with Christ and is dead, buried, and gone. Come on, somebody pray with me. Father God, thank you for speaking to us today through your word. Holy Spirit, help us to live this out. Help us remember that our old nature is dead. I now live from the power of the Holy Spirit. This means I can now live in a way that is honoring and pleasing to God, not by my power or ability. but by the Spirit of the living God on the inside of me. I ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Lakesore family, as you go into your day, my prayer is that you'll develop a hunger for God and His word like you've never had before. As you do, God will open your eyes to the riches of His word, giving you revelation and life-changing insight that will help you become everything God's called you to be. fulfilling your mission, purpose, and plan for our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thanks for joining me today on the Daily Word Podcast. I hope this encourages you to stay faithful in the Word and sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading. Come on, step out in faith and share this with someone who needs some encouragement. God bless you, and we'll catch you again tomorrow.