Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, dear ones.

We returned home so late last evening, and I had such a pull toward the bed, that I failed to get this off. The whole day was full. The first half included church with two little boys…while Thano had gone to his shift at Safeway. On the other hand, I confess that I was successful at getting in a Sunday afternoon old man nap before we ran off to our Gospel Sing session at Pheasant Pointe. An unexpected visitor then consumed the time I had slated for this devotional routine.

Anyway, it’s now 4:40am…so I’ll get this off now…and then turn my attention to the production for today.

Blessings. Love, Dad/Ray.

This BIBLICAL FACT is at the core of the BIBLICAL GOSPEL. If we are not hopelessly lost and bound by the SIN NATURE, then the GOSPEL of SALVATION (redemption, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, etc.) makes no sense whatsoever! If I am not LOST, why would I need to be found—and saved?! Let’s agree—if I am not lost, all this Christian and Biblical stuff is just so much worthless nonsense!

But if this is a presentation of TRUTH, then I AM LOST and in desperate need of a SAVIOR, and whether or not I am aware, my NATURAL SIN NATURE reigns. Herein is what makes the GOOD NEWS of the GOSPEL so good—I don’t have to remain a slave to my SINFUL NATURE. By means of this incredible GIFT OF GOD through CHRIST as my SAVIOR and LORD, I am presented with the option to actually “participate in the DIVINE NATURE (way more beneficial than the SINFUL NATURE) and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:14). Wow! Taking the whole landscape of my frail and faulty being into view, why in the world would I ever want to consider passing up this GOSPEL opportunity?!

Consider again the last sentence of chapter 7: “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” In other words, God’s revelation of TRUTH sets off a major conflict in my mind—confirming my guilt before a Holy God. If I simply hang and rattle in that condition—it’s a HELL of a way to live! That’s exactly what Paul is exclaiming at the end of this chapter: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” But just before the pressure cooker explodes, Paul activates the relief valve—“Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Whew! There is hope! There is solution!—“through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Now let’s jump ahead to Romans 12:2 as it clearly presents the wonderful option of what you and I CAN DO (through Christ) in order to break free from the bondage of our minds to the SINFUL NATURE: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world (the SINFUL NATURE), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

God’s Word, properly consumed and digested, is transformational for anyone who has been living only on the world’s junk food—the standard diet of the SINFUL NATURE.