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Genesis 2:9, Revelation 22:2-3

The Tree of Life

Mankind’s relationship with God was spoiled by a tree in the early chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. It was the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil.” That speaks to me of the law. It’s the basis of relating to God in what we do. Do good! Don’t do evil, and God will accept you! But God would never accept that as the basis of a relationship with man. If we subscribe to that relationship, we will always fail (See Romans 7). Any relationship with God must be based on His provision and His grace. We can wrap all the fig leaves around us from that tree we want, but it won’t take away the truth of our sinful character. God will have to provide the covering for our sin: the lamb! It’s the only acceptable way to relate to God.

Yet we love the fig leaves. Even when we come to faith in Christ and receive God’s Son, it is so easy to look around for a list of behaviors that will help us feel good about ourselves instead of being increasingly thankful to God. I’m always using “to-do” lists in order to have successful days. I feel like I’ve done well when I check things off my list. I agree with Colin Smith, who says, “The real joy of a To-do list comes later in the day when you draw a heavy line through each item and mark it ‘Done.’ There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of knowing that everything you planned to do is complete.” But the truth is, God will not relate to us on the basis of our “to-do” lists. That’s good! I have failed very often to accomplish my “to do” lists each day. I keep using them and find them helpful for daily life, but they represent a terrible way to relate to God. We will never be successful enough to win God’s favor by what we don’t do or even by what we do do. This is fig leaf living. We will never be able to cover our failures with good works.

Now, the last book of the Bible, actually, the last chapter of the last book of the bible, Revelation 22, introduces us again to the Tree of Life. The dove returned with an olive leaf to indicate that God’s wrath and judgment on man’s failure was over. It’s time for God’s grace to enter and bring peace and healing to the world. This chapter is about the eternal state of mankind at the end of our struggles on earth. Verses 2 and 3 tell us, “…through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed…” It is the “leaves” of the tree of life that bring healing. The Bible begins with a tree which brought death and a curse to the entire world. This tree is representative of man’s religion. It’s the source and the force behind most wars of man’s history. The Bible finishes with a tree that brings healing for all the nations and eternal life to all mankind.

Ephesians 6:13, James 4:16-17, 1 Peter 5:6-7

Victory begins with Surrender

Ephesians 6:13 says that we need the “full armor of God” in order to “resist” the evil one. James also uses the idea of resistance when he says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). So, submission and resistance are two opposites. We are not to resist God, but rather, we are to submit to Him. The immediately preceding verse explains why. It says, “But He gives more grace.” He is a gracious God who calls us to humble ourselves to Him, and He will meet all our needs. God always has our best interests foremost in mind, regardless of our circumstances in life. He is always gracious and loving towards us. God is always good! All the time, God is good! He will take care of us amidst all the battles of life. We must surrender! Throw ourselves to the ground before God in complete surrender.

The rest of verse 6 says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” This is truly telling in its context. Satan’s sin was pride. Opposing Satan is opposing his prideful spirit. As he addressed Adam & Eve, he addresses us to doubt God’s good intentions and to think we can do it without God. Humility empties the self of self-sufficient independence from God. Humility places the self under God. We’ll never be able to resist the devil if we haven’t first submitted to God. They are opposite sides of the same coin. The word “submit” was a military term. James puts his language in terms of warfare. We are at war with the devil. A humble person submits to his Commander-in-Chief. By giving allegiance to the Lord, the devil will flee from us.

We cannot do battle with Satan on our own. He’s a supernatural being with resources and abilities beyond us. Even the Archangel Michael called upon the Lord to rebuke him. Only arrogance leads us to think we can obtain spiritual victory over this great spiritual being on our own. Humbling ourselves to God is the first and most powerful step in confronting evil. We must appropriate for ourselves God’s value system in our lives. In his commentary on James, Richison says, “To the degree that we live with the principles of God’s Word and apply them to our lives, to that degree we ‘submit to God.’” He goes on, “We accept His superiority as God and our inferiority as creatures in doing this. We obey God Almighty because His providence is best for us, for God knows everything from beginning to end.” Peter adds to this thinking in 1 Peter 5:6-7. He writes, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Then he concludes his discussion with this comment, “Our walk with the Lord always begins with submission to the authority of God over our lives. When we realize how the greatness of God towers over our finiteness, we draw on God’s power rather than our own. Without God’s grace, there is no hope for living the Christian life. We need that grace when we come under attack from Satan.”

Ephesians 6:14, Galatians 6:3

Way to Go!

The belt of truth is an essential piece of equipment in doing spiritual battle with the enemy. Truth protects us. Truth strengthens us. Truth supports us at our most strenuous moments. If you’ve ever watched weightlifters, you might notice that they often wear huge leather belts that are tightly buckled around their midsections. Being “girded around” with truth is like that belt. It strengthens and supports us where we need it most. We have more confidence in the lift. We can handle heavier burdens. We can face greater challenges. We are more prepared for the strenuous lift.  When I worked for UPS during my Seminary days, I was charged with loading boxes onto trucks for delivery the next day. Some of those boxes were very heavy, and I would wear a weight-lifter belt to help me through my shift.  Truth can be like that belt. Without the protection that truth provides, we are weakened in every way and less capable of defending ourselves from spiritual attacks.

But humans are experts at deceiving themselves. We’ve all known people who “really think they’re something special.” Of course, you and I have never had such thoughts! Paul tells the Galatians that “if any of you think you are something when you are nothing, you deceive yourselves” (Galatians 6:3). Paul also told the Romans (12:3) that we ought not to think more highly of ourselves than we should. We often fall into the trap of thinking we’re more important than we really are. That kind of self-deceit destroys our capabilities to stand firm against the schemes of the father of lies, the prideful opponent of God. Jon Courson writes in his “Application Commentary” on this verse in Galatians, “It has been wisely said that to determine how important you are, stick your finger into a bucket of water, pull it out, and see how long it takes to fill the hole. We all have a tendency to think we’re irreplaceable—but we’re not. Paul doesn’t say we deceive ourselves if we are nothing. He says we deceive ourselves because we are nothing.”

In our walk with the Lord, one thing becomes perfectly clearer as we get older: we’re not as competent, intelligent, witty, or handsome as we thought we were. John the Baptist had it down from the beginning of his ministry. In John 3:30, he explains the entire direction of his life and ministry when he was asked about Jesus. He said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The word “must” is worth noticing. It was not optional for John. It’s not optional for any of us either. Jesus made it clear that in his organizational structure it’s the least that will be the greatest. It’s the last who will be the first. In God’s estimation, the way up is always the way down. Which way are you going?

Romans 7:1-4

The Widow Maker

There are numerous uses of the idea of “adultery” as the picture or illustration of how Israel had turned away from God to have affairs with other gods, particularly the gods of the people who lived around them. The whole book of Hosea is about how a faithful husband (the picture of God) had married a woman who was continually being unfaithful to him. Yet, the husband repeatedly accepted her back because he had loved her so much. The idea of “unfaithfulness” and “adultery” is familiar to Bible readers. In the New Testament, however, Paul uses the idea in a very fascinating way. Romans 7 actually begins with a discussion about this idea of unfaithfulness in a marriage. Paul writes in the first three verses, “Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? A married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.”

Paul has used marriage and adultery to help us understand our relationship with God and with the law. You see we’ve all been born espoused (so to speak) to the Law of sin and death. We personally consummated that contract when we reached the age of accountability and sinned on our own accord. Therefore, we might say we were born married to the Law! Law is our husband. He dictated our behavior. He instructed us on what is right and wrong, and it was his permanent goal to keep us following his rules. Psalm 19, says, “The law of the Lord is perfect.” Being perfect, it shows no love, no compassion whatsoever. He tells us everything that we’re supposed to do but he doesn’t help us one bit. All he constantly does is point out to us every way and every time that we fail! It’s “death” to be married to someone like that. It destroys us. Paul says it brings a ministry of death. In 2 Corinthians 3:6-7, he writes, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  He refers to life under the law as a “Ministry of death, carved in letters on stone…”

But God loves us! So, he devised a plan to get you and I out of our marriage to this miserable mate called the law. God planned a murder! He did not kill the Law. He killed you and me! The person married to the Law died! Then after our death, he allowed us to be born again. This is what Paul was getting at in Romans 7:4. He said, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead.” Again, Paul lays this truth out for as at the beginning of Romans chapter 8. He says that the “law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us…”

1 Corinthians 15:56-57

Human Beings

So many times in my life, I have gone through the same struggles that Paul describes in Romans 7. I’ve been confused by my inability to control my thoughts, words, and deeds. I’ve felt guilt and shame. I’ve seen some practices become addictive behavior patterns and compulsive in ways. I’ve wrestled with frustration and experienced great discouragement bordering on despair. I’ve had great intentions, I’ve practiced spiritual disciplines, I’ve made promises to myself, to God, to my wife and family, and yet still felt enslaved to these attitudes and actions. I’ve experimented with various methods of gaining victory over these sinful aspects of my life, but all to no avail. The harder I tried, the harder I failed! It’s just beginning to dawn on me in a very powerful and real way that my problem has been and still is at times associated with the methods I’ve used and still look to for deliverance. It’s not that I used the wrong method; it’s that I believed at any time that victory over my indwelling sin could be won through any method at all. Victory over sin cannot be achieved through any “right” method, practice, program, prescription, or principle. Victory is only permanently found in a person: Jesus Christ! Paul summarizes this truth at the end of the book of 1 Corinthians. In Chapter 15, verses 56-57, he writes, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Even when I’ve been able to find some measure of success in some particular effort, it was, at best, temporary. Usually, I’d end up finding another outlet for my compulsions. Sometimes, I’d become angry and disconsolate. I’d become argumentative and bitter. I’d take my anger, for example, out on myself instead or on someone else and become discouraged and depressed. I’ve heard depression is actually defined as anger turned on one’s self. I’ve even found that at times of success, I’d become proud of my accomplishment and look around in comparison to others who aren’t quite as spiritual as I was at the time! I just traded one sin for another! The point I’m trying to make is that trying to make life correction through some method or practice is the typical behavior of someone whose life is still ruled by the law!

You see the system of “law” is that practice by which a person tries to make spiritual progress, or possibly win God’s favor and gain His blessings, based on WHAT he DOES in life rather than WHO he IS! I am great at living in the “ought to,” “must do,” and “should do” realms. I plan more programs, work longer hours, give less time to my wife and family, let my boundaries become murky and allow the demands of others and of the job become addictive and compulsive patterns. Living under the dictatorial rule of the law is a miserable way to live always leading to defeat and despair. The flesh is enslaved to the law. It makes us “human doings” but God created us to be “human beings.”

Romans 5:20-21

Stay Connected

In my battle against the spiritual forces of darkness, I don’t often feel like I’m doing really well. I keep trying harder and harder, and it results in my failing and failing. I find over and over again that when it’s all about me and my effort, I just can’t measure up to God’s standard. I say stupid things! I think bad thoughts! I act in ways unbecoming of a soldier of Christ. The consequences of Romans chapter 7 seem to be mine. My inconsistent behavior, thought life, and tongue confuse me. I just don’t understand why this is part of my life. Why am I plagued with this radical inconsistency? Further, I feel guilt and shame. I’m frequently frustrated, which almost always leads to discouragement. This, then, leads me to the brink of despair.

Then I came to my senses and remembered that the war had already been won. Jesus Christ won that victory on the cross for me. I must not let my connection with him get loose. It’s when I take my eyes off Jesus that I begin to drown in the sea of trouble. It’s when I put my mind on my own strengths that my weaknesses overwhelm me. As I reconnect, the strength returns. The ultimate result is guaranteed. It’s so encouraging to know that complete and comprehensive victory is certain. When we look at ourselves in the light of God’s strict moral codes, called “the law,” we see ourselves and our sin as clearly as the pimple on my chin when I look into the mirror. The law brings sin alive in our flesh and awakens our souls to our weaknesses. The interesting thing is that was its intent. Paul writes, “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20–21). You see, the victory is indeed ours. God’s grace always triumphs over man’s sin. The point is, as James M. Boice puts it, “…regardless of how badly we may think we are doing now or how near despair we may be due to the intensity or duration of the struggle. It is the very knowledge of a final victory that will enable us to fight on.”

Boice goes on to illustrate his point: “When the armies of Oliver Cromwell were winning battle after battle in the English Civil War, it was said of them that they could not lose because they knew, even before they started to fight, that God had given them the victory. I do not know how true that was of Cromwell’s army. There were Christians on both sides of that conflict, and Cromwell’s cause was not entirely free of base motives. But whatever the case with Cromwell’s soldiers in those very human battles, the principle does hold true for us, the soldiers of Jesus Christ who are engaged in fierce spiritual warfare against sin. Apart from Jesus, not one of us can prevail for a moment. But united to him, we not only can prevail. We will.”

Romans 5:1-2, 1 Chronicles 29:11, 1 John 5:4-5

We are the Champions

Jesus won the victory for us on the cross of Calvary. The war is over, and victory has been won. We must believe it! Back in chapter 5, verses 1 & 2, Paul reminded us, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” The phrase in this verse I want to focus on is “the grace in which we stand.” In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul explains the Spiritual armor that every believer needs to “stand” against the strategies of the enemy. He repeatedly says how important it is for us “to stand.” We are not to surrender ground for any reason. Please notice that our stance is in “the Grace” of God. It’s not in our strength, intellect, willpower, procedure, process, or principle; instead, it is God’s grace demonstrated on our behalf on Calvary. How do we occupy this land called “grace.” There’s only one way to get there. There is only one way to occupy this land. It is the same way for both. The road leading to and the way to maintain our victory through God’s Grace is Faith! Faith is the channel that opens God’s grace to us in spite of all our sin, weaknesses, and failures that lead us to frustration, confusion, defeat, discouragement, and despair.

The Old Testament always associates victory with the power of God. It’s his omnipotent hand that gave David and the Israelites victory. He is the God of power, glory, and majesty who fully controls his creation. Some of my favorite verses are in chapter 29 and verse 11. You’ve heard me quote Jeremiah 29:11 frequently. It says, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord: Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 1 Chronicles 29:11 says, “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.”

He gives us that victory! It belongs to all believers! This is one of the major themes of the book of Hebrews as all the saints of old are considered as victors even amidst trials, persecution and even martyrdom. But even more clearly, the Apostle John, says, in his first Epistle, Chapter 5, verses 4 and 5, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Through the channel of faith, Christians know the victory because of what God has done in Jesus Christ. We can look without fear at the complete vanquishing of sin and death! We are the champions!

Romans 7:23-25, Colossians 2:14-15

Victory in Jesus

When we focus all our attention on ourselves and fight the spiritual battles of life with our own resources, we will always fail. We will live defeated lives. 41 times in Romans chapter 7, Paul uses the first person pronoun to describe his battle with sin: I, my, me, myself, etc. Not once has there been mention of the Holy Spirit. In Chapter 8, over 20 times, the Spirit is brought as the source of our strength and power to withstand the onslaughts of the enemy. Chapter 7 is the picture of the defeated life: confusion, guilt, shame, compulsions and addictions, self-condemnation, and frustration, all leading to discouragement, defeat, and despair.

Despite the despair that may come from our struggles with sin, there is always hope. In Romans 7, Paul ends with an explosion of despair, but it is quickly followed by an explosion of praise and thanksgiving. He writes, “O, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature?” Then comes the praise! “But thanks be to God, it has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He set me free.” (Romans 7:23-25). This is a powerful reminder that we have all failed in our struggles against the sin that dwells within us. We’ve all fallen short of God’s standard and we all sin. But Paul’s words make it clear that God “canceled the record of the charges against us.” God wipes the slate clean for you and me through our faith in Jesus Christ. How did God erase all our sin? Let me go on with the rest of the quote from Colossians 2:14-15. He not only cancelled the record of the charges against us, but also he “took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”

The victory over sin was won on the cross for us all. Duguid, in his commentary on Numbers, beautifully explains this. He writes, “At the cross, mercy and justice joined hands as God’s glory was made manifest most fully. Jesus Christ, our faithful pioneer, walked through this sin-tangled world with perfect righteousness not for forty days but for thirty-three years. In so doing, he earned life through his faithfulness, not just for himself but for all those who are united to him by faith. In his perfect life, God’s righteous demands on us are satisfied. In his substitutionary death, God’s justice is satisfied, and at the same time his mercy is displayed to outcasts and rebels. Everyone who looks to him and cries out in the wilderness, “Lord Jesus, be merciful to me, a sinner” finds in him God’s invitation to eternal rest. That offer is open to you, no matter who you are or what you have done. You don’t need to strive in your own strength any longer or to lament the depth of your failure. You are indeed no contender in the fight for eternal significance and never could have been, but Jesus Christ has contended for you and has won the victory on your behalf. This is a promise of rest and hope that is always available to you.

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