A key component of God’s intricate plan of salvation is for his church, his bride, to live out her physical life in the world without allowing her soul to be assimilated into it. His blueprint accounts for every contingency: sending a live-in life coach – his Spirit, assuring an advocate with Himself - his crucified, risen, now-reigning Son, composing a letter of faithful, loving promise - his Living Word. In consummate righteousness, Jesus holds eternal status as the King supreme over All Kings and the Lord supreme over all Lords. He rules with terrible justice and mighty power. He is the plumbline of Amos 7. It is an excessively grim self-condemnation to continue living next door, quaking in fear of the Plumbline, having been invited in to live with him, the Seat of Justice of the whole earth, to bask in the security of his radiant glory, his Shalom.

Romans 7:5-25

1. vv. 5 - 12 – Sin defined.

2. vv. 13,14 – Sin displayed.

3. vv. 15 – 20 – Sin desired.

4. vv. 21 – 25 – Sin defeated.

“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
― Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God
“We sinned for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love, and He saved us for no reason but an incomprehensible excess of love.”
― Peter Kreeft, Jesus-Shock