01 The One Problem No One Escapes (Even You)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and we are beginning a new series today entitled What is the Gospel? Unlike most of my series, we aren't going to be looking at a specific passage or a specific book of the Bible, but if you're interested, everything I'm going to tell you comes from my study of Romans, particularly chapters 1 through 8. As always, you will find links and lecture notes for today's talk on our website. For this talk, just go to wednesdayintheword.com slash gospel one. Glad to have you along. Well, for this series, What is the Gospel? The first thing we have to do is understand the problem that the Gospel solves. And to do that, we have to understand what the New Testament means by life and death. And it's a little different, it's a little richer than what we think of today. For us, when we talk about life and death, particularly death, it's just a question of biological viability. We think, does someone have a pulse or not? Are they breathing or not? Are they physically still alive? So in the New Testament, when they talk about death, particularly in relationship to the gospel, it can be confusing because it doesn't seem to fit. They're talking about something other than just a biological reality. And I think this has become increasingly confusing for us modern American Christians because our culture is increasingly minimizing any discussion or understanding of death or the wrath of God. And instead we're promoting a God loves you kind of gospel. And the gospel is much more than God loves you. That's a little misleading, I think. If you're going to summarize it in any way related to God's love, I think you'd have to summarize the gospel as not God loves you as you are, but God loves you in spite of who you are. But we're going to get to that. First we're going to talk about death. Because in the New Testament, when they New Testament authors talk about death, they mean a lot more than the end of a biological viability. Their view of death didn't really focus on the end of life, but on this ongoing process of decay or corruption. So while our contemporary concept looks to the end of existence, the New Testament writers looked at this principle of decay that would ultimately bring about the end of existence. So when they use the term death or one of its synonyms like corruption, decay, mortality, sometimes futility even, they're talking about this inevitable breakdown of existence. So death is not just the end of life but this process of physical decay, a kind of entropy. And if you think about it, nothing in the world is permanent. Trees fall and turn to dust. Plants spring up and then they die and sooner or later turn to dust. Nature wears away mountains, wears away beaches and stones. Sooner or later the sturdiest, tallest buildings turn to rubble. It's just simply a fact of our physical existence that everything, despite our efforts to stop it, everything breaks down and falls apart. I think this concept is what's often described, or it's kind of a counterpart to entropy in physics. Entropy describes the fact that the universe loses available energy. So like you wind up a clock and then it winds down, or you cool off a refrigerator, but then if you leave the door open, it will become warm. It's that same kind of concept of unwinding, of losing energy, and the universe is losing energy. So that physical entropy is death, it's decay, or it's sometimes called corruption in the New Testament. But death includes more than just physical entropy, it also includes what we might call a moral entropy, because this principle of death or decay applies to human existence as well. The same kind of physical decay that happens in the natural world we also see on a personal level. And we see it as divorce, alienation, war, murder, strife, hatred, hostility, this breakdown of relationships. By calling it death, I think the Bible is emphasizing that this is an inescapable part of existence. If we stop and think about it, any human relationship left to itself falls apart. We have to work at relationships, we have to work at friendships and marriages to keep them strong. And if we don't work at them, they fall apart. So marriages fall apart, parents alienate their children, nations go to war, offices become overrun with politics and jealousies and gossiping and friends stop speaking to each other. And all of that from a biblical perspective is what we might call a moral entropy, and it naturally and inevitably results in every relationship. And think about how much work it takes just to maintain a healthy relationship or an intimacy or a friendship with someone. We get tired, we grow weary from this burden of working so hard to maintain our relationships, and then you know you lose a little sleep and it gets even harder or you get put under stress and it's even harder to maintain the relationships. But it doesn't stop there. Death is not just a factor in our physical existence or our friendships and relationships, it also extends to our subjective experience, our personalities. The sins we commit, the sins that are committed against us leave us personally scarred, insecure, fearful, uh obnoxious, destructive, skeptical. They damage us. So this rule of death erodes both our inner personal relationships, but also our subjective personal understanding as well. Our personalities fall apart just like everything else. Let's just take an example of death. The Bible tells us that adultery is wrong, and if I commit adultery, think of all the death that results. There's the obvious in that my relationship with my husband is now damaged and maybe irreparably damaged. There's a trust that's been broken. It will never be the same again because of this act. That's death. My relationship with my children will also be damaged. There will also be a trust broken there, and maybe an insecurity introduced of will mom leave or what kind of example, and then they start acting in and out in ways I wish they wouldn't act because they're following my terrible example. All of that is death. Any possibility of a normal friendship with the other man's wife is now gone because of this thing that I introduced into the relationship. Of course, any possibility of my husband and the other man having a normal friendship is probably gone as well. And then we haven't even talked about all the lies that would be involved to cover it up, the time that's lost, which could have been spent in more productive ways on family or relationships. So death becomes like throwing a pebble into the pond where the rings of water go out and out and out. Death is like that, one act of sin, one tragic mistake, and it just ripples outward. Now, remember there is no sin or hurt so deep that God cannot heal and redeem it. And we're going to talk more about that when we start talking about hope. But right now, my the point I'm trying to make is that sin leads to death. This breakdown, this decay, this corruption I've been talking about, the lies, the insecurity, the broken trust, the anger, the strife, the bitterness, jealousy, broken hearts, loss, friendship, all of that is death. And all of that results from a sinful action like adultery. So the bad news of the gospel is we are ruled by death, as I've just defined it, because of our rebellion to God. So as a result of our evil, our ignorance, our rebellion to God, just like the physical universe, we are now ruled and governed by this principle of death and decay. Death, as we've talked about it just now, is the natural, logical, inevitable consequence of sin and rebellion. So death manifested in tragedies like divorce and war and alienation and strife and hatred and bitterness and jealousy and insecurities, and we could go on and on with that list. All of that is death, and it necessarily results from rebellion to God. And it is the norm of human existence. As long as we remain in rebellion to God, we are going to be ruled by death. The further bad news is we are unable to escape this rule of death by ourselves. Not only is death an inevitable direct consequence of human existence because of our sin, we can't change it and we can't stop it. We are prisoners of death. Though we can work hard to overcome some of the decay in our lives and redeem relationships and try to repair the damage we've caused, we cannot change the fact that our existence is falling apart. So we can scramble to snatch on to kindness and generosity and one kind act, but then we lose to others in the process. And sometimes even, well, often even the righteous acts we do perform are laced with sin and death because of our selfish motivations. So the Bible tells us, Paul tells us in Romans 1, we are prisoners of death because we are inherently rebellious to God. From a biblical perspective, God is the only being that has life, and we're going to define that in just a minute. God is the only being that has this principle of life in and of himself. If we have life, it is because he has given it to us, and when we reject him, we lose his offer of life. We keep on existing, we keep on physically breathing, our hearts are beating, but now we are ruled by death instead of life. So let's talk about life. The Bible often talks about eternal life in the gospel, and that literally means the life of the age of ages or the life of the age to come. And it is the kind of life we will have in the age that is the fullest of all ages. So in the kingdom of God, in heaven, this moral entropy, this death that we talked about, it's going to be reversed. And we will be ruled by life rather than by death. We will be people who naturally enhance goodness, who promote righteousness, who encourage all that's best and wonderful. We will be new creatures that instead of destroying everything around us through our sinfulness and our selfishness and our ignorance and evil, we will now nurture and uphold and enhance the goodness around us. That's our hope. And we're going to talk more about that as in coming weeks. And we'll see it is worth waiting for. It is literally worth everything to gain that. I think that's the point of the parable of the Pearl of Great Price. But this rule of life or righteousness is so intrinsically valuable, nothing in our present experience compares to it. We get glimpses of it now, we get a taste of it, but we don't yet have the full installment. Just as sin leads to death, holiness or righteousness leads to life. Let's talk about what righteousness means. It has basically two meanings. Both of them are legitimate. The context tells you which one is is being talked about, but it means right standing before God. And there are two ways we can be right standing before God. One is we are right before God because our debt to justice has been paid, and we're going to talk about this in a coming talk. I'm going to call that justification, and we're going to talk about what that means in detail next week. So that's the first meaning, right standing before God because our debt to justice has been paid, or justification. The second thing righteousness can mean is right standing before God because we have been freed completely from sin and death. And I'm going to call that holiness. Holiness is having that character of moral integrity, of being unflawed, unmarred by sin and death. So holiness is having the kind of character that is ruled by life. Now, the Bible will sometimes use righteousness to mean that, sometimes holiness, just for clarity in these talks. I'm going to call that holiness. I'm going to call the satisfying our debt to justice, justification, and we're going to talk more about those coming up. But let's talk about holiness right now. Holiness comes from life, just like death comes from sin. Holiness is the exact opposite of this principle of death. If to be holy is to have a character that is awe-inspiring. And it is one thing that we will one day share with God. He has promised to make us holy in the way He is holy. So we will be awesome in the same way God is in terms of this kind of moral perfection and beauty and integrity. When I was a new Christian, I never understood what the big deal was about holiness or why anyone would want it. I kind of thought, well, you know, God's willing to give us the good times if we would just be good because He likes people being good, so holiness is kind of this thing we have to endure now so that God would reward us later. But as I came to understand more about wisdom and what the Bible teaches, I realized that holiness is the very thing my heart longs for because it means this freedom from sin and death. And nothing else is going to satisfy us, not pleasure or power, no comfort, no security, nothing in the material world, nothing like health or friendships or marriages, none of that is ultimately going to satisfy us because we were made to be holy and our souls long for it. And if we have holiness, then we have everything that life has to offer. If we lack holiness, we've got nothing. And if we could just see, just get a glimpse or a taste of what holiness really and truly is, we would hunger and thirst for it. I think from Paul's perspective in Romans that is the point of human existence is to lay hold of holiness. That's kind of one of the foundational premises behind the gospel. I lack holiness because I am now ruled by sin and death, and I need to be freed from that, sin and death and made holy again. Holiness or righteousness in that sense is the goal of salvation. We are being rescued from unholiness, we are being rescued from this rule of death, and we are being rescued to or saved to holiness, this rule of life. So salvation is more than being saved from going to hell and instead you get to go to heaven. I think in many ways our concept of heaven is lacking because heaven is this kingdom of righteousness. It is the kingdom where righteousness reigns unadulterated, uncorrupted, not marred by evil. It's not just super pleasure or good times, it is the age where holiness and life will rule instead of evil and sin and death. I used to think that holiness was a condition for salvation. You know, I don't want to go to hell, so I better be holy. I gotta kind of work up to holiness so that God will reward me with not going to hell. But what I've come to understand is holiness is part of the reward. It's not extra points, it's not something I do out of gratitude for God. It's something that God is doing for me. He is making me holy. So it's not, oh gee, after all God's done for me, the least I can do is be holy. It's that I want to be holy, I want to be freed from sin and death, and that is what God has promised me in the gospel. Imagine a world where marriages inevitably naturally just got better and you didn't have to work at it. Imagine a world where you always knew the perfect thing to say that would bring goodness and joy and kindness and compassion to someone. Imagine being the kind of person where everyone you touched, everyone you came in contact with was better for having come in contact with you. That's what holiness is. That's the promise of the gospel, that one day, because we will be freed from sin and death, we will be the kind of people that have this sort of reverse midas touch where everything we touch is better because we are no longer ruled by sin and death. So God is the sole source of life because He alone can give holiness. Holiness is completely God's doing from beginning to end. It's not cooperative, it's not something I earn like Browning points, and then God blesses me. It's not that God comes along and helps me if I just try hard enough. I don't have holiness in me. I am ruled by sin and death, and if God doesn't save me, I will not be saved. If he doesn't make me holy and change me, I will not have it. Now, just as sin inevitably and unavoidably leads to death as we defined it, holiness inevitably leads to life, as we just talked about, the absolute opposite of a life marked by death. And this is the incredible gift of God that He is giving us through the gospel. He gives us a taste of that kind of life now. He promises that we will make us into people of faith to grant us wisdom and righteousness, and the more he we the farther along we get into that process, the more he changes us, the more we will experience life. So we have a down payment, but we don't have the full installment. In the age to come, in the kingdom of God, we will have the complete gift and be freed completely from the power, the presence, and the penalty of sin. So from all its effects and consequences. Paul sums this up in Romans 6 23 when he says, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So the wages of sin is death, that's what we've just been talking about, that when we sin we will experience death in one of its many forms. But the free gift of God is eternal life, the kind of life we will have in the age of ages if we have faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. So of course the big question is how do we escape death and gain life? I mentioned we can't do it ourselves, we can't change it on our own, and that we need to have our debt to justice paid before God will deliver us from sin and death, and having that debt paid is what we're going to call justification, and that'll be in the next podcast. We're going to talk about that in detail. But for now, let's just talk about some of the implications of having this accurate understanding of life and death. One, it gives us a common ground for evangelism, because everyone has experienced death, as we've just talked about. Everyone's had the experience of life is just not what it's meant to be, or getting what you want and finding out it's not as good as you thought it would be. And that's because of death. And that makes the gospel personally relevant because we all grow sick of death. And when we hit that point where we're sick and tired of the sin and death in our lives, then we are ready to hear the good news of the gospel. We're ready to learn where to find life. Now we may mistakenly seek life in drugs or alcohol or romance or super careers or hedonism, but we aren't going to find it there. And if we can reach people with the understanding that that we were not meant. To be this way. We were not meant to live like this. There is a solution to this problem. That's the first step toward faith. Because every other religion says the solution to this problem of death is try harder. Do that for a while and you will learn trying harder doesn't work. So understanding death as properly and accurately gives us this common ground for evangelism. It's also a deterrent to sin. When we're faced with temptation, whenever we're facing a choice, we can remember if it's wrong, it will lead to death. And if you want death, choose the sin because death is guaranteed. Just like if you drop a book, the law of graffiti means it's gonna hit the ground. If you sin, you will experience death. There is no way around it. And if you're sick of death, then you want to try to avoid sin. So it can be a deterrent when we're faced with temptation. And it's something I think we ought to teach to our children. Remind them it doesn't matter whether you get caught, it doesn't matter whether, oh, no one else will be hurt, that's just a lie, it will hurt because it will lead to death. It will hurt you yourself or it will hurt someone else or maybe multiple people. Understanding death is a common ground for evangelism, it's a deterrent to sin when we're faced with temptation. I think it's also a good principle by which we can evaluate books and movies and TV shows. How well does a movie or a book or a show reflect this reality? If sin doesn't lead to death, if it if sin is presented as neutral or having no effects at all, then it's just fantasy. And you'd want to point out that's fantasy. For example, I love Star Trek, my husband is a big Star Trek fan, but it's fantasy because sin never has consequences in Star Trek world. But in real life it does. And then understanding death also makes sense of a lot of our human experience. It explains why bad things happen to so-called good people. Because we live in a world that is ruled by sin and death. And to the extent that we are sinful, we're gonna experience this death, we're gonna experience these tragedies. To the extent that everyone around us is sinful, we're gonna experience sin and death. It's just part of life now because we are ruled by sin and death. But the promise of the gospel is there is a means of escape. It's not through our self-effort, it's through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's a free gift of God. Thank you for listening to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. This is the podcast that explains not only what a pastor means, but also teaches you how to figure that out. If you've been blessed by this podcast, I'd love to hear your story. I love hearing feedback. Email me at feedback at wednesdayintheword.com and tell a friend if you've enjoyed this podcast. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or however you get your podcast. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates of Heartfeltmusic.org. I'm Krisan Marotta, and you can hear more or listen to previous episodes on wednesdayintheword.com.