Sermon notes by Giles
The glory of God

God’s purpose in creation was to create man in his own image and have fellowship with him, Adam at creation was covered in God’s glory and he did not know his nakedness , we know however that man was created with free will and the ability to exercise that will. Having our own will is not wrong, it’s where our will does not line up with God’s will they problem starts. In the garden Man was given clear instructions – eat any fruit you like just not the one I tell you, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he was allowed to eat of the tree of life and any other seed bearing plant. Man was deceived and tempted into lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and the pride of life – fruit looked good, was good to eat and could make one wise.
We know that at this point man sinned and sin entered the world , man was choose his way over God’s and was kicked out of the garden least he eat of the tree of life and live forever. Therefore he had fallen from God’s glory and knew he was naked , he hid in shame. But God had a plan – revealed to Adam there that the woman’s seed Christ would someday crush the head of the evil deceiver This was God’s plan for redemption His purpose in redemption may be summed up in two phrases, one from each of our two sections of Romans. It is: “The glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “The glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
In Romans 3:23 we read: “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God”. God’s purpose for man was glory, but sin thwarted that purpose by causing man to miss God’s glory. When we think of sin we instinctively think of the judgment it brings; we invariably associate it with condemnation and hell.
Jesus came and we read in John 1 v 14 that we saw him in his glory and the glory of the father, and he was a man as God intended
So the plan of redemption was put into the life and death of Christ. These are the four things that show us that plan.
• The Blood of Christ to deal with sins and guilt.
• The Cross of Christ to deal with sin, the flesh and the natural man.
• The Life of Christ made available to indwell, re-create and empower man.
• The Working of Death in the natural man that that indwelling Life may be progressively manifest.
Some of us may only be aware of the blood cleansing us from sin others have realised their place on the cross with Christ. others still have his resurrection life working through us recreating and empowering us to live the life he has called us for
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:23)
Romans 5 v 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.
24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:24-26).
A clear conscience is never based upon our attainment; it can only be based on the work of the Lord Jesus in the shedding of His Blood.
I may be mistaken, but I feel very strongly that some of us are thinking in terms such as these: ‘Today I have been a little more careful; today I have been doing a little better; this morning I have been reading the Word of God in a warmer way, so today I can pray better!’ Or again, ‘Today I have had a little difficulty with the family; I began the day feeling very gloomy and moody; I am not feeling too bright now; it seems that there must be something wrong; therefore I cannot approach God.’
What, after all, is your basis of approach to God? Do you come to Him on the uncertain ground of your feeling, the feeling that you may have achieved something for God today? Or is your approach based on something far more secure, namely, the fact that the Blood has been shed, and that God looks on that Blood and is satisfied?
Eph 2 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
If he died for us then we also may say that it is a historical fact that we died with him, and if we died with him then we shall also live with him – 2 Tim 2 10
Paul knew this he says in Gal 2.20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Romans 6:6

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Romans 6 – is all about our deliverance from Sin and Romans 7 our deliverance from law
Law exposures our sin – Romans 7. 7
But we preach grace
• Grace means that God has done something for me
• Law means that I have to do something for God
If we preach law we are then obligated to do something for God and then if we are able to complete such a things then we can boast that we are acceptable to God and we are better than others. 1 cor 1 29 no flesh shall glory in his presence
Ephesians 3:7 (The Message)
7-8This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.
People want chapter 8 life, they long for this to be their experience but sometimes it’s more like the experience of someone in chapter 7 that is more real, “oh wretched man am I” anyone preaching chapter 8 is not living in the real world and is deluded into thinking that they are something, when I know their life their background, that Giles is not as perfect as many would like to think and what he preaches is impossible, with man it is impossible but with God all things are possible to those who believe
If I preach grace some say to me that the people will abuse the grace system and live a life for themselves and not for God, others say I know the grace message and it’s a great excuse for me to just live how I want. Some say that we must preach to the Christian against sin and teach people how they can live and be right with God that is the only way that they can ever hope to be good enough for God to use them.
Gal 3 . 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
People come to God realising they have sinned either by their own conscience telling them how to live or by the preaching of the word, (very few people need to be convinced that they live in sin.) IF there are some then we must make them aware of God’s standard of perfection and also let them know the way of escape, and we let them know that they can be free from sin.
Sinning as I said is only falling short of god’s glory and his perfection. Once saved they hunger for the word of God and read the bible, if they don’t read it then some helpful brother of sister is quick to point out that their life does not live up to god’s standard and help them with a list of movies that they are not allow to watch CD’s they should not listen to and any other vices that they have should also be dropped in order for them to be acceptable, acceptable to who,
2 Tim 3 .16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
Titus 2 11-14 11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.
Romans 6 .12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Heb 12.14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
Rom 12.1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
What the problem is that we are unable to obey all these commands, people have stopped coming to church as they feel the law of a holy God and are unable to meet up to the demand.
The law in this country says I have to pay tax, I have to pay £100 each month now if I only have £50 then when the law comes to ask for its due and I cant pay, it is not the law that is in the wrong, that defence could not hold up in court.
God must bring us all to the place where we see that we are utterly weak and helpless. But most of us are too proud to come to the front during an altar call as some may think that we have not got it all together, and "now I am a pastor or I am a leader I should have it all together and if I admit that I have not, what will people will think?"
God has to do something to convince us of the fact. Had it not been for the Law we should never have known how weak we are. He gave us the Law to break! He well knew that we could not keep it. We are so bad that He asks no favour and makes no demands. Never has any man succeeded in making himself acceptable to God by means of the Law.
Rom 3. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Rom 7 . 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
Notice first that in the picture in Romans 7:1-4 by which Paul illustrates our deliverance from the Law there is only one woman, while there are two husbands. The woman is in a very difficult position, for she can only be wife of one of the two, and unfortunately she is married to the less desirable one. Let us make no mistake, the man to whom she is married is a good man; but the trouble lies here, that the husband and wife are totally unsuited to one another. He is a most meticulous man, precise to a degree; she on the other hand is absolutely easy-going. With him all is specific and precise; with her all is vague and disorganized. He wants everything just so, while she accepts things as they come. How could there be happiness in such a home?
And then that husband is so demanding! He is always making demands on his wife. And yet we cannot find fault with him, for as a husband he has a right to expect something of her; and besides, all his demands are perfectly legitimate. There is nothing wrong with the man and nothing wrong with his demands; the trouble is that he has the wrong kind of wife to carry them out. The two cannot get on at all; theirs are utterly incompatible natures. The poor woman is in great distress. She is fully aware that she often makes mistakes, but living with such a husband it seems as though everything she says and does is wrong! What hope is there for her? If only she were married to that other Man all would be well. He is no less precise than her current husband, but He also helps much. She would love to marry Him, but her husband is still alive. What can she do? She is “bound by law to the husband” and unless he dies she cannot legitimately marry that other Man.
The first husband is the Law; the second husband is Christ; and you and I are the woman. The Law requires much, but offers no help in the carrying out of its requirements. The Lord Jesus requires just as much but what He requires from us He Himself carries out in us.
The Law makes demands and leaves us helpless to fulfill them; Christ makes demands, but He Himself fulfills in us the very demands He makes. No wonder that the woman desires to be freed from the first husband that she may marry that other Man! But her only hope of release is through the death of her first husband, and he holds on to life most stubbornly. Indeed there is not the least chance of his passing away.
The Law is going to continue for all eternity. If the Law will never pass away, then how can I ever be united to Christ? How can I marry a second husband if my first husband simply refuses to die? There is one way out. If he will not die, I can die, and if I die the marriage relationship is dissolved. And that is exactly God’s way of deliverance from the Law. The most important point to note in this section of Romans 7 is the transition from verse 3 to verse 4. Verses 1 to 3 show that the husband should die, but in verse 4 we see that in fact it is the woman who dies.
God’s righteous demands remain for ever, and if I live I must meet those demands; but if I die the Law has lost its claim upon me. It cannot follow me beyond the grave. Exactly the same principle operates in our deliverance from the Law as in our deliverance from sin. When I have died my old master, Sin, still continues to live, but his power over his slave extends as far as the grave and no further. He could ask me to do a hundred and one things when I was alive, but when I am dead he calls on me in vain. I am for ever freed from his tyranny. So it is with regard to the Law. While the woman lives she is bound to her husband, but with her death the marriage bond is dissolved and she is “discharged from the law of her husband”. The Law may still make demands, but for me its power to enforce them is ended.
God’s purpose in uniting us to Christ was not merely negative; it was gloriously positive—“that ye should be joined to another” (Rom. 7:4). Death has dissolved the old marriage relationship, so that the woman, driven to despair by the constant demands of her former husband, who never lifted a little finger to help her carry them out, is now set free to marry the other Man, who with every demand He makes becomes in her the power for its fulfillment.