testify.22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between
Jew and Gentile,23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,24 and all are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the
shedding of his blood\u2014to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had
left the sins committed beforehand unpunished\u201426 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be
just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

A couple of weeks ago my catechism class had a very spirited
discussion about faith and freedom. What does it mean for us to be
saved? What does it mean that God chooses his people? What does
it mean for us to believe?

Most of us like to think so \u2013 we like to think that we are able to
make our own decisions \u2013 able to go about our lives unhindered by
fate and determinism. We covet our independence and we look to
make sure that our freedoms are protected and unimpeached\u2026

Yet at the same time there is this nagging feeling that goes on
within our hearts and minds that our freedom is more an illusion
than anything else. As much as we cherish our freedom when we
consider it we realize we\u2019re not that free at all\u2026.that we are often
bound by forces that are beyond our control\u2026

We\u2019re bound by laws & governments \u2013 we pay our taxes, we keep somewhat close to the speed limit, we stay within the boundaries of what is deemed permissible and are restricted by the sword of government when we go beyond them

We\u2019re controlled by social conventions \u2013 we wear what we should, we tend to conform to the patterns that society presents, we act and behave as a person ought

We\u2019re locked in by physical reality \u2013 gravity \u2013 the passage of time \u2013 the aging of our bodies \u2013 and as much as we try to fight against them we can\u2019t escape them either\u2026

And then we come to the reality of our own minds \u2013 and our
decisions \u2013 our wills \u2013 and what we want \u2013 what we hope for \u2013 is
for that to be the realm which falls under our control\u2026Maybe I
can\u2019t beat gravity \u2013 but I can decide to do what I want\u2026

This is our topic for this evening as we consider this text from
Romans and we think about our contemporary testimony in stanza
13\u2026

Whenever we think about our minds \u2013 our wills \u2013 our decisions.
Whenever we consider the possibility that this one little piece of us
is free\u2026we\u2019re confronted with it. Sin is there.

A few chapters from now Paul is going to demonstrate this \u2013 as
he\u2019s talking about the will, and decision making, and freedom \u2013
and he talks about doing the things that he doesn\u2019t want to do \u2013 and
not doing the things that he ought\u2026and going as far to say that the
will has been enslaved to sin. We can\u2019t do anything else\u2026

Sin is so powerful that it dominates any decision that we make \u2013 even when we want to try to avoid it \u2013 even when we want to do good things\u2026we can\u2019t because sin is there\u2026

It just doesn\u2019t stop \u2013 and if we consider the world and the things that we do \u2013 we understand just how productive this sinful nature is\u2026every newspaper, every relationship, ever situation we find ourselves in \u2013 sin is there\u2026

It\u2019s there with us as we wake up in the morning\u2026and we\u2019re angry
at the alarm clock \u2013 or the dawn \u2013 or the five-year-old that is
staring at us in the face\u2026

It\u2019s there with us in our eating \u2013 as we eat more calories than we need \u2013 and consume more nutrients than our bodies require while others live on less than one of our meals in a week\u2026

It\u2019s there with us in our work \u2013 in our play \u2013 I sin, you sin, we all
sin\u2026\u201cAll have sinned\u201d \u2013 writes Paul in verse 23\u2026every one of
us\u2026and none have escaped its taint.

I\u2019m hitting the same point again and again \u2013 so that we can
understand just how pervasive the Bible tells us that sin is \u2013 and
how it destroys our freedom through its control\u2026