Romans: Rooted in Jesus, Wretched Man!

In Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is contemplating his life as a criminal. He was sentenced to several years of hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister and her seven children. He served additional years for several attempted escapes. As he walks alone, hungry and tired, he contemplates the harshness of the law and his severe sentencing for breaking it. The law of France has crushed him and left him, as the author says, “without the one word ascribed on the forehead of every man, hope.”

Hugo highlights the cold, harsh nature of the law. In our text, the Apostle Paul contemplates the nature of God’s Law. God’s law is spiritual, holy, righteous, and good, he says. It instructs us if we’ll listen to it. At the same time, God’s law elicits a response from our flesh. It seems that this beautiful thing from God has the opposite effect on us, driving our performance or our rebellion. But the fault is not with God’s law, but with our flesh. Our only hope for deliverance is through Christ Jesus our Lord, and what a deliverance we’ve received.

Join us Sunday as we worship the Great Law-keeper and consider the beauty of God’s law.