Have you ever been deceived? Perhaps you took part in a spurious business proposal, something you would never have done if all the facts were laid out before you, but now the damage has been done. Or maybe it was simply to believe a story told to you by someone you trust. You did not question it. You did not fact-check the truth claim. You simply took it as truth because you trusted the source, only to later discover you had been lied to. It is a terrible feeling to discover you have been deceived. It is like a punch to the gut. Not only does it hurt, but you feel embarrassed, ashamed that you bought into a lie. We are used to being deceived by politicians and corporations, and certainly, when we are deceived by those we love and care about, we may find that the relationships come to an end. But the real teachery and difficulty comes when we deceive ourselves.

In this regard, sin is the greatest deceiver. It is unmatched in its ability to have us buy-in to a lie. Sin focuses us on our own needs, on our quest for happiness and contentment. It is the little voice which tells us that if we just had this one thing or that one experience, we might finally be made whole, satisfied, and secure in our lives. Sin turns us endlessly toward our own abilities, to the work of our own hands, to overcome and manifest the greatness we all desire. It whispers in our ears the promise of glory, the promise of victory over the mayhem of our existence. It feels so real, so true. It is echoed by the world around us and fits with the system of our age. Yet, it remains an intimate deceiver.

So, we may desire to be extra watchful, extra diligent to spot sin’s deceit before it gets us too far down the road. Perhaps, you begin by setting some good boundaries and establishing a hedge around you to keep deceit at bay. Yet, we soon discover that such a tactic is too simplistic. The problem is far more complicated than we first thought. As our Lord says, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” For what comes out of our mouths flows from our hearts. In other words, sin is not just an “out there” phenomenon. It is what we are born into. It dwells within us, and no matter how high we build the hedges around ourselves, sin never relents.

Paul presents to us a great image to drive this point home. He speaks about marriage, that sacred covenant between a man and a woman. The Law of God governs this covenant. As Scripture says, “The two shall become one flesh,” and “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Husband and wife are bound to one another, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for better or for worse. You all know how it goes. But if the husband or wife steps out of the marriage, if they break the covenant, they are guilty of adultery. Yet, if one of them were to die, that death would end the hold of the Law. The death frees the other from the bondage of the covenant, and they are free to marry another.

Death is the release from the Law, and this is you. Paul goes on and says, “You also have died to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead.” You were bound to the Law, bound to its decrees and demands, bound then to the destruction it proclaims when you fail to keep it. But this is no longer your reality, for you have died to the Law. And you might say, “When? When did I die to the Law so that I may belong to another?” Well, earlier Paul proclaims, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Yes, baptism, your baptism is your connection to Christ, a connection to His death. Think about that. The gift of baptism is the gift of dying with your Lord. It means every accusation of the Law, every condemnation that lies upon you has already been paid for. To use Paul’s language, you are no longer bound to the Law but now belong to another. You belong to the Lord who has been raised from the dead. You are freed, so you may live a new life of the Spirit. It is a life lived in the promises of Christ, the promise of forgiveness, of hope, of eternal life. This is now your reality, and you are called to live it.

Now, Paul wants to clarify a few things for us. He asks, “Is the Law sin?” No, if it had not been for the Law, we would have never known the depth of our sin. The law exposes your sin. It does not let you live in a place where you think you have a hold of your sin, that you can control it and keep it under wraps. The Law reveals that you are sinful beyond measure and there is no redemption in your own strength or wisdom. Every excuse you have made for your failure, every half-hearted attempt to be more righteous and holy before your God, is reduced to ashes by the Law. You are not just an occasional sinner, basically good with a few slip-ups here and there. No, you are an expert in sinning.

And here we learn that the deceiver is still at work. Sin continues to lurk within us and would have us return to Law to find a way to justify ourselves, to dig ourselves out of the hole we find ourselves in, to prove our worthiness to our God. Paul says, “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” The deceiving work of sin is to turn us toward our works, to our triumph over the Law. The lie is to believe that we can do it this time. This time we will prove our worth. And the turn toward your work is a turn away from the death you have died in the waters of Baptism.

Do not be deceived, my friends. The Law is binding on a person only as long as he lives! But you have died. You have died with your Lord in the waters of your baptism. So, our whole lives now are lives retuning to those waters, lives of confession and absolution, lives where we die to the old deception and live in the promises of Christ. To stay near His gifts, to repent and believe, is to endure until that glorious day when the deceiver is done away with and the Lord of Glory returns.