The Role of Law for Believer’s Today

Transcript

GRM 916
9/26/2004
The Role of Laws for Believers Today
Romans 7:1-12
Gil Rugh


Last week in our study we talked about the law and the completion of the law as regards the plan of God for His people in the Church Age. We talked about that out of Galatians chapter 3, and I’d like to talk to you about the same thing tonight. Not out of Galatians 3, but out of Romans chapter 7. It’s to be expected that the early church had a great deal of conflict over the place of the Mosaic Law since the church began with Jews in Acts chapter 2 on the Day of Pentecost. Really through for the first 10 chapters of Acts we’re dealing with a Jewish focus in the church. It’s not until Acts chapter 10 that Peter takes the gospel to the house of Cornelius and Gentiles experience the power of the gospel and become part of the church. From the time that Moses received the Law in the book of Exodus, starting with chapter 19, to Acts chapter 2 at the beginning of the church, Israel lived under the Mosaic Law for a period of roughly 500 years. Israel’s living under the Mosaic Law and now God establishes the church. Jews coming out of a Law background, Paul talks about himself in Philippians 3 as one who had been devoted to the Mosaic Law, have a hard time coming to grips that the Law is no longer required for the people of God. So, there is constant confusion in that early church over the issue of the Law. Unbelieving teachers infiltrate the church, often Jews who have professed to have trusted Christ but are mixing the Law and its requirements with the message of Christ, Paul says creating a different kind of gospel, as he talked about in Galatians chapter 1.

Obviously, God put this material about the Law and its completion in there for our benefit as well, not antiquated material that doesn’t pertain to us because we still have to come to grips today in the church with what place does the Mosaic Law have. I mean much of our Bible, you read the book of Genesis the Mosaic Law is not in operation. The opening chapters of Exodus and then we get to chapter 19 and we’re in the Law and the whole rest of the Old Testament, the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—are all lived under the Law. Jesus Christ during His earthly life and ministry lived under the Mosaic Law. We find Him observing the feasts and so on required by the Law. We need to understand how our Bible ties together and how the Law fits and what our responsibility to the Law is today.

Paul makes a point in much of his writings that deal with the Law. In Romans chapter 7 we’re going to focus on the Law. Now the flow of the book of Romans started out demonstrating that all were under sin and condemnation. Then he moved to talk about the righteousness provided by God in Christ for those under sin and condemnation. Justification, whereby the finished work of Christ it is possible for God to declare those who place their faith in Christ, righteous, because of the righteousness of Christ.

Then he moves to talk about how those sinners who have been justified by God’s grace through faith now are to be living their lives, the doctrine we call sanctification. It’s the subject we’re in in Romans chapters 6, 7, 8. Paul is dealing primarily here with how the Law related to the life and conduct of God’s people and deals with the doctrine of sanctification. He’s made clear in chapter 6 of Romans that it is God’s intention that His people live new lives, transformed lives, lives free from the power and domination of sin. Lives now characterized by the righteousness that is theirs in Christ, rather than the sin that characterized them before they came to know Christ. In chapter 6 verse 4, therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, talking about the baptism of the Spirit there I believe, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. You’ll note that emphasis that we have died with Christ so that we might now live a new life, that we might walk, conduct our lives step by step in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. We were slaves of sin, now we are slaves of righteousness. When we were slaves of sin, we served sin totally. Now that we are slaves of righteousness, we are to serve righteousness totally.

Down in verse 19 of chapter 6, I’m speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and through lawlessness resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members, the parts of your body, as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification, in holiness, in lives lived separated from sin and now lived for God. Sanctification, holiness, same basic words in Greek. The idea is separation, and we live sanctified because we have been separated from sin for God. We are holy because we are separated from sin to God. The concept we’re talking about. God’s plan is simple. Believe the gospel and now live a new life. That’s it. Believe the gospel, you’re born again. Now those who have been born into God’s family are to live as God’s children. That’s God’s plan. Very simple, very concise and very clear.

Justification and sanctification are inseparably joined together in scripture. We’re not going into those issues, but you understand there is a major issue in the evangelical world today over whether sanctification is a necessary result of justification, which would mean you can die with Christ and be buried with Him and be left there. That can’t be true because verse 5 of chapter 6 says certainly if we’ve been in the likeness of His death we’ll be in the likeness of His resurrection. That means now we will walk, according to the end of verse 4, in newness of life; and what we have is the power of the gospel in bringing salvation. Salvation is a package, the first part of which is justification, the second part of which is sanctification. But they are all part of the salvation package.

Chapter 7 of Romans verses 1-6 really connects to what Paul said in chapter 6 verse 14. We’re going to see similarities between the two chapters. In chapter 6 verse 14 Paul said for sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. That’s in the context, just as you used to present the members of your body, the parts of your body to sin to be used for unrighteous purposes, now present the parts of your body to righteousness to be used for God’s purposes. How is this possible? For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. There he simply made a statement—you are not under law but under grace. But again, no explanation. In chapter 6 he focused on the first part of the statement, sin shall not be master over you. He showed how sin is not master over us because we died to sin.

Now what he is going to do in chapter 7 is explain the last part of chapter 6 verse 14, for you are not under law but under grace. So, chapter 6 was about the believer in sin, chapter 7 is about the believer and the law. The key word in chapter 6 is sin. It’s used 17 times in chapter 6 of Romans. The key word in chapter 7 is law, it’s used 18 times in chapter 7. Chapter 6 is about the believer’s relationship to sin; chapter 7 is about the believer’s relationship to law. To give away the ending, we are dead to both—dead to sin and dead to the law. When I talk about the law I’m talking about the Mosaic Law, the law as was given to Moses contained in the 613 commandments, as they are usually from the Jews set forth, summarized in the Ten Commandments. The first 6 verses of chapter 6 of Romans show how we died to sin, the first 6 verses of chapter 7 show how we died to the law. Our death with Christ was a death to sin, our death with Christ was a death to the Mosaic Law. This is crucial because remember chapter 6 verse 14 says, sin shall not be master over you for you are not under law but under grace. The implication being that if you were still under the law you’d still be under the domination of sin. But now you live under grace.

Let’s start chapter 7. Or do you not know, brethren (for I’m speaking to those who know the law). So the question implies knowledge. Do you not know, and you do know, because you know the law. That the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. There is a general principle about law in these first 3 verses that could be applied to law generally. But Paul’s concern is the Mosaic Law, and that will be clear as you move through the rest of the chapter. What he says is true about the law generally, in the opening verses, but really his focus is the Mosaic Law. That’s what his interest is. These Roman Christians, particularly the Jewish Christians in the church at Rome, know the law. They understand the Mosaic Law, they understand the principles that are involved in the law, in the Mosaic Law, but it would be true of all laws. At the end of verse 7, the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. That’s true of all law. It only is binding on me as long as I am living. We don’t try to enforce the law on a dead person, they’re gone. A person who committed a crime and they have a heart attack before they are arrested, and we say what? They escaped the penalty of the law. Well in one sense that is true because the law may have required this, but now they are out of it. What can you do? Put them in jail? No, they’re dead. That’s true of the law generally, it’s true of the Mosaic Law. He gives an example. The married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living. That’s the law of marriage. That would be true of the law of the land, it’s true of the Mosaic Law. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law concerning the husband. Now that would be true also if you reverse it and say the husband is bound to his wife as long as the wife lives. But in the analogy here you’ll see the law is going to be parallel with the death here. Very simple. If your spouse dies you are free from all obligations to them. You’re free to marry someone else. We have laws against polygamy, at least up to this point—who knows what the future holds for our society? But basically, the law holds this, and the Mosaic Law defines this. When a person dies, they are free from all obligations and responsibilities to their former spouse. Sometimes it’s hard for people to accept this, some spouses think they have to keep living according to what their dead spouse would have wanted them to do or be, and so on. But all obligations are over. You are free to marry someone else.

So then if while her husband is living, she is joined to another man she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law so that she is not an adulteress, she is joined to another man. Now his point here is not to develop the doctrine of marriage. There are things we can learn about marriage here, we can see clearly where God is on the subject, the binding nature of marriage which Jesus reinforced in Matthew chapter 5 and Matthew chapter 19, according to the provisions of the law. Death ends the relationship to the law, and as long as both parties, husband and wife, are living you are bound by law to that person. Death ends it. I don’t want to overemphasize this, it’s a rather simple point. We shouldn’t get lost on the next point.

Verse 4, therefore, in light of this point, you are obligated to the law as long as you are living; but death frees you from all obligations to the law. It breaks a relationship, using marriage as an example. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be married to someone else. The Jews lived under the authority of the Mosaic Law; they were in a binding relationship to the Mosaic Law. But upon death they were free from that. All that the Mosaic Law required no longer was obligatory to them, marriage being an example because now the picture is you were married to the law, but now you’ve died. But now you’ve not only died, but you were also raised to a new life so you could be married to Christ and joined to Him. You see the conflict here. Those that are still living in a relationship to the Mosaic Law have never died and been brought into a relationship with Christ. Now Christians need to be clear on this or they think that even though they’ve been joined to Christ they still have an obligation to their former spouse, particularly Jewish Christians as Paul would write. A person like himself who was a Jew lived under the Mosaic Law. But when he came to believe in Christ what happened to him? Chapter 6, he died with Christ, he was buried with Christ, he was raised with Christ to newness of life. That meant he had died to sin, he’s free from all obligations of sin, all consequences of sin, his penalty for sin is taken care of, it’s done. He’s set free, he has a new life. What about his relationship to the law? Same exact thing. You died to the law so now you are free to be married to Christ. Believers shouldn’t think that now I have two spouses to please. No, it seems pretty clear to me. Is it clear to you? You died.

Now he doesn’t say the law died, he says you died. Through the miracle of the spiritual new birth, because we died spiritually it’s obviously a metaphor picturing the spiritual reality even as it was in chapter 6 when we died with Christ, when we’re buried with Christ, when we’re raised to newness of life. Our old master, sin, no longer had any authority over us because the old man, the old person that served sin is dead. This is a new person with a new life that belongs to God and serves righteousness. The old person that was joined to the law is dead, this is a new person that is joined to Christ. That’s the difference. You were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, and we read back in chapter 6 verses 4-6. Verse 6, knowing this, our old self, our old man was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. The old man, what I was in Adam as a fallen, sinful being, has died. So that now I could have a new life in Christ, not dominated by sin. Same point on the Mosaic Law. Now we’re not saying the Mosaic Law is sin, but the relationship to the Mosaic Law is just as really broken as the relationship to sin is. How much obligation do you have to sin to serve the old master? Absolutely none. We won’t work through the details of Romans 6 on this occasion, but you are familiar that is the argument in Romans 6. Well, how much obligation do I have to the Mosaic Law? Absolutely none. I died; I have a new spouse in the analogy.

The reason for my death to the law is so that I might be, verse 4 of chapter 7, joined to another; that is Christ. Our identification with Him is the same in chapter 6 and chapter 7. Joined to Him who was raised from the dead. Why? In order that we might bear fruit for God. Now note this, this is very important. Some accuse those who do not believe we are under the Mosaic Law of being antinomian. The favorite attack of covenant theologians, reform theologians against dispensationalists. They are antinomian, they are against the law, they are lawless, they believe that Christians are free to do whatever they want. No, we are not lawless. We are not under the Mosaic Law, but we are not free to do what we want. Why did we die with Christ to the Mosaic Law? So that we could be joined in a relationship with Christ now that would enable us to bear fruit for God, not to do as we please. You see Paul sees no confusion here. Not being under the Mosaic Law doesn’t mean now you are free to do as you please. You are free from the Mosaic Law so that in being joined to Christ you could bear fruit for God.

Back up to chapter 6 verse 22. Same thing said about sin. Now you have been freed from sin to do as you please. No, you were freed from sin and enslaved to God. Why? Now you’ve been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit—and that word benefit is the word fruit—resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life. I died to the law, not just to set me free. Set me free from what? Set me free from the law. I died to sin to be set free from sin, I died to the law to be set free from the law. So, I could bear fruit for God. The fruit of the Spirit of Galatians chapter 5 verses 22-23 are examples of the fruit that we are bearing.

Look at verse 5 of Romans 7, for while we were in the flesh. What verses 5-6 do is give a fuller explanation of verse 4—our death with Christ to the law, being joined to Christ, bearing fruit for God. Now verses 5-6 explain more of that. While we were in the flesh. Obviously here flesh is as often a metaphor, a figure of speech for our old person. Not this physical body, because as Paul writes he and all the world is reading his letter were still in their physical bodies. He’s talking about when we were in the flesh, while our bodies were controlled and dominated by sin, the flesh, the old man refers to our life before we were made new in Christ. That’s the point of Romans 6 verse 6. Our old man was crucified with Him. That was the flesh. The Bible talks about the flesh being crucified, the old man being crucified, and the world being crucified and me to the world. While we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. While we were in the flesh, before our salvation in Christ, living lives dominated and controlled by the old man, by the flesh, by sin, the law which is replete with commandments. The Jews broke them down, 613 of them comprised the Mosaic Law. What those commandments did was fan the flames of the flesh, because they told me to do something or not do something. How does sin respond to that? It wants to do what the Bible says I shouldn’t do. It doesn’t want to do what the law says I should do.

Verse 8 of chapter 7, but sin taking opportunity. There he talks about sin. In verse 5 he talked about the flesh; he’s talking about the same thing. Sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. Verse11, for sin taking opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me. Verse 13, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be. Rather it was sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandments sin would become utterly sinful. You see this repeated emphasis—what the law did was make known how sinful I am, because with the coming of the law there was an unfolding of a host of commandments. All that did was reveal how much of a lawbreaker a sinner really is.

The result was, in verse 5, the members of our body bear fruit for death. What happens? The law said don’t commit adultery. All of a sudden, my flesh began to think about that. Yes, that would be desirable, and I want to do it. It arouses the flesh. The problem is not with the law, what the law was requiring was good. The problem was with me, the sinner. The law has that impact, still does on us today, just general law, doesn’t it? I often think about this, not that I ever do it, but as I’m driving along there is a speed limit. The speed limit is 35, somehow, I want to go 42. But you know when I’m in a 45-mile-an-hour speed limit, that’s not good enough because I want to go 52. Somehow when the speed limit is 55, if it were only 65 everything would be okay. Then I get on the interstate and it’s 75. That’s good enough, almost. There’s something about it, isn’t there? When the law is there, now there is something in me that wants to go just beyond the law. You experience that with your kids. You tell them what to do, all of a sudden it seems like you put the idea in their mind. They are sitting in the room watching TV and you say don’t go in the kitchen, never crossed their mind, but now you said it. Where do they want to go? Exactly. We’re like that. Sin is like that. The Mosaic Law brought that out in sinful people.

Verse 6, but now, contrast, we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound. That is the picture particularly of a Jew under the Mosaic Law, where we saw, the law was given to Israel. We have been released from that, Paul says. So that we might serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Again, it is important to know I do not think it’s honest biblically for reformed theologians to accuse us of being antinomian just because we say we’re not under the Mosaic Law, because we were not free. We didn’t die to the law; he does say we have been released from the law. That word released, katargeto means to render something inoperative. It no longer has any power or authority. Back up to chapter 6 verse 6, knowing this that our old self, our old man, was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with. Katargeto is the word, rendered inoperative, have no longer any power or authority over us. The same thing about sin is now said about the law in chapter 7 verse 6. We have been released, freed, it no longer is operative in our lives, it no longer has any power or authority over us. Now remember I’m not saying we don’t learn things from the law. I used the example in our previous study. We don’t offer animal sacrifices, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study what the Bible says about animal sacrifices. We do learn, even now that Christ has come, we learn from studying the Old Testament sacrifices. But we are not bound or obligated to the Old Testament sacrifices. You see the difference. There are people going around saying they don’t believe you should study the law. I believe you should study all the Bible and all scripture is profitable, but that is different than saying I live under obligation to the Mosaic Law. I’m not under its authority.

So, we have been released from the law having died to that which we were bound, and do you have this underlined in your Bible, so that we serve. We were never set free to go our own way. In chapter 6 we were set free from sin and enslaved to God. There is no such thing as a totally free person in the sense of not living obligated. The believer is free—if the Son shall set you free you shall be free indeed—because he can function now as the creator intended him to function, in right relationship with the God who created him. We went from one slavery to the other; the one slavery is slavery to death, the other is slavery to life. Because sin kept me from being what God created me to be, as a being that would please Him. Now I am free to do that. I’m not free to do what I want. The argument that those who deny we’re under the Mosaic Law are antinomian is a denial of what Paul is writing in Romans chapter 7.

We serve in the newness of the Spirit, the newness the Spirit has brought. Again chapter 6 talked about what? We’ve been raised with Christ to newness of life so that we can walk in newness of life. We’ve been freed from the law so that we serve in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. Now rather than the law having authority over the life and controlling the life, the Spirit of God has control over the life, authority in the life. The letter refers to the Mosaic Law. Again, it’s not talking about why we shouldn’t be trying to get too much into the details of the Word. When Paul writes, and why don’t you turn over there, just after Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians chapter 3, II Corinthians chapter 3. Verse 6, it’s God who made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, the New Testament. That’s what we are under Christ now. Not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Same point that he is making in Romans 7. All the law could do was bring us under condemnation. The letter, referring to the Mosaic Law, how do you know? Well read the next verse. But if the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones came with glory so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because the glory was fading. You see when he talks about the letters, he takes that from the fact, remember Moses came down from the mountain with the summary of the law, the Ten Commandments, inscribed in letters on tablets of stone. The contrast is between the letter which kills and the Spirit which gives life. The letter kills because all it could do is condemn me as a lawbreaker. It couldn’t bring me life because I couldn’t obey the law. Israel couldn’t keep the law. The Spirit brings life because it operates on faith. No one was ever saved by keeping the Mosaic Law. That’s clear. By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. He’s covered that in the earlier part of Romans already. We’re not talking about the way of salvation is changed. The law was never a way of salvation because no one could ever keep the law. Paul has already argued, if there had been a law that could have brought life then salvation would have been by the law. But there was no such law because we were sinners.

When he contrasts the letter and the spirit, he’s talking about the Mosaic Law in contrast to the Holy Spirit of God. We are saved how? By keeping the Ten Commandments. No, by grace through faith. Now we walk and serve the Lord as His children by trying to keep the Ten Commandments and obey the law. No, we have a new husband in the analogy of Romans 7. We live under the Spirit. Now I can’t talk to you about we, contrasting believers and unbelievers. You understand the law was for Israel.

Back up to Romans chapter 2. He makes this clear and we haven’t been in Romans, and I keep mentioning it and I presuppose your familiarity with this. But let me just remind you. Romans chapter 2 verse 12, for all who sin without the law will also perish without the law. All who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it’s not the hearers of the law who are just before God, but the doers of the law. You see the Jews got trapped into thinking because they had the Mosaic Law, at least kept parts of it, they were saved. It was the dirty Gentiles that were in trouble because the law hadn’t been given to them. But the covenants and the sacrifices and all the rest of the law, that’s Jewish. For when Gentiles, verse 14, who do not have the law—see the law wasn’t given to Gentiles. When Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively or by nature the things of the law, these not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, their thoughts ultimately accusing or defending them. In other words, we were made in the image of God and the law was a reflection of the character of God, His righteousness, His holiness, as we’ve talked about. Even unregenerate men today have a sense of right and wrong, have guilty consciences, know certain things are wrong. Incest is a universal taboo round the world in the most remote of places. Relationships between adults and children in sexual matters, universal taboo everywhere. Why? Because they have the image of God stamped on their very nature, they were made in the image of God. It’s marred by sin, but it’s not totally removed. So, there is that sense of guilt. Why are so many people round the world religious in one way or another? They have a sense, innate, it’s by nature as Paul said here in the word translated instinctively, the word nature. You see the Gentiles don’t have the law. So, when I keep referring to when we were under law, I’ve never lived under the Mosaic Law. Even before I was saved, I was not under the Mosaic Law, I wasn’t a Jew. It wasn’t given to my nationality, as it was given to Jews.

Back to Romans chapter 7. We serve in the newness of the Spirit not in oldness of the letter. Now note we’ve made a transfer here. How are we living our life? Not now under the law. This was the point we saw in Galatians 3, having begun by the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the law? No. Perfected by the flesh? No, it’s still by the work of the Spirit who indwells us. The things that ought to characterize our life and our new walk are what? The fruit of the Spirit. Now that’s what He has for us. This is not new material. Let me read you from Martin Luther’s commentary on the book of Romans, Romans chapter 7. To understand the apostle’s positions the reader must grasp his basic premise. Sin and wrath come from the law; hence no one dies to the law who does not die to sin. And whoever dies to sin dies also to the law. As soon as a person is free from sin he is also free from the servitude of the law. So then when sin has dominion over us then also the law has dominion over us and vice versa. Basic position there. Luther would have a little different view of Israel and the church and things that he did not have put together yet. But the basic position on the law as developed in Romans 7 is clear.

All right let’s move along just a little bit more and summarize the rest of this or overview the rest of these verses. Look at verse 7. What does this all mean? What shall we say then? Is the law sin? I mean it sounds then like you’re really saying the law was bad, the law was evil, the law was wicked, the law only resulted in sin. May it never be. Remember that expression. May it never be? King James has God forbid. May it never be is more true to it. The idea is such a thought is inconceivable. May it never be. This is given by God and God never leads anyone into sin. The law is not sin. On the contrary I would never have come to know sin except through the law. For I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said you shall not covet. Now we already saw in Romans chapter 2 that Gentiles who don’t have the law are going to be judged without the law and they will be found guilty. Paul gets to the end of his section on sin and condemnation, concluding in Romans chapter 3 verse 20, he can say we have demonstrated that all are under sin, Gentiles as well. The fact that Gentiles did not have the Mosaic Law did not live under the authority of the Mosaic Law, did not mean the Gentiles were not sinners. What the law did was bring clarity to the issue of sin that those who didn’t have the law didn’t have. In other words, Gentiles had in their heart that sense of sin and guilt, but they didn’t have the clarity that the Jews had with the law because the law specified coveting is sin. Well, how would I have identified coveting as sin if the law didn’t say coveting, is sin. Now it’s clear. Coveting is a sin. How do you know? God said so. Now you multiply that out to all that the law revealed and what did it do? It made clear what sin is. Paul said now I understand what sin is. I was a sinner, I had a sense of guilt, I knew some things were right and wrong, but I couldn’t clarify and delineate these. For people without the law, their standards were always changing. Like people without the Word of God. They take a poll and if 22% think homosexuality is sin, well it’s not sin. If 87% say it’s sin, then we need laws against it. It just varies, and it can vary from year to year, and we’ve seen changes in certain laws and positions over time. Why? Because we have no standard, but things become clear with God’s revelation. That’s what the law did. You say well that’s similar to what all scripture does. True. All revelation is light from God. You understand there are certain limitations to the Mosaic Law as well, and that’s what we’re dealing with in the context. So, he learned about coveting.

But what happened in verse 8? Sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. Apart from the law sin is dead in the sense what? Law fans the fires, fans those embers. The law came, Paul said, and told me not to covet and the old man’s sin in the flesh all of a sudden was coveting everything it could. It’s just the way we’re built, it’s just the way the sin nature is. It is always rebellious. It is always rebellious against God. It always wants to suppress the truth of God. Remember in Romans chapter 1, though what Paul says is simple truth. What the law did, it came and now it revealed how sinful I am because I couldn’t clarify the issue of coveting because coveting goes beyond just the activity to desires and attitudes and how do I get into these things? Well now the law has clarified it.

Verse 9, I once was alive apart from the Law. But when the commandment came sin became alive and I died. What are we saying then? Apart from the law sin is dead, I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came sin became alive and I died. What he really is showing is how aggressive sin is. Sin is there, we’ve already covered that, in everyone, in the first 3 chapters. Since we didn’t start at the beginning and work through, I have to presuppose you’re with me on this. It’s not just those who have the law, he’s already demonstrated that’s not the case, and we did read at least a portion of chapter 2 to demonstrate it. Sin is personified here. You know it’s lying dormant. All have been sinners from the fall of Adam in the Garden. But you know certain sins are dormant but given an occasion they begin to manifest themselves. The law became that occasion. It’s like sin is waiting there, the law comes and says don’t do it and sin is just waiting for the opportunity to rebel against God. When God clarifies what is sin then sin in me launches out and that’s what I want to do, the opposite of what God says. I was alive in the sense of its impact upon me personally. Guilt is multiplied by revelation, right? That’s always true. Jesus said it would be tolerable for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah than for the cities of His day in the day of judgment? Why? There is greater light here. That principle is true for the law. The law is given to the Jews and all of a sudden now the Jews have greater guilt because of greater responsibility. Now sin is rampant and I don’t know what to do. Everywhere I turn I find out I’m sinning here, I’m sinning here, I’m sinning here, I’m sinning here. That’s what the law did, it revealed me to be sinful. Before the law, Paul says, I could be relatively comfortable. That’s why people don’t want to hear the Word of God generally, right? I mean they don’t want to be told they are sinners. What the law did was reveal sinners. Paul said I could be comfortable without the law, then the law came, and it magnified my sin. Now I am revealed to be worse off than I thought I was.

Verse 10, this commandment which was to result in life proved to result in death for me. Now remember there is no law that can bring life. He’s already dealt with that. If there had been a law that could have brought life salvation would have been by law. This commandment, which was to result in life, because the commandment was good, God was graciously telling His people what He required of them to be acceptable before Him, to be pleasing to Him, to be holy before Him. This commandment which was to result in life proved to result in death for me. Why? For sin taking opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me. All it did was confirm my lost condition and put me in a worse condition, because now I was guilty of multiple offenses. I was guilty of more clear rebellion. It’s like in parts of our country, I don’t think there are any places left, where for a while they didn’t have a speed limit, so it was left up to the individual. They might stop me from going too fast for conditions, but that was relative. But when you post specific speed limits, now the offense has been clarified, and now I go from 25-mile-an-hour speed limits to 35, back to 25, up to 45, and everywhere I go I can be revealed to be an offender. The other place it was somewhat loose. While I may be an offender for driving too fast for conditions in certain places, there was just a nebulousness about it. Now everything has been clarified. That’s what the law did. So, it killed me, Paul said. I mean I had no out.

The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. That continues down to today. When I speak about the law and when Paul writes about the law here, he’s not saying there’s any flaw in the law. It was given for a specific purpose during a specific time. It always has been and always will be holy, righteous and good. What it revealed about sacrifices was holy, righteous and good, even though the sacrifices are not obligatory upon us today. We still learn of God’s character and insight and His view of sin and the consequences of sin. In fellowship offerings we learn it, and on we go. But we’re not obligated to that. We learn from it as a historical event, as we learn from other history of our Bible. The law is holy, the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be. The law didn’t cause death for me in that sense. He said previously it resulted in death, it brought about death, it killed me, but the problem wasn’t with the law. In that sense he can’t say I was okay without the law because he’s already established those who don’t have the law aren’t okay. They are condemned under sin. He’s drawing a comparison here so we understand what the law could do and could not do. The point is all the law could do was reveal sin, magnify sin, show how sinful sin really was. But it couldn’t save because I was a sinner, Paul is saying. May it never be. Rather it was sin, in verse 13, in order that it might be shown to be sin by affecting my death through that which is good so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. That’s what the law is all about. We saw that when we studied I Timothy chapter 1, and there were teachers infiltrating the church trying to use the law and they didn’t understand the law. The law served the purpose of revealing sin. It still does that. So, would I preach the law? Yes. When I preach the gospels, we’re preaching the law in much of the gospels because the gospels were lived under the Mosaic Law. We preach the Old Testament. We’re preaching the Mosaic Law, when we study the Law of Moses, sure. But does that mean we’re obligated to the law of Moses? No. Is that God’s plan for our salvation? No. Well, what about all the similarities between the law and grace? We have a lot of commandments. The law of Christ is not the Law of Moses. The law of Christ are the laws and the commandments we are given under the New Covenant. These are to be carried out by the power of the Spirit who dwells in us, that’s the fruit of the Spirit. We walk under the control of the Spirit, walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. It’s a new way of living.

We understand the place of the law, the role of the law. Praise God we’re free from the law because you can’t be free from the power of sin as long as you are trying to live under the law, because the law brings no power. Well, why can’t then I be free in Christ and live under the law? Because you can’t have two husbands, so those who haven’t died to the law haven’t been joined to Christ. Those who haven’t died to the law haven’t died to sin. We say well I know people who are truly saved, and they still think you have to keep the law. Well, the fact that people are confused and don’t understand the scripture doesn’t change the reality of scripture. It does hinder the walk, because we walk by the Spirit. Even the commands given to us now are carried out through the power of the indwelling Spirit who produces the character of God from within us. The law commanded from outside, do this, but there was no power in me. There’s a great command from a holy God, but there’s no power in me. Now the Spirit of God comes and dwells in me. God by grace through faith saved Old Testament saints, not because they could keep the law. They lived by trusting God and faith in Him. It wasn’t their obedience to the law because none of them could keep it anyway. Salvation has always been by grace through faith and now the Mosaic Law, which was given to govern the conduct of Israel, was in a timeframe where it was done.

Seems rather simple. Amazing how much of the New Testament has to be devoted to New Testament epistles to try to clarify these issues so that we understand the proper use of scripture, the proper relationship of scripture, and are absolutely clear on how we live our new lives in Christ. We live those as God intends us to experience the fullness of His blessing and produce the fullness of the fruit, which is what brings honor and glory to Him. Two weeks on the law and showing it’s dead, we all ought to go out and say we are dead to the law, we have no obligation to it. Now we live new life by the Spirit. We learn from the law, but we don’t live under the law.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you, Lord, that we weren’t left to ourselves. Thank you that even under the law, because of your grace, there was salvation. Not because people kept the law, but because in your grace people were brought to faith in you. Now Lord that the law has served its purpose and brought to an end, we thank you that in Christ we have additional clarity, that we have new life, Spirit-empowered and enabled life. We are to be a people manifesting with a fullness never before possible the beauty of your character as the Spirit of God who indwells us produces that character. May we be a people walking in obedience, in submission that you might be honored. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.