What the Law Did

Transcript

GR 2226
01/19/2020
What the Law Did
Romans 7:7-13
Gil Rugh

We’re going to Romans chapter seven. This chapter fits in the flow of Romans as we have noted but it’s probably without doubt the most controversial section in the book of Romans among bible believing Christians. There’s a difference in understanding of what is being addressed in Romans chapter seven.

Remember the flow. Paul started out as he unfolds the gospel breaking it down into pieces and working through the details. First thing we had to understand is our condemnation. The reality of sin. That went from chapter one, verse eighteen through chapter three, verse twenty. Then we start with verse twenty-one, how do you deal with condemnation? Well you provide justification where the righteousness of God was provided through the death of Christ on the cross to provide a way that God can, consistent with His righteousness, His holiness, His justice, could declare sinful, condemned human beings cleansed, forgiven, credited with the righteousness of God. That went from chapter three, verse twenty-one through chapter five. Then the doctrine of sanctification which is how do we live? It doesn’t stop with, God has declared us righteous, now we get on with our life. Well the truth in that is, it’s a new life. That was chapter six. We died with Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ to a new life. Now we need to keep that in our mind. Reckon it to be so and live in light of it. We’ve died to sin. Its power and authority over us have been broken. We now live as slaves of God and slaves of righteousness, not as slaves of sin and the devil.

We come into chapter seven. We talk about the Law. The Mosaic Law. How it fits into this. We’ve noted through the first six verses the point made with an illustration drawn from the marriage relationship. Just like we died to sin, we also died to the Law. So, the Law is not an issue in our justification nor is it an issue in our sanctification. Its authority is also ended. The analogy was the marriage relationship and the death of the spouse ends that relationship so that the surviving spouse is free to be joined to another spouse. That’s the picture. We died to the Law.

Now remember Paul is writing out of his background as a Jew. The Jews are under the Law. I will say more about that in a moment. Paul already touched on that in chapter two of Romans. The Law was given to the Jews in the nation Israel, but it keeps coming up because remember in the book of Acts the church starts in Acts chapter two at Jerusalem at a festival meeting, Pentecost, for the Jews. And basically, the Church is Jewish in its makeup until Acts chapter ten. In Acts chapter eight Samaritans, there are some saved in Samaria among the Samaritans. But the Samaritans are mixed blood. The Samaritans were Jews who intermingled with conquering people as they were carried away into captivity, spent years there. But Gentiles aren’t brought into the picture until chapter ten. You’ll remember even at that point, Peter is the key figure in chapter two in preaching the sermon that he uses the foundation for the response of the Jews that begins the Church with the coming of the Spirit. But it’s not until chapter ten that, that gospel is carried to the Gentiles and they become part of the Church. And there it is an unsettling issue. Remember Peter said I would not have come without special revelation from God. I wouldn’t have gone to the house of a Gentile and given them the gospel. In chapter eleven the apostles who are centered at Jerusalem, they’re really the head of the new church, they called Peter on the carpet wondering why he went and presented the gospel to Gentiles. So, you see there has to be a change in that mentality. It just didn’t happen overnight. We, two thousand years later, are accustomed to what the Scripture says and the full development. But that took time. And then the issue comes well, okay, the Gentiles are included. But remember how important the Mosaic Law is. It was the governing principle for the nation. It was their constitution, so to speak, governed their religious life, their political life, their moral life, social life. It was the governing contract, if you will. So, then the Jews have the adjustment. Okay, fine.

Just back up before Romans to Acts fifteen. It’s a conference. There’s a conference held because with the gospel spreading out, Paul’s now in the picture and carrying the gospel to Gentiles. What do we do with the Mosaic Law? Key for the Jews, circumcision, the sign of the covenant, the Law is given. Well, it takes time for adjustment there. Well, yeah, we understand now the Gentiles are saved. But there were some who were saying, coming out of Jerusalem in that context, that’s great. Gentiles are saved. But they have to become partakers of the Mosaic Law.

Chapter fifteen opens up, “some men came down from Judea.” This is where Jerusalem is. And you always go down, but you would be going north to Syrian Antioch where Paul is, where this issue begins to be brought to a head. They came down from Judea and they’re saying, “unless you’re circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved.” In other words, you can convert to Christ but you’re also converting to Judaism and the keeping of the Law. So there’s disagreement. They decide they’ll have a council in Jerusalem where the apostles remain centered. Persecution has scattered many believers, but the apostles remain centered in Jerusalem. They come down to resolve this. Verse five of chapter fifteen, “some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed” so this is where confusion is. They professed, we believe that Jesus is the Messiah. We believe that God is saving Gentiles but that does not change the fact, the requirements of keeping the Mosaic Law, circumcision and the other things are still a necessity. It’s necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses. So that’s the issue. It isn’t even the issue over the person and work of Christ as we might think of it. They believed, they’d stepped out, they’re Pharisees but they’re saying we believe in Jesus. That’s not what’s resolved. How does the Mosaic Law fit in to this?

And then Peter becomes key in verse seven. He’s going to speak because he was the one chosen of God to carry the gospel to the Gentiles in chapter ten. Now Paul will pick up that ministry to the Gentiles. Peter will keep his focus on the Jews, but Peter says I was the one. The Gentiles heard the word of the gospel by my mouth and He made no distinction. He cleansed their heart by faith. They hadn’t been circumcised. They hadn’t submitted to the Mosaic Law, but the Spirit of God came on them when I presented the gospel and they believed. The Spirit manifested His presence in these Gentiles, and they were baptized in identification with Christ. So why would you put a burden on them of trying to keep the Law? Verse ten, “why do you put God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” He says let’s be honest.

Now Peter can speak because he’s a Jew here and saying we couldn’t keep the Law ourselves. Christ had to come and do for us what we couldn’t do because we would have had to keep the Law perfectly to have been saved by the Law and we couldn’t do it. So, what are you trying to do to say the Gentiles have to keep the Law? God saved them by faith without the Law. So that ought to settle it. So, the people kept silent and listened, then you had that resolution. But the problem doesn’t go away.

The devil doesn’t quit. Well we lost that. Put it away. No! He just keeps working it because it can be confusing to people. The Judaizers as we call them, those who kept saying you have to believe in Christ, but the Law is a necessity, plagues Paul. It comes up. He wrote his letter to the Galatians about that issue. He’ll touch on it in the letter to the Ephesians. It just permeates. So here it is in the book of Romans. If you come back to Romans.

What about the Law? And maybe it’s not necessary for justification but for sanctification and he’s settling the matter. When we were identified with Christ in His death, we died to sin. And we Jews also died to the Law. And to understand that would help to realize why would you put the Gentiles under the Law? You can’t have two ways of salvation. That the Jews now will have to believe the Law and keep the Law and the Gentiles won’t. So, there’s the pressure. God gave the Law, it’s His word. It’s necessary to keep the Law. That issue doesn’t go away. That’s what we’re dealing with. You died to sin. You’re free from all obligation to sin. It no longer is your master.

That was chapter six. And in the opening verses of chapter seven, the first six verses. Verse four, “my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ.” And we noted, that means through your identification with Him on the cross. When He died you’re credited with being identified with Him. He was taking your place when you believe in Him. And then God raised Him from the dead and He raised you from the dead so that you might bear fruit for God. And that connects, as we said, to the end of chapter six where in verse twenty-two, “having been freed from sin” because you died with Christ. That broke the authority and power and the enslavement to sin. Enslaved to God you derive your benefit. We noted that benefit is the word “fruit.” You have that in your margin. Resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life.

So, the Law is not part of our justification. It’s not part of our sanctification. And that’s the connection he makes. Because, come back to chapter two of Romans, he addressed this because remember he’s going to show all are under sin in this section on condemnation. Verse nine, “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also the Greek.” The gospel goes to the Jews first, in chapter one, and then to the non-Jews. Judgment comes to the Jews first. They had a priority because of the blessings they had of having the word of God and so on. “There’s no partiality with God.” Note verse twelve, “for all who have sinned without the Law will perish without the Law; and all who are under the Law will be judged by the Law. Not the hearers of the Law who are justified by God, just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. And the Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law.”

So, they have a law working. It’s working in their conscience, in their heart. In other words, there is within us, as created in the image of God even though it’s marred by sin, there’s a sense of right and wrong. That’s why we have religions in the world of all kinds. People have a sense of an obligation to God, corrupted as that is, and they do wrong. There is an awareness. They don’t have the detail as it developed in the revelation given to Israel like of the Mosaic Law, he’s going to touch on that, where you had six hundred and thirteen individual commandments and instructions. But even the non-believer has a sense of right and wrong. Even in our…we see a breakdown and more and more things that are sinful are rejected as being sinful. But even the most liberal progressive people still have some things they view as sin and terrible and worthy of punishment. Why? Where do they get that? They deny God. Even the atheists think there’s somethings wrong. Not everything because anything that hurts someone else is wrong. Says who? Well that’s common sense. Everybody knows that so to speak.

So that’s what he’s talking about. We’re created in the image of God. That’s why Romans one started out remember, those who deny God, they know in their heart that there is. So, they create their own God to worship because they know in their heart that there is a God, but they won’t acknowledge Him. So, they create their own God and then worship the creation rather than the Creator. So he’s mentioned the Law here and he’s wanted to demonstrate in this section, verse seventeen, while you’re still in chapter two, “if you bear the name “,”Jew and rely upon the Law, and boast in God,” you approve all those things but you’re still a sinner. You couldn’t be saved by the Law. And then he quoted in chapter three as you have in verses ten and following, you can see those quotes from the Old Testament set off in those capital letters. They are condemned by their law. So, you see the issue of the Law even though Rome is a Gentile church, the church in Rome. It has this Jewish influence. Who’s going to sort it out? Well the apostle Paul hasn’t been to Rome but he’s writing the letter to help correct things. Set things straight on what the Gospel is and then what Christ has done. All of that to come into Romans seven.

So, looked at that. “We died to the Law.” What does that mean? Any relationship or obligation to the Mosaic Law is over. Now some today, and we talked about this, break down the Law and say, well there are ceremonial things in the Law. We don’t have to do those, we don’t offer animal sacrifices and go through some of the ceremonial things. There are moral things in the Law. There are civil things in the Law. But the moral parts of the Law we have to continue. But the Jews knew nothing of dividing the Law that way. And remember James said if you break one part of the Law you broke the whole Law. I say that because some in evangelicalism say the Law is necessary for our sanctification and they accuse people like us who say we’re not under the Law of being antinomian. We’re not lawless. We have the authority of the Word of God, the New Testament, was called the law of Christ. There are things given that we don’t observe the sabbath day, for example, which is one of the 10 commandments. But we’ve talked about that. So, we don’t want to be confused on this.

It’s a misunderstanding and a misuse of scripture to say, if you don’t believe we’re under at least the moral requirements, because you can’t break out the law like that, they are all intertwined. If you gather sticks on the sabbath, you got stoned, as we used as an example, and a man did. For certain crimes, stoning was the punishment. We don’t do that. So, you end up sorting through, well the moral things like 9 of the 10 commandments. And we get the 10th commandment in because we switched at the Sunday. But you can’t do that with the law. So, we died to that. Paul died to that. The Jews who believed in Christ, they have options if they want to observe certain things in the law. But they have to understand that part of maybe their heritage, just like if you’re raised German, you like German food and you want to eat German food, that’s fine. If you want to eat kosher, do it. But, it’s not a way to be more acceptable to God. That has to be kept clear.

So, verse 6, “But now we have been released from the Law.” Now obviously he talking to Jews because the Gentiles were never under the Law, bound by the Law. It was given to Israel. There were some converts to Judaism that voluntarily identified with the Jews and submitted to the Law requirements. Basically, when Paul says “we” here, this becomes important because he’s talking now, about his position as a Jew. Not just himself personally, but the Jews. Because they’re the ones making the issue. Were these Romans, Gentile Romans, getting the idea that the Law is important to keep, they’ve been raised in all kinds of paganism, with the multi gods of the Romans. Why is this an issue in the Gentile church at Rome. Only the Jews would bring this in. No pagan Roman, who hasn’t been exposed to Judaism, is going to think you ought to keep the Law. It’s because this is a continuing influence in the church. Verse 6, “We have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound.” Keep this death in mind. What he said in chapter 6, carries over. When we died with Christ, Paul says, we Jews died to the Law, by that which we were bound. All obligations were over to the Law. “So that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” You don’t go back to the old ways. We died so we could live a new life. That was the analogy of the marriage, it’s new. You don’t have obligations to the other.

Now, it helps if you realize you could go from the end of verse 6, to the first verse in chapter 8. Not that verses 7 through 25 aren’t important, but they’re something of a sideline. They’re important, but you could call them a parenthetical explanation, but I don’t want you to think it’s not important. What he’s doing is, he’s going to take a sidetrack here, to explain the issue of the Law. Because he wants to clarify that. I’m not satisfied that I just told you that we died. Just like he told us we died with Christ to sin. But then he went on to further explain what? Now you have to recognize that to be true. You have to take these facts into your thinking, and that has to shape your thinking. Greek word, gnorizo, you recognize it to be so, you’re acting now on the basis of that. So, a further explanation here, so there’s no misunderstanding. But, you could really go from chapter 6, the end of the verse, “we serve in newness of the Spirit and not oldness of the letter,” chapter 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life,” remember, “we serve,” verse 6 and the end of the verse, “in the newness of the Spirit.”

Now we have the Law, not the Mosaic Law, but the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. He’s picked up what he’s said at the end of verse 6, and reiterates some of it to lead us into chapter 8. So, as we noted, chapter 6 is all about sin. Chapter 7 will be all about the Law. You know what chapter 8 is about? It’s all about the Holy Spirit and how we now live the new life we have in Christ. We’re spending some time here because when we pick up with verse 7, down through verse 25, I pulled half a dozen commentaries off of my shelf before I came in this afternoon just to look at. Which some of these commentaries were saying. I think most of them misunderstand Romans 7. The issue comes, is Paul a believer or not a believer? And what he’s going to say in Romans 7:7-25, and it will become more of an issue in the last part of chapter 7.

I’ll tell you where I am and then we’ll see how it goes. We’ll see the details. Many believers take this to say, Paul is talking about his experience as a believer, and the weight on him as he tried to keep the Law. But he couldn’t, because the sin nature was battling against it. I don’t think that’s what Romans 7 is talking about. But I want you to understand, so at least when you think I’m wrong, you think I’m wrong for the right reasons.

I taught on this years ago at a Men’s retreat and it caused some unsettling. Even some of the pastors there thought I maybe had gone off the deep end. A couple of years ago, someone had left the church and one of their reasons was, my understanding of Romans 7. I don’t think the issue in scripture is, can a believer sin. I think believers do sin. This issue is, is Romans 7 talking about a believer sinning? So, even though I’m going to say, I think this is describing a non-believer, an unsaved person, that doesn’t mean I don’t think that Christians sin, or have to deal with issue of sin, the sin nature and so on. My understanding is, we’re going to cover Romans and that’s not what Romans 7 is talking about. But I’m not going all ballistic for a person who says they believe Romans 7 is talking about a believer. Because I do agree that believers have the old man and they still have to deal with the old man, and there is a conflict there. I’m just talking about whether Romans 7 is talking about that issue. A distinction from maybe the last part of Ephesians or what he covers in Colossians or he’ll cover later in Romans about the walk of the believer. So, I see verse 7 of chapter 7, down through verse 25 of chapter 7, something of a parentheses, an elaboration.

Before I move any further, let me clarify some things. First thing is in verse 7 of chapter 7. “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin?” I have to clarify this, because I say we died to the Law, after I tell you we died to sin, am I equating the Law and sin? No! And you’ll see the answer, “May it never be!” Some of you taking Greek, the “meginoito”, it can not be. God forbid, the King James translates it. But the word “God” is not used here, but it denotes something that’s an impossibility. So, God gave the Law, it is God’s word. So, when I say that we died to the Law, Paul writing, he’s not saying that the Law is sin. He’s saying we had to die with Christ to be released from the Law, we’re no longer enslaved to the Law, we’re not saying the Law is sin, like sin is sin, No! We died to sin and we also died to the Law. Sin was evil, but the Law is not. He’s going to say the Law is good, it’s holy. Nothing wrong with the Law. That’s not why we had to die to the Law. “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary.” The Law is not sin. In fact the Law reveals sin. “I would not have come to know sin, except through the Law; for I would not have know about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’”

Well, we need the Law then, because the Law makes us aware of sin. You’ll hear some, particularly reformed theology, that you have to preach the Law before you preach grace. Because the Law enables a person to know they are a sinner. And then they misunderstand Galatians which says the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, Paul says regarding the Jews. But he’s not talking about the Law being what brings a person to Christ. He’s talking about the Law served the purpose for Israel to oversee them and guide them until the coming of Christ. Then the Law fulfilled its purpose. With the death of Christ and our faith in Him, maybe relationship to the Law is over because the Law completed its purpose.

So, on the contrary, I wouldn’t have come to know sin. Well, what does it mean? Sin was present before the Law. The flood in the days of Noah, came on the earth because of the wickedness of man. We can go back before that. Cain killed his brother Abel. That was sin. Sin was present, it was known. Cain was punished for his sin. The world was punished for their sin. God gave the covenant to Abraham and their sacrifices offered. Through the book of Genesis, Abraham offers them. Remember the covenant was cut with sacrifices offered and there are sacrifices that go on and there’s a recognition of sin. The Law is not given until around 500 years after Abraham. Sin was present, we just read that in chapter 2. Even non-Jews had an awareness and a knowledge of sin. They suppressed that knowledge. But what the Law brought was full light. Like we turn on the lights and now you see. There is a clarity about sin. A specificity about sin.

He uses the example of coveting. Do I know that coveting is sin just by looking at the stars? It’s just a natural desire. This word covet is a broad word, it’s I think the tenth, the instructions in the Law, thou shalt not covet. But, that’s what the Law does, so I wouldn’t have known and had the understanding and the clarity about sin, without the Mosaic Law. Now, God breaks it down into details. And what the punishment will be and so on.

So, that’s what he’s saying, I wouldn’t have come to know sin except through the Law. “I wouldn’t have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” So specific sins and the clarity on that, you realize how great sin is. God specified things under the Law, that would be sin for Israel, like gathering sticks on the sabbath. That doesn’t apply today. Traveling further than you were allowed on the sabbath. Many of you came, you broke the Law by getting to church today. Oh well, we’re not under that part. Well you can’t pick and choose.

So, it gave clarity on the Law. That’s what Israel had that was unique. Paul will get to that later in Romans. What are advantages to the Jews? Well, the first one is, to them was given the word of God. They knew about God. God’s will, God’s working in a way that the Gentiles did not. They had to learn it from the Jews, if they had the opportunity and the exposure. So, coveting is the sin mentioned, and that’s a broad word. It can be used of all kinds of sin, so it’s a good word to use here. And it’s just an example. He picks out one. Romans 1 talked about, we’re all guilty and we all have a certain knowledge. Romans 2 taught that the Gentiles have the Law in their hearts. But the clarity on what is sin and what is not, don’t we need that? Well, we learn from the Law but we’re not under the Law. And the Law, as the Law, is not directly applicable to us. In that sense, it’s not directed to us. We’re not under it. But those things are repeated in the New Testament as well as for us now, living in the Spirit. We get into that as we get later into Romans as well. So, how do the Law and sin go together? What’s the connection? I died to the Law, but the Law is not sin. But the Law revealed sin in a fuller and greater way, and the consequences associated. “But sin,” note this, “taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the Law, sin is dead.” So, now its sin operating.

So, there’s a connection back to the previous chapter. What? I died to sin. Sin enslaved me, sin controlled me. And you know what happened when God gave His word and the revelation in a fuller more complete word about sin? And what was sin? Sin, that old man we called the nature within us, “out of the heart proceeds all these things.” All of a sudden, God says, don’t do that, and we’re doing it. After God says, don’t make idols, you find, even Aaron and the Jews making idols and worshiping it. Wait a minute, why’d you start that? What are you doing? We know how that is, we see it in our kids. You tell them, don’t do that. There’s a desire there, a wrong desire, innate, it’s the sin nature, that principle of sin.

That’s the problem in verse 8, it wasn’t the Law. Sin is the problem, that’s why we had to die to sin. But the Law is not the solution. Because God gave all those to Israel and all it did was multiply their sin. Because they had more clarity on what they shouldn’t do, and somehow they wanted to do it. Why? “Sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me.” Now, obviously here, he’s talking about his identification with Israel. So, Paul will speak through this section, of himself personally, but in that personal identification, it goes beyond just him. The Jews, as a nation, as a people. “For apart from the Law sin is dead.” Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. But that clarity, and the recognition of the pervasiveness of sin. The seriousness of it, the consequence of it. The Law brings that. It clarifies it in a fuller way.

For apart from the Law sin is dead, because sin just promoted the very opposite of what God gave it to do. But the Law was given to reveal the inability of man. That’s why, what did the Law include? Sacrifices. Because “without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sin.” So, the Law is serving a purpose. It’s negative in one sense, because all it could do was reveal how wretchedly sinful man is. The Jews, because of sin, turned it into a way of salvation. The way people use the word of God, but twist it to their own ends. It’s not the problem with the word of God, it’s the problem of their misuse. We think of the cults that are obvious but it gets closer to home. The Jews had the word, it’s true, it was given to them. But they twisted it. “I was once alive apart from the Law,” verse 9.

This is a clue here, that Paul is using himself. He talks about, where I was. But Paul never was apart from the Law, he was born into the Law. Circumcised on the 8th day, remember his testimony in Philippians 3. Born into a strict Jewish home. Raised with the Law. So, I, speaking personally, but is a representative of the Jews and the nation Israel. Until the Law was given, they were alive in a sense. They were spiritually dead, they needed salvation. Abraham needed it. He’s the great example. 500 years before the Law, Abraham believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness. So, we don’t want to read into these passages, more than what’s there or less. He’s talking about the Jews. The giving of the Law didn’t make Israel holy. God brought His holiness to Israel and provided that by faith and did that before.

But with the giving of the Law, it revealed how sinful they were. So, in that sense it was a step, two-steps backward with that one step forward to get the Law. What does it do? You read the book of Leviticus and you have to start out and you go through all these sacrifices. Why? Well because you keep breaking the Law. And you break more of it and when you just do it with a high hand as it says, like the man who gathered sticks. He knew what the Law said. He just decided it wasn’t going to apply to him. You will die. God didn’t choose to appoint the penalties. Stoning was a cruel way to die. You know they could have said somebody will run you through with their sword and you’ll die quickly. Stoning is an unpleasant way to die. People keep throwing stones at you. When they hit you in the leg, it doesn’t kill you. When they hit you in the arm, it doesn’t kill you. When it hits you in the head, it begins to do serious damage. It’s the consequence.

You understand sin is a serious thing. I was apart from the Law. When the commandment came, sin became alive and I died. That’s what the Jews were to realize. They had something the Gentiles didn’t. They were creating their own worship system and thought their gods were going to bring them along. The Jews knew that wasn’t so, because I’m unclean. I have to recognize that. I am not acceptable to God without this sacrifice. Without a priest intervening on my behalf and not just any priest, the priest that God has appointed kind of thing. So that’s what happened with the Law. The Law’s not sinful but the Law gave me a righteous holy standard, or gave it to the Jews, I say me as Paul is talking. But we Jews couldn’t keep it. Why? Nothing wrong with the Law. The Law is not sin. I’m sinful. Sin in me.

Verse eleven of chapter 7, “for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment.” It’s just like you share the truth with an unbeliever. Doesn’t necessarily mean he responds. What sin does is even use the light. It deceived the Jews and it killed me. Now again, what Paul is talking about is the Law and the experience of the Jews, not just him. Because he didn’t have spiritual life, so to speak, before the Law came. People think they’re alive. Just like they think they’re okay in their religious practice today where the church is God’s plan and you share the gospel with them. They think, oh well, I’m fine. I’m Catholic. I don’t need something else. The Jehovah Witness, I’m here to convert you. I don’t need to be converted to what you say.

This, the Law, took opportunity through the commandment. The Jews turned it into a way of salvation because God gave us the Law, we are now okay. That’s why in chapter two Paul said, “it’s not those who possess the Law that are saved. It’s those who obey the Law.” In chapter two, verse twelve, “all who sinned without the Law will perish without the Law, all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God but the doers of the Law will be justified.” So, he leads them on but there are no doers.

That’s where we get to in chapter three, “all have sinned. There is none righteous, no not one. There’s none that does good. All have turned aside. All have gone their own way.” So, you don’t think, well yeah, that’s right. No, you are a possessor of the Law, you’re not a doer of the Law. We Jews were possessors of the Law but we weren’t doers. So, sin took the opportunity through the commandment and I saw all that and I went through all the ritual. And then you open up to one of the prophets like Isaiah, chapter one, and what is God saying to the Jews? “Stop the sacrilege. You trample My courts when you bring your sacrifices” cause the sacrifices weren’t a way of salvation. It was a heart of faith offering, the sacrifice out of the faith of that heart.

God justified them by faith. The sacrifices were a reminder of God’s grace and the need of a sacrifice. Ultimately that Law was a schoolmaster to keep that before Israel so when the ultimate sacrifice, as John the Baptist introduced Jesus, “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” All those sacrifices you’ve been offering, they were all anticipatory. The Lamb of God has come, and He’ll offer the sacrifice that will take away the sin of the world, make possible the salvation of Jew and Gentile alike. So, Paul thought he was alive. The Jews thought they were alive. But the Law came, and it revealed they weren’t good. It revealed their sin.

Verse ten, “this commandment which was to result in life proved to result in death for me.” Why? Verse nine, “I was alive apart from the Law, I thought I was well, then all the light came on and I’m not okay.” It’s like we could testify to our salvation today. When the light of the gospel shown in. I thought I was alright, then the light of the gospel shown in and I realized how sinful I was. That I wasn’t okay. That’s what the Law revealed. That was God’s grace to Israel. You’re not okay. But I’ve made provision for you and if you truly believe in Me, you will obey My Law. That’s why the prophet said you have to be circumcised in the heart. They had twisted it.

So, verse eleven, “sin taking opportunity through the commandment to deceive me, it killed me.” So the Law is holy. The commandment is holy righteous and good. So, the problem’s not with the Law. So why don’t we keep it? There’s a lot we don’t keep. It wasn’t for us. You know we learn from everything. “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable” but not all Scripture is directed to me. And we all acknowledge that. We don’t offer sacrifices today. Well of course that part served its purpose. That’s right! That’s what the Law did. But I learn from the sacrifices. I was still reading a commentary on Leviticus. Why? It’s a reminder. Those sacrifices, each one of them, revealed what Christ brought together in one. The sacrifice for sin, the fellowship sacrifice, all this Son brought into fellowship with God through one sacrifice. So, I learn from that but I’m not under the authority of that. I learn from it. If we don’t keep these distinctions clear, then we’re just blurring what we choose.

So, we think we can pick out of the Law, well that applies. Well immorality is wrong. Yes. The Law said it. But the authority for that is not the Law. It’s what the New Testament tells us that reveals it. Picking up sticks on the Sabbath is not a capital offense today for a believer. It was then. As we talked about, you couldn’t wear garments of mixed material. I don’t even look at the label. Marilyn does but it’s not to decide, oh wait, there’s two kinds of materials in this. A lot of things are there. Name me, we’ll give you a break, just a hundred of the six hundred and thirteen commandments. Well how are you going to know which ones you break? Well, I keep the ten. Nine of the ten. No.

So, you see the point here. But there’s nothing wrong with the Law.
Verse twelve, we want to keep that in mind. The Law is holy. The commandment is holy. Why? Because it came from God. He is holy. This was the reflection of God’s will for His people, Israel, at that time. We don’t honor God by misapplying it and saying, “well then it’s obligatory for us today.” That’s what Paul deals with strongly in the book of Galatians. He’s dealing with it here. It’s important because, well, what harm can you do so people keep the Law, think it’s important. We have to make an issue of it. Well, why did God put it in here? Why is Paul taking, as I said, this sidetrack or this parenthetical fuller explanation?

Because he wants you to understand the Law. It’s holy. It came from a holy God. It was for Israel for a time, but with the coming of Christ its time was over. Remember God appoints the time and the events of the time. The Mosaic Law was from Moses receiving it on Sinai to the coming of Christ and the events of that Law were operative. Now with the coming of Christ, that time, those events, have fulfilled their purpose. We are on so we’re not attacking the Law.

So, verse thirteen, this is a transition verse, and then we stop here and we’ll pick up with this verse. “Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me?” You have that, “may it never be,” so we started this section out in verse seven with “is the Law sin, may it never be.” Now we’ll start this next section with this transition verse, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be. Rather it was sin. You can’t transfer responsibility. It’s within me, Paul, the Jews. The problem was not with the Law. The problem was with the person to whom the Law was given. They couldn’t keep it. God wasn’t surprised by that. The Law was never given as a way of salvation. It wasn’t given to govern and enable. It was given for the purpose, for Israel, for their relationship with God but it depended on the heart. Without a circumcised heart, the circumcision of the flesh, it didn’t get you anywhere. Being the best, Paul said he did as good as you could. When he says in Philippians three, regarding the Law without blame. Well that’s a relative thing. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. “I was as meticulous as you could be in keeping the Law and that meant I offered the right sacrifices at the right time when I didn’t keep it. Which means I couldn’t be saved by the Law. But all of that couldn’t make me right with God because my heart wasn’t right.”

So, the problem is sin in order that it might be shown to be sin. So here you see the purpose of the Law. It just revealed how sinful man was. God gives His word and man reacts against it, twists it, misuses it. All that did was reveal how sinful he was. And that’s why we keep going back. You have to start Romans in the beginning. Then you work through the first three chapters and you reveal the Law itself said there’s none righteous, there’s none that does good, there’s none that seeks after God. This is your own Law. This is your Old Testament. This is the whole sacrificial system the book of Hebrews talks about and its place.

We will pick up with this section, verse fourteen, “we know the Law is spiritual, my problem is I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” So we’re back. That had to be solved, where? Back in Romans six. We died to sin, and when we died to sin, we died to the Law. And he’s going to go on and talk about the experience he had and experience of Israel with the Law. I don’t think we’re dealing with a believer until we get to chapter eight, but I don’t think this is a matter of, again I don’t want to say…I tried to talk to the person who said one reason they have to leave is because of my view of Romans seven. I tried to get them to sit down and we could talk about it, but they weren’t open to that, and that’s fine. But want to be sure that’s careful so I will walk you through why I think the “I” at the end of Romans seven is a nonbeliever in this situation of the Jews.

Let’s have a word of prayer and then we’ll have time for questions. Thank You Lord for Your word. Lord we want to be careful. We want to handle it accurately. We don’t want to minimize the blessing and the responsibility that is ours to be entrusted. This treasure has been entrusted to us. We are to guard the treasure which has been entrusted to us, as you instructed Timothy through Paul. Lord we want to take these truths to heart, to think them through, to ponder them, to handle the Scripture accurately that we might be approved by You as workmen that do not need to be ashamed. Thank you for this time together. Bless our discussion. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.

Okay, we had an elder’s meeting this week. We had a great time. We’re going to do a financial report, might get into March when it gets all put together and we’ll go more in detail. But one great thing, this week we will pay off, because of good giving through the year and up to now, the final debts we have. So, for the first in Indian Hills history, we are completely debt free. We passed a line. God’s grace, we were stretched, but faithfulness through times we come to here. We passed the time where our reserve in the bank would have covered the debt so technically in that sense, we had money to pay the debts, but we need to keep a reserve for unexpected things. A furnace goes, whatever. But we will have that reserve and we will pay off the last of the loans that we have so we praise the Lord for that.

A reminder that we’ve gone through as a congregation, you pray about things, made decisions down through the years. Sometimes it stretched us, we think to the limits. But we believed it was the way God was leading us, He is faithful. We try to be careful, not presumptuous. People remind you there is danger in debt and there is. The greatest danger is not to trust the Lord so I wouldn’t go back and change anything. We’ve gone from two and a half or three acres of land to over twenty acres of land. We have wonderful facilities. We can minister the word of God so we praise the Lord and we praise the Lord that He used us to do that and the faithfulness of God’s people in giving, great blessing. So I wanted to share that even though we don’t have the full financial report. That’ll come at a future day and where we are and where we’re going. Alright, maybe you have anything you’ve got as a question or thing you would like to talk about?

Question, when it comes to the topic of heaven and hell, the Bible is the definitive book on that of course. The atheist would say we just stop, and nothing happens. The Seventh Day Adventist would say that we might have soul sleep until Jesus comes back. The Catholic would say we’re going to purgatory and then the Hindu, of course is not a Christian, but the Hindu would say, well we’re going to be reincarnated. Just what Scripture would you use and how you might attack that?

Answer, well usually when I’m talking to people like this, I start out by trying to at least get a hearing. I can’t prove that the Bible is the only word of God. But it does claim to be such. You may claim, make another claim. I’d like to present you the claims that the Bible says and the root issue. I try to not get into some of the issues that may come up. Try to deal with it, primarily, the basic issue is how do we get right with God? The Bible says the most serious issue is sin. And the Bible does say that there are consequences for sin. There are no second chances. And I may share with them what the Bible says, like Jesus says about “don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to destroy the soul, but fear Him who is able, after He has killed the body to throw both body and soul in hell.” And maybe some verses like Revelation fourteen where they are “cast into hell and the smoke of their torment arises forever and ever.” I’ll say you may not believe that, but that’s what the Bible says about sin and its consequences. Now you may have a different view. But what the Bible says is, “there has to be the issue of sin to be dealt with in all these groups, acknowledge sin as the issue. How does sin get dealt with? The Bible provides an answer to that.

The Bible says “God provided His Son to come to earth, to take our place, to pay our penalty.” You can’t pay it. There are not enough years in purgatory to pay the penalty for your sin. Christ either paid for it completely or He didn’t pay enough to rescue you. The Catholic’s want to keep you under the thumb because they’ll get you out of purgatory. But you’ve got to get tied tighter and tighter to the church. You used to, you could pay money, but you know, you can do certain things to buy down purgatory time, not only for yourself but for your friends. I say, “well, you’re acknowledging there is a payment. But what did Christ pay? The Bible says, ‘there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.’” You’ve added condemnation. Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So depending on the person, I’d talk about that, but I’d try to keep it as tight to the gospel because with all of these, the real issue is until the light of the gospel shines into their heart, I can’t win the argument on just here’s what the Bible says about life after death.

So, I like to bring it back to sin and the real issue you have in your life and religion or lack of it is the fact of sin. And even as an atheist, you believe there’s things that are sinful. You might not call it sin, but you would call it wrong. If someone kidnaps your child and murders them on the way to school, you don’t’ say, well that’s life. That’s the way it is. Nobody’s perfect. No! You’d say that is wrong. It deserves punishment. So even though you deny the existence of God, you know in your heart there are things that are wrong. You don’t like the word sin because that implies God. But if it’s no more than something relative, then it’s survival of the fittest and too bad your kid wasn’t more fit. Well that’s not the way. Common sense would say…what does common sense say? Well common sense tells you there is sin. There’s an offense. But it’s only offense against another person, it’s not too big because that changes. Things that we thought were offensive and wrong now have been said to be okay. You have no standard.

But I at least want to get a hearing. I try to say, let me just let you see what the Bible says and then you can respond to that. Cause what I prefer to have is an opportunity to walk them through the gospel. Let me tell you what the Bible says and then you tell me your response to that. The Bible says we’re sinners because we have offended a holy God. Now it may not be the only answer, but it is the answer the Bible gives and explains what is wrong in the world. We have rebelled against God and the consequence is the rebellion manifests itself in all our relationships.

The Bible also says there is a penalty for sin which is death. And I walk through the three kinds of death and the one you obviously would agree on is physical death. Why do people die? We keep saying we’re going to extend peoples’ lives and we take the average out but you know, you take the early death of babies and things like that and we’re still only getting by with only seventy or eighty years on average. The Bible says seventy, eighty years, that’s about what life was three thousand years ago. But you have to acknowledge we die. Why do we die? The Bible says we die because that’s the penalty God has imposed on us for our sin. And the seriousness of that, since it’s against Him, involves not only physical death, but spiritual death, and that’s the problem in the world. We are separated from God and that frustration and you go on, and then eternal death. The solution if there’s really a God, and this is true, He provides a solution.

So, I talk to them about Christ and the provision…..I’d like the opportunity to walk through the gospel. So, sometimes I try to not get, because if I let them control the conversation, they don’t know where we need to go. And they get me out here trying to provide a defense of the opening chapters of Genesis or life after death or…so I say let me share with you briefly, what I understand the Bible to clearly teach. And then you tell me what your response to that is. And you may have a totally different view.

But what I want to first do, if I can, get the gospel in because until the light of the gospel shines in it becomes an argument of who can be the most logical and the most convincing. And if they present what they do then I may point out the flaw that I see in theirs. They can point out the flaw in mine. Well I don’t believe the Bible. Without a revelation from God, if there is a God, you have no way of knowing anything about Him. Because if He chooses to hide Himself, you’re just living your life with guesses. So, if there’s a God and we’re going to know anything in detail, He’ll have to make Himself known. I realize He’s made Himself known in creation, but we need more than that. So, a little bit, the key, and the key keeps me from thinking I’m not prepared to answer their questions, I don’t have to be prepared. I already have the answer, so I’ll start out with the answer and then let them raise the question and respond accordingly with my answer. The Bible’s answer is, that’s sin. The Bible’s answer is, there’s a holy God.

Question, I was wondering, in your opinion, why is it when Jesus was talking to that rich young ruler who at the end He said you have it all, go sell it all, He started with him through the ten commandments and the ruler had said, all these things I have kept since I was a young man.” But Jesus didn’t call him on it. Jesus didn’t say, no you didn’t. You’re lying. If Jesus could do that to someone like that would or would it not be appropriate for an evangelist today to do that?

Answer, okay. The key is there, he is a Jewish young man, under the Law, under the authority of the Law. And what Jesus does is cut through to the issue. The Jews were to keep the Law. But that was only of value if they did what? Trusted God. What does He go to the rich young ruler with? Who is Jesus? He’s the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel. If you trust Me you’ll obey Me. His dependence is on doing good. What did he do when Jesus told him? Sell it all. Come follow Me. He’s right to the heart of the matter. What God told Israel in the Old Testament. You have to believe in Me like Abraham believed in Me. If you believe in Me, then you obey Me.

Well, He cuts it through, right to the thing. You say I’m good. There’s none good but God. You recognize who I am. Are you willing to trust Me? Well when he decides no you realize the commandments had become a way of salvation for him but I’m not willing to trust You. Jesus said it was a sad thing because, you know, dealing with a Jewish man in that sense, he was, in that sense, “a good man” and he was earnest.

And this is where Paul’s going to get in Romans seven about the earnestness of the Jews. So, I think that’s a good example of where He cuts right through. Well if that’s so, where’s your heart? You’ve called Me good. There’s none good but God. Do you trust God? Then here’s what God tells you to do because here’s the Son of God in the flesh so all you have, come follow Me. Now that’s not a command. I don’t have to tell everyone, “if you want to be saved you have to sell all you have and give it away.” That was for that situation and He used the Law for that Jewish man. Rather than get into an argument, do you keep the whole Law or not, I’ll just cut through and realize your heart is not set on the Lord. You don’t believe God. Keeping the Law won’t get you to heaven, kind of thing. So good point. Good passage.

Question, Gil I have one texted in here. Would you hold that God controls when we sin? Or that our sin is part of His plan and not out of His control?

Answer, the last. Our sin is included in His plan and part of His plan, but He is never the author of our sin or the cause of our sin. We really get into…this is where we’ve got to be careful with logic, because we can get ourselves backed into a corner. God raised up Pharaoh for this purpose. So, Pharaoh was in the place God had put him for the reason God had put him there. Pharaoh’s sin was his sin. But God’s plan was to use Pharaoh’s sin to magnify His glory and accomplish His purpose. So that’s the point of sovereignty and responsibility. Whatever your view, people who say I don’t believe the doctrine of election unless it’s by foreknowledge, but if God foreknows, it’s still a predetermined plan. This is where some in logic have come to a position and they claim to be evangelicals, but I think time has revealed they’re not. They are not saved people. Called the “openness of God” and it got its’ fingers in among bible-believers and there have been books written on it and in response to it. These people claim that God is open, so He doesn’t know your decisions until you make them. Because God knows everything that can be known but He doesn’t know the situations you haven’t made yet. They try to resolve a question but they really then, and they have to acknowledge, well some prophetic things God did determine, but what really denies. So, we do get God that says everything’s under His control. He could tell Pharaoh, “I raised you up for this purpose. I put you in this situation. And I said how you would react and you’re to blame for reacting that way because I’ve made my decision.” That’s a comfort to us as well. Because we get impacted.

We were talking about this, like in Psalms and that. We get impacted by sin and other people’s sin. But that was included in God’s plan. Now my personal sin I am guilty for. But that doesn’t frustrate my plan. And I can’t answer everything. David sinned with Bathsheba. Uriah and a group of faithful soldiers die with Uriah. David ends up with Bathsheba. He’ll father four sons, maybe daughters, but four sons that are mentioned in scripture. One of them is Jedidiah, the one the Lord…Solomon. He’s going to be king. Bathsheba will be the queen-mother. Now does David say I’m glad I sinned because I wouldn’t have Solomon with Bathsheba if I didn’t? Is it a good thing? It didn’t frustrate God’s plan. I can’t answer how God works all these details. Sometimes He brings good out of evil. That’s where it’s out of my control and beyond my understanding. That’s where Ecclesiastes says, you can’t control it and you don’t know. And I don’t.

And sometimes things have happened, and my prayer is, “God you can bring good out of this evil.” You know people have gotten saved as a result of someone’s sin. I had someone come to my office years ago and say, you know, I was in a relationship with this married woman and I led her to Christ. Can it be bad? Yes, it’s sin. God’s grace did that. I knew both of them. They went on to walk with the Lord. The woman stayed with her husband. How do you answer that? Was it good that they committed that sin? Was it good that David had certain men murdered and then as a result of adultery kept the woman? Lord only You can sort these things out.

So that’s where I want to be careful. I don’t provide answers for what I don’t have. It’s true. My sin is included in God’s plan. But God never is the cause of my sin. His purpose is never to tempt me so that I will sin. But He puts me in a situation and that situation is the situation He will use for His purpose.
I should have ended before that one, but we’ll pick up on that. That’s part of Romans because we’re going to get into the doctrine of election as we get over into chapter nine and that ties to this.
Let’s have another word of prayer. Thank You for this day Lord, the time we have together as Your people, the fellowship that’s ours. Thank You for this evening, Your word. Bless the week before us. Bless these faithful believers. Bless the week before them, give safety as they travel home. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.