Romans 7:1-4

Romans chapter 7 is where we're going to be this morning.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

Let's read together the first six verses.

Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law,

that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.

For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he lives,

but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.

But if her husband dies, she is free from that law,

and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ,

so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead,

in order that we may bear fruit for God.

But while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law

were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

For now we were released from the law, having died to that which held us captive,

so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Let's pray together.

Father, I pray that you will bless our time together as we study your word,

by the power of the Spirit within us,

and that you give me words to speak clearly the truth presented here,

and that you give all of us fears and hearts to receive it.

I pray, Father, that the great truths of the gospel are not lost on us.

We are your children, and we thank you for that.

Father, I pray that you will now combine knowledge and understanding,

so that we may have wisdom as to how we ought to live in light of these truths.

We pray this in the precious name of Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

We're going to spend a number of weeks in these first six verses.

I don't really know exactly how many yet,

but we're going to get through verse four this morning.

Just so you kind of know,

I'm not going to just neglect those last two verses in our reading this morning,

but I really want to get us through verse four,

and we'll probably need to stop at that point for the sake of time.

But just to kind of get our minds going,

to get us back on page,

to make sure that we know where Paul has been

and where he's taking our thinking,

let me remind you that he begins the book off

and goes through about the middle of chapter three,

approximately verse 20,

is where he begins to wrap up the idea,

the presentation that all of us have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God.

There is no chosen race of people that's exempt from the law.

And that the law demands of us two things.

The law demands fulfillment,

and the law demands condemnation.

Fulfillment we can see in chapter two, verse 13 of Romans.

Not the hearers of the law who are righteous for God,

but the doers of the law will be justified.

In condemnation, chapter two, verse eight,

those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth,

but obey unrighteousness,

there will be wrath and fury.

We see in chapter three, verse 10,

that none is righteous,

no, not one.

All of us have transgressed the law

and are entirely incapable of keeping it.

Which creates a great problem for us, doesn't it?

It puts us in a desperate state.

If you don't know that this morning,

that apart from Christ,

if you were to have to work your way

by fulfilling the law,

by keeping the law,

it is impossible.

There is no way.

Your sinful heart inclines you to do the opposite.

And as a result,

you are an enemy of God,

apart from Christ.

So in the middle of chapter three,

beginning in verse 21,

he begins to give us the solution to the problem,

and he runs that through the end of chapter five,

in that Jesus Christ fulfills

both of the demands of the law.

He fulfilled the law in his perfect life.

Jesus Christ came and did not sin.

And he meets the demand of the condemnation

by bearing the wrath of God on our behalf.

So justification then for us,

our right standing before God,

is contingent only upon faith in Christ.

The belief that he did, in fact,

fulfill the demands of the law,

that he came as the Son of God,

lived a sinless life,

died as propitiation,

the replacement for us.

Justification by faith alone,

is such a precious truth.

It absolutely ought to blow our minds.

I'm justified simply by my faith.

Nothing that I have done

has earned my right standing before God.

It is all wrapped up in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

I get trembling just thinking about it.

It's an amazing truth

that neither can I earn my way to heaven,

but also I don't have to.

Christ has accomplished the work for me.

It is finished.

But there's some implications

that come along with that.

It doesn't just stop there.

When I am justified before God,

I don't disappear.

I don't go to heaven to be in His presence.

I'm left behind for some very specific purposes.

What do we do then with these truths

beyond what He's trying to say to us?

Which is where He goes in chapter 6 and 7 and 8.

He begins to ask some hard questions

in light of this idea that we're justified by faith alone.

In a few moments, I think,

we're going to sing the song Rock of Ages.

The first verse of Rock of Ages reads this.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me.

Let me hide myself in Thee.

Let the water and the blood

from my wounded side which flowed

be of sin the double cure

save from wrath

and make me pure.

I realized recently what the song was about.

I admit to you that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.

And I connected it,

I just randomly, divinely in my mind

to the story of Moses

after the tablets had been broken

and he went back to receive them again.

He asked, audacious claim,

he asked of God to see His glory.

And God granted that request in part.

He said, well, you can't see my face.

If you look on my face as a sinful man,

you will die.

But what I'll do is I'll hide you

in this spot in the rock.

A cleft in the rock.

I'll hide you in it.

And I'll put my hand over it.

And then as I pass by,

I'll let my hand go

and you can see my back.

But you cannot see my face.

That's what the song is about.

The rock of ages.

Jesus Christ.

It's a cleft for us.

That we can hide ourselves in Him.

That we might behold the full glory of God

and not be destroyed.

It's incredible.

It's incredible.

But some questions come out of it.

Chapter 6, verse 1.

What shall we say then?

That's the question.

What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin

that grace may abound?

Because of the great work of God

in our lives,

this grace to us,

should we go on sinning

to prove Him gracious?

Chapter 6, verse 15.

What then?

Are we to sin because we are not under law,

but under grace?

We've now been set free from the law.

Are we just to go be lawless?

Paul emphatically answers both questions.

He says, no.

Absolutely not.

And then we get to chapter 7.

The overarching question

throughout the chapter is,

so what then becomes of the law?

So what value is it then to us?

And that's kind of going to be the theme

for chapter 7.

The law.

It is mentioned,

that phrasing, the law,

is mentioned 46 times in Romans.

23 of which are in chapter 7.

Half of them are found in chapter 7.

That's why the kids are supposed to give a thumbs up

when they hear the law.

Fail.

Fail.

They're not listening.

They're coloring right now.

And that's fine.

So in order for us to begin our journey

through chapter 7 together,

I think we just need to take a little bit of a step back

and talk a bit about the law.

What is it that he's referring to

when he talks about the law?

Number one, specifically,

he's referring to the Mosaic law.

That law found in the first five books of the Bible,

the Pentateuch,

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

He's certainly referring to the Mosaic law,

that law that was given to Israel,

that was given to Moses,

and he brought it to the people.

That law that was meant to set them apart

from the world,

but to prove to them

that they couldn't do it on their own,

that they needed Jesus Christ.

All the clues were there for them to understand

that they needed a Savior.

Beyond that,

let me read to you a couple of texts.

Joshua 1, 7 and 8.

It says,

Be strong and very courageous,

being careful to do according to all the law

that Moses, my servant, commanded you.

Do not turn from the right hand or to the left,

that you may have good success wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth,

but you shall meditate on it day and night,

that you may be careful to do

according to all that is written in it.

Isaiah 42, 21.

Isaiah says,

The Lord was pleased for His righteousness' sake

to magnify His law

and make it glorious.

Psalm 1, 2 says that the righteous man's delight

is in the law of the Lord.

Psalm 119, a famous psalm,

speaks in 176 verses

about the law of God.

Makes much of it.

Psalm 119, 72 says,

The law of your mouth is better to me

than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Psalm 119, 165 says,

Great peace have those who love your law.

Nothing can make them stumble.

The law has great value.

And certainly,

to the people that Paul is writing to,

had great value.

You'll notice in verse 1 of chapter 7,

he says,

Or do you not know,

brothers,

which clues us into the fact

that he's speaking to the Jewish Christians,

which would have been a large part

of the church in Rome.

Do you not know,

brothers,

the problem was

that many Jews

had inflated the law,

had taken it beyond its intended purpose.

It had become

not the way to point them to Christ,

the condemnation

that showed them they needed a Savior,

but it himself had become their salvation.

They idolized it.

They set it up as the thing they worshiped

to the degree that

they created new laws,

they called them hedge laws,

to prevent the breaking of the

Mosaic law.

So even a converted Jew,

somebody who had placed their faith in Christ,

would have held dearly

to the law,

as we should,

to a degree.

I'll give you an example

of the degree

to which they

revered the law.

The Babylonian Talmud,

which is the primary collection

of ancient

rabbinical commentary

on the Torah,

those first five books

of the Bible,

rabbis wrote commentary

and it became

new truths.

Rabbi Rabba

said,

the Holy One

created man's

evil inclination

for theology,

so dismiss that please,

but created the Torah,

the law,

to overcome it.

He believed

so strongly

that the law

was the redemption

of man's

evil inclination.

There's a type of art

called

pointillism,

if you've ever

heard of pointillism

or not.

John, I think,

is going to throw a photo

up there for me.

Famous artist named

Surratt in the 19th century

painted this painting,

you may or may not

be familiar with it,

called

A Sunday Afternoon

on the Island

of La Grande Hate.

Sunday Afternoon

on the Island

of La Grande Hate.

It's huge.

It's in the Chicago

Museum of Art.

I hope someday

to get to go see it

in person.

It's incredibly large.

It's six feet,

ten inches tall

and I think it's

eight feet,

ten inches,

eight feet,

one inch wide.

Huge.

Takes up a whole wall

at the Chicago

Museum of Art.

And pointillist paintings

are painted

with little dot brushstrokes.

A modern version

of this you've probably

seen are the big pictures

that are made up

of little tiny photos

of people

and they put them

all together

in order,

when you step back

from it,

you see the large

picture of it all.

I use this just

as an example

because if you were

to walk really close

to this huge painting

at the Chicago Museum

of Art

and really get in there,

let's say on the

girl in the white dress

in the middle,

you would see simply

dots of white.

Get in there close.

You wouldn't really

understand what's

going on in the

big picture

of things.

Maybe you could

see the girl.

You know,

your scope would be

large enough

to see,

it's a little girl,

that's fantastic,

but you wouldn't see

that she's holding

the hand of her mother

with the red umbrella,

etc.

That's what the law

had become

for the Jews.

They were so narrow,

they were such a

tight view of it

that they missed

the point.

They missed the fact

that it was meant

to point them

to Christ.

It was their

condemnation.

You fools,

you can't keep this,

you need a savior.

Between the Old Testament

and the New,

God's promises to us

have never changed.

It wasn't as if

God had a plan

and it got messed up.

I'm going to give

these people the law.

I'm going to show

them the way.

And they just

weren't good at it.

Man,

he thought,

it's just not good enough.

I've got to come up

with something else.

Okay,

I'm just going to have

to take care of it

for them.

It wasn't the case at all.

People were always

saved by their faith.

Before the law existed,

Abram,

his name at the time,

was saved by his faith.

He believed in the

promises of God.

Now,

they couldn't see

the whole picture.

Well,

it's not fair.

It's okay.

They couldn't see

the whole picture.

We do.

That's a blessing to us.

We get to see

the grand scheme

of all things.

But what they knew

was that God

was their salvation.

He would

redeem them

from their sins.

They just had to

place their faith

in that.

So this is a really

valid question

coming up in our

readers' minds.

We don't really

feel the burden

of the law,

which is unfortunate.

We should.

But we don't really

feel that burden.

But the Jewish reader

would have said,

Whoa, Paul!

What happened to the law?

Does it not have

value anymore?

Should we dismiss

the Torah

and the prophets?

Paul would say,

Absolutely not.

So it certainly

refers to the law,

the Mosaic law.

Secondly, though,

and more generally,

because there is no

article in Greek

in front of the word

law.

The law,

there is no.

So really,

it could be read,

For I am speaking

to those who know

law.

Any moral code,

the Greek word

just simply means

moral code,

rules set apart

for the good

of mankind.

And we know

laws.

We have laws

of our land,

which we are

meant to obey.

So generally,

it means that,

I'll give you

an example,

most people

know,

or make some

mental assent

to the fact

that it's good

to go to church.

That's why,

typically,

Christmas and

Easter celebrations

at churches

are widely attended.

There are churches

now that rent out

stadiums to be able

to seat the people

that will show up

on those days.

Because in those

people's minds,

it's a good thing,

it's a law.

I must go do

this good thing

to be in right

standing with God.

I saw a TV show

this week,

actually,

where it opened

with the dad

trying to rush

the children out

the door to go

to church,

and one of the

little girls

said,

Dad,

why do we have

to go to church?

And his response

was,

we're hedging our

bets.

We're going to go

just in case.

that's required

of us,

so we'll be

all right.

We're going to hedge

our bets.

So what then

becomes of the law?

What should we do

with it as those

who have died

to it?

How is it that

those who have

died to the law

don't become

lawless?

Christ hasn't

delivered us

from our sin

and let us

go into

more sin?

How is it

that we

don't actually

become

lawless?

And he gives

us an analogy,

which we see

in the second

half of

verse 1

through 3,

and it's

pretty simple,

so let's look

at it real quick.

Or do you not

know,

brothers,

for I'm speaking

to those who

know the law,

that the law

is binding

on a person

only as long

as he lives?

So it's a simple

analogy.

It's all he's

giving us here,

and I think he

explains it rather

well.

He says,

if a woman is

married to a man,

her job as a

wife is to

serve him.

With all

that she is.

And if she

doesn't serve

him with all

that she is,

if she serves

another man,

she's an

adulteress.

The law

requires her

to maintain

commitment to

her husband.

However,

if her husband

dies,

she's no longer

held accountable

to him in

that way.

The same is

true of our

modern day

judicial system.

If somebody

commits a

murder and

then dies,

they're not

put on trial

for the murder.

They're not

held accountable

to the law

anymore because

they're no

longer alive.

The analogy

can be flipped

around.

It doesn't

really matter.

This isn't

any kind of

a teaching

on divorce.

It's not

really the point

of what he's

trying to say.

We can flip it

around and say,

a husband is

to be committed

to his wife

as long as

she is alive.

And he's not

to be committed

to any other

while that's

the case.

That's simply

what he's

trying to

say here.

In order for

him to get

to verse

four,

where he

says,

likewise,

in the same

way.

Many of your

translations might

say,

therefore.

And he

says,

my brothers,

you have

also died

to the law

through the

body of

Christ.

You have

also died

to the law

through the

body of

Christ.

This phrase

is,

aorist,

past,

passive.

I know most

of you don't

care about

that.

So what it

means is,

that it has

been a

divinely

completed

action.

If you

were found

in Christ,

if you

placed your

faith in

him,

you have

died.

Not

physically,

you didn't

kill yourself,

but divinely

your old self

has been

killed.

Completed

action in

the past

because we're

found in

Christ.

our identity

gets tied

up with

his identity

and Christ

died.

In the same

way,

so have

we.

Likewise,

so that

we're no

longer

bound

to the

law.

We've

died to

it.

We're not

bound to

it any

longer.

For what

purpose?

So that

you may

belong

to another,

to him

who has

been raised

from the

dead.

we have

been set

free

from the

marriage,

if you

will,

to the

law,

so that

we might

be bound,

we might

be married

to Christ.

Now,

some of you

macho men

in here,

your macho

ego may

not allow

you to

think of

your

relationship

with Christ

in this

way,

and my

encouragement

to you

would be

get over

it,

because it's

a really

good

analogy

of our

relationship

with him.

Ephesians

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5,

we're taught

as husbands

to love

our wives

as Christ

loved the

church.

I want

Christ to

love me

that way.

I'm cool

with that.

I can be

a bride

of Christ,

no problem

with it

at all.

Keep in

mind,

it's an

analogy.

It's not

the reality

of the

situation.

It's an

analogy,

trying to

help us

wrap our

minds

around what

happens

when we

become

Christians.

So we

have been

bound

together

with Christ.

We belong

to him.

So what

does that

do then

to the

law?

What does

that do

for us?

Romans 6,

2,

as Chris

preached on,

the second

part of

verse 2

through 4,

reads this

way.

How can

he who

died to

sin still

live in

it?

Do you

not know

that all

of us who

have been

baptized into

Christ Jesus

were baptized

into his

death?

We were

buried

therefore with

him by

baptism into

death in

order that

just as

Christ was

raised from

the dead by

the glory of

the Father,

we too might

walk in

newness of

life.

So we're

bound with

Christ in

that, in

the newness

of life,

because of

our union

with him.

We have

died with

him in

order to

belong to

him.

2 Corinthians

11,

2,

Paul paints

another

beautiful

picture of

this.

He writes

to the

Corinthians,

for I

feel a

divine

jealousy

for you

since I

betrothed

you to

one husband

to present

you as a

pure virgin

to Christ.

It's where

our allegiance

lies as

Christians.

So we're

joined together

with Christ,

but for what

purpose?

For what

purpose?

And you look

at the very

end of

verse 4

there,

so that

we will

bear fruit

for God.

That's the

end of

the need.

That's why

we've been

delivered,

joined together

with Christ,

so that

we will

bear fruit

for God.

2 Corinthians

5,

21,

Paul said,

for our

sake he

made him

to be

sin,

who knew

no sin,

so that

in him

we might

become

the

righteousness

of God.

Christ

came

to

fulfill

the

demands

of the

law,

to

live a

sinless

life,

to give

us the

ability

to be

seen as

perfected

from the

eyes of

God.

He also

bore the

condemnation

of said

law.

So if

we are

bound up

with Christ,

we will

care about

what he

cares about.

We will

fulfill

the law

as

Christians.

There's not

a lot of

gray area

in there.

We will

fulfill

the law

because we

are from

the heart

joined to

Jesus.

We are

from the

heart

joined to

Jesus.

You can't

be that.

You can't

be joined

to Jesus

from the

heart and

not have

that change

how you

live.

You can't.

It's

impossible.

If you

have made

a profession

of faith

in your

life

somewhere

along the

way

and it

didn't

change

you,

you're

not a

Christian.

You don't

believe in

the risen

Son of

God

because when

you place

your faith

in Christ,

you die

to the

law and

you're

joined to

another

Jesus

Christ.

And that

will

change

your

heart.

The

great

theologian

Charles

Hodge

wrote on

this text,

as far

as we

are

concerned,

redemption

is in

order to

produce

holiness.

We are

delivered from

the law

that we

may be

united to

Christ,

and we

are united

to Christ

that we

may bring

forth fruit

unto God

as

deliverance

from the

penalty of

the law

in order

to produce

holiness.

It is

vain to

expect that

deliverance

except with

a view

to the

end for

which it

was granted.

You

can't

believe for

a moment

is what

he's

saying.

You

can't

believe

that

Christ

would

deliver

you

for

any

other

reason

than

holiness.

As far

as we

are

concerned,

that is

why it

was

accomplished,

to make

us

holy.

That's

who

is

holy.

So,

if you're

found in

Christ,

if you

have placed

your faith

justified

by faith

alone

in

Christ,

you're

going to

fulfill

the

law.

do we

do that

perfectly?

No.

I wish

we did.

I wish

that when

the Spirit

came to

indwell us

and we

were

regenerate,

things just

started working

their way

out.

Everything

went

perfect.

We're

going to

get into

some stuff

that makes

my head

spin as

Paul begins

to try to

explain the

process in

his life

where he

sees himself

doing things

he doesn't

desire to

do.

But this

kind of

truth is a

barometer for

us.

it's a

test by

which we

filter our

living.

If we're

faithful to

God,

we'll bear

fruit for

God.

If we're

faithful to

God,

we will

bear fruit

for God,

but we

don't

always

bear fruit

for God.

And what

does that

then say

of our

relationship

with him?

If you're

a Christian,

you were

bound to

Christ,

but most

of us

are unfaithful

to that

union.

I want

to find

myself

faithful to

my husband

as a

bride of

Christ,

devoted

and serving

him with

all that

I have.

And that

will be

the fulfillment

of the

law.

It's the

first and

greatest

commandment.

Love the

Lord your

God with

all your

heart,

with all

your mind,

with all

your soul,

and love

your neighbor

as yourself.

In those,

all the other

commandments are

wrapped up,

they're tied

in that.

If you do

that,

you'll do

everything else.

If you

devote yourself

to that

whom you're

bound up

with,

that was a

terrible sentence,

I'm sorry,

devote yourself

to whom

you're

bound up

with,

you will

fulfill

the law.

So where

does that

leave you

as you're

pondering

such a thing

and questioning

your own

life?

I hope

convicted.

I don't

think it's

possible for

us to

think about

the potential

to fulfill

the law

in Christ

and not

feel some

conviction

because we

don't.

If you

think you

do,

you're

incredibly

prideful,

which is a

sin,

or you're

a liar,

which is a

sin.

None of

us,

none of

us are

perfect.

Found

perfect in

Christ by

God,

playing that

out in

reality,

none of

us are

perfect.

And you

have to

ask

yourself,

am I

even dead

to the

law?

Do I

try to

gain approval

with God

because of

what I

do,

or because

of who

I am?

There's a

big difference.

Your identity

in Christ,

a child of

God,

adopted,

not because

of anything

that you've

done,

but all

because of

his work

on your

life,

his grace

to you,

justification

by faith

alone,

or do you

try to

earn and

work your

way into

his approval?

You may

not be a

Christian at

all,

or you

may just

need to

repent and

believe anew.

A Christian

life is a

process of

repentance,

constantly

looking to

God,

laying down

the sins

in your

life.

You never

stop that.

It never

ends.

we'll

always be

repenting,

picking back

up faith,

pursuing

him.

But we

ought to be

able to

look at

the scope

of our

lives and

see some

movement

towards

Godliness.

As I

counsel people

here in the

church who

are dealing

with sins,

habitual

sins,

it is easy

for me to

encourage them

to continue

on because

they're so

broken over

the things

that they

do.

there are

men in

this church

that hate

sin and

love Christ.

You can

hear their

voices,

you can

see it as

they pray,

as they

lament over

the stuff

that they

do.

It's easy

to encourage

them.

March on.

God's at

work in

your life

because the

natural man

doesn't hate

sin the way

you do.

He doesn't

abhor it this

way.

Do you find

yourself hating

sin more and

loving Christ

more as your

life progresses

on or do

you just

revel in the

fact that

you're sinful?

So verse 4,

I'll leave it to

us again.

Likewise, my

brothers, you

also have died

to the law

through the

body of Christ

that you may

belong to

another, to

him who has

been raised

from the dead

in order that

we may bear

fruit for God.

We'll talk more

about this this

week.