So this morning's message is
entitled, Made Free from the Law of Sin and Death. And that
comes from Romans, the eighth chapter, and verse two. And we're going to read that first few verses. We'll probably go through verse
11 if we have time this morning. Romans, the eighth chapter, verse
one, there is therefore now, no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after
the spirit for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
had made me free from the law of sin and death for what the
law could not do in that it was weak to the flesh God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So
again, today's title is, Made Free from the Law of Sin and
Death. Although that's our main text
today, that truth is contained throughout the scriptures and
in every book. As we keep our fingers there
and look to a couple of other places where we want to read
this morning, I would like to say that it's been our custom
for the last 16 or so years to close our messages in the Bible
class. And at times we're filling in
with a sentiment that's expressed in the gospel recorded by John
in chapter 8, be free. We always sign off with be free. And so I'd like to kind of turn
over there to John chapter 8 to where, and we find that in that
block of scripture, Jesus was preaching in the temple to some
Jews. in which some Jews there were
caused to believe, and others, in unbelief, were beginning to
dispute him and to argue with him. And so, as we will turn to John chapter
8 there, in verse 30 says, as he spake
these words, many believed on him. In verse 31, then said Jesus
to those Jews, which believed on him, if you continue in my
word, then are you my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the
truth and the truth shall make you free. And they answered him
and said, we be Abraham's seed and we're never in bondage to
any man. How sayest thou that you shall be made free? And Jesus
answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the
house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son, therefore,
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that you
are Abraham's seed, but you seek to kill me, because my word hath
no place in you. I speak that which I've seen
with my Father, and you do that which you've seen with your Father."
So again, this business of the truth making you free, and if
the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed, what
we wanted to bring out to your attention there. And you know,
it's interesting that the The reply of the Lord's antagonist,
these Jews that didn't believe, was in error on a couple of points.
Just as we found in Matthew and Luke in the previous Bible class,
you do error not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God.
And they certainly fell into that category. They were in error
on two points here, a denial of being in bondage, I guess
if we cross off the Babylonians and the Egyptians, then we could
say, no, we weren't in bondage to anybody else. And physically,
they were of the lineage of Abraham, and they were exceedingly proud
of it. That was the thing they always fell back on in their
religion was, the lineage of Abraham, and they kept meticulous
records of the parentage and the lineage as they came down.
And the keeping of the law, those two things that they were proud
of and boasted in. And spiritually, they really
had no connection to Abraham. who believed God and it was imputed
to him for righteousness. As we find in James chapter 2,
that's written there, that Abraham believed God and it was imputed
to him or accounted to him for righteousness. And the Lord on
other occasions said, if you were Abraham's seed, you would
love me. Abraham saw my day and was glad.
And yet he was there in front of him and they rejected him. The truth that the Lord spoke
to here and which he clarifies was regarding a spiritual condition
to which the physical was a type, this bondage both physical and
spiritual, where he says, whoever commits sin is the servant of
sin, and that's what you're in bondage to. The children of God,
the church, the sheep, were allegorically referred to as the spiritual
children, or seed of Abraham, as Paul expounds in in his writings
that they're not all Israel, which are of Israel, but in the
seed of the promise are counted as the spiritual seed. So both
those things kind of went over the head of those Jews to whom
he were speaking because they looked at things with physical
eyes. They saw things with physical
understanding. They didn't apply any spiritual
anything because the natural man receive is not the things
of the Spirit of God. And so as you say whoever commits
sin is the servant of sin and the servant abided not in the
house forever but the son abided forever. And if the son therefore
shall make you free you shall be free indeed. So that's. key point here that that we have
to be made free. We can't free ourselves. Contained in this verse here
in John are several eternal and immutable truths that number
one we find that Jesus is the truth and he is synonymous with
the truth and all truth resides in him and comes from him and
And he says in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am those three things. And
no man cometh unto the Father but by me. So when it says, you
shall know the truth, it expresses a saving knowledge
of the Lord and not just a series of facts or words. We could say a truth here is
You know, two and two equals four. That's a truth. That's
just a word, truths. But this truth expresses knowledge
of Jesus. He says, I am the truth. And,
you know, I was watching the news the other day and some commercial
and some person that had a kind of a warped sense about reality
says, I'm going to express my truth. What I understand is my
truth, you know, not necessarily connected to reality in any form. This is my truth, but it's not
a universal truth as we would express it here in the Bible.
Not just a series of facts or words. This truth is this Jesus
which makes you free. The truth is contained in and
is the actual gospel of Jesus, the Son of God, And the key to
this is revealed in the first few verses in Paul's epistle
to the Romans, and Mike read those. We'll expand on those
a little bit here in Romans chapter 1, and bring out a couple of
things. If you turn to Romans chapter
1, verse 1, where Paul is, as Mike said in his introduction,
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, which he formerly wasn't in his
natural state, called to be an apostle, which
he didn't appear to be in his former state, he was a persecutor
of the church, separated under the gospel of God, which he had
aforepromised by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. That's
an interesting thing that Paul, he was a Pharisee's Pharisee
and he had all this teaching at the feet of Gamaliel and the
law and everything. that they never saw Christ in
any of that teaching until the Lord, he said, until it pleased
the Lord to reveal His Son in me. Now, if something is in you,
then it can be revealed. If it's not in you, it can't
be revealed because it's not there. And the Lord says, you
know, He was a chosen vessel unto me to take my gospel to
the Gentiles. So He was to be accepted by those
folks in Damascus whom He was on His way to persecute. The gospel of God and one of
the things that I wanted to bring out there's the Trinitarian aspect
of these first couple of verses because all three things are
named in this block of scripture in verse 1 through 4 Paul a servant
of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle Separated unto the
gospel of God God the father which he had a fore promise by
his prophets in the holy scriptures Concerning his son Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, God as man and as God, and declared to be the Son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the
resurrection from the dead. So we have all three aspects
of the Trinitarian. It was interesting when he read
that scripture from Isaiah, one of his titles is the Prince of
Peace and the Eternal Father, the Everlasting Father. I think
it was in that King James Version that he read this morning that
all these different aspects of God that that we see him as,
and it's interesting as we're going to look at another scripture
in Isaiah chapter 8 where that becomes important and interesting. So this link with the Son of
God becoming the Son of David, becoming man, thus eternally
uniting himself with the children of God who God gave him in the
eternal covenant of grace, he came and dwelt Here, I'll show
you a miracle. I'll send my son. A virgin shall
conceive." And all the things that he would do for his people
in their redemption. So he became one with the children
God gave him in the eternal covenant of grace. And they were one with
him in eternity. They were given to him, it says,
before the foundation of the world. and the work of the Trinity
in salvation declared in the gospel of God, His Son, Jesus
Christ, and the Spirit of holiness, who indeed causes us to be made
free." And this is only possible because of what
they have done. It's only possible through them,
through an external source. It's impossible for one to free
himself from this condition being being found dead. Lazarus could
not free himself from that tomb that he was in. He was there.
He was dead. Someone had to roll that stone
away. Someone had to come in and exert an external force on
him to cause him to be alive and to free him from where this
condition that he was in, loose him and let him go. The one that's dead in trespasses
and sin has no ability, has no will, has no power. So we must
then be made free by an external power, an outside cause, and
an eternal will. When this occurs, this being
made free, the Spirit bears witness of the completed work of Christ
in our behalf, and then we become aware of this actual bondage that we
were in, this bondage to sin, this bondage to this slavery. I was looking for that verse
that Mike read from Isaiah chapter 9. Let me turn there real quickly. Couldn't quite put my finger
on it there this morning. It was 61.9, I think it was. Yeah. The verses that I was looking
for was in the first few verses there. In Isaiah 61, this is
quoted by the Lord in Luke chapter 4, as we remember from our study
in Luke. But in Isaiah 61, the Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings, good news. the great news unto the meek.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty
to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are
bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day
of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes. the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they
might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord, that he might be glorified. So there's kind of this simultaneous
action that happens in salvation, as Paul said, when it pleased
God to reveal his son in me. He revealed the sin nature, and the Spirit convicts us of that
sin, and at the same time says, reveals to us, it's been taken
care of. So at the same time, we have beauty for ashes. like the scriptures
are always pointing out in the Old Testament where they repent in ashes and sackcloth and things
that make them aware, a sign that they're aware of their condition.
I was in ashes and sackcloth. I saw myself in the sin, the
oil of joy for mourning, those that mourn. for their sins and
say, oh my gosh, what have I done? My word, look at the sin that
I've committed all my life, the unbelief, the rejection of God,
and yet He's loved me all this time, and so we have the oil
of joy given to us that takes care of that, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness. All those things that He, it's
kind of a simultaneous action where He makes us aware of our
condition, and then says, but I took care of that. I've taken
care of that. I've paid for that. I've removed
that from you, and therefore you're made free from the law
of sin and death. In Luke chapter 1 verse 77, it
says, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission
of their sins." You know, it doesn't say, I'm going to give
them knowledge about how to be saved. It says, I give them knowledge
of salvation. by the remission of their sins.
And how does the remission of their sins take place? By Jesus
taking their sins on himself at the cross and then imputing
to them his righteousness. So knowledge of an existing condition
because of an act which has occurred not knowledge about how to obtain
that fact. And in this exchange of imputation,
this wonderful thing happens that Jesus expounds in Matthew
chapter 5. He says, they that mourn will
be comforted. Just you think, oh, I'm guilty. And as Norm's always saying,
you know, born again believers are the only one says, yep, I've
deserved. I'm guilty. I deserve whatever the Lord has
in store for me. I'm guilty. And mercy is probably
the last thing I deserve. But then we find out that mercy
is what he has established for us from before the foundation
of the world in the covenant of grace. and later on in Romans
goes into quite detailed explanation of whom he foreknew, them he
predestinated, and so on. We're not going to get to that
today, but we want to make our point here in this made free
and the causative action that's required for that to transpire. Again, in Romans 8 chapter 1,
The lead in there is, we read that earlier, there is therefore,
and that therefore makes you back up. When you see therefore
or for, that always has you back up to what transpired before
as the causative agent for what you're you're reading now or
what transaction is occurring now. So it's the causative link
to the thing declared previously and which is devoted, chapter
7 is just devoted to describing the awful condition regarding
the flesh and the deliverance of that by Christ who satisfies
all the law for us and by imputation of His infinite righteousness
to us because of our eternal union with Him. Paul says, man,
I thought I was a law guy. And then when the Lord revealed
His Son in me, the law killed me. But then he says, thank God that
through Christ, I don't serve that anymore, but I serve with
the flesh. I'm committed to these things
that I can't do much about. because I'm in this world and
I'm in this body. But the inward man, I serve the
law of the Spirit of God. And he says, and therefore, there's
no condemnation to them that are in Christ, that walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free. from the law of
sin and death. And this made, if you could just
underline that, you're made free from the law of sin. And that's
because of and due to the merit of Christ as our Savior to having
taken care of that issue for us. You know, the law here, this
word, the law, expresses authority and power. That's what the law
is. We have our laws here. We have
various laws here in Oregon, in the Dalles where we live,
and those express authority that's given to the governing agent
by the people, and then those laws are published and cemented
in, and we're all obliged to go by them. But they have the
power and they have the authority. And that's what that law represents.
And so we're made free from the law of sin, and we're made alive
by the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus. And this authority and
power is described by the Lord Himself in John chapter 17. Mike
read this earlier in the Bible class. We'll read it again. In John 17-2, the Lord is in
this wonderful prayer that He says so many things about regarding the people that God
the Father gave Him in the covenant of grace. Thine they were, thou
gavest them to me. He says, as thou has given him power
over all flesh. All power, that means we're speaking
to his authority, his ability, his power. That, and that tells
us that for the purpose of that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. So that law of the spirit of
life in Christ is contained in this power that he has to give
eternal life, this freedom from the law of sin and death, accepted
by God in Christ. with whom we are one. And part
of that, John chapter 17 says, I will that they be one as we
are one. I in them and them in me and
I in thou. And he speaks to this unity that
the believers that the Father gave Him, have with Him. And
that unity is an everlasting unity. It's an eternal unity.
It's a unity that's always been there. And that's to whom this
is expressed, that Thou should give, He should give eternal
life to as many as Thou has given Him. And so here we're going
to turn back to that scripture that I mentioned. briefly a minute
ago about Isaiah 8 in verse 18. And imagine, if you will, the
Lord has been crucified. As Mike said, the work is finished. The work that thou gavest me
to do, I have finished it. He finished it on the cross. Into my hands I commend my soul.
And he gave up the ghost. Then he's resurrected some time
later and goes in front of the Father and says, Behold, I and
the children whom thou has given me are for signs and wonders. The children, not just the children
from all time, all the children that God gave him Behold, I and
the children whom thou hast given me are for signs and wonders. I've taken care of all of them.
I didn't lose a single one. I've not left anything behind.
I took care of all their sins for all time. I took their sins
on me, and I imputed to them my infinite righteousness. And
so when God looks at Christ, He sees Christ, and then He sees
us in Christ. and we're made free from the
law of sin and death. You know, Haldane points out
in the Old Testament that the high, Robert Haldane, an old
writer that's a Christian writer that's a commentary on Romans, points out that in the Old Testament
the high priest went to the Holy of Holies once a year to appear
before God in His holy garments that the Lord had expressed that
He be clothed in. And among that was the ephod
that was covered with the 12 stones that had the names of
the 12 tribes engraved on them and covering His heart. And as
He went into the Holy of Holies to apply that blood, the remembrance
of the names of all those children are on his chest. Jesus said, they're engraved on my palms.
Their names are engraved on my palms. Hard for us to imagine that.
That's from Exodus chapter 28, 29. Aaron shall bear the names
of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon
his heart. when he goes into the holy place
for a memorial before the Lord continually, all those whose
he has made free from the law of sin and death. In Isaiah 49,
16, behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. He engraved these. I have engraved
them upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls, it says, thy walls
are continually Before me that it means I contain them It's
it's not like a like we have walls. It's speaking of His containment
of us. Again, I'll reference to Mike,
it was in John chapter 10, but in John chapter 10, verse 27
through 29, if you want to turn in your Bible there, John chapter
10, verse 27, the Lord is speaking and He says, My sheep hear My
voice. and I know them, and they follow
me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hands." They're in that containment. We're kept
by the power of God. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. So we're in kind of a double
containment wall there, those that He gave the Son and the
covenant of grace, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my hand. And He expounds on that later
on in Romans chapter 8, and He lists all the things that can't
separate us from the love of God and Christ, and it's a lengthy
Pretty much, he just says everything. Nothing can separate us. He says,
therefore, because of that, there is now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. Now, we want to speak a little
bit about that walking after the flesh thing. But walking through the Spirit
of God, that means We're not walking according to the flesh. We're not walking based on our
own merit. We're not walking in religion. We're not walking in works. We're not walking in keeping
the law. We're not walking in, here's
what I've done, or all my good works, or anything that we might
do for ourselves. We're walking in the Spirit,
and the Spirit What does the Spirit do? Jesus
says, when the Spirit comes, he's going to testify of me.
He's going to bear witness of me. He's going to reveal Christ
in his people. He's going to reveal what Christ
did for them on the tree. And then we would rely on that
totally for salvation. We would rest. The Hebrew says,
he that has entered into his rest has ceased from his own
works. So we're not walking after the
flesh anymore. We're walking after the Spirit,
trusting totally in Christ, having total reliance on Him for salvation. We're no longer subject to the
condemnation of the law, because the law never saves anyone. The
law just shows us our guilt. And it's funny that in an unregenerate
state, it doesn't even do that. That does not occur until after
the Spirit Breathes into you the breath of life and you're
able to understand spiritual things because Everybody that's
in their natural state says well, I've kept the law. I've never
done this. I've never done that But they
miss the spiritual parts where thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy strength and all thy might and all thy heart.
We can't do that even after we're born again. We fail miserably
in that because it requires 24-7 continuous worship in that way
and love in that way. tabernacles of clay, feeble and
frail. So we depend on Jesus to take
care of that. He's the only one that can save
that. And since we're in Him, we get to take advantage of that.
We get to have that applied to us in our spirit. And so that is supplied to us. One of the things you always
find in the scriptures is that whatever God demands, He supplies
for His people. He doesn't just demand it and
then leave it up to us to kind of come up with our own way that
it works. The law of sin and death just
says that the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Paul wrote there in chapter 7
that that physical law which he boasted in, as regarding the
law, I'm blameless," he said in Colossians or one of his epistles. He says, I was a Pharisee of
the Pharisee concerning the law, guiltless. I kept all the law. And I tithed. He was like that
Pharisee in the temple with the publican. I do all these things. And then when he had the Lord
revealed to him, he said, I didn't do any of those things. I failed
in every aspect. I applied them all in the wrong
way. The law that I thought I kept
actually killed me. But simultaneously the Spirit
revealed to him that he was made alive in Christ. And the truth
of the gospel became real to him. The power of the gospel
is the law of God. unto salvation, and that gospel, it's His power. In Romans 1.16,
it says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first, and also to the Greek. Complete power. Complete authority,
complete effectualness are all contained in the law that we
speak to here. The gospel applied effectually
in the elect by the power of the Holy Spirit. The good news
then, the great news, the wonderful
news, is that there is now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, not after the
supposed keeping of the law, trusting in one's own works,
one's righteous deeds or behavior, one's own belief or idea. You know, we always hear, well,
I have my own idea about God and how things work. We've all
heard that a million times. This is my idea of worship. This is my idea of church. When
I'm in the great outdoors, that's my church. You know, if God isn't happy
or isn't satisfied with what I've done, then that's His problem,
not mine. Well, we find out that it will
be their problem. It is their problem. But that's
just kind of part of the natural man speaking out about things
that he does err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power
of God. So, the next clause of that verse,
though, is so important. We don't walk after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Jesus said that spirit would
testify of Him, testify of the eternal love of God for the church,
the sheep, the elect. Spirit testifies of the finished
work of Christ on the cross for us, for His people. I lay down
my life for the sheep, not in a universal, unambiguous way. He died on purpose for those
that He came to save. The Spirit causes us to cease
from our own works, to totally rely on Christ for all our salvation. And it's the law, the power,
the authority, the effectualness of the Spirit of life in Christ
that makes us free from the law of sin and death. And verse 3
is very clear stating that what the law could not do, being reliant
on the flesh for the keeping of it, because it's weak. The
keeping of the law is only as strong as we are, and we are
not. And we're impotent. We have no
power through the flesh. That word means strengthless. The Greek is very clear in that.
The law could not do being reliant on the flesh. No power, no strength,
impotent. The remedy was supplied by God
in sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin, for the sin of his people, and condemned sin in the flesh. Again, we note the link to verse
1, and because of that, therefore there is now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. Verse 4 is very clear regarding
the source, the cause of there being no condemnation to them
which are in Christ. He said that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. And the cause then is found in
God sending the Messiah. That means the sent one, his
own son, the gospel of his substitutionary death in our place. The Lord
is, as Isaiah said in chapter 53, the Lord having laid on him
the iniquity of us all from beginning to end, from the time of Adam
till the time of the last sheep being brought in, He's laid on
Him the iniquity of all of us, all of His sheep. And because
of our unity with Christ from the covenant of grace revealed
in the new birth, He lays on Him the iniquity of
us all and gives us the beauty of gladness, gives us All those
wonderful things that we read in Isaiah 61, and He imputes
to us His infinite righteousness, which then makes us free from
the law of sin and death, free. It has no rule over us. It has no power over us. It has
no connection with us anymore. We'll be without spot and without
wrinkle. We'll not even have the smell
of sin on us. We'll not have any indication
of it on us. We'll be free from all of that.
It's hard for us to envision that. But that's what will be. And that's the good news that
Jesus saves His people from their sins. And we are made free. So with that, be free. As we always say from John 8,
chapter 8, 32. Thank you for your attention. Good seeing you all. Mike.