All right, Romans chapter 7. I will try not to be too long,
but I do not want to rush through this this morning. But let me
read a few verses which will be my Immediate context though. I will refer to other parts of
this chapter for sure But let me just read a few verses Romans
chapter 7 and I went through 1 through 6 last time Let's look
at 7 through 13 this morning What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? Now notice, this is a different
question than what Paul's asked before. He said, shall we sin
because we're not under the law but under grace? This is a totally
different question here. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead. For I was alive without the law
once. But when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me And by it slew me,
as by this deception slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good. So the law, in other
words, I am saying is not sin. The law is not sin. Wherefore,
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was
then that which is good made death unto me. A different word
now, death. God forbid. but sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good,
that sin, by the commandment, might become exceeding sinful. Now, what I want to try to speak
about this morning, and this will be my title, but it is quite
lengthy, but I am going to try to sum up these verses, verses
seven through 13 by these words. This is my title, this is my
subject for this morning. Sin revealed and occasioned by
law is not gospel conversion. Did you hear what I just said?
Sin revealed, Paul talks about that here, and occasioned and
occasioned, but sin taking occasion by the commandment, sin revealed
and occasioned by the law is not gospel conversion. Now I struggled with that title.
I changed it four or five times the past week. And it was not
until early this morning when I arose or just before Joe's
TV message came on at 6.30 this morning that finally it dawned
on me this very thing. Now I have an introduction to
give you, but I did not write it down because I want this to
come from in here, not just something preconceived. As I go through this, We're going
to look at the Apostle Paul's words and he is recounting what
he experienced when God began to show him grace. Okay? And it is divided into two sections. Now I know he doesn't go in to
explain this, but the two sections can be clearly distinguished
because the first section, that is verses seven through 13, most
things are spoken of as something that was past. Something that
happened to him in the past. He doesn't describe, granted,
he doesn't describe exactly when it was. But then when he starts
in verse 14, almost everything he begins to talk about then
is in the present tense. Even as he is writing this very
letter to these people. But the difficulty for me this
morning is I do not want this to merely be a history lesson
about the Apostle Paul's conversion. You understand what I'm saying?
But at the same time, I want us to be aware of the fact that
not every person God saves will go through this exact experience. Though their experience will
be equal to this, it may not be this exact experience. Paul mentions one part of the
Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not covet. Paul said,
I learned lust by that. I learned what lust was by that
commandment, right? Not just I learned what covetousness
was, but I learned what lust was. So I'm here to say that,
and I'm going to mention that I do not believe in a law work,
and I will express why. Although I will not fall out
with someone that calls this a law work. But let me put it
this way, I'm gonna jump ahead. The law is not a life-giving
deity. The law doesn't have its own
agenda, even under the purpose of God. God is the one that uses
the law, if and when he uses the law. Do you understand what
I'm trying to get at now? Not every believer has to experience
exactly what Paul experienced, exactly as he experienced it,
but they will go through this experience. But it's not the
experience that is the salvation. Because while Paul talks about
his experience and what it was, and then begins to refer to his
experience and what it is, as he's writing these words, and
you can tell, you read it for yourself, you'll see this clear
distinction. Past things, not everything was
past, and I'll mention some of that. but then it goes into present
things, but in the end of what we call this chapter, he cries
out, O wretched man that I am. He ain't talking about just what
he used to be, but what he still is in light of God's holy law. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now when a man or a woman comes
to cry those two things, oh wretched man or oh wretched woman that
I am, I need deliverance and it's gotta be a who, it can't
be a me, it can't be a what, it's gotta be a who and that
who is one person, Jesus Christ. I can say then that person is
converted. Many think they're converted
because they fell under conviction. Now you hear what I, Paul's gonna
talk about being under conviction. But sometimes experiences fall
short of gospel conversion. Remember the woman that was caught
in the act of adultery? It says when they did leave,
when Christ said, whoever's without sin, let him cast the first stone,
it said, and they being convicted in their conscience. but not
a one of them. They were admitting that they
had sinned, but not a one sought mercy from Jesus Christ. Not
a one. So I hope that this brief intro
from my heart has given you a little idea of where I'm going. Now,
remember, believers are not only not under the law, but we are
also become dead to the law by the body of Christ. that we should
be married to another. Remember, we're not just not
under law, we are dead to the law by the body of Christ that
we should be married to another. Even to him who was raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For we
were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law.
The law is what gave it impetus, because sin loves to rebel against
law. Sin loves to rebel against law. And that's evident no matter
what kind of law it is. Tell a little kid, don't do this,
and immediately their first desire is to do exactly what you told
them not to do. It don't have to be a Sinai law,
just any old law. Because sin humanity, fallen
Adamic humanity says in its soul, I will have nothing or no one
reign over me. For when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from
the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should
serve in newness of spirit, not in oldness of the letter. So
he has shown this connection between law and sin, right? So
now you see the question. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? You see it? In other words, is
God's law error? Do we equate God's law as an
offense against right? God forbid. Absolutely not, Paul says. The law's not the problem. Although he will inform us that
the law is weak because the law deals with the flesh. The law
doesn't deal with the spiritual man. because the spiritual man
or woman is motivated and led by the Spirit of God to walk
in the fruit of the Spirit of God. And against those things,
there is no law. The legalist be damned. The legalist
be damned. And I don't mean let them all
go to hell, God saves some legalists sometimes. God saves some legalists. But again, is God's law error?
Do we equate God's law as an offense against right? God forbid,
absolutely not. The law's purpose was for those
who now believe. Now hear what I just said. The
law's purpose was, past tense, for those who now believe. Now
I have reason to believe everyone here this morning because several
of us are gone or whatever. I believe every one of us here
are believers. So I will say to us that, or I will say to
those who may be hearing this, if you're not a believer, the
law still stands in full force over you. It still stands in full force
over you. The law's purpose was, for those who now believe, it
was to expose error, and Paul gives us an example. What shall
we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay,
I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known, here's
the example he gives. This is what he experienced.
Yours may have been something else. It may have been two or
three things, right? But Paul zeroes in on this one
thing. You don't have to zero in on this thing. You didn't
have to experience this thing, but the law somewhere will expose
to you what you've been doing wrong. And it will begin to expose
to you the true gravity of the law's demands. Not just thou
shalt not commit adultery, but you don't even do it in your
heart and mind. Isn't that what our Lord said? Because if you
do it in your heart and mind, you're guilty already, even if
you don't engage in the physical act. Now that's what our Lord
taught. And there are other illustrations
he gave of that, not just that one. What shall we say then,
is the law sin? God forbid, nay, I have not known
sin by the law. So he gives an example. For I,
and he's talking about his own personal experience, but all,
I have my, and I'm not gonna bring up to you what some of
mine were, because lust is a pretty general word. Some of mine were
very particular. And I don't even want those skeletons
brought out of the closet. Do you hear what I'm saying?
For I have not known lust except the law had said thou shalt not
covet. So there's Paul's example of
what the law finally. In other words, I think, Mack,
this was one of the first things that really hit him when the
law, the commandment finally came. But something took place
before this happened. before this idea of covetousness
being lustfulness, look at what else he said, but sin in us,
this is me speaking now, but sin in us, especially before
gospel conversion, it is manipulative in us. It will take the very
commandment of the law and express itself in the arousal of all
kinds of forbidden desires, the very desires that are forbidden
by the commandment itself. Our sin is so deceptive, especially
before conversion, that our sin is conscientiously dead without
law. Verse eight. But sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Do you see that? When Paul first
began to realize what the law was really saying, covetous is
more than just I want what somebody else has got, it's lust. It's
lust. Now we usually equate lust with
what? Sexual immorality, right? But it goes far beyond that.
It could be wanting your neighbor's cat. I just want my neighbor,
I want a cat. I want a cat like that one. Did
God give you one like that one? Doing quick coveting your neighbor's
cat. Now we laugh and smile at that before, it's lust. I want
what I want, God be damned. Hmm? but seeing taking occasion
by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
So when he first began to see this, it didn't make him immediately
run to Christ, did it? So just the law work itself don't
get you where you need to be. Now do you see where I'm going?
Paul said, when I first realized this, it didn't make me start
wanting to be a better man. It aroused up all kinds of these
deceptive, forbidden desires. Other things started to expose
themselves now. Do you see what he's saying here?
Anybody relate to that? Anybody relate to that? It's
conscientiously, but he says, for without the law, you see
it? For without the law, sin was
dead. In other words, he is not saying
that sin did not exist before the law. He's not saying that
sin did not exist in him before he understood what the law really
said. He's already told us in chapter five, even before the
law was given, death reigned by sin. Did it not? So this death
here is not the lack of, death sometimes is equated with nonexistence,
correct? But sometimes death has to do
with not comprehending, I'm dead to them. Somebody offends somebody,
I'm dead to them. In other words, I have nothing
to do with them anymore. What's he saying? Now I realize
this is where some of the legalists get their juice. For without
the law, sin was dead. But let us remember, it was dead.
And I know they put that in there, but this is the context of the
first few verses. Past tense things. You see it?
For without the law, sin was dead. In other words, Paul's
saying this, before I really understood what the law said,
its true import, that it went further than just outward, overt
acts, but it dealt with acts, it dealt with thoughts. Even
thoughts. Paul said, I was a pretty good
fella. Right? He felt pretty highly
about himself. For without the law, sin was
dead. Now the legalists said, see,
we need law. That's not what Paul's talking about. For without
the law, sin was dead. So first of all, our sin is so
deceptive, especially before gospel conversion, that our sin
is conscientiously dead without the law. Before we understood
what the law really said, we really didn't understand what
sin was. We may just try to justify, well, at least I'm not hurting
anybody else. Now, maybe some of you never did that, but that
was one of my greatest self-justifications. I do this because I enjoy it,
but I ain't telling anybody else they gotta do it. I was lying
to myself. I was deceived by my sin. But
I'll tell you something, when the commandment came, But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For
without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law
once. But when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died. Do you see it? I died. So first
of all, the law, without the law, Sin is conscientiously dead. Secondly, our sin is so total
in its corruption that before God showed us the law's true,
full import, we thought ourselves to be alive. We even thought,
but then, all of a sudden, the commandment came home to roost.
Anybody know what that phrase means? Somebody talk about, boy,
his chickens came home to roost. In other words, he finally got
to the end of the goal. He wasn't even seeking it, but
it finally came. For I was alive without the law once, but when
the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Now I'm not gonna
call this a law work, because this is a God work. God's got
to do this for you. He uses the law, but this is
not a law where the law's not running around doing its own
thing, and then God's got to be grateful for the law for doing
what? God purposed the law, but God's got to be the one to give
you the eyes to see what the law's really saying, ears to
hear what the law's really saying, and a heart to perceive how corrupt
you really are. But when God does that, the first
thing is you don't run to Christ, you start rebelling more and
more. and rebelling more and more, and rebelling more and
more. For I was without the law once,
but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. In other
words, again, let me say it, our sin is so total in its corruption
that before God showed us the law's true, full import, we thought
ourselves to be alive, but when the commandment came to roost,
what happens? We died. There ain't no gospel
conversion here yet, is there? Ain't no gospel conversion here
yet There's a third thing in light of this that is our sin
and it's deceiving corruption And the fact that finally the
commandment came so that we found ourselves dead before God That's
when we confess these words wherefore the law is holy and the commandment
holy and just and good and You see that? And notice he says,
wherefore the law is. Because it never ceases to be
these things. It never ceases to, I don't know,
we've had people basically, I guess, accuse us of that, but they are
lying on us. we are lying on, in light of
this, that is our sin and it's deceiving corruption, and the
fact that finally the commandment came so that we found ourselves
dead before God, it's then and then only that we can confess
to the righteousness of the law, the holiness of the law, the
goodness of the law. Before that happens, we take
the very, but sin, taken occasion by the commandment, Now it's
not the commandment caused it to happen. We'll look at this
in a minute. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Just
about every kind of evil you could imagine, I could say, starts
to rise up within you. Now, here's the question. Did
the law then actually make us dead? Or as he said here, made.
He uses the word made because he's talking about that which
happened before his gospel conversion. Did the law then actually make
us dead? No. Sin made us dead. And the law
came and exposed sin for what it really is. What was that? Verse 13, was then that which
is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, The law
didn't make me dead, I was already dead. I was dead before I even
understood that I was dead. I was dead when I thought I was
alive, but that was only without the law, but when the commandment
came and said revive, and I died. Was then that which is good made
death unto me? God for me it be it, but seeing
that it might appear seeing working death in me by that which is
good, and I'm not gonna back up on what Paul says, because
the law didn't make us dead, but the law irritated us. And I don't care whether it was
mosaic law, I don't care if it was 10 commandments, I don't
care if it was some kind of church rules, even if those church rules were
wrong, the flesh is going to rebel against rules. You know
what I'm saying? The flesh is going to rebel against
rules. It hates rules. What, again I read, was then
that which is good made death unto me? God forbid, but sin,
that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. So then here's the question.
Did the law, is the law, was the law itself then the impetus
to change our spiritual perceptions of our deadness? No, no. God himself must so make the
commandment come. The commandment is not a deity
in itself, for if it was, the first time we ever heard it,
it would have done its job. You understand what I'm saying?
Paul lived for years thinking he was alive before God in the
law. But all of a sudden, God had
to turn the lights on. And Paul never tells us exactly
when this was. And you know why? Because God
works his salvation in his way, and it's not just some cookie
cutter thing. You understand? Don't rely on your experience,
but God's people all go through this experience. God's gonna
bring his people from somewhere to somewhere. And when God first
opens your eyes, that's when the flood rush of sin comes in.
Before then, it basically, for me, now let me just say it this
way. For me, I felt great about myself as long as I didn't get
taught. Because everybody around me was
doing the same things I was doing and we all used each other to
justify ourselves in it. Now I fully realize that there
are probably some No, there are some who, if they hear this message,
they'll say, I have no idea what in the world he's talking about.
And they read what Paul wrote here, and it's just like this.
And I understand that. Because at one time, even though
I was a preacher, I didn't say a gospel preacher, even though
I was a preacher, all of this Paul's talking about now just
went like this when somebody'd read it. When I would read it,
and I know I read through the Bible several times before God
ever even saved me, this passage just went like that. Didn't get
it all, but when God turns the lights on, things change. But
the first thing that changes is not, oh, I gotta run to Christ
now, mm-mm. You know what you'll start to
do? At its best, you'll start trying to conform the flesh to
the law. Well, I've got to read my Bible
more. You should have been doing that for years. I need to pray
more. You should have been doing that
for years. And I'm not saying don't pray more, and I'm not
saying try not to do better. Do those things, but they will
not deliver you. Because even after you are gospel
converted, you're still going to be crying out in the present,
oh, wretched man that I am. I still need deliverance. Most folks are talking about
when God saved him. God's still saving me, folks.
He's still saving me. And Paul tells us that he hath
delivered, he doth deliver, and shall yet deliver. And that word
deliver is the same word translated save in many places. I mean,
that's the problem with this once saved, always saved. No,
it's once saved, he will continue to save you. That is more doctrinally
correct. and more appropriate with the
grace of God. Once he does save you, in the sense in which most
people think of save, he gonna continue to save you. But here's
the thing, when law first comes, we don't immediately run to Christ.
Now does it? And I'm here to say this morning,
God may open a man or a woman's eyes to the law before he ever
opens their eyes to the gospel. And they may become miserable
with themselves. Folks, this is God's business.
I know some people thinks it happens, bing, bang, boom, during
a 45-minute service or a 60-minute service and an invitation's given,
everything's now, you come in just living for the devil and
you go out living for Jesus. It don't work that way. That's
the problem with this aisle-walking, decision-making stuff. They're
trying to speed up God's work and God's doing His work at His
time and in His way. So again, let me ask this question.
So then, did the law, is the law, was the law itself then
the impetus to change our spiritual perception of our deadness? No,
because at one time, without the law, sin was dead. We didn't
recognize what sin really was. And when we first began to, just
began to recognize what sin really was, the more we heard the commandments,
the more we heard the truth of God, it don't have to just be
the 10 commandments. The scripture calls the book
of Genesis the law of God. Paul refers to it as the law
of God. Look at it. I just want to give
you this. Let me find it. You bear with
me for a moment because I do not have this one in my notes. Let me find it. Verse 20 of Galatians 4. or verse
nine, I'm sorry, verse 19. My little children of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. I desire
to be present with you now and to change my voice for I stand
in doubt of you. Tell me ye that desire to be
under the law, and that included circumcision, everything. Desire
to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? For
it is written, thou shalt not. That's not what that says, is
it? There's not a shalt not here one. For it is written that Abraham
had two sons. So now he uses the illustration
of Abraham and Isaac and he uses the illustration of Sarah and
Hagar and calls it what? The law. The law, do you see
it? What I'm saying is, when God
first opens your eyes to His law, His truth, if it's one of
the Ten Commandments, we're all ten of the Ten Commandments,
it don't matter, that's not the point. That's God's business, what God
does, okay? When He does, you don't immediately
run to Christ. You remember those folks that
had the good seed sowed on them? But they were on shallow ground?
And anon, that means immediately, boy, they received it, they believed.
That's dangerous. because God's work lays down
deep roots. Deep roots. And therefore when
the sand come up, it baked that little plant because it didn't
have no soil to reach down them roots in. And that soil fell
away, or that person fell away, went into apostasy. Oh, God help us try not to speed
up God's work. You ever tried that? Need to
get this moving along. Now here's the question. This
is my question. And it's been asked. And sadly
it's been answered wrongly by many folks. Since we see this
law work, and I put it that way just for the sake of argument
right now. Since we see this law work, then shouldn't we preach
the law? No. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. We don't even
desire to be teachers of the law. Paul warns us about those
folks, right? Desiring to be teachers of the
law. They don't even know what they're saying or wherever they're
from. They have no idea where they're coming from. Remember,
this is a work of God. The law never starts gospel conversion. Never. That's why we don't preach
the law to men and women. We preach Christ. And if God
opens their eyes to the Lord, then when they see Christ, guess
what's gonna happen? They're gonna run to Him. They're
gonna run to Him. They're gonna run to Him. I've
given, actually Paul gave, I've given it too, but Paul gave the
example of an x-ray. And how the x-ray can show you
the problem, okay, but it can't fix the problem. As a matter
of fact, when you get the x-ray, in a manner of speaking, it can
make the problem worse because now you know about it. Now you
sit and you worry about it. Now you sit and you're concerned
about it and you lose sleep at night about it because they found
some cancer down in here, right? Before, you was what, alive without
that, right? But once that x-ray came and
exposed that, and what happens sometimes when we get that first
x-ray? This can't be. Why me? It didn't immediately
make us, oh God be with me, oh God. Now does it? Now we start
bellyaching and murmuring and complaining, don't we? But you
know what? An X-ray is useless apart from
one who purposes, prescribes, and dictates the particulars
of how to use it. How many times have you went
to the hospital and they said, we're gonna send you to have
your own X-ray and you do it yourself? You want them letting you have
control of that x-ray? Or do you want somebody that
knows how to use that x-ray? Hmm? The x-ray's useless by itself. Do you see what I'm saying? You
gotta have that x-ray-tician. I know there's a word for it.
You forgive me, whatever, whatever. Somebody know it real quick?
The person that does the x-ray? You want that person on the job,
don't you? Now folks, we want God on the
job all the time. all the time. God will expose
to men and women, His men and women, the particulars of the
law in His good time. But that don't mean then we are
preachers of the law. We're preachers of the remedy
and the cure, not the problem. We try to talk about the problem,
but that ain't our message. You can convince a man or a woman
that they're totally depraved, and they'd still go to hell. I mean, it's simple. Oh, wretched
man that I am, because you never get over this condition in this
life. The x-ray don't cure you when
it exposes you. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So that with my mind, I serve
the law of God. And somebody says, in what way?
In every way. But it's only with your mind. Because you know your
flesh can't do it. but with the, my mind, I serve
the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. That's not a cop-out, folks,
that is simply a fact of the way it is. Do you hear what I'm
saying? I know people back, this ain't
my explanation, this is what the inspired writer, our beloved
brother Paul himself said. Gospel, listen to me, God must
work the work. Jesus answered and said unto
him, truly, truly, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. There is
no comprehension of anything unless you're born from above
first. You're not gonna see your sin,
you're not gonna see the law, you're gonna see nothing unless
God acts first. So let's pray God, act. We are totally dependent upon
you. And if he does act, then let us know this, gospel conversion
comes only by gospel preaching. You hear what I'm saying? Our
message is the cure. Now we talk about the disease.
We try to, Jack, we try to help expose the disease for what it
is. But our message is the remedy and the cure. And the cure is
a person. Heavenly Father, God teach us
your word. and not just as cold, dry facts
or doctrines, but as that life-giving truth that flows from your very
heart in the person of your son. Lord, be us back as he goes through
the various things that he has to deal with and others here
as well. Lord, there's so many things
we don't even know how to pray for these things as we ought.
But Lord, we know that we are absolutely unable to do anything
apart from you, without you, by you, in Christ's name, amen.