Dear Father, we thank you that
you've given us such a gift as the Lord Jesus Christ and given
us your own spirit to teach us what he's done for us. Help us,
dear Lord, today to understand and to believe him and to find
in him our whole salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Romans chapter 8 is one of the most cherished chapters in all
of Scripture by God's people. Because in Romans chapter 8,
what we see there is the work of God in the hearts of chosen
redeemed sinners to make the gospel good news to them. And
if you understand that, then you understand this chapter.
The good news of the gospel made good news to God's people. And so in Romans chapter 8, we
read this in the first four verses. I'm going to cover the first
four verses today. 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 hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through 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."
The title of this message is the Spirit of Life. And I wanted
to make the title, this phrase, which I really want to focus
on, the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. But that
won't fit on the page, so I had to just shorten it to the Spirit
of Life. What is this word, what do these words mean, the Law
of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus? When you're memorizing
scripture, sometimes you'll come across, or reading scripture,
either one, you'll come across phrases like this, which you
can read because you've been taught how to read English. And
when you read them, you're able to pronounce every word just
right, and even put the right emphasis on it, the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus. But even when you read it or
say it, You know that you really don't understand what is being
said. I don't know what that phrase
means. It's like a mouth full of words that really has no meaning
to me. And that's the reason that I
wanted to cover this phrase here, the law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus this morning, because this is This is one of
the dearest things you'll see in scripture, I believe. But
it's hard to get it from just that phrase. Because as I say,
the words themselves are stacking up nouns and adjectives on top
of one another. So it's hard to get the meaning
of it because it's so dense with meaning. But really, it's not
that complicated. One of the things you see here
is that whatever this is, the law of the Spirit of Life in
Christ Jesus, it has made me free from the law of sin and
death. Now, in order to understand what
the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is, we first
have to understand what is the law of sin and death. Because
until we understand that, we won't really appreciate or understand
what it is to be delivered from the law of sin and death. What
is the law of sin and death? Well, Romans 7 is what comes
before this verse, and all of Romans 7 really is explaining
that, and we will be referring to that. First thing, look at
Romans 7, chapter 7, verse 14. Notice in chapter 7, verse 14,
it says, we know that the law is spiritual. The law is spiritual. That means the law is given by
God. The law is not evil. There's nothing wrong with the
law. What's spiritual is holy. The law is spiritual. And not
only does it mean it's holy, but it also means it requires
God to give us a spiritual understanding to understand the law. In Romans
7, is Paul describing his conditioned before he was a believer, when
he didn't understand the spirituality of the law, and his condition
after he became a believer, and the law came home to him, and
it had an effect on him, which is what Romans 7 is all about.
But first of all, notice that the law is spiritual, but it
says also, but I am carnal, sold under sin. So that's the first
thing we see about the law. The law is good. but I am bad." If the law is good, I mean, if
the law identifies sin to us, if it shows us what sin is, isn't
that a good thing? You would think that would be
a good thing, right? That the law would show us what
sin is, and that is what the law does. Verse 7, verse 7, he
says this, what shall we say then, is the law sin? God forbid,
nay, I had not known sin but by the law. Do you see that?
I had not known sin but by the law. So the law is good, the
law is spiritual, and there are several things the law does.
These things are all good. The first thing the law does
for us is it identifies sin. It would be like saying if you
were driving down the road and you were from a foreign country
and you were driving along and you didn't know what the speed
limit was and suddenly you see a sign, the sign tells you 65
miles per hour. You know what the law is there.
The law shows you what you're supposed to do. and that means
it identifies sin. Paul says, I had not known sin,
but by the law. By the law I know what sin is,
and isn't that a good thing? It is a good thing. It is a good
thing unless I'm a sinner. If I'm a sinner, when the law
identifies what sin is, what does it say about me? It's pointing
out that I'm a sinner, and that doesn't make me feel good. The
law cannot It can't say good things about sinners. Because
remember, the law is spiritual. It's holy. It's good. And so
when the law addresses us, and we don't do what the law says,
the law says, you're a sinner. And the law has nothing good
to say about sinners. That's the first thing. It identifies
sin, and it tells us what we are. The second thing is about
the law is it exposes sin. Not only does it tell us what
sin is, but by telling us what sin is, the law exposes sin.
And what do I mean by that? Well, think of it this way. I've
got a couple of illustrations to help you understand this in
our own experience. Imagine that you are working
in an office and somebody comes to work there, a new person who
comes to work, and everyone knows you. They know how you act, they
know how you work, they're familiar with your ways. But this new
person comes in, and they're much nicer than you are, much
nicer than you're used to acting. They smile. They're always enthusiastic
about the job. They never talk about other people
in the office, especially not behind their back. And they're
energetic. They do their job. They're highly
skilled, and they're very knowledgeable about that job. Now, when this
person comes in who is like this, you have to admit, that's a good
worker, a good person. But what is the reaction that
that person has on you? You've been there a while, you've
got some complaints. And you've probably said those
to your fellow workers. Boy, my boss, if I was the boss,
I'd do things differently, or whatever that might be. Or maybe
that person over there, they're just not doing their job. half
as good as they ought to be that be more like I am. Those kinds
of things have come out. But here this other person comes
in and they do nothing but good. And you look at them and the
first thing that happens is you have a reaction inside of you.
And that reaction is what? It's envy. Envy. You find fault
with what is good because you know that you are not that good.
And so you begin to envy that person. And you begin to think,
You know, they're really just putting on a mask of goodness. They're really not that good.
Why? I'm sure that... And you begin to find fault with
them. And that's what the law does. The law is good. It comes
to us. It has no faults. But we find
faults with it because we're bad. And we can't tolerate it. And so I have another example
of this. Imagine that you're... You're
a girl. It might be hard for me to imagine,
but let's imagine that you're a girl, and you like to be sociable
with other people. You're very comfortable with
talking with guys, and you're not necessarily committed to
just talking with one guy, but you'd like to be friends with
a lot of them. And so you meet this guy who's
very handsome, And he also is very wealthy, and also very morally
upstanding. He never seems to do anything
wrong. You never hear him talking about other people. He doesn't
break the laws. From what you can see, this person
is very morally upstanding, a good, handsome, wealthy young man.
And you meet him. You, this girl who, again, you'd
like to flirt, and it's your first date. You haven't really
talked before. The very first date, your first
meeting, maybe you meet at a restaurant and you're sitting across the
table and this guy, the first thing he says to you is that
In order for you to have any kind of a relationship with me,
you're going to have to do exactly what I say." And he begins to
lay out requirements. He begins to talk about how you
need to put on your makeup, how to comb your hair, how to dress,
how to speak. He even talks about, especially,
you have to be faithful. You have to actually love me
and not love anyone else. And you begin to hear all these
things, requirements. And then he also says, and if
you don't do what I say exactly, then I'm going to take everything
you've done and put it on the internet with your picture, with
all my wealth and all my respected character, and I'm going to show
what you've done to bring my good name down. Well, what's
your reaction on that first date, first impression? Who is this
jerk?" And you begin to get resentful. How could I ever love someone
who only puts requirements on me? Well, this is the reaction
of sinners to God's law. Both of these things show us
what the law does. On the one hand, it comes along,
there's nothing wrong with the law, but it discovers us. It's like we might be in a classroom,
and in the classroom the instructor gets up and says, Now, I know
you guys are all here to learn this new topic, but the one thing
I want to emphasize to you, is if you ever, if I ever hear that
you speak about someone else in gossip, behind their back,
if it ever comes back to me, we're going to bring you down
front and we're going to tell everything we can see that's
ugly about you in front of the whole classroom. That's what
the law does. It causes us to grow pale in
our conscience because we realize that what it says about us is
true and we didn't realize it before God said it in His law. And this is what it means when
it says in the Bible, Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet. When God says don't covet, He
means don't think, don't even think evil. It says in Proverbs,
The thought of foolishness is sin. The very thought of it.
And Jesus said this over and over. If you think sin, you've
committed sin. If you think anger against your
brother without a cause, you've murdered your brother in your
heart. Or if you look on a woman with lust in your heart, you've
already committed adultery. So the thought of sin is sin,
according to the law, because God says don't covet. And to
covet means to think that what God's will is, what God has said
is for you, is to think there's something wrong with that. And
maybe you don't think you've broken any other commandment,
but this one. You think, if God didn't keep
me from having what I desire, Or, if He didn't force me to
do what I don't want to do, and you begin to covet against what
God has said, His own will. And what you're really doing
is you're finding fault with God Himself. And this is why
the scripture says that we're haters of God. We don't like
what He says because it goes against what we are, it prevents
us from having what we want, and we find fault with God's
revealed will. And that's called coveting. And
that's why coveting is called idolatry. Covetousness, which
is idolatry. We want something to comfort
us, to satisfy us, to give us peace. That's not what God has
given us. We find pleasure in things, or
we find comfort in the attitudes. I mean, we can find comfort when
other people think we're doing well, and we find comfort in
our own performance. There's a lot of things that
lead to this. It's called covetousness, which
is idolatry. Now that's what the law does.
It exposes what we are. It exposes us for what we are. It tells us our thoughts against
God. are exposed that innately what
we are in our core, the nature, what we really are at the very
heart of us is opposed to God. We're sinners. We're sinners.
And so all we can do is sin. And the law does that. And when
the law comes along and does that, our first reaction is like
the reaction of that woman who was across the table from this
man. He had no faults, but he put requirements on her. You
have to love me. How can I love you? All you do
is tell me what I have to do. And a lot of things you tell
me I don't like. And so it makes me not want to
love you, it makes me actually resent you. And try to find fault
with you. And when God does that, and that's
a trivial example and maybe a bad one, but it causes us to actually
find fault with God Himself. And so the third thing the law
does to us is it condemns us. It condemns us. The law condemns all sinners. It says in Romans 3.19, whatever
things the law says, it says to them that are under the law,
for this reason, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God. The law condemns sinners. If it didn't, then it wouldn't
be just. God says in Proverbs 17, He says
that It's an abomination to God to
justify the guilty. To condemn the just or to clear
the guilty is an abomination to God. God's law is not an abomination
to God, so God's law has to condemn the guilty. It condemns sin.
Now these things are beginning to stack up against us, aren't
they? The law identifies what sin is. It tells us requirements. It
puts requirements on us. And it not only puts requirements
on us, but it demands for any failure to meet those requirements,
the law demands that we answer to justice. And God's justice
is very strict. God's justice is very strict.
One of the main principles of the law is this, that the law
puts requirements on you personally. How do I know that? Return to
Deuteronomy 6. This is where the law was given.
Not just the laws about what to offer God in sacrifice, or
how the priests were to dress, or what the tabernacle was to
look like, but what we're supposed to do. How we're supposed to
act and think. Look at Deuteronomy 6. I'm trying
to get there. He says at the very last verse
of Deuteronomy 6, verse 25, He says, this is God's people talking,
and it says, "...it shall be for our righteousness if we observe
to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as He
commanded us." All the commandments were what God said. And God's
people, when they heard the law, they said, it will be our righteousness
if we do all the commandments that God has said. That's what
the law does. It places personal responsibility
on me and you. Personal responsibility. And
this is the first one. Righteousness. In order for you
to be righteous according to the law, you have to keep all
of God's commandments. Look at Deuteronomy 26. Same book of the Bible, Deuteronomy
26, actually it's 27. Deuteronomy 27 and verse 26,
he says, Cursed be he that confirmeth, and confirmeth means according
to Galatians 3.10, continueth, continueth not all the words
of this law to do them, and all the people shall say amen. Not
only does the law tell us in order to be righteous, you have
to keep all the commandments, but the law says that if you
don't keep all of the commandments, that means you have to completely
obey. You have to obey every commandment.
If you don't keep all of them, and then it says, continueth
in this. So you have to not only keep
them all, but you have to keep keeping them all, all the time. Unless you do that, The law curses
you. And so we hear this again in
Ezekiel. It says, "...the soul that sinneth,
it shall die." There's a personal responsibility laid on each one
of us by God's law. And this is the fundamental thing
about the law. It looks to us for obedience
and it looks to us to receive the curse for disobedience. This
is the fundamental nature of the law of God. And all the while,
we are already sinners. We're already guilty. We walk
into the classroom already a gossiper. And the teacher says, any gossipers
will be brought forward and exposed. But we're already a gossiper.
The man meets the woman and he says, I'm going to lay some requirements
on you. And if you fail to meet even
one of them, starting with love for me only, then I'm going to
expose you for what you are, a loose woman." And already she's
guilty. She didn't start loving this
person, and as soon as he started saying these things, she couldn't
love him. But God says in His law, "...thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your strength, with all your might, everything that you are."
And God's law says, "...continuous, complete, from the heart, perfect
obedience all the time, or you're cursed." What does that do to
us? Does it make us love God? It
may make us want to love God to avoid the curse. But we can't
generate that love. Because in us, we don't know
God. And we don't know why we should
love Him. And suddenly we're burdened with
these requirements to love Him. And we can't do it. And so this
law has an effect on us. Turn back to Romans chapter 7.
We see that effect in Romans chapter 7 here. He says in verse
5 of Romans 7, "...when we were in the flesh, the motions of
sins, which were by the law, did work on our members to bring
forth fruit unto death." And what he means by the motions
of sins is that we have these passions. They're part of our
nature. Things we want. Things we don't
like. The things we want are opposed
to God's law. The things we don't like is what
God commands us. And the law comes along with
those passions and he tells us that you must do what God tells
you to do and we don't like it. Or he says, don't do, he prohibits
us from doing what we want. And so what it does is our passions
within us act out in disobedience against God's law. And so he
says here, the motions of sins which were by the law, the law
identified them, the law exposed them, and the law actually inflamed
those things that were already in us. It worked in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. Because the law says what? Cursed
is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. So that's the first thing
we see there, is that the law has all these things that are
against us. It condemns us because it exposes
what we are, it identifies sin, it shows us our guilt, and it
doesn't have any mercy. The law doesn't show any mercy.
Have you ever seen something in the law that says, now, if
you've broken the commands, well, okay, I'm gonna let you off,
you know, two or three times, not once. There's not, James
said, if you keep the whole law, but offend in one point, you've
broken them all. You've broken them all. Because
as soon as you lust or covet, which is a heart sin, you realize,
I've already stolen. I've already lied. I've already
committed adultery. I've already committed murder.
I've done all the things, and I haven't loved God. I'm actually
the enemy of God. And so the law brings us to this
point of utter guilt and condemnation before God." And so there's something
in Romans 8, we read this earlier, it says, what the law could not
do. What can't the law do? What can't
the law do? Well, the law cannot, as I said
before, the law cannot justify a sinner. Why can't the law justify
a sinner? Well, because the sinner has
obviously broken the law. That's one reason. But there's
another reason, and we don't usually think of it this way.
There's another reason that the law can't justify the sinner.
It's because God, even before he gave the law, gave promises. Now, what is a promise? A promise
is different than the law. The law, as I said, puts personal
responsibilities on me and you. If you want to be righteous,
keep all the commandments. And if you don't keep them all,
you're cursed. That's personal responsibility. The soul that
sinneth, it shall die. That's a personal condition.
In order for you to live, God says, the man that doeth them
shall live in them. Only if you do them, you'll live.
So in order for you to live before God, He puts a condition on you,
and that condition is the whole weight of God's holy law. It's
spiritual, it's good, it's right, and God places that on us. And
placing that on us, We find this personal responsibility and we
can't fulfill it. We've already broken it. We come
from the womb speaking lies. David said, I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. I already was behind in the
law when I was born because that's my nature. What God discovered
in me with his law is that I, from the moment I was born, was
a sinner. And my intentions, what I think
in my heart, is actually opposed to God. That's the first thing
we see. But the next thing we see in
Scripture is that even before God gave the Law, He made promises. He made promises. And what's
a promise? Well, a promise is fundamentally
different than the Law. He says, Galatians 3.17, he says,
And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years
after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of
none effect. You see that? For if the inheritance
be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to
Abraham by promise. So here the point is this. The
law cannot justify us. One of the reasons the law cannot
justify us is that God promised something. And a promise is different
than the law in this way. That when God promises something,
He promises it based not on you and me personally, but based
on Himself. It's like if I told my grandson,
I promise His name is Jack. Jack, I promise that I'm going
to come to you this next week and visit you. Jack doesn't have
to do anything, does he? He just waits for his grandpa
to show up. Or if I tell my children, I promise
that I'm going to help you do this or that. Or I promise I'm
going to do something for you. The responsibility is laid all
on me, isn't it? If I tell my wife, I promise
I'll be faithful to you our whole life through. You are the only
one I love. You are the only one I'll ever
love. And that promise is entirely put on me, isn't it? She doesn't
have to do anything to earn that promise. So the nature of a promise
is different than the law. The promise places all of the
obligation on the one who promised. And this is why it says that
the law is not of faith and that the promise was given before
the law. So we can't be justified by the law fundamentally because
God made a promise. And God's promise wasn't necessary
if we could be justified by something that depends on us. Does that
make sense? So if God had to promise something... If He could have given us what
He promised by us earning it, then why did He promise it? Why
would He have to do it? Just leave us to do it. But God
did promise it because He knew that He could only give us these
blessings if He fulfilled all the conditions necessary for
us to have them. So that's the first thing. I
mean, that's the second thing why the law can't justify us
is because God made it necessary that these blessings would come
based on His promise. And you can look at 2 Timothy
1.9, God gave His promises in Christ before the world began. But the next thing I see here
is that The reason we can't be justified by the law is what's
found in Galatians 2.21. Look at Galatians 2.21. This
is such an important verse that we should definitely have this
at least, if not memorized, we should know the truth of this
verse deep down in our heart. He says in Galatians 2.21, I
do not frustrate the grace of God. To frustrate it means we
oppose it. We try to reject it and we try
to nullify it. We try to make it of no effect.
I don't frustrate the grace of God. God's grace gives us all
God's blessings without any contribution on our part. I don't frustrate
the grace of God. Four, if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. This is the main reason why the
law can't justify us. If God could have justified us
by simply giving us commandments to do, or if he could have cleared
us from our guilt by something we could make up, then why would
Jesus have to die? The Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die needlessly. He died for a reason. God required
his death. And the reason God required the
death of his son was that the law couldn't justify us. Now
that he did require the death of his son, something else has
happened. Why does Jesus' death make it
possible for God to justify it. Why does His death allow God
to satisfy His law? Well, because in the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ, He actually fulfilled all the commandments.
Remember Deuteronomy 6.25? If we keep all the commandments,
it will be for our righteousness. When Jesus died in His obedience
to God, His death was actually a fulfillment of all that God
required from His people. Everything He did was a fulfillment
of God's eternal will. So, all the promises of God,
those were responsibilities that God put on Himself. But He didn't
put them on Himself only. He put them on His Son in order
to fulfill, in order for us to have life, what was necessary.
The man that doeth all the things that are in the law lives. In
order for us to avoid the consequences of sin, what was necessary? Well,
in order for us to be accepted by God, God had to curse us to
satisfy His law. Everything about this was fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that He fulfilled it means
that God has already received a fulfillment of His law, and
therefore the law isn't necessary to justify us. It couldn't. But
not only that, but it's set aside. Christ has fulfilled it. And
once it's fulfilled, God doesn't need us to fulfill the law. We
can't. And we won't. And He doesn't
need us to try, because He's already received full obedience
from His Son. Full payment for our sin. And
so this is the main thing. Does the law justify us? No. Does righteousness come by
the law? No. Verse 21 of Galatians 2 again.
If it did, then Christ died in vain. What that means is not
only Can it not make us righteous, but it means that Christ's death
did make us righteous. Can you see that from that verse?
If the righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in
vain. Therefore, Righteousness comes by the death of Christ.
Do you understand that? That's what God is saying. Does
the law bring righteousness? No. If it did, Christ died for
no reason. But Christ did die. Therefore,
righteousness did come by the death of Christ. And that's what
scripture is teaching us. Now look at Romans 8, back with
me again. So we see that the law can't
do many things. It cannot justify a sinner. It
can only condemn a sinner. The law can't make me love God. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, all your soul, all your might, all your strength.
And if you don't, you're cursed. It actually raises a sinful hatred for God in me to have
God command me to love Him because I can't do it. And I find that
if I can't love God, then I'm a sinner and I'm under the curse.
And then I can't love God because I know in my conscience I'm guilty.
And I'm fearful of facing judgment because He's going to find out
that I fell short. And I couldn't do it because I'm a sinner. I'm
just like the paralytic man. I'm completely unable to move
a muscle toward doing what God has said. But here we see the
glory of Romans chapter 8. Look at Romans 8 now, verse 1.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. When the woman was caught in
adultery, and she stood before Jesus, and he wrote on the ground,
the accusers came and said, we caught this woman in the very
act, what are you going to do? Are you going to condemn her
or clear her? And after he writes on the ground, all of her accusers
are gone, he stands up and he looks at the woman and he says,
woman, she probably still has her head hanging down. Woman,
where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you? And
she says, no man, Lord. And he says, neither do I condemn
thee. That is what the gospel is. Why
is there no condemnation? Because God has said he justifies
his people. And if God says he justifies
his people, they're just. Remember Numbers 23, 21? I have
not seen iniquity in Jacob, neither have I seen perverseness in Israel. God himself has not found iniquity
or perverseness in his people. Why? Because they're in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying. There's
no condemnation to them which are in Christ. Why is it that
being in Christ there's no condemnation? Remember, God laid the law on
him, Galatians 4.4, in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, and made under the law, that He might redeem
them which were under the law. To redeem means He paid the price,
the debt, in order to free us from the debt we owed. It means
He freed us from the bondage of our enslavement to sin, and
He freed us from the bondage of our captivity to Satan. By His death, Because he endured
the curse, the debt was paid. The bondage was broken. The captivity,
we were released from that. Deliverance was forgiveness.
God released us from our debt, and he told us about his forgiveness. He told us, I've already forgiven
you for Christ's sake. Because he's satisfied with all
that the Lord Jesus did. taken our sins, laid Him on His
Son, washed us from them in His death, removed the curse from
us. There's no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus." Now that's the truth of what happened
when Jesus died. And I pointed you to this verse
last week, but I want to point it to you again. Look at Colossians
2.13. And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, that's what we are by
nature, we're condemned to death, right? Why? Because we're in
sin. You're dead in your sins and
the uncircumcision of your flesh, yet hath He quickened. He made
you alive with Him, having forgiven you all your trespasses. Why
did He make us alive? Because He had already forgiven
us all our trespasses. God raised us together with Christ
because we were forgiven. Look back at Romans 8. He says
this, Now walking after the Spirit is not the reason there's no condemnation, but it's the
result of there being no condemnation. You see, there's a difference.
If it says that you're not condemned because you walk after the Spirit,
then we would have a problem. How do I... Why would Christ
have to die if I could simply walk in the Spirit and satisfy
the law? He wouldn't, would he? Therefore,
it's the death of Christ that satisfies the law, not walking
in the Spirit. And God isn't saying here that
walking in the Spirit is the reason for our being not under
condemnation, but it's being in Christ. But look at verse
2. Romans 8. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. Now this is where we get to the
meat of what I was trying to get to. I want to try to cover
this with you because this is such a dear, dear truth of Scripture. The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus. I already talked about the law
of sin and death. A law is something that has power,
doesn't it? I was driving to church this
morning and I saw a policeman coming up in my mirror. I immediately
slowed down. That's what happens. Why? Because
we don't want to incur the penalty of the law. I don't want to pay
some exorbitant amount of money just for going a few miles over
the speed. See, I'm already accusing the law of being wrong. Because
I'm a sinner. But the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, what is this? Whatever it is, it's made
me free from the law of sin and death. The law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has the power, the power, it's an intransgressible
power. It cannot fail but to be carried
out. Because the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus is a law that depends not on my performance,
It doesn't place conditions on me. But all the conditions of
this law are placed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is why
it's such a blessing. Because this law has made me
free from the law of sin and death. In this point, I want
to say this about the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ
Jesus. This law was given by the Spirit of God. It didn't
originate in Him, but it was given by Him. And it's hard to
say it didn't originate in Him, because really, the Spirit of
God is God Himself. But remember what it says in
2 Timothy 3.16? It says that all Scripture was given by inspiration
of God. And the word given by inspiration
means it was breathed out. Breathed out. Look at Psalm 33.6. This is an amazing verse. Psalm 33 6 by the word of the
Lord what is the word of the Lord the Lord Jesus Christ is
the word but it's a spoken word to he says by the word of the
Lord where the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath
of His mouth." Now we know that it says in Scripture that the
Lord Jesus Christ made all things. He made them by Himself, for
Himself, for His glory. Colossians 116. Throughout Scripture,
all things were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. He's the Word of God. But when
it says here that by the Word of the Lord were the heavens
made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth, it
teaches us How the Lord Jesus Christ made the worlds. He actually
spoke. But when He spoke, He breathed
out the Spirit. His own Spirit. And it was His
Spirit that actually did the work in creation. Remember what
Jesus told his disciples? He comes to them in the book
of John, the gospel of John, and he, after his resurrection,
and he says, he breathes on them, and he says, receive ye the Holy
Ghost. He breathed it out. The Word
of God breathed out. Now when it says in 2 Timothy
3.16 that all scripture is given by inspiration, it means God
breathed out his scripture, his gospel. And so the first thing
we learn about the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,
it's the gospel written. It's scripture. It's what God
has said in scripture. But it's not just the scripture
written. Although we know just because
God wrote it, it must come to pass. Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will never pass away, Jesus said in Matthew
25. So we know that the scripture cannot be broken. The Bible itself
says that scripture cannot be broken. But there's something
else about the scripture. Unless God Himself takes the
gospel and makes it good news to us, the scripture to us is
meaningless. Unless God Himself tells us,
this is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. He has fulfilled every
requirement for obedience that the law requires of us in His
death. It says in Philippians 2, he
says that being obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross, that's what he did. He came to do, I came to do thy
will, O God. And what was that will? It was
to lay down his life and bring satisfaction to God, so God could
receive his people in full harmony with his justice, so that justice
itself stands up and defends God's people. And God teaches
us this through the gospel as He preaches it to us in His Word. This is wonderful. This is wonderful. Look at 1 Corinthians 3. I'm
sorry, 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. He says this in verse 3. For as much as you are manifestly
declared to be what? The epistle of Christ. The epistle
of Christ? What does that mean? What's an
epistle? It's a letter. It's a writing. Paul says, you,
you Corinthians, you who have believed the gospel, you're the
writing of Christ. What do you mean, the writing
of Christ? That's the gospel, isn't it? Isn't that what the
gospel is? The epistle of Christ? Ministered
by us, Paul the Apostle, and those who were also ministering
the gospel, written... You yourselves are written not
with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables
of stone like the law of sin and death, but in the fleshy
tables of the heart. And much in such trust have we
through Christ to God were it not that we, we preachers, are
sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but
our sufficiency is of God, verse 6, who also hath made us able
ministers, servants, of the New Testament, that's the gospel,
not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills,
but what does the spirit do? The spirit gives life. Jesus
said in John 6, 63, The words that I speak unto you, they are
spirit and they are life. When the Lord Jesus commanded
the worlds into existence, He breathed out His Word. The Spirit of God brought it
all into existence. Not by might, nor by power, but
by My Spirit, saith the Lord. God's Spirit did what Christ
commanded in His Word. And that's exactly what happens
when we hear the Gospel. God's own Spirit brings life
into us. He gives us spiritual life in
our souls. Ezekiel 37, God tells Ezekiel,
He says, Son of man, can these bones live? And Ezekiel said,
Lord, you know. And He says, speak unto the wind. In fact, go to Ezekiel 37. This
is surprising. This is surprising. Bones laying
all over the valley floor. Dry bones, very dry. And God
sets it up this way. This is an army of men who had
died long ago in a battle. And He looks at these bones and
He says in Ezekiel 37, He says, Son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, O Lord, thou knowest. Again he said to me,
Prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and
you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you,
and I will bring flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and
put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that
I am the Lord." In verse 9, he says, And he said to me, Prophesy
to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus
saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied
as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived,
and they stood upon their feet an exceeding great army. And
he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of
Israel, and look at verse 14, verse 13, and you shall know
No, I'm sorry, verse 12, "...therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves,
and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you
into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am
the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought
you up out of your graves, and I shall put my Spirit in you,
and you shall live." You see that? The Lord has spoken it. He's going to put His Spirit
in them. They would live. What are we? The epistles of
Christ. How did we become these epistles? The writing of Christ
in our heart. How did it happen? God spoke
in the Gospel. And when we heard the Gospel,
the Spirit of God wrote it on our heart. And in writing it
on our heart, what did He do? He held up Christ to us. And
He says, Look unto me. That was what the
Spirit of God does. Jesus says in John, I mean, yeah,
John 15, 26. When He comes, He's going to
testify of me. He's going to testify of me.
And so the Spirit of God tells us this. Look at Romans 8 now.
The Law of the Spirit of Life. It's the written word, but it's
not just written. It's the word preached by the
ministers of God and applied to our heart in the life-giving
operation of the Spirit of God. Look at Romans 8, verse 10. He says, "...if Christ be in
you." How is Christ in us? He has a body. He's in glory.
He sits on the right hand of God. He's in us by His Spirit. If Christ be in you, the body
is dead because of sin. All that we are in our body is
sinful. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. What Spirit? The Spirit of God.
The Spirit of Christ. He dwells in us. What does this
mean? It means that God has raised
us spiritually from the dead. We have received a resurrection.
In us, a spiritual resurrection, God has given us spiritual life.
And that spiritual life consists of the Spirit of Christ in us,
showing us what Christ has done for us. And it's called many
things in Romans 7. It says he's the new man. The
newness of the spirit. The mind of Christ. All these
things. The engrafted word, he says in
the book of James. And all these different places
are teaching us that it's the gospel written, preached, brought
home, and made good news to us as chosen, redeemed sinners.
So he says this in In Romans chapter 2 he says, "...the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death." You see, when the gospel becomes good
news to us, we realize what Christ has done. And now all this resentment
against God, because He commands what we can't give, is actually
fulfilled in us. Now we're thankful to God that
He actually has made us alive. And not only that, but He says
this in Romans 8 verse 4. He says, verse 3, "...for what
the law could not do." It couldn't justify us, it couldn't make
us love God, it couldn't bring us to repentance, it couldn't
give us faith, it couldn't fulfill the promises of God. The law
couldn't do anything for sinners. Because it was weak through our
flesh," nothing wrong with the law, but with us, "...God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin God
condemned sin in His flesh, and God condemned our sin in Him."
Verse 4, "...in order that the righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit." Why does it say that the righteousness of the law
is fulfilled in us? Do we come into perfect conformance
to the law of God? Do we ever, in our experience,
perfectly obey God's law or satisfy its demands? No. But what it
does is, because life is the reward of righteousness, God
gives us His Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus because He looks
at the righteousness of His Son and He says, that's enough. That's
perfect. That's everything for my people.
And we're justified by God. And therefore God gives us His
Spirit of Life in us. And He points us back to what
He's done for us in Christ. And he says, now the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in us because life is rewarded to us. And that life consists in looking
by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that life, that is walking
by the Spirit. We are not condemned because
we're in Christ. And because we're in Christ and
God has given us His Spirit, we walk in Christ. We hold to
Christ. We're fixed on Him. We can't
let Him go. Come what may, We will not leave
our dependence, our confidence that God has received us for
Christ's sake. Even in the most desperate conditions
of our soul, we cry out, Lord, save me. I have nowhere else
to turn. Save me for Christ's sake alone.
You'll find nothing in me, no reason, no history, no potential
future, nothing in me now. I'm a terrible, bound sinner
apart from the grace of God. And that's what this is talking
about. The Law of the Spirit of Life, the written Law, made
a writing on me. Giving me life and faith in Christ. Showing me that because of the
righteousness of Christ, I'm given this life. And later on
in Romans 8, you know what happens? The Spirit of God actually intercedes
in us. In us the Spirit of God dwells,
and He intercedes, and He pleads the will of God, the Gospel.
He holds it up to us, points us to Christ, and then He pleads
in intercessory prayer in us the truth of what God has given
to us in the Gospel. And the Lord Jesus Christ in
heaven, at the right hand of God, He hears the groanings that
are in our heart. We groan because of our sin and
it's the groaning of the Spirit of God saying, fulfill your will,
your eternal will for this one redeemed by Christ. And Christ
pleads his own blood in heaven and the Father hears the pleadings
of his Son against his own eternal will for his people. And he comes
to them and he says, nothing shall separate you from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing. Not life,
not death. not things present, not things
to come. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have
given us the law, this law, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus, a law that depends entirely upon what
our Lord Jesus has done. His righteousness is the reason
life, the Spirit of God is given to us, and in this giving we
understand that you point us to the Lord Jesus as all of our
hope, all of our salvation, all of our standing, the reason we're
forgiven of our sins, the satisfaction to your law, everything. We come
to Him and we cling to Him and we say, Lord, where else will
we go? You've drawn us by your Spirit
to the Lord Jesus. You've made Him all that we can
see. And we thank you, Lord, that
you teach us in our heart that in looking to Him, we are, in
fact, the sons of God. You gave us Your Spirit because
He redeemed us, and You redeemed us because You chose us to be
Your sons. And we thank You, Lord, for this
mercy. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.