I direct your attention this
morning again back to the book of Romans and chapter 7 and the
first six verses of that chapter as we continue on our way and
have study number four of in the fact that grace is not a
license to sin. And freedom from the law will
not bring great licentiousness and cause one to sin even more. So let's read our text. And we
look at the subject today, free from the law. One songwriter
said, free from the law, oh happy condition, Jesus has bled and
there is remission. But Romans chapter 7 and 1 through
6, this is a great passage, let us heed it as we read it. Know
ye not, brethren, that I speak to them that know the law, how
that the law hath dominion over a man so long as he lives? For the woman which hath an husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives. But if the husband be dead, she
is loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if, while her
husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, be also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should
be married to another. even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when
we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law,
that being dead, and 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 and not in the oldness of the letter. Now, please bear with me, if
you would, as we repeat a thing or two that has been said in
an earlier study, saying such things as in chapter 6, verse
2 and 11, ye are dead unto sin. Literally, we have died unto
sin. Then, says Paul, how shall they,
or we, that have died unto sin live any longer therein? And even in the physical realm,
they who physically die, die to one way and to one realm of
life, but by death they enter into another way or another realm
of life. whether it be eternal bliss or
eternal misery. So they elect, they die to sin
in and with the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might then live under
God and live unto righteousness. But it is basically what Paul
wrote chapter 6 verse 14 and 15 that needs to be explained
lest it be misunderstood and lest it be perverted in some
way. And that's where he said, sin
shall not have dominion over you. It shall not lord it over
you. It shall not be your master. but because are seeing far as
much as ye are not under the law, but are under grace. What then is the conclusion to
be drawn from that? Shall this be used as a license
to sin? Will this become an occasion
unto sin? Paul's patented answer is, God
forbid. Now the part that would give
the most offense, I think, of what Paul has said and what Paul
has been saying in the earlier part of these texts of the scripture,
and especially in the case of the Jew, and it might be perverted
and it might be abused in a bad way, is that statement that he
made, you are not under the law. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for ye are not under the law. And last Lord's Day, we
spent almost our entire study showing that that was not the
ceremonial law that Paul had in mind. So he saves the explanation
of how it is that we are not under the law for this passage
here in chapter 7 that we have read. To get at the matter, we
notice that Paul does two things in this scripture that we have
read. Number one, in verse one, he
asked a very obvious question. He asked a question that can
have only one answer and an ascent. The law has dominion over a person
so long as they are alive. The second thing that he does
in verse two and verse three, he gives them an example the
wife and her husband and the law to illustrate how freedom
from the law frees one to enter into another union or another
relationship without any transgression being attached unto it. Now,
let's look at that obvious question that is asked in verse 1. Do
you not know? Are you ignorant? Do you not
have knowledge? And Paul means, surely you know,
for I'm speaking to them that know the law. Because you see,
Paul's premise is only effective to such as are acquainted with
this aspect and this nature of the law, which is he appeals
to the personal knowledge and experience of those with whom
he is now reasoning. I speak to them that know the
law, and by this he prepares them for the undisputed fact,
which is this, the law has dominion over a man so long as he lives,
and only so long as he lives, and that that relationship is
greatly changed and is demolished when death occurs. so long as
one lives, till he is dead and no longer. Over the living, not
over the dead, does the law have dominion. Now this is a general
principle, one that is subject unto law, liable to obey, liable
to be subject unto its precept and its penalty. As an example,
remember I thought this week remembering back to the Enron
scandal when it broke here in our own city. And the very top
guy, the very top person, was arrested and was charged, jailed,
out on Bond. And while out on Bond and awaiting
trial, died of a heart attack. died of a heart attack. Needless
to say, there was no trial at law, there was no conviction,
there was no prison term, for the dead are beyond the reach
of the law so long as one lives Paul's principle here in verse
1. Now several commentators, which
I read this week, agreed that the Greek tenses and the Greek
word could speak either of the law or of the individual. Some of them said it was hard
to decide which the Greek was saying, that the death of either
one of them would fit into the context and the law's dominion. Just as the death of either the
husband or the wife severs the marriage union, death puts an
end unto it. So that the survivor is then
free even to marry again. Yet, I think the matter is decided
here in our context For Paul will say in verse 4, make it
clear, it was not the law that died. It was not the law that
was put to death and that died, but it was the elect. It is the
believer. who is dead to the law in the
body and the death of our Lord and Savior. Of course, we'll
have more to say on that later. But first of all, in verse 2
and verse 3, the apostle uses a very familiar similitude from
one of the most common unions known among the human family,
and that would be of Mary. It was ordained by God in the
beginning. God ordained marriage. Adam and
Eve were husband and were wife. And it is probably the most intimate
and the most personal union or relation that is possible anywhere
between any people in the human family. And Paul, by the way,
Makes marriage to be a type of Christ and his church. You'll
find that in Ephesians chapter 5 22 through 32 John Brown another
one of my favorite writers said on verse 2 and verse 3 here in
Romans chapter 7 that Paul cites an instant in which death dissolves
legal obligation. His points being the following. Number one, the wife or the woman
having a husband being married, having become the wife of a man,
her husband is bound by the law of her husband so long as he
is alive. And the union has the nature
of a covenant, that is, of marriage between the man and the woman,
so that she is under what Paul calls the law marriage, by the
way, so is her husband. Now remember what the Lord God
said to Eve in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 16. Thy desire shall
be unto thy husband and he shall rule over thee. as he sentenced
her for her part in the fall. Your desire shall be subject
to the approval of your husband, and he shall rule over thee. But secondly, on the other hand,
should the husband be dead, Then verse 3, if her husband be dead,
she is freed from that law, she is free to marry another. And you can see this again in
1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 39, where Paul writes of Christian
women free to marry again only in the Lord, that is, another
believer. Now, not to get bogged down here
with a subject of marriage and of divorce and remarriage and
such like, but marriage is a subject upon which there are many different
views and much disagreement and much confusion. And I might add
a lot of error. Some are of the opinion with
regard to marriage and remarriage, some are of the opinion that
people should only marry one time in all of their life in
the world, regardless of their circumstances. Some bind themselves
to this rule and never remarry in this world. Others there are
that hold no divorce regardless of the situation, whatever it
might be. And this is or was or used to
be, is supposed to be the rule or the law of Rome. Some allow
divorce, but no remarriage while the guilty party is yet alive
and above the ground. And that if they do remarry,
justifiably and biblically, they can never marry again while that
one is alive, lest they be living in adultery. And then there are
others that approve divorce and remarriage for almost any reason
whatsoever. So you can see that we're all
over the page on this subject of marriage. But in regard to
verse 2 and verse 3, and what is said here about the law of
marriage, about being free from the law of the husband should
he die, I think it might help us a bit if we should remember
that Paul's main subject, the subject that he is carrying,
the subject that he is tracing out, and the subject that he
is teaching on is not marriage per se, but it is the law. The law is the subject. Marriage is the illustration. The law is what he is teaching. Marriage is the illustration. And his premise is that believers
are dead to sin because they are not under the law. And so
to repeat, the reference to the law of marriage is to illustrate
the premise that the law has dominion over a person so long
as they are alive. John Murray, his commentary on
the book of Romans, wrote, I'm quoting, Paul's allusion to the
law of marriage is incidental to the main purpose, unquote. That is, he is by this illustrating
something that has to do with our relationship under the law. And beside, in Matthew chapter
19 and verse 9, it seems very clear that the Lord himself allowed
both divorce and remarriage in the event of adultery, for the
word even there, or except there, I think carries the day in three
cases. And Paul seems to approve for
desertion in 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 15. However, Paul chooses
that aspect of the dissolution of marriage, death, that best
illustrates the gist of his primit, that believers are dead unto
the law. And it is stated in verse 1,
It is opened in verse four, where he picks up the subject again,
and where there we read in verse four, wherefore my brethren,
Paul having laid the foundation that is, is now ready. to sum
up the manner of the deliverance from the law and the blessed
and happy consequences of being delivered from the law. There
is the essence of the gospel in verse 4. You won't find a
verse fuller of the gospel than Romans chapter 7 and verse 4. I call your attention to the
little word wherefore. the opening of the verse. It
gives us an occasion to see some small connecting words that are
used by Paul in this passage of the scripture, tying all things
together, weaving all of the argument together. For example,
in verse 2, the word far, and he makes the application in verse
3, so then, so then, and finally in verse 4, wherefore, in verse
5, for, and in verse 6, but. So there is the threading or
the weaving together All of this and the opening word wherefore
in verse 4 as it is used is called in grammar a lady that means
that it introduces or it expresses an Inference or it draws a conclusion
from words that have gone before in the flow of thought of Paul
here in chapter 7 of Roman the wherefore is an inference drawn
from what is declared in verse 2 and verse 3, where the death
of the husband frees the wife that she might marry again. Wherefore
ye also, he makes the application. Paul is showing that there is
something analogous, that is something that is similar or
it has a likeness in one or more respect to the situation of the
wife in verse 2 and verse 3, who by reason of his death was
loosed from his subjection to the law of her husband. And not
only so, but free to become the wife of another should she choose
to and be led in that direction. In other words, she's not suspended
in perpetual widowhood to be without a law or a husband. She's not deprived of the right
to become the wife of another and marry again because her husband
has passed away, but to do so without guilt and without any
sin on her part. As Paul says, she shall not be
reckoned an adulteress, for marrying when her husband has been taken
away in death. So Paul says, wherefore, ye also,
you too, like the woman, as she became free from the law, in
order to be joined unto another. So you also are dead to the law
by the body of Christ that you should be married, unionized,
joined unto another. I think we might be blessed here
by considering the tense of Paul's words. Well, they're all what
we call Eroistent. It is you died to the law. You became dead unto it. You were rendered dead to the
law. And again, as one Lang's commentary
put it, the verb here is eroist, referring to the definite act
in the past having present effect or consequence is the word. In both cases, the wife in the
illustration and the elect, only a certain death. And we need
to get that. Only a certain death. Only a
particular death of a particular person or man could bring the
freedom that Paul is declaring. First of all, only the death
of her husband could free the wife to form another union. Secondly, only the death of Christ
can free the elect from the rigors and the curse and the guilt and
the condemnation of the law that they might be then joined unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to emphasize it again.
No other death could free the woman from the law of her marriage. No other death could free the
elect from the law. No other could have that effect. Absolutely no other death whatsoever. Because of the special relationship
that exists. between the husband and the wife
and Christ and the elect. In the woman's case, her marriage
to her husband was the connecting with her being liberated by the
death of him. Just so, the vital union of the
elect with the Lord Jesus Christ connects them to his liberating
death. It is only because they have
that vital, eternal union, and because they are crucified with
him. Now, let's take up a question
here, which is, does Paul insinuate in this matter of the wife and
her husband? Does Paul mean us to conclude? Does he wish us to understand
that the wife is to be pictured or thought of as being in an
unhappy and a miserable marriage and situation. Was it a contentious
union between her and her husband? Was it one of bonding? For Paul says here, she is under
the law of her husband till death do them part. We wonder, did she chafe against
the law of her husband? Did she resent it? And I want
to say here, let us be very careful that we do not turn this into
an allegory and find something analogous in every point of marriage
and of salvation. But here's a point to ponder
from the simile of the likeness of the law under the image of
a first husband. The law under the simile would
answer to being our first husband. And we certainly know, do we
not, that things were not good between us and our first husband,
the law. It never had a kind word for
us, none whatsoever. It never showered us with love.
It never praised us. We could never please it. We
could never rise to please it. It found fault with each and
all that we did. We came short of every expectation,
as we shall see when we come to verse five in this chapter. On the larger scale, James Fraser
wrote in that book that I like, matters having failed miserably,
between mankind and this first husband, God has provided a second
for them, even Christ." And think about that, how wonderful of
our God. Still, if I may use the simile
of marriage to yet another point, and that is that there are many
who, to use a familiar expression that we have all heard someone
say at one time or another, quote, I'm determined to make this marriage
work, unquote. We've heard that, I think, again
and again. But as some have thought, This
marriage is worth saving. Therefore, I will try harder. I will do my very best. You see, for being ignorant of
the saving grace of God, there are many Both have a strong attachment
and a determination to their first husband, the law, and try
and seek to win justification and find eternal happiness by
staying in that union or that marriage, staying under the law. We're determined to make this
work. We are determined by the law. to gain our pardon and the favor
of God. But look at verse 3 again. If
death occurs, a woman, a widow, may be married to another man
and not branded with a scarlet A. If her husband be dead, she
is free from that law. Now coming to verse 4, the apostle
clears the way whereby one obtains freedom from the law and then
is joined unto another, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. How much is there in these great
words? Wherefore, brethren, watch this,
ye also, in verse 4, ye also, like the woman became dead to
the law of her husband when he died, ye also are become dead
to the law by the body of Christ." Now, dead to sin and dead to
the law are linked together in Paul's thinking and in his theology. One cannot have one without the
other. cannot be dead to sin without
being dead to the law, or dead to the law without being dead
unto sin. Cannot be dead to sin while he
is under the curse of the law. Now, this being dead to the law
means free from the guilt and the condemnation and the curse
of the law of God, which Christ freed us from in his death upon
the cross. The law cannot condemn those
who are not under it in that sense of the word. It's not that
the law has died. It's not that the law has lost
its power or its goodness or its holiness or its righteousness,
but a certain number that none can number. are immune from condemnation
by the law. Like Paul, they have died unto
the law. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
19. And they cannot be condemned
even by the law. Even though they sin, the law
cannot condemn them, and neither can the law have dominion over
them and lord them over them as once it did. To die to the
law is not to reach perfection. To die to the law does not mean
that we have attained entire sanctification and that we have
neither sin nor sinning in our life, but it means to be free
and exempt. from the curse and the penalty,
as we quoted earlier, free from the law, oh, happy condition. But next, we notice how this
freedom is gained, which was not by our fulfilling the law,
not by our keeping it, not by our writing it out, a bill of
divorcement, as the man did in the Old Testament, and putting
it away, as unclean, or declaring to sever our ties with the law,
for we cannot put ourselves out from under the law and cannot
put ourselves under grace. Just as we cannot in ourselves
overthrow the reign of sin, it has to be by the reign of grace. What then? Well, in verse 4,
Paul says, this being free from the law is by the body of Christ. I shall read it again. You are
become dead to the law by the body of Christ, meaning not his
body, the church, as sometimes it is called a body, not his
resurrected or his glorified body, but that body prepared
for him by God described in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 5 through 10
that body of our Lord that was beaten and was bruised and was
hanged upon the cross and it died upon the cross that body
that God prepared him and in which he bore our sin and he
died and in verse 10 it said that We are sanctified, I'm talking
about Hebrews 10, Hebrews 10 and 10, whereby we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Peter has written, 1 Peter chapter
2, 24, who in his own body bear our sin on the tree, that is
on the cross. on the place of Golgotha. Here
is a great truth that stands at the heart of the gospel, that
the death of Christ has saving efficacy to many. Then we ask
the question, how so? How is this saving efficacy? That the death of Christ is the
putting to death of the elect unto the law. That it is so that
by that arrangement, by such a horrible, horrible death as
our Lord died upon the cross, one himself suffering, enduring
the curse of the law? How can that set others free
from the law? How can he save others when he
did not and could not save himself? Now to the Arminian the answer
is quick and it is very simple. Christ died for the sins of all
and for the whole world. He paid the ransom for everyone
and those that accepted are therefore in the state of grace and free
from the curse. With them, it is a simple matter
of free will. But Paul connects it to the vital
union of the Lord Jesus Christ. Crucified with Christ. Our old man was crucified with
him. We read back in chapter 6. So
that his dying for sin freed those that he died for from the
condemnation of sin and freed them from the curse of the law. He being made a curse for us,
Galatians 3 and verse 13, his own death was enduring the curse
of the law. And the effect of the result
of that union is not loose and sinful living, that's not what
will occur, that freedom from the dominion of sin and from
the law will not result in unbridled indulgence and fleshly appetite,
but freedom from the curse of the law will actually free them
to serving God spiritually. And it cannot happen until they
are freed and unionized unto Christ. For by being put to death
to the law, they're also married to another, even to him that
is raised up from the dead. And why? In order, or with the
result, that they are fruitful unto God. Now, we have two verses
left to consider, and they are verse 5 and verse 6. And in them,
Paul makes another of the several contrasts that he makes in opening
up this matter unto the saint, between being under the law and
being under grace, between being under the law and dead to the
law, on their past and on their present. when they were the servants
of sin, and now are the servants of righteousness. All of those
contrasts are found in this. But look at verse 5, first of
all, chapter 7, where there is another reflection on the old
way of life and the fruits of it, and with a sort of a parenthetical
explanation, we might call it, in the middle of this verse.
Now, the summation of verse 5 is this, in contrast to more, when
we were in the flesh, notice this, when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sin did work in our members to bring forth fruit
unto death, which is natural since verse 23, the wages of
sin is death in chapter 6. Here is another word, flesh,
which like the words law and world that we mentioned last
Sunday, are used in different ways and different senses, even
though they are from the very same Greek word. Here are three
words that are used in a diverse manner in the scripture. And
so, he refers to the unregenerate, unconverted state. before grace
did come to personally reign and to save from sin. But notice
the few words which we omitted in verse 5, which were by the
law. For the motions of sin did work
in us to bring forth fruit unto death, And he said in the middle,
which were by the law. They did work. That word means
they wrought, they operated, they were active. The motions
of sin bringing forth fruit unto death. And notice, be clear,
this is when we were in the flesh. when we were unregenerate, when
we were unconverted, when we knew not God. And concerning
those passions, in King James in verse 5, the margin has it
passion, King James has it the motion of sin, which Paul said
were put in motion, do you expect this? By the law. which were in motion by the law. They were excited. They were
aroused. They operated by and through
the law. They would not have operated
in such a manner if not for the law. For Paul says they operated
through the law. And Paul will soon say, in his
own case, mind you, without the law, sin was dead. Down in chapter 7 and verse 8,
the last part. For without the law, sin was
dead. When Paul said the motions of
sin were by the law, He is not imputing sin unto the law. It is not sin. It is not sinful. The sin was in the corruption
and the rebellion of the flesh when they were yet in the flesh,
unregenerate and unconverted. The law brought to bear upon
that type of person, irritated them, and they resented it. I should like to try to give
an illustration. Imagine, if you might, a career
criminal who's been in and out of jail most of his life, who
spent as much time in the backseat of a police car as he has anywhere
else. He is resentful of the policeman,
of the judge, of the district attorney, and of the judicial
system. And he is resentful of the very
bars that lock him in and take away his freedom. And he sees
them And it stirs in him feeling of resentment. Another illustration. We found it, did we not, that
the stricter the teacher, the more the students resented that
teacher. How a rebellious child, how they
resent the rules. the stern, strict rule of their
parent. And a fallen sinner can never
satisfy the law, therefore he can never expect to fulfill the
law. And the more it demands, and
the stronger the passions of sin that are stirred up in him
by the imposition of that law, by the motions of sin which were
by the law. Now, coming to verse 6, with
which we clothe, and first notice the contract. Verse 5, when we
were in the flesh, the law worked a certain way. But in verse 6,
but now we are delivered from the law, being under grace, not
ruled by the flesh. And note the margin, being dead
to that wherein we were held. That is, when we, having not
the spirit, When we had not yet the Spirit, we were in the flesh,
now delivered from what hold, what held us, that that bound
us or that held us, freed from that, rescued by the grace of
God that we serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the
oldness of the letter. The onus of the letter, men,
is a description of the law, as we learned from Paul. This
can never be until or unless one is given the spirit of regeneration
and brought under the reign of the grace of God, then they will
walk in newness of life, and their sins are pardoned because
Christ was punished for them and he bear the chastisement
of them. They do not sin that grace may
abound because they're under grace and not under the law.
They have no such liberty now, even that they are free from
the law in that sense, and not under it as to condemnation. They have no right now, as a
Christian, to cavort with idols or take God's name in vain. or
use images, or to kill, or to steal, or to commit adultery,
and excuse it by saying, oh, I'm not under the law. God does
not see any sin in me. No, true grace applied by the
Spirit of God will not make one a libertine, God forbid. On the other hand, it will, as
verse 6 said, they might serve in the newness of the spirit
and not in the oldness of the letter. And all through chapter
6, Paul has made those statements, yielding your members instruments
of righteousness. He makes it very clear that this
state of grace and this reign of grace, rather than increased
sin, actually leads us to abhor it and to avoid it all that we
can, seeking the grace of God that we might live unto him. Serve in the newness of the Spirit. Serve in that gentle rain of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the grace of God that takes our sins
away, and the blood of Christ that washes our sin and cleanses
us, as it said in 1 John 1. Well, thank God we did not run
into more sin or an excess of sin because we are under grace. God forbid, but rather that we
might serve God, yield our members, we might love him, that we might
do those things that are taught us in the scripture for the law
being written in our heart by the blessed spirit of God almighty. Thank God for Paul and standing,
standing for the grace of God, standing for gratuitous grace,
sovereign grace, electing grace, saving grace, the reign of grace.