Romans 8 will be our text, but
first I want to read chapter 6 and verse 14. Romans 6 and
verse 14, and then jumping to chapter 8 for our fuller text
of this. The second study this evening
on the question, the believer's rule of life, is it the law or
is it faith, grace, and the leadership of the Scripture? In Romans 6
and verse 14, Paul makes a very powerful statement here that
he will come back to later and open it up further. He said,
simply, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are
not under the law, but under grace. Then in chapter eight
of the same book of Romans, this time verses one through six for
our reading, "...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. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, they that are after the Spirit
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Now,
I think there can be little or no doubt that the apostle, in
these words, that we have read just now, still has his eye upon
that very important statement back in chapter 6 and verse 14,
knowing that such a declaration as he had made would have perhaps
a twofold treatment and a twofold response. Once, it must be defended
against a wrong conclusion and to wrong application. For such
a teaching it perverted his liable unto perversion at the hand of
an unskilled teacher or of a libertine." Secondly, it requires some explanation
from a theological standpoint as well. It is a truth that must
be opened up for the edification of the ones to whom it is intended
to have its effect, that as believers ye are not under the law. Now, almost all reliable and
good and confident expositors of the scripture agree that in
chapter seven, the apostle wisely returns to expound further upon
what he had declared in chapter six, And verse 14, sin shall
not have dominion. That is, sin shall not lord it
over you. Sin shall not enslave you. Sin shall not be your lord. It shall not play the part of
a lord over you. Now, a little study and a little
research on the word that is translated there by our English
word, dominion, will give us a clearer sense of what it is
that is being said by the apostle. The word, as it appears, is the
word kuriil, which comes from the old verb kurios, Lord, Lord. or master. Paul uses this word
three times in the discussion in this section of the Roman
Epistle. It is in chapter 6 and verse
9. It is again in chapter 6 and
verse 14, and it is again in chapter 7 and verse 1. It is
that word used in Luke 22 and verse 25 where the Lord said,
the Gentiles exercise dominion. or the word might be, lordship
over them. The Gentile exercise dominion
or control or lordship over them. In Romans 14 and 9, Lord both
of the living and of the dead is our Lord. Furthermore, as
those proficient in the Greek have pointed out, The tense here
is futuristic. Sin shall not have lordship over
you. Sin shall not rule over you,
that is, in the future. Then Paul gives a theological
reason why it is that sin will not lord it over you. And that's in chapter 6 and verse
14. For you are not under the law,
you are under grace. The word under meaning beneath
or below. You're not beneath, you're not
under, you're not below the law. Paul knows that such a statement
could be misinterpreted. He knows that such a statement
could be taken in the wrong way. Number one. be taken the wrong
way. Number two, it could be disputed
by some, especially those of the Jews who read such a thing,
and they would certainly raise against Paul a strong objection
freeing those who worship God from the law. That's the statement
in chapter 6 and verse 14, just like that one in Romans 5 and
verse 12. is far-reaching. It is too extensive. It is too important to leave
it unexplained. Either one of those verses, 512
or 614, is too important simply to write it and then go off and
leave it and to go on one's way. And you notice what Paul does.
In the fifth chapter, he goes in great length explaining chapter
5 and verse 12. But immediately here, after chapter
6 and verse 14, there is no explaining of what he means by that. There
is no laying out of all that is involved in that. There is
no validation. of that saying, there is no stopping
to prove at this point his proposition that the believer is not under
the law. Instead, Paul thinks it wise
to take time here that he might dispute the inference that might
lead to an abuse of the doctrine that he is setting forth. So
in verse 14 of chapter 6, sin shall not lord it over you, for
you are not under the law, you are under grace. Verse 15, he
said, what then? What shall we say? What conclusion
are we to draw? Because we are not under the
law. Shall we sin because we're not under the law, or are we
free to go our way and sin because we're not under the law? God
forbid, he says, which is his usual answer. This is essentially
the question that is treated in the first verse of chapter
six. that if grace outbound sin, and
if our sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Shall we then
sin in order that grace may abound even the more? Again, shall we
sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? Romans 6.15. Then in the fifteenth
verse, down through the twenty-third verse, he answers his critics
upon this point by showing that in being made free from the law
and from sin, they have become not freemen, but the servants
of the Lord Jesus Christ and of righteousness. This is their
end, free from the law, but servants of Christ. Our Lord. They're
not set adrift, as it were, upon the ocean in sin by being made
free from the law. In fact, freedom from the law
is actually necessary to living unto God through Jesus Christ. That part is so important that
I'd like to say it again. Freedom from the law is actually
It is very important that we might live then unto God. Having refuted the idea that
freedom from the law will result in great unrighteousness, the
apostle then in chapter 7, verses 1 through 4, returns again to
the truth of Romans 6 and verse 14. and declares here by a clear
illustration the manner of obtaining freedom from the law. And he
gives us an illustration that we all are familiar with of how
death puts an end to the reach of the law. When one dies, he
is out of reach of the law altogether. And the example that he uses
is the case of a husband and of a wife. Now, we notice that
there are two halves in Romans 6 and verse 14. There are two
statements. Number one, sin shall not have
dominion over you. for you're not under the law.
And number two, sin shall not rule over you for you are under
grace. You're not under the law, but
you are under the grace of God. John Brown, one of my favorite
expositors, thought that the first Paul treats in chapter
7, 1 through 24, and the second he treats in chapter 7, verse
25, down through chapter 8 and verse 4. That is, of these two
halves of Romans 6 and verse 14. Now, in verse one, chapter
seven, he states a principle with which all cannot but be
familiar. An unchallenged position it certainly
is. It is a principle that forever
endures, which is, In verse one and the last part, the law has
dominion, the law rules or lords it over, the law exercises dominion
over a man or over a person so long as he lives. The implication is very clear. whether divine or human law rules
a person while alive. But it cannot pursue them into
the grave. It cannot require satisfaction
of a deceased individual. The law cannot directly collect
a dead from a dead man. It cannot pursue him for a crime. It cannot require of him certain
observances, for such dominion ends with death. Rather, the
law only has dominion over a man so long as he lives. Then in
verse 2 and verse 3 of Romans chapter 7, he illustrates the
very same thing by the case of the woman who is married to a
husband, that she is bound by the law of her husband only so
long as he lived, not after he dies, not at all, as stated in
the second verse and the last part. But if the husband be dead,
she is loosed from the law of her husband so that she draws
two proper conclusions then from this incident. Number one, she
can go from her husband She cannot go from her husband while he
is yet alive and marry another. But, number two, if the husband
is dead, she is completely, absolutely, forever free to go and to marry
another. Thus, he used death here, and
not adultery, for death fits the illustration better than
adultery. Note Paul's primary subject is
not marriage per se in this particular play, only that he uses it to
illustrate the possibility that one is freed by death. to legally
enter another union, and his primary subject is freedom from
the law by the death of Christ. Then in verse 4, Romans 7, he
declares the theological truth of how and why believers are
not under the law. He said, ye are become dead to
the law by the body of Christ. You were put to death to the
law by and through the body of Christ, in order that you might
be married unto another, even unto Christ. and be no adulterer
are unfaithful to the law." There's not any unfaithfulness to the
law here that you've gone to Christ because you have died
to the law. Now, the law did not die, but
we died to the law in Christ. Now, drawing ever nearer to our
text, let's note the contrast that Paul makes in verse 5 and
in verse 6. Verse 5, when we were in the
flesh, What then was the effect of the law upon you? We brought forth fruit unto God
now, in verse 4, the last part, but when we were unregenerate,
when we were unconverted, when in a state of natural depravity,
fleshly, when we were ruled by innate depravity, when we were
lost, if you will say it in that way, ruled by our pravity, For
it is a contrast here between flesh and spirit that we want
to be sure to note it. What was the case then? What was our situation at that
time when you were in the flesh, which, of course, speaks of depravity. Watch the middle part of verse
5 of Romans 7. The motions of sin which were
by the law, or the passion of sin, the affections of sin which
were by the law. These were irritated in us by
the law. This is the effect of the law
upon an unregenerate sinner. Instead of subduing their depravity
and cleansing their depraved heart, the law more agitate the
passion or the motion of sin, the result being to bring forth
fruit unto death. Then look at the sixth verse
and the contract. But now, as opposed to when or
then, we are delivered from the law. You have been discharged
from the law, for we died to it in Christ, having died unto
it the law wherein we were held." Look at the last type of verse
6, Romans 7, that we should serve in newness of spirit, not in
the oldness of the letter. And you know that letter is sometimes
put for the law in the scripture. Note the contrast, newness, oldness,
spirit and letter. Newness of spirit, oldness of
letter. One while under the law, the
other while dead to the law, with Christ and in Him. But the
last part of verse six, that we should serve in newness of
spirit, this has occurred unto us, does not imply purpose or
aim, but it implies result. We have been delivered with the
result that we serve in newness of life. We have been delivered
so as to be in newness of life. And deliverance from the law
is necessary to serving in the newness of life. and the spirit. Death to the law is necessary
in each case to effect the better worship of the newborn spirit
which God has given unto us. Now, the case of the wife and
the husband. As the wife whose husband has
died is, number one, free from the law of her husband. She's
no longer bound to that husband at his death. She is free. She
has no husband. She is loose from that law of
her husband. Secondly, it says she is free
to become the wife of another man. Just so, the believer who
is dead to the law in and with Jesus Christ, and it is not that
the believer puts away the law, or to use the Old Testament language,
gives a bill of divorcement, for there is no uncleanness. to be found in the law, by which
we might put it away. It's just, it's holy, and it's
good, Romans 7 and verse 12. Still, even though this is so,
number one, the law is holy, but it cannot make a sinner holy. The law is very holy, but it
cannot make a sinner holy. Number two, the law is just. but it cannot justify a sinner. Number three, the law is good,
but it cannot make a bad man good. It cannot do those things. This Paul ascribes to the weakness
of the flesh. And in Romans 8 and verse 3,
it can reveal sin, but it cannot make one hate that sin that is
in him. Paul is clear so that we might
serve in the newness of the Spirit, not again or further in the oldness
of the letter. And note the two parallels in
our text. Verse 4, that you should be married
to another, and that other, of course, is Christ. Then look
at verse 6, that we should serve in newness of life, not in the
oldness of the letter. Both of these are the result
of our having died to the law in and with Christ. Neither of
them can occur apart from a prior dying to the law. Now, in branching
out, consider a question that is relative, I believe, to the
subject that is before us this evening. The point for us to
ponder is this. This distinction is often made,
especially by the Puritans, in their writing, but also it is
made by some present day of those of the Reformed faith by many
Calvinists in our day. And it is this. We hear them
say, believers are not under the law as a covenant, or as
a covenant of works, nor as the means to obtain justification,
nor are they under the law as regards its curse and its wrath,
but they are under the law as a rule or standard of life and
conduct. So here's the essence of their
argument. We're not under the law as to coming to Christ before
as being condemned by it, but we are freed from it, and then
we come and we're put back under the law again. Here's the question. Search and see whether this is
the distinction that is ever made by Paul. Did you ever hear
Paul say, we're not under, we Christians, are not under the
law, as a covenant of works, but we are under the law as a
rule of life." Never does Paul say this, never does he imply
it. You cannot find it anywhere in
his writing that he says you are not under the law as a covenant,
but you are under the law as a rule of life. This would be
a tedious but a profitable study for anyone to pursue. And then
does someone object? then the believer is without
a rule or a guide of life. We say, how so? Remember the
saints before Sinai and before the Mosaic Covenant? They are
not without a rule of life. They were not without guidance
and a guide. They were not without direction
or a director in that area of time. The worshipper in the newness
of spirit has. Number one, grace, the principle
of divine grace. Grace reigns in them through
eternal life, mighty grace. This grace is not a dormant principle. It is a major influence on the
life and the morals of every child of God, of every one of
its subjects. And we said in study number one,
according to Titus 2 and verse 11, grace that brings salvation,
the grace of God saving also, teaching, instructing us that
denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live righteously,
soberly and godly, piously it is in this present world. Number two, the worshipers in
the newness of spirit. Not only has he grace, but he
has the indwelling of the spirit of God. He has a very holy spirit
of God. living within him or her. God has sent forth his Spirit
into our hearts whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Galatians 4 and
verse 6. Notice that Paul discusses this
very extensively in Romans 8, 1 through 16, and he makes a
good contrast between the flesh and the spirit. And he makes
some strong points here in this passage, such as, if you look
at verse 1, No condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Verse nine, If any have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. For the Spirit is a mark
of sonship. Look at verse 10. The Spirit is life because of
righteousness. Look at verse 11. The Spirit
will affect the resurrection. Look at verse 14. The sons of
God are led by the Spirit of God, and in verse 15 and 16,
the Spirit bears witness to our sonship. Now, the Holy Spirit
quickens, it affects the new birth, it gives a new heart,
it reveals Christ in the gospel, and leads them into spiritual
truth. illuminating, revealing, convicting,
cleansing, guiding, and all of those things. Thirdly, the worshipper
in the newness of the Spirit has an infallible guide with
the divinely inspired Scripture. So we have the grace of God,
have the Spirit living within us, and we have the holy and
inspired scripture. They are they which are given
to us for our instruction in righteousness. II Timothy 3 and
verse 16, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto
all good work by the Scripture, being also profitable for doctrine,
profitable for correction, and all that we have need of. Thus,
this is our answer to such as would contend that if the law
be not the saint's rule of life in this world that he is, then
without a rule of life. No, sir, we say they have the
Spirit, they have the grace of God, and they have the Spirit
to guide them. Let us bring some passages to
bear upon the matter, such as Galatians 3.23 and 4 and 7, where
there Paul illustrates the relationship of the law under the Jew in acting
the part of a pedagogue, that is, a child trainer, to oversee
and to guard them in their youth, in their knowledge, or in their
infancy, to oversee and guard them, to shut them up till faith
shall come, to hold them until Christ shall come and faith. And when this is accomplished
in verse 25, Galatians 3, After faith is come, we are no
longer under a trainer, or a schoolmaster, or a tutor. And in Galatians
4, 1 through 7, Paul gives the fuller spiritual application
of the image used in the end of the third chapter. As if Paul
says, yes, I liken the law to a pedagogue, now let me explain
it more fully and how it works. as an heir in his nonnage, in
his youth, in his infancy. He is heir of all, but he is
little different from a servant in that he himself is under guardians
and stewards until the time appointed by the Father. Then in verse
3, Galatians 4, even so we, when we were in our infancy were kept
under subjection which the law, as the pedagogue, inspired or
imposed upon us. under-aged heirs under a schoolmaster. But then, in verse 4 through
verse 7 of Galatians chapter 4, in the fullness of time, that
time appointed by the Father before the world ever began,
Christ came in the fullness of time. He redeemed us from the
law and he gave us the status of fully adopted sons in and
through Jesus Christ. He did that by redeeming those
that were the intended heirs who were at one time underage
and under governors. But there's another passage,
I think, in John chapter four, twenty-one through thirty-four,
that speaks of another great change that was to come in worship. And this one also came about
with, by, and through Christ, and defines the nature of the
new manner of worship that is to be carried on. Worship was
at set times and set places. They had a set time to come and
a set place to go by observing days, times, months, years, moons,
and such like, and by the types and the shadows at a central
place. That is, at a temple where the
Lord had had them to come and to congregate. And if you read
John 4, 23 and verse 24, that woman of Samaria, Jesus speaks
of her, says to her that true worshipers do certain things,
number one, They worship in spirit as opposed to prescribed places
and buildings and by tangible things and carnal ordinances. They correspond with the nature
of God in spirit. and they put worship or worship
in that spirit that God has given unto them. Not only that, they
worship in spirit, but secondly, they worship in truth. They're
guided in worship by the truth, for Christ is indeed the truth. Now, the full complement of all
of the Mosaic observances are to vanish when the Messiah came
and a new and a more spiritual worship and a better order was
to be brought in. For those things and ordinances,
Paul says to the Colossians, were nailed to his cross and
were taken out of the way. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul
extols the excellence of the gospel over the law. And the
Lord, before he died, summed up the two this way, love God,
love neighbor. And in closing, even as there
are many that do not trust the gospel alone, many do not trust
the grace of God to keep a child of God in the way. They do not
trust that the gospel can save and that it has a saving message
and a saving declaration. They dare not send it alone on
a mission to save a sinner. It requires emotional pleading,
invitations, free will, songs and sad tales, proposition, and
many required acts from the sinner. Not the gospel alone trusting
it to do its work to convert the sinner, but other things. because they do not trust divine
grace, the scripture, and the Spirit of God in our hearts to
guide us and to be our rule of life. Robert Towne, a thorn in
the Puritan's side, said on this matter, accused of them of being
unwilling to trust a believer to walk without his keepers,
as if he is judged as a malfactor of the worst sort." That is,
when he walks with Christ, Moses must not go along, as one old
Puritan put it. To such a view, the believer
is under both grace and the law at the same time by many of them,
and this is certainly something hard to reconcile. Moses and
Christ have been melted into one in so many places today,
and Moses loses his curse, and Christ loses his blessing and
his grace when they are mingled together in the salvation of
a sinner. Let me close with a few scriptures.
A great many were obedient to the faith, Acts 6 and verse 7. I live by the faith of Christ,
Galatians 2 and 20. We walk by faith, not by sight,
2 Corinthians 5 and verse 7. All through Hebrews 11 we read,
by faith. Whatsoever is there was done
by faith. To be under the law, therefore,
in any part, requires wholly to be under the law. You can't
get under the law partially. Paul said, if you circumcise
your debtor to do the whole, whole law. So to be free from
the law is by the death of Christ upon the cross. Thank God Paul
could write, ye are not under the law. Sin shall not have dominion
over you. You are under the grace of God.