This morning, we're gonna pick
back up at Romans, the book of Romans, chapter seven, beginning
at verse seven. And the title of my message is
God's Law Vindicated. You might ask, why does God's
law need vindicated? Well, there's so much misuse
of God's law. By nature, sinners will misuse
it. They'll take that law and attempt
to work out a salvation of their own by their obedience to that
law rather than looking at that law and its intended purpose,
and that is to drive us to Christ and having no hope of salvation
based on anything that we can do or anything that we might
be unable to do in keeping that law. So as we open our study
this morning, let me make a few comments concerning the law of
God before we begin with verse seven. What a man considers being the
law of God and its function most clearly reveals whether or not
he has a true understanding of the nature of the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. Let me say that again. What a
man considers being the law of God and its function most clearly
reveals whether or not he is true, true understanding of the
nature of kingdom of God and God's righteousness. The Pharisees
were the straightest sect on earth during the time that Jesus
Christ walked the earth. They were strict keepers of Moses'
law. They understood it as it was
given to them on those tables of stone. They as well had reverence
to a multitude of additions and even modifications to the law,
which in their mind made it even more strict and in their darkness
more desirable. They thought that an open display
of the letter of that law and their obedience to it was to
be greatly admired and even sought to teach other men to revere
this display in the same fashion. The Lord despised their understanding
and upbraided them, saying, and we're talking about the Pharisees,
which were the religious leaders at that time, Christ says, whoa,
until you scribes, and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you confiscate
land to make one proselyte, one convert, and when he is made,
you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves."
That's Matthew 23. The Pharisees were typical of
the natural descendants of Abraham at that time, and really all
men who take delight in any sort of fleshly religion. works done
by the sinner as we heard in the back concerning Cain those
works that he brought which were the best works that he had produced
by him as he brought them as a sacrifice to God. Now Paul
described these particular Pharisees in Romans 10 verse 2 and 3 as
having a zeal of God They went about doing all these things
to appease God, this God of their imagination. They have a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge. They're missing some
knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, that righteousness that God will accept and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves into the righteousness of God. Now the Pharisees viewed
the law of Moses as a series of codes which they should implement
and observe. They missed the whole purpose
of the giving of that law and being ignorant of the true righteousness,
thought that they could keep the law and therefore become
acceptable to God. Their understanding lives on
in the minds of those who would make the keeping of Moses' law
to be the ongoing duty of the children of God. That man who
is taught the true nature of that law, he's made speechless
before its demands and stripped naked and bare in its presence. Rather than being able to recount
his obedience to it or put on a display of that adherence,
he is humble in the dust and made to express grief and sorrow.
over the certainty of his own destruction by that same law
that this righteous man, that man that is righteous in his
own eyes by his perceived obedience to that law, he delights in it. Scripture is clear by the law
is knowledge of sin. All those whom the Lord is pleased
to instruct in true righteousness have no hope in being able to
keep any coded law regardless of how simple it may be. Let's
begin with our first verse this morning in Romans 7, 7, where
Paul says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Paul now asks the
question, what shall we say then? or what conclusion shall we draw
concerning God's law? In order to understand why Paul
asked the question in verse seven, let's look back at Romans 7,
verse five, where it says, for when we were in the flesh, the
motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. Paul here describes the effect
of the law on himself and those whom he addressed before conversion.
while he and they were under his dominion. In Romans 7 verse
6, but now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein
we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, not
in the oldness of the letter of the law. Paul had spoken of
their deliverance from the law and his own. Here and in the
four following verses, he illustrates what were the effects of the
law on himself. While Paul rejects the supposition
that there was anything evil in the law, he shows that by
the strictness of its precepts, those precepts in the law which
excited the corruptions of his own heart. Paul says that the
law accomplished its intended goal by convincing him that he
was a sinner, and therefore was an instrument of much good, for
he would have not known sin to be sin, but by the law. Paul
has shown how the law could not justify or make a sinner righteous
before God, that all the law could do for the sinner is to
condemn him in his sin. Romans 3, beginning at verse
19, says, Now we know that what thinks whoever the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law, by your works of the law,
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is knowledge of sin. The law can show us the deadly
disease of sin, but it cannot provide the cure. We can conclude
that the law itself is sinful, or can we conclude that it's
sinful? Paul then shows the first and
foremost purpose of the law, the sinners, which is to expose
our depravity and the impossibility of salvation by our efforts to
keep the law. He says here in Romans 7, in
verse 7, nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had
not known lust except the law had said thou shalt not covet.
Paul shows how God the Holy Spirit uses the law to expose not only
outward sins, but also the depravity of the heart. Man by nature knows
something of the sinfulness of outward immoral actions and deeds. We know it's wrong to kill, to
steal, and these outward acts, but he knows nothing of the utter
depravity of his own heart, those lustful desires. Look at what
Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Man by nature
does not know that sin is not only what he does, but also what
he is. Fallen human nature is nothing
but sin in the eyes of God. Paul saw this as the Holy Spirit
revealed the spirituality of the law and sins of the heart,
of evil desires, and of coveting. All of those things deserve eternal
death, just as much as outward sinful deeds, which also deserve
eternal death. Look at what Christ tells us
in Matthew 5, beginning at verse 21. You have heard that it was
said of them of old time, thou shalt not kill, and whosoever
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto
you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his
brother, raka, or good for nothing, shall be in danger of the counsel.
But whosoever shall say, thou fool, have you ever thought that
in your mind about somebody, shall be in danger of hell fire.
And in Matthew 5 beginning at verse 27, You have heard that
it was said of them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery.
But I say to you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Some
of you might not have experienced this, but most of my life, before
God revealed the gospel to me, I heard preachers speak about
all of these inward thoughts as only temptations and not sin. They spoke of a temptation which
was without, not within, kind of like the devil made me do
it, these temptations from without. It only became sin when you give
in to that temptation. When you're taught this sort
of false teaching, all you're doing is hiding a multitude of
How in the world can you see what a wretched sinner you are
when sin is only sin when it's outwardly committed? This is
where the Apostle Paul was when God revealed to him how the law
reaches the inward parts of his heart, the mind, the affections,
and the will. You might say, well, didn't you
see what Christ said in those verses that we just read back
when you were in false religion? Yes, I'm sure I read them, but
due to my blindness, the other teaching just covered it up.
And it fit better with my theology and what I believed at the time,
which was salvation by work. And so you had a multitude of
sin when you're looking at yourself and what you do or don't do,
and as far as you being saved belongs. And so you had a multitude
of sin in that process. Folks, it is sinful to do an
evil deed, but it is also sinful to desire to do an evil deed. Thou shalt not covet. I believe
that God used the 10th commandment here to show Paul that sin is
not only in the outward acts of immorality, but is also in
the thoughts of men, the inward desires of men. A sinner who
has been enabled to truly see the spiritual application of
God's law If he truly sees what Christ has stated in those verses
back in Matthew 5 that we just read, he will begin to understand
a little bit of how holy God is. And he'll flee to Christ
for refuge and for salvation. He'll see he has no hope in anything
that he does or that he might be unable to do. He'll cry out
for mercy. He'll be a mercy beggar. Now
unless God does a work in you by the Holy Spirit, you'll never
understand your condition by nature. You'll never see your
need for righteousness outside of yourself. You'll continue
attempting to work out a righteousness of your own, thinking all the
while that God is satisfied with all those outward deeds of the
flesh. Paul ends verse seven with, I
had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust,
except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Then begins
in verse eight here, but sin, taken occasion by the commandment,
brought in me all manner of concupiscence, for without the law, sin was
dead. The problem for natural sinful fallen man is not the
law, but sin within us. The law only commands goodness
and it forbids evil. The fact that sinful men have
abused the law to their own damnation does not discredit or disgrace
the law of God. The law did not work in us all
manner of concupiscence or unlawful desires, but it was our own sinfulness
that worked such covetousness within us. Sin, as it says here,
taken occasion by the commandment. means that it was our own sinful
mind and heart that took the opportunity to pervert God's
law before God converted us. Remember, God's law revealed
to sinners has a two-fold purpose. One, to expose our sinfulness
and the fact that we deserve death and cannot make ourselves
righteous by our efforts to keep the law. And two, to drive us
to Christ for mercy, for grace, for righteousness and eternal
life. Men by nature do not use the law this way. Men by nature
have left to ourselves will pervert the law in one or two ways. We're
either openly rebel against it. We'll say, oh, well, I don't
believe the law means that. I don't believe God's that harsh
or I don't believe God demands that much when it comes to our
obedience to it. or we'll seek to be saved by
our efforts to keep it. And both are evil. We'll lower
that standard. We'll lower it where we can keep
it. We'll bring it down on our level where we can keep it. What
we need to do to it, we'll adjust it in our minds and make it where
we can keep it. Both are evil. Then in the last
part of verse eight, for without the law, sin was dead. Without
the true revelation of the law by the Holy Spirit, sin was dead. Paul thought he was not a sinner,
that sin was dead in him, that he was righteous before God,
before God converted him. Look at what Paul said in Philippians
3, beginning at verse 4. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew
of Hebrews is touching the law of Pharisee Concerning zeal persecuting
the church touching the righteousness, which is in the law blameless
Paul thought that he had he had done what he should do concerning
the obedience to that law. He was blamed Paul had a lot
of confidence in his law keeping before God saved him God had
to stop him in his tracks and reveal to him by his Holy Spirit
that sin is not only an outward act by the letter of the law,
but in the inward thoughts and desires of the heart. Then he
ran to Christ. He fled to Christ for refuge.
Romans 7 and verse 9, Paul says, for I was alive without the law
once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Before God the Holy Spirit revealed
to him the reality of the law, and I had condemned him for his
sin, Paul saw himself as alive, alive and deserving eternal life
based on his efforts to keep the law. And while a Pharisee,
who though he was born under the law, was brought up and instructed
in the law, and was a strict observer of the law, yet was
without the knowledge of the spirituality of it, he didn't
understand what that law said. Paul, as the rest of the Pharisees,
thought it only regarded those outward actions and did not reach
the spirits of souls of men, the very inward thoughts and
affections of the mind. The law was, as it were, dormant
and asleep there in Paul. It had not as yet entered into
his heart, into his conscience. And while this was his case,
he was alive. He did not know that he was actually
dead in trespasses and sin. Look at Ephesians 2.1. As for
you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins. A truth Paul afterward
was very much acquainted with once Paul saved him by his grace
in Christ. Before God saved Paul, he saw
himself as being blameless concerning the law's demand. as we just
got through reading, and therefore concluded that if any man went
to heaven, he certainly should, since, as he imagined, he lived
a holy and righteous life, free of all blame, and even to perfection. He was blameless, he thought.
Then Paul says in verse nine, but when the commandment came,
this is not speaking of the law that was given to Adam in the
Garden of Eden, nor to the law written on tables of stones and
given to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. But it is speaking of
the spirituality of the law, when that law, when that commandment
came, that God placed in his heart and his conscience of the
apostle when the Holy Spirit convinced him of sin by revealing
the extent of the law to him. Then he says in verse 9, sin
revived and I died. Sin lifted up its monstrous head,
exceeding sinful indeed. Sin began to grow strong and
exert itself. Sin's rebellion and corruption
were seen and felt by the Apostle Paul as it is by God's elect
once regenerated and converted. This shows that sin was not actually
dead before God does this work in the sinner. It only seemed
to be dead. It was, as it were, just dormant
and asleep there in the center. The sin was always there within
Paul, but once God revealed the spirituality of his law, the
apostles' sense and apprehension of it greatly multiplied. And once Paul saw this in himself,
he died. He found that he was still a
sinner deserving nothing but damnation and hell based on his
best efforts to keep that law. This is what it means to be truly
slain by the law. The law is holy, righteous, and
good. It will only expose sin and the sinner. The law of God
does to sin what rain does to a dung heap. It agitates it.
It stirs it up. You might not even know that
the dung heap is there until the rain comes and exposes it. Friends, the law of God is not
sin. However, it does expose within a sinner as rain exposes
the dung heap. Every Christian knows by experience
the truth of all the Apostle McClare's in this verse. He knows
that as soon as his eyes were opened to discover the spirituality
of the law, He discerned in himself a fearful working of that corruption
in his heart. He knows that this corruption
was even increased by the discovery of the strictness of that law,
which makes not the smallest allowance for sin, but condemns
it in its root and in its every motion. Such is the effect of the law
when the eyes of the understanding are first opened by the Spirit
of God. A power formerly dormant and
concealed now appears all of a sudden to have gathered strength
and to stand up in order to dominate the man, who until this time
was altogether unconscious of the existence in himself of such
evils as those which he now is able to see. I remember that
when God revealed himself to me, revealed the spirituality
of that law to me. One of the scriptures that he
used had to do with Christ and him talking to the Pharisees.
And he told them, he said, you appear outwardly in their obedience,
as Paul did, as a painted sepulchre, that pretty tombstone. And you
can picture a cemetery with those pretty painted tombstones with
grass and everything. He says, but within, you're dead
men's bones. It's what's within that tombstone. And he calls me to look at that
and see myself, as he revealed his law to him, to show me how
holy he was in order to reveal to me that I was a wretched sinner
and that my only hope was outside of myself and in Christ. He calls
me to flee to Christ alone. for salvation. Such is the effect
of the law when the eyes of the understanding is opened by the
Spirit of God. Now, in verse 10 of Romans 7, and the commandment,
referring back to verse 9 where Paul says, but when the commandment
came, and the commandment which was ordained alive I found to
be unto death. Some say that the thought here
pertains to the original law was given to Adam before the
fall in the covenant of works. That law, however, was not ordained
alive or appointed and given by God to result in life. That
law was given to Adam who already had life. The law here is the
Mosaic Law, Romans 3.20 says this, therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. And in Romans 5.20, moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. The Mosaic Law was appointed
and given to Israel to point them to the way of righteousness.
and to eternal life in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. To point
them to Christ and show them that they had no hope. But what
they did, they went about in trying to keep it for eternal
life by their works. They used that law unlawfully.
In Galatians 3.24, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us into Christ that we might be justified by faith. It was appointed and given by
God not for them to seek righteousness by their works, but to expose
their sinfulness and their need of a salvation by God's grace
in Christ. That law is only ordained into
life as it kills us from any hope of salvation, righteousness,
and eternal life by our works and drives us to Christ alone
for salvation. His shed blood and imputed righteousness,
that's what we need for salvation. righteousness and eternal life.
Before Paul saw the extent of the law, Paul thought it was
ordained alive based on his works to keep it. But Paul said that
I found to be unto death. The law was ordained alive, but
through sin, it was found to be unto death. As soon then as
it came home to Paul's conscience, he found himself condemned. by
that law from which he had previously expected life. It then destroyed
all hope of eternal life that he had once held and showed him
that he was before ignorant to the curse which the law pronounces
on all transgressors. The law, however, which was ordained
to life will in time be proved to have obtained its objective
in all in whom It has been fulfilled, all who have been slain by the
law. In verse 11, our next verse,
says, for sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived
me and by it slew me. Paul confesses, as in verse eight,
that it was his own sinful mind and heart that was controlled
by self-will and self-righteousness that perverted the commandment
and turned it into a system of salvation by works. And in the
process, it, or sin, deceived him, and by it slew me. Even though Paul failed to see
this in his state as an unbeliever before the Holy Spirit revealed
it to him, he found that sin he previously thought was dead
in him was in reality very much a lie. Sin was not dead in him,
but he was dead in sin. Sin, by blinding his mind as
to the extent of its demands, demands of the law, had led Paul
to believe that he could fulfill it and obtain justification alive
by keeping it. So sin deceived him into thinking
that he could keep the law in order to be saved. The Apostle
Paul, as all of God's elect, do not stay in this unregenerate
state, being dominated by our sin nature. In time, God sends
his Holy Spirit to regenerate and convert the sinner by revealing
to us the law's spiritual application. Before God does this work in
a sinner, sin is never brought to such a test as to reveal to
Paul, and all of God's elect, the law's real power and strength. But when he was enlightened to
see this, sin by the law slew him. It showed him that he was
a transgressor of the law, and therefore deserved condemnation
by that very law. which he had before expected
eternal life. Therefore, sin, as Paul had said,
revived, and he died. All his high thoughts of himself
and self-confidence from supposing that he had kept the law, they
were all swept away and destroyed, and by it slew him. This work
of God caused Paul to have no confidence in the flesh, and
it caused him to flee to Christ for refuge and for salvation. Now let's look at our last two
verses that we'll cover this morning, beginning with verse
12, 13. Wherefore, therefore the law
is holy, the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that
which is good made deaf unto me? God forbid. But sin, that
it might appear sin, work in death in me, by that which is
good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly, exceeding
sinful. Here Powell proves that the fact
that he abused and perverted the law into his own death was
not due to any fault in the law. Does this mean that the law is
deadly? God forbid, or may it never be. The law is holy, but
it cannot make us holy. The law is just, but it cannot
make us just. Cannot justify us. The law is
good, but it cannot make us good. This does not mean that the law
itself is a fatal commandment. The law did not cause our death
and sin. It was sin that did all of this. The reason God, the Holy Spirit,
uses the law to slay us is not to leave us dead in sin. He reveals
the reality of sin and the exceeding sinfulness of sin to drive us
to Christ and his righteousness alone for all the salvation.
Friends, the law of God is holy, just, and good. Sinners are just
the opposite by nature. We're unholy, unjust, and evil. As I stated earlier, men by nature,
left to ourselves, will pervert the law in one of two ways. We'll
either rebel against it or we'll seek to be saved by our efforts
to keep it. Thank God that he does not leave
us in this state. In time, God the Holy Spirit
causes us to see the spirituality of the law, and he does this
in order to expose our sinfulness and the fact that we deserve
death and cannot make ourselves righteous by our efforts to keep
the law. He reveals the spirituality of the law to us in order to
drive us to Christ for mercy, grace, and righteousness. Therefore,
the law, which is holy, just, and good, is not the cause of
death in the sinner, but sin is the cause of death, which
by the law was exposed and caused to be seen as exceedingly sinful. May God teach us the true nature
of God's law. May he make us speechless before
its demands and strip us naked and bare in his presence and
cause us to flee to Christ as our only hope of salvation. May
he show us our true nature by showing us that we're like the
painted sepulchre that Christ pointed out that I talked about
a little earlier. I pray that God will use this
message as he will.