I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 7. Our text will be verses 7 through
13. Romans 7, 7 through 13. And just hold your hands in that
place for a little bit. I'll get to it in a few minutes.
The title of my message today is Slain by the Law. Slain by the Law. Now listen
carefully to how God, in his word, describes himself. I, even I, am he, and there is
no God with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord our God, the God of
all grace, always wounds before he heals. He always kills before
he makes alive. If God saves you, He will slay
you. And if God doesn't slay you,
He will not save you. By His holy law, God kills. And then by the gospel, He makes
alive. By the law, He wounds. He cuts
the heart. And then by the gospel, He heals.
By the law, He shuts sinners up in prison. in a deep, dark
pit from which there's no escape. Then by the gospel, he sets his
ransomed prisoner free. He brings you down to the grave
by the law. Then by the gospel, he brings
you up out of the grave. But men being depraved, corrupt,
and ignorant by nature, all men being depraved, corrupt and ignorant
by nature, pervert things always, and turn things inside out, and
get all things spiritual exactly backwards and out of order. With
man, there's always a mingling of law and grace, of works and
grace, of merit and mercy. Not so in Scripture. No two things
are more completely opposed to one another than grace and works. Grace and law. No two things
are more completely opposed to one another. It is impossible,
it is impossible to preach grace and works. It is impossible to
preach law and grace. cannot be done. It cannot be
done. The scripture speaks explicit
and clear. There is a remnant, the apostle
tells us, according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then
it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it
is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. In other words,
if you declare that salvation is by grace, and then declare
that works have something to do with it, you've nullified
the whole thing. If you declare that redemption
is by grace, and then that it's also by works, you've nullified
the whole thing. If you declare that salvation,
sanctification, acceptance with God, justification, holiness,
eternal life, heavenly glory, somehow, somehow must be attained
by what you do, then you have totally denied the gospel of
the grace of God. And yet there is an amazingly
well-established opinion in the distorted minds of men that you
can actually mix law and grace. They're diametrically opposed
to one another, but the depraved mind is so void of spiritual
understanding, so thoroughly turned away from God, that the
most difficult thing for a man to distinguish is law from grace. Now this is the thing the Apostle
Paul opposes throughout his epistles. Paul distinctively, as the Apostle
to the Gentiles, being raised up a Pharisee, of the strictest
sect of the Jews, was trained at the feet of Gamaliel in the
strictest order of the Pharisees. But he is that man raised up
to take the place of Judas, the apostle born out of due time,
to preach the gospel specifically to the Gentiles. And he is that
man used of God to say, no law, all grace. No law, all grace. No law, all grace. Would to God
this generation could hear the voice of a man declaring, no
law, all grace. That's the message of the New
Testament. Look one more time at the plain,
obvious statements of Holy Scripture in this regard. Turn back to
Romans chapter six for a moment. This is what the book of God
has to say about this matter in the Bible. In the book of
God, there's absolutely no mixture of law and grace. No mixture
of the two is allowed. Not even the slightest mixture. Ishmael cannot live in the house
with Isaac. Hagar cannot exist in the same
house with Sarah. Romans chapter 6 verse 14. Sin
shall not have dominion over you. And here's the reason. For
ye are not Under the law, but under grace. As long as you keep
looking to the law, sin's got its hold on you. You can bank
on it. As long as you keep looking to
the law, sin's got its hold on you. But sin shall not have dominion
over you, because you're not under the law, but under grace.
What then? Why, that'll open the floodgates
to sin. Only somebody who doesn't know God talks like that. shall
we sin because we're not under the law but under grace? That's
just plain stupid. God forbid. Verse 4, chapter
7. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Chapter
8, verse 3. 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 believe on Christ. That's exactly what the next
words mean. Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Chapter 10, verse 4. Christ is the end, the finish
of the law. to everyone that believeth. We
read the third chapter of Galatians. Paul told us the law is our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. The law held us in bondage, shut
us up in prison until faith came. But now that faith has come,
that is since God's given us faith in Christ, we're no longer
under a schoolmaster. And then the apostle speaks in
2 Timothy, 1 Timothy, I'm sorry, 1 Timothy chapter 1. I read this again earlier this
morning, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8. We know that the law is good. The law is good, but it's only
good if you use it the way God intended to use it. It's only
good if you use it for the purpose for which God gave it. The law
is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing this. Now, words could
not be clearer. The law is not made for a righteous
man. The law is not made for a righteous
man. Now that's certainly true with
regard to natural law, to civic law, laws that men establish
and make. I'm not concerned at all about
laws that prohibit a man from beating his wife. I've just never been too much
inclined to do that. And I've never tried. I'm not
terribly concerned about laws that prohibit selling dope on
the streets. I've never done that. I'm not
terribly concerned about laws that prohibit a man from killing
another man. I've never done that. I have
a confession to make. Am a little concerned about laws
that say you got to drive 55 miles an hour Now I am a little concerned about
that because I always violate that law The law is not made for a fellow
who's not breaking it The law is made for the fellow who's
breaking it The law is not made for a righteous man. God's law
is not made for those who are righteous in Christ Jesus, for
those who have perfectly fulfilled it, who perfectly satisfied it.
The law is made for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly,
for sinners, for unholy and profane. for murderers of fathers and
murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that
defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars,
for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that's
contrary to sound doctrine." Now that tells us what he's talking
about. He's talking about the doctrine of the gospel. We live
in a society that has become So sweet and loving and kind
and nice to everybody. We can't stand the thought of
executing a fellow who's committed mass murder. We just can't stand
the thought of it. Consequently, we've got a whole
generation of folks sitting in prison we're feeding and taking
care of because they will never be punished for what they've
done. Where there's no law, there's nothing but chaos. Can you imagine
what this world would be like if God had not stamped his law
on the consciences of all men? Holding depraved man in check
under the fear and terror of judgment. That's what the law
is for. Every gospel preacher, every
gospel preacher has to recognize this confusion that men have
concerning law. Now people come along and they
say, Well, that means you're opposed to the law. Was Paul
opposed to the law? Is the regenerate man opposed
to the law? Oh, no. No, no. Every child of God expresses
in his own soul the same attitude Paul had with regard to the law.
He said the law is holy, it's just, and it's good. Everything
written in the Ten Commandments is holy. That means it's spiritually
pure. Everything written in the commandments
of God is just. That means that it is legally
right. And everything written in the
commandment of God is good. It is morally and ethically beneficial. The heaven-born soul being taught
of God recognizes that, recognizes the purpose of God's law, and
highly references it. We therefore run from the law. into the arms of Christ. The
sinner sees that the law is holy, just, and good, and he can't
fulfill the law. He's under the curse of the law,
so he runs from the law into the arms of the Savior. Trust
in Christ. It's every believer's desire
to live in complete compliance with the law and anxious for
the day when soon he shall. Recognizing the law's perfection,
We refuse to seek acceptance with God on the basis of something
we do. We refuse to seek acceptance
with God on the basis of our obedience to the law. We seek
acceptance with God only by faith in Christ. You here who do not
yet know my Redeemer, oh may God today teach you. the impossibility of doing something
by which to win God's favor and graciously force you to flee
to the arms of the Lord Jesus, trusting Him. By faith in Christ
alone, we fulfill the law, and there's no other way to do it.
Now, trying to persuade you to believe on the Son of God I've
got some difficulties to overcome. These are things every preacher
has to face and deal with. The first real difficulty in
conversion, that is in seeking the conversion of sinners, is
getting a fellow lost. Hardest thing on this earth to
do is get a man lost. To find a sinner, I mean a sure
enough lost sinner. I've been preaching for a long
time, and I have met a few sinners, but not many. Not many. A preacher, you know everybody's
a sinner. Ask them. Ask them. Most everybody will
admit he's weak and needs a little help. He's made some mistakes
and needs some forgiveness. But there are few in this world
who know that they're doomed. Damned. and must surely perish if they
have what they deserve in the fire of God's wrath and everlasting
damnation. Few have ever known themselves
sinners. Utterly lost. Oh, I'm without hope. I'm without hope. Without hope. I've sinned against God. I'm
cursed. I'm damned. My conscience says
I've got to go to hell. I know there is but a breath
between me and everlasting damnation. Few in this world. And you will
never trust Christ until you're lost. It won't happen. You can go to
all the religious meetings in the world. You can go to every
evangelistic crusade you can get to. You can go to every Bible
conference you can get to. You can come down in front of
the church and say the sinner's prayer and go down to Romans
Road and get baptized and have folks everywhere think you're
saved and you just go right on your way and never know God. You will not know God. You will
not seek Christ until you find yourself lost without Him. Only God the Holy Ghost can do
that for you. I can't. I can terrify you. I can conjure you. I can manipulate you. But I can't
cause you to know yourself lost. That's the work of God the Holy
Ghost. Joseph Hart put it this way.
What comfort can a Savior bring to those who never felt their
woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. The first thing that must be
done is to get a person lost. Only real sinners seek grace.
The second difficulty in seeking the salvation of God's elect
is teaching people the gospel. There are few people in this
world who've ever heard the gospel. Fewer still who ever really learned
the gospel. The gospel of God's free salvation,
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ proclaims
free salvation. Free salvation requiring no return. Free salvation requiring no return. God doesn't require anything
from you. All God's salvation is free. Free salvation. Salvation is
the gift of God. It's free from beginning to end.
Every aspect of it. Election, Redemption, Justification,
Regeneration, Sanctification, Preservation, Good Works, Faith
in Christ, Conversion, all are the free gift of God. And Heaven's
glory, the free gift of God. Nothing earned by you. It's very
difficult to get men to learn the Gospel because it's so opposed
to us. Oh, free grace. We all like to
talk it, but it's so opposed to us by nature. It's opposed
to our pride. It's opposed to our high opinion
of self. It's opposed to our sense of self-righteousness.
It's opposed to all of our religious prejudices. Opposed to our traditions. But maybe more than anything
else, this is the problem. This is the problem. The gospel
puts everybody on the same level. And it's not a very high level.
The gospel makes Oscar Bailey and Don Fortner just exactly
like the murderer, the rapist, and the pedophile. Not me. I told you. It's supposed
to you. The gospel makes Shante Burcham
and Shelby Fortner just exactly like the harlot and the madam
running the whorehouse. It's exactly like that. Oh, you can't do that. No, I
can't. But God does. You see, the only
thing you have is sin. That's all. The only thing you
are is sin. The gospel puts everybody all
on the same level with nothing to distinguish them, nothing
to separate them, nothing to make them special. I'll tell
you what we are. Claus and Ruth Peterson, like
Don and Shelby Fortner, like your grandson and his wife. Tell
you what we are. We're beggars on the dung heap
of humanity. That's all. That's all. Utterly
depraved sinners. The third great difficulty in
preaching the gospel is to bring sinners to trust Christ alone. We must rest our souls on this
one solid foundation. Jesus Christ crucified. Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Jesus Christ, our hope. Jesus Christ, our salvation. He's all. He's all. We have no other salvation. We have no other hope. We have no other redemption. We have no other acceptance with
God. We must never grow beyond that. We're to live all the days of
our lives trusting the same mercy, grace, and love that first took
us in. Turn to Colossians chapter 2.
Do you remember the message Brother Eric preached to us right here
Tuesday night? Colossians chapter 2, verse 6. As ye therefore, as ye have therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Walk ye in him. Well, brother
John, that's just the basic ABCs of the gospel. That's it. That's
it. If you get any smarter than that,
you've gotten too smart. That's just the, that's just
the first steps. That's it. If you step any further,
you've stepped out. As you, therefore, have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Now watch what it
says. Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith
as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. This is what it is to grow in
grace. This is what it is to be rooted
and established and built up in Christ? Yeah. Yeah. The way
to grow in grace, David, is to grow down. Grow down. Grow down. An old saintly lady was asked by
a young pastor who he looked at her and thought her to be
a great example of faith and said, Sister, how would you describe
growing in grace? And she said it's kind of like
a cow's tail. The more the cow grows, the longer
its tail gets, the closer it gets to the ground. The closer
you get to the ground, the better off you are. Growing is always
a downward process for the believer. Now watch the next line. Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. We trust nothing but Christ and
trust Christ for all things. We trust nothing but Christ and
trust Christ for all things. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
By thy help I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to
arrive at home. Brother Fred and I were talking
this morning before anybody else got here a little bit. We know these things. You men
and women sitting in this congregation, you young people, you know these
things. I've been preaching them to you for 35 years. We've got
them all fixed right here. but we have a real hard time
not trusting ourselves. Lindsay, I dare say it's a great
difficulty you have and me too. We always want to look in here
for something. We always want to look to our
feelings, our experiences, our behavior, our emotions, our feelings,
our thoughts, We always want to look, God if I, I trust Christ,
but I've got to have something to lean on. Lean on Him. That's what it is to trust Him.
And don't get beyond that. Don't get beyond that. Quit trying
to mix law and grace. I promise you, I promise you,
every time you look for something in you, something you felt or
something you now feel, Something you have done or something you
are now doing or something you aspire to do or something you
think Every time you start to look at yourself Your Bible reading
your prayers. We we try to keep up with the
reading schedule. That's great I encourage you
to the reason I made the schedule out reason to put it in the bulletin
every week. I encourage you to do that You get behind you get
feeling bad. Yeah, I don't know whether I
know the Lord or not So then you start to catch up and you
read And you get a little bit of head now, feel pretty good.
And you start to trust in yourself. I promise you what it'll do.
I promise you what it'll do. It will either make you proud
and haughty and arrogant with a false sense of righteousness
and holiness and spirituality. Or it will cast you down in utter
despair because you'll recognize this is not enough. We must not
trust ourselves, but trust our Savior. In the teeth of all my sin, in the teeth of all my corruption,
In the teeth of all my coldness and indifference and vanquish,
in the teeth of all the evil I am, I trust Christ. He's all my hope. That glass right there is not
really full. It's close to full. If it's full,
If it's full and you put something else in, then you got to push
something out. And if you're filled with Christ
and all the fullness of God in Christ Jesus and you try to push
something else in, you can't do so except by pushing him out. As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. All right, now let's
turn to our text, Romans 7. The apostle is here in this chapter
showing us how the believer is free from the law. He said we're
not under the law but under grace. In verses 1 through 6 he told
us that we are dead to the law by the body of Christ that we
should be married to Christ our Redeemer. Now in verses 7 through
13 he tells us that we are slain by the law. The law is dead to
us and now we in the experience of God's grace are slain by the
law. We were slain by the law in the
person of our substitute when he died at Calvary. And then
when God comes in the saving operations of His grace, God
the Holy Spirit slays the sinner by the law to give him life in
Christ, that he may be married to Christ. The law is God's sharp
plow by which He breaks up the fallow ground of the heart and
sows the good seed of His grace. Look at verse 7, Romans chapter
7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Oh, no. God forbid. No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Somebody said,
well, if the law stirs up the motions of sin, you're saying
the law of sin? No, no, no, no, no, no. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence,
of covetousness, of evil. For without the law I was dead." If a man builds a dam to stop
the flow of water, to build up a reservoir, and the water keeps
pushing on that dam, And you see the water as it pushed on
that dam just stirring up and stirring up and stirring up.
It wasn't the dam that caused the water to stir. The dam simply
aggravated what's in the water. And it's not the law that causes
sin, but it's the law when it pricks the heart by the power
of God that stirs up sin within us. Paul says, Without the law,
I was dead. Sin was dead. For I was alive
without the law once. But when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, that is the commandment God gave to Adam
in the garden, do this and live, I found to be unto death. For
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me. It beguiled me. And by it slew me, wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made
death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. All right, let's focus on verse
nine. Let me make three statements that Paul makes here, and I'll
wrap this up. First, he says, I was alive without
the law once. What on earth is he talking about?
I was alive without the law once. This is what he's saying, I was
raised up good religious boy. I was raised up in Sunday school.
I went to the strictest Calvinistic Baptist Church there was in town. My mama and daddy were founding
members of the church. I was alive. I memorized the
Catechism and I memorized the Bible and And I went to Sunday
school every Sunday, and I stayed in church. We went to every service,
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Tuesday night. We had special
meetings, we were right there. We were engaged in everything.
I was alive. Everything was going along just
fine, just fine. I was getting along good. I knew
I was a good boy. I wasn't like those fellas down
the road. I never got in trouble at school. Teachers never had
to keep me after school. I was always a good boy. I lived
like Pharisees lived. A good man, a good man. And I
just always knew I was better than other folks. I always knew
I was. I knew, I knew those folks we'd
see on the news at night, they're going to hell. I knew that. I
knew why they deserved to go to hell. Those folks rob and
steal and murder and rape and commit incest. Why? Who wouldn't think they'd go
to hell? How could a man do things like that? I was alive without
the law once. I didn't have any real sense
of fear of eternity, because I was a good boy. I was a good
boy. If you didn't know that, just ask anybody around me. They'd
tell you. I paid all my bills. Every mother and daddy wanted
their girl to date me. All of them did. I was alive without
the law once. I lived in security. I had a refuge. It was a refuge
of lies, but I had a refuge until the commandment came. And then the commandment came.
And sin revived. Sin erupted in me. Something happened. God laid
judgment to the lion and righteousness to plummet. I realized my refuge
was swept away. It was a refuge of lies. I built my hope on me. I trusted in myself. I've lived
all my life unaware that I am sin. When the commandment came,
God's law stirred up sin in me by exposing me to me. Until God exposes you to you,
you'll never come to Christ. Sin revived. Sin revived. The law said, thou shalt not
covet. Well, didn't Paul know that before?
He recited it all his life. He could quote the commandments
by heart, as they say. There's a big difference quoting
them by heart and quoting them by memory. He could quote the
commandments by memory. And he'd say it all the time.
He'd repeat them one after the other. Never miss a syllable.
But suddenly he said, I heard the law speak. And the law said,
thou shalt not covet. What? That's it. God stuck his finger in my heart
and calls me to hear and understand that the law of God requires
something more than outward behavior and outward reformation and outward
good conduct. The law requires perfection on
the inside. The commandment came. And sin
revived. For the first time in my life,
I knew I was a guilty sinner. And for the first time in my
life, I felt the guilt of my sin. When God, the Holy Spirit,
is come, He convinces men of sin. Of sin. What does our Savior say about
that? because they believe not on me. What's he talking about? God came and showed me my sin. And David Coburn, when God shows
you your sin, he shows you you have no hope, no salvation, no
savior, because you don't trust his son. Paul said the commandment
came and sin erupted in me. The commandment came and I saw
the evil that I am. I saw that I'm sin. I saw the
evil of my deeds. And I saw the evil of my nature. And I saw the evil of my heart.
And I saw that my righteousnesses were but filthy rags. I saw that
I'm nothing but sin. All that I had ever done. All
those things that made mama and daddy so proud of me. All those
things that got me all those rewards for being such a good
boy. All those things that made me feel so good about myself.
All those things that made me think, well, you know, you're
the pick of the litter. All those things I saw to be
just sin. Just sin. Now look at the last line. And
I died. I died. All my hope died. All my religion died. All my righteousness died. All my goodness died. Everything dead. Now where are you? Here I am in a pit from which
there's no escape. And the Lord says release him. And he will never release you
till he puts you in the pit. He will never raise you up till
he puts you in the grave. He will never heal you until
he wounds you. He will never give you life until
He slays you. What do you do? Could my tears
forever flow? Could my zeal no lanker? No. All for sin cannot atone. Christ
must save and Christ alone. The thunderbolts of Sinai are
designed for one purpose, to slay. That every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God. Oh, pastor, I see my sin. I'm dead. Without hope, I've
been trying to make my way to God for years. Now I have no
hope. If that's the case, if that's
the case, I've got good news for you. Christ redeemed you. God the
Holy Spirit's called you. Believe on the Son of God. And this I promise you, if sitting
right where you are, right now, you can believe on the Son of
God, you have everlasting life. Trust Christ. Oh, what's that? What's that? Cast your soul entirely on Him. entirely on him. This illustration
is not as good as it used to be. I'm getting plum skinny now. You reckon that chair will hold
271 pounds? Well, I know it'll hold 350 because
I sat in it before. But will it hold 271 pounds now? Yeah, I believe it will. That
ain't it. That ain't it. Oh yeah, I believe
it will. Oh that ain't it. Watch now. I think it will. Oh, that ain't
it. I believe it will. Oh, how sweet. To rest your soul on Christ alone. God help you to do so. Amen.