Paul's great epistle to the Romans
was written for three basic reasons. First, he teaches us this absolutely
vital lesson. Law work can never make a bad
man good. Obedience to God's law Our obedience
to laws prescribed by men, our obedience to laws you prescribe
for yourself can never make a bad man good. That's what he tells
us plainly in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. In chapter 6, 7,
and the first part of chapter 8, he tells us that law will
work. The law of Moses Laws imposed
on you by men, by churches, by religion, and laws you impose
on yourself. Law work can never make a good
man better. Law cannot make a wicked man
righteous, and law can never make a righteous man more righteous. Law cannot justify and law cannot
sanctify. And then in the latter part of
chapter eight, going through the rest of the epistle, the
apostle tells us to trust God's providence, God's wise, good
providence, his purpose of grace in all things. Now, right in
the middle of the sixth chapter, God the Holy Ghost makes this
promise to every sinner who trusts Christ. Now listen to the promise. Romans chapter 6 verse 14. Sin
shall not have dominion over you. He doesn't say sin should not
have dominion over you. He says sin shall not have dominion
over you. You read that and scratch your
head in the light of your experience and you have to ask, what on
earth does that mean? Sin shall not have dominion over
you. But pastor, I've been believing God for a
long time and I still have as much trouble with sin as I ever
had. Is that not so with you? Sin shall not have dominion over
you. What are you talking about Paul?
Does that mean once saved God's people cease to commit sin? Only a liar says that John tells
us that it and says I have not sinned John says you're a liar
and you make God a liar, you know better than that Does this
promise of grace mean that believers are? Just don't sin as often
as they used to. Or at least they don't regularly
sin. We know better than that. We know better than that. I suppose
that most of us in this auditorium this morning do not act out the
evil of our hearts as regularly as we used to act out the evil
of our hearts. But the evil is just irregular.
The sin is just as constant. Does that mean that the saints
of God in this world have control over their inordinate lust and
passions? You've heard preachers attempt
to speak of themselves in ways that you know and they know,
not so. They say, well, you can't help
a bird flying through your mind, but you can keep him and build
a nest there. Try. You assist them in building the
nest. The inordinate lusts are no less now than they were before. The passions of our heart are
no less evil now than they were before. Sadly, we know that to
be so. There's never a moment when we
are not sinning. Sin is mixed with and mars everything
we think, Everything we feel, everything we say, and everything
we do. So what's the meaning of this
promise to all who believe on the Son of God? Sin shall not
have dominion over you. Read the next line and you'll
understand the meaning. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. For what reason? For what reason? How can this be? For, because,
since, ye are not under the law but under grace. What then, shall
we sin? Because we are not under the
law but under grace, God forbid. Sin has no dominion over you
who believe and can never have dominion over you who believe
because you're not under the law but under grace. Sin has
no dominion over us who are gods and never can have dominion over
us who are gods because we are not under the law but under grace. Now here's the meaning of the
promise. Sin cannot condemn sinners trusting Christ. Sin cannot condemn
sinners saved by grace. You can't go to hell if you believe
on the Son of God, no matter what. Ah, you don't have to believe
that, and I don't either. Would to God I could, but I know
this is so. You cannot go to hell believing
on the Son of God, no matter what. So come to Christ. Believe on the Son of God now.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The highest, greatest blessing
God has to bestow is a holy, happy eternity. Life eternal
in union with his own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
a gift given by God. who cannot lie from eternity. This is a gift purchased by the
doing and dying of the Son of God as the sinner's substitute. He earned eternal life for us
by His obedience unto death and purchased it for us by His blood
atonement at Calvary. With His own blood, He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. And this gift, eternal life,
is bestowed on every sinner who trusts Christ. This is God's
word. To a man who cried, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. What a statement. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He didn't say
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and maybe God will save you.
He didn't say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and it could
be God will save you. He didn't even say believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly and God will save you. He didn't
even say as it is used sometimes in scripture, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart and God will save you.
He said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So that if you can, if you will,
if you do, like that woman with the issue of blood, with a trembling
hand, just touch the hem of his garment. God's salvation is yours. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and sin shall not have dominion over you. You shall be saved.
Yes, it is true. holiness, no man shall see the
Lord. But the most unholy need not
despair of being admitted into God's heaven, for there is pardon
for the most guilty, and sanctification, holiness, for the most depraved. The psalmist saying, there is
forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Oh Lord, oh
Lord, if thou shouldst mark iniquities, who shall stand? but there is
forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. If you who
hear the gospel are shut out from the marriage feast, you
sitting here today who hear the gospel of God's grace, if you
are shut out from the marriage feast because you do not have
a wedding garment, there's only one reason for that. It's because
you refuse to take the garment from the hands of God who holds
it out in the gospel. If you are not admitted to the
wedding feast and are cast out because you don't have on a garment,
there's only one reason for that. In your case, it is because you
refuse to take the garment God holds out to sinners in the gospel. Oh, poor sinner, listen to this
preacher. I speak to you who have heard
and who now hear the gospel of Christ. There's only one way
for you to go to hell. If you go to hell, you will do
so only by trampling underfoot the blood of God's dear Son,
the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, and by doing despite
to the Spirit of grace, shoving the Spirit of God out of your
face. Oh, what a miserable maniac he
must be, who willfully tramples underfoot atoning blood. who
willfully pushes away the grace of God. It's hard for you to
kick against the pricks. But be warned, if you will not
have the gift, you must and shall have the wages. I want to persuade
you, you who are yet without life and faith in Christ, you
who yet believe not the Son of God, you who see the wedding
garment, Christ's perfect righteousness. His blood of trouble, you see
it? You see it? Perfect obedience, perfect righteousness,
perfect satisfaction. And say, no, I won't have that. I'll wear a garment that I make
with my own hands. I want to persuade you to believe
on our Savior. Oh, poor, bankrupt, guilty sinner,
black and vile, base and perverse, come to Christ now. And go home
today singing like Brother Ed Hale used to sing, I've got a
pardon in my pocket from the Lord. There is forgiveness for all
who believe. And I want you who are gods to
trust Christ. To enjoy the gift of God. The salvation that's yours in
Christ Jesus as fully as possible. And God's given me the message
I'm confident that both you who believe and you who believe not
need this hour. My subject is sin's dominion
done. Sin's dominion done. Now let's look at chapter 7. together, Romans chapter 7. After
making this blanket, unconditional, absolute promise of grace to
every believer, sin shall not have dominion over you, the inspired
writer asserts twice, the reason is this, you're not under the
law but under grace. The rest of chapter 6 given as
an illustration to tell us the consequences of this. It's a
really a parenthetical statement telling us since you're not under
the law but under grace and since sin shall not have dominion over
you now you live under God just as before you lived under sin.
Then in chapter 7 the Apostle continues with this same theme
assuring us that there is no possibility of condemnation for
believing sinners because we're not under the law but under grace. This assurance is given not to
some believers but to all believers. This assurance is given not to
some believers but to all believers. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. Why is this necessary? Why is it needful? It's needful
because we all love legality. We all love self-righteousness. We all love to think we're good
or that we can make ourselves good. Or that we can somehow
or another work with God and make ourselves better. Not me,
preacher. I trust Christ alone. Then why do you struggle with
assurance? Why do you sometimes have difficulty
with peace? Why is it? Because you keep looking
to something you do. give you peace with God. And
the whole book of God is written to turn our eyes away from ourselves
to Christ the Lord and God says to every believer sin shall not
have dominion over you. Now in these verses before us
this morning we are going to look at chapter 7 verse 1 down
through chapter 8 and verse 4 the Apostle gives us four reasons.
reasons why sin cannot possibly have dominion over us. Number
one, sin shall not have dominion over you. That means you shall
never be judged, you shall never be condemned, you shall never
be treated as a corrupt contemptible thing by God. The law cannot
condemn you because you have a new husband. You're married
to Christ. That's the message of verses
1 through 4. Our marriage union with Christ forbids the possibility
of condemnation. Know ye not, brethren, for I
speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth. When Paul says, I speak to them
that know the law, most of the commentators indicate Paul is
addressing the Jews. Well, if that's the case, he's
not saying much to us. That's not what he's talking
about. He's saying, I speak to those who know the law, and he's
saying this, I'm talking to civilized folks. I'm talking to you folks
who, you understand what law is, and you understand what the
consequences of law are. I'm not talking to barbarians
who have no understanding of this. I'm talking to you civilized
folks, Jew and Gentile. He's not just talking about those
who know the Mosaic law, he's talking about folks who know
how law works. He's saying, I'm speaking to
you civilized people and this is what I want you to understand.
Once a man is dead, the law can't touch him. Now everybody in every land knows
that. Once a man's dead, the law can't
touch him. Now, only folks who have any
idea, anything contrary to that are barbarians who somehow have
an idea that dead folks can still have an influence in this world
or you can have an influence on them. You know better. You know better. Once a person's
dead, the law can't touch you. Those barbaric, heathen, Islamic
terrorists, and that's what Islam is. It's time somebody says it
loudly enough that the world hears it. Those barbaric, heathen
Islamic terrorists who attacked those folks in Paris this week.
There they lay dead. And it doesn't matter how angry
the law is. It doesn't matter how angry the
police are. It doesn't matter how angry the
president is. It doesn't matter how angry the
people are. They're not one frazzling thing they can do to them. How
come? They're dead. Well, we can burn
their bodies. They won't feel it. They're dead.
we can kick them around, they don't care, they're dead. Or
we can paint them in ugly pictures, it won't bother them any, they're
dead. They're dead. Once a man's dead, the law can't
touch him. That's true concerning all law,
including God's law. Now, in verses 2 and 3, the apostle
illustrates his doctrine, telling us that a woman whose husband
is dead is from the law of her husband. Since her husband is
dead, she is dead with regard to all that her husband required,
or expected, or demanded. He's dead and she's dead to him. Read this, verse 2, for the woman
which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so
long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she's
loosed from the law of her husband. She's completely emancipated
from every demand, requirement, prohibition, punishment, penalty. She's loosed from the law of
her husband. So then, if while her husband
liveth, she be married to another man, then you can look at her
and call her an adulteress. She shall be called an adulteress.
But if her husband's dead, if her husband's dead, it doesn't
matter whether he'd been dead for a minute year or 50 years. If her husband is dead she is
free from that law so that she is no adulteress though she be
married to another man. Now read the next verse and rejoice. Wherefore my brethren ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. so that you
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Sin shall
not have dominion over us because we're dead to the law by the
body of Christ. By the body of Christ, it's referring
to our Lord's sacrifice on our behalf on this earth. When he
walked in obedience to God as our representative, He fulfilled
every demand of God's law. When He died under the wrath
of God as our substitute, He satisfied every requirement of
God's justice so that now we are dead to the law by the doing
and dying of Jesus Christ in our flesh. Sin can never have
dominion over us because Christ died for us. He redeemed us that
we might be married to Him. not to Moses' dead corpse. He redeemed us that we might
be married to him, not to Moses' dead corpse. Now, I've not experienced this,
and I hope not to, but if a man's wife dies or a woman's husband
dies, and they marry another. If that should happen to any
of you or to me, I have a suggestion. I have a suggestion. Before you
bring your new bride home, take your wife's picture off the nightstand
beside the bed. I would just think that'd make
things go better. And the longer it sits there, the tougher things
are gonna be. I promise you that's the case.
That's just kind of the nature of women. And you ladies, if
you should marry another, before you bring that man to the house,
be sure you take your husband's picture off the nightstand. I
would suggest you do it before he ever sees it. If you don't,
it's going to cause trouble. This is exactly what Paul's telling
us. We're dead to the law. Oh, how dishonoring. to our husband Christ Jesus that
we should always be going back to the law for anything. How dishonoring to Him who redeemed
us that we might be married to Him that we should look to Moses
for salvation or look to Moses for comfort or look to Moses
for peace or look to Moses for assurance. Well, preacher, we
won't do that. Oh, we do that, Alan, every time
we look in here for something. Every time we look for our fruits
and our evidences. But we're supposed to live to
bring forth fruit to God. That's what we do! That's what
God does in us. We don't look to our doing, but
to His doing. What, know you not that your
body's the temple of God? Temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you? which you have of God, and you're not your own,
you're bought with a price. So glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are God's. All right, here's the next thing.
Verses 5 through 13. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. You shall never be judged, condemned,
or treated as a corrupt, contemptible thing by God. Because the law
can never condemn you who have a new life in Christ Jesus. We used to be in the flesh, but now we're in the spirit.
Now, I want you to watch the language of scripture. I know
that that phraseology seems a bit strange to us, but brother Don,
we're still living in the flesh. Living in this body of the flesh
and living in the flesh are two different things. I used to live
in the flesh. I now live in the spirit. I used
to walk in the flesh. I now walk in the spirit. Look
at Romans 7 verse 5. For when we were in the flesh,
I presume, Larry, that means you're not anymore. Is that a
safe presumption? When we were in the flesh. The
motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. That's all the law can do. All
it can do is condemn, condemn, condemn, condemn, and it brings
forth fruit unto death. All the corruption, the evil,
stirred up by the law. But now, verse 6, we are delivered
from the law. Delivered from law. Is that what
he was saying when he became dead to the law? That's what
he's saying. Is that what he's saying when he says sin shall
not have dominion over you? That's what he's saying. We're delivered
from the law. That being dead wherein we were
held, dead in the flesh wherein we were held in that unregenerate
state, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in
oldness of letter. When we're in the flesh, natural,
unregenerate, Without God, without Christ, without life, without
faith, living in and performing the motions of sin, we were under
the law. Cursed and condemned by the law. Living every day under the dread
of the law's curse. Every day with a consciousness
of sin. Every day with a fear of death.
Every day with a fear of everlasting damnation. Now, we live with
Christ. We live by Christ. We live for
Christ. We live to Christ, serving him
in our spirits by the Spirit of God. And since we're now alive
in Christ Jesus, we can never be cursed and condemned. We can never be judged by the
law because the law has already judged us. The law has already
condemned us. The law has already slain us
in the sweet and blessed, bittersweet and bitterly blessed experience
of God's free grace in saving our souls. Look at verses 7 through
13. The law came and destroyed all
hopes of us making ourselves righteous before God, exposing
the exceeding sinfulness of our sin. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Is the law sin? The motions of sin stirred up
by the law. Is the law sin? Oh no, God forbid. Oh no, no,
no, no. Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. I had not known sin, but by the
law. For I had not known lust, except the law had said thou
shall not covet. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute.
This is a man who lived all his life I mean all his life. We used to poke fun at folks
that were good at two-shoes. That's Paul. He lived all his
life good at two-shoes. He didn't cuss. He didn't go places on Saturday.
He went to synagogue on Saturday. He didn't play football on Saturday.
He read scripture on Saturday. He obeyed the commandments. He
kept all the sacrifices in his outward obedience. And here he
says, I didn't know sin. I didn't know sin. I was unaware
of my sin. I didn't understand it until
the law. The law said, thou shalt not
covet. Well, the law always said that. It always said that. Yeah,
but not to him. Not to him. Not to him. But sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead until God stuck his finger in my heart and showed me that
the law is talking about what I am on the inside. Sin was dead. It wasn't around. It didn't bother
me. I wasn't concerned with it. I
was a good man. I was a good man. And then the
commandment came and sin revived and I died. Look at it. For I
was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came,
it stirred up all the corruption of my soul. All the evil of my
heart. Sin revived. Sin lifted up its
ugly head like a monster in me and killed me. I died. I died. And the commandment which was
to life, not ordained to produce life, not ordained as a means
of life, ordained to point us to life, I found to be unto death. for sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me." And then he makes
a statement that many would, having read what he just said,
say, well, you're saying the law is evil. And so Paul says,
oh, no. Wherefore, the law is holy, and
the commandment is holy, and just, and good. It's righteous,
it's just, and it's the best possible thing. It's holy and
just and good. Was then that which is good made
death to me? Not that, not that, 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. When God Sticks his law in you when God
shoots his arrows in you and exposes your sin Exposes your
sin Convinces you of your sin because you believe not on the
Son of God you have no atonement for sin You have no righteousness
when God by his law Exposes your sin It slays you It causes all
hope of self-righteousness, all hope of self-salvation, all hope
of self-improvement to be utterly slain. Utterly slain. You see, the one reason, the
one reason you who do not trust Christ, do not trust Him, is
because you keep trying to make yourself good. I don't like that picture. That's
the reason I said it real plain. The one reason you don't trust
Christ is because you keep trying to make yourself good. You keep
trying to find something in you to bring to God. Brother Don, I'm not there yet,
but I'm working at it. That's your problem. That's your
problem. And I can't do anything about
that. I can't do anything about that. But God can. And God does. God can bring His law rushing
into your heart and show you that He demands what you can
never produce. Perfection. Shutting you up to
Jesus Christ, His Son. Oh, Spirit of God, do that. Do
that. And then in verses 14 through
23, the apostle says, sin shall not have
dominion over you. You shall never be judged, condemned,
or treated as a corrupt, contemptible thing by God. The law can never
condemn you because you have a new nature. In verses 5 through
13, he's talking about Holy Spirit conviction. This new life He's
given you by the power of His Spirit slaying you, giving you
new life in Christ. And with that new life is a new
nature. A new nature. That new nature that's in you
is Christ Himself. That new nature that's in you
is Christ Himself. Christ Himself. I can't say this
emphatically enough, clearly enough. The new birth is nothing
less than God the Son taking up residence in your heart by
the power and grace of His Holy Spirit dwelling in you. The new
birth is Christ in you. Christ in you. The new birth
is Christ, our life. It is God dropping life in your
soul, and that life is Christ himself. The new birth is that
new man in you, created in righteousness and true holiness. The new birth
is being made partakers of the divine nature. The new birth
is God making you a new creature in Jesus Christ the Lord. Making
you a new creature, not a reformed creature, not a recreated creature,
a new creature in Christ Jesus. Alright, let's look at verse
14. That new man, Christ in you, that new nature, is in perpetual
warfare with the old man, the old nature. For we know that
the law is spiritual. The law is spiritual. The problem
is not with the law, it's with me. But I'm carnal, sold unto
sin. The law is spiritual, I'm carnal.
The law is spiritual, I'm flesh. For that which I do, I allow
not. I wouldn't do it for the world.
For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that I do. Man
alive, what a confused man he must have been. No, no, we're
confused, he had it right. Notice he's speaking of himself
as I, and he speaks of I as two different people. I, the child of the devil. I, the son of Claude Fortner. I, the son of Adam. And I, Christ Jesus the Lord. I, the Son of God. I, a new man. I, a new creature. I, that righteous
thing, that holy seed that cannot sin, we read about in 1 John
3. That which I do, I allow not. That which I would not is what
I do. That which I hate is what I do. Verse 17. Now then, it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now it shows
us the difference. It's not I, the new man. It's not I, the believing man. It's not I, the man born of God. Oh, no, no, no. It's that old
man, sin, that dwells in me. For I know that in me that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not." I wish I would learn and you
would learn not to take serious things lightly and take away
from the seriousness of things by speaking lightly of them.
We'll speak concerning anything or the The flesh is willing,
the spirit's willing, but the flesh is weak. This is what our
Lord was talking about when he said that. To will is present with me, the
spirit's willing. But how to perform that which
is good I find not. The flesh is weak. For the good
that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I
do. Now if I do that, I would not, it is no more I, that do
it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, a law,
kind of like the law of gravity, that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. I love everything God's written
in His law. It's a reflection of God Himself. There's not one
thing bad about it. It's holy. It's just. It's good.
Every requirement, every commandment, every illustration, everything
about the law is holy and just and good. Everything God tells
me about the ideal relationship of man with man and the ideal
relationship of God with God. I recall years ago I was required
to write a paper, a whole class in literature required to write
a paper on the subject of utopia. And I addressed it just this
way. In fact, at that time, I was
the only one in class who did. And the professor said, I expected
that from you. What's that? That's everybody living in perfect
harmony and love for one another and for God. Now, you tell me
what's wrong with that. You tell me what's wrong with
that. And that's how it soon shall be. Oh, bless God, that's
how it soon shall be. With no interruption of any kind,
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin and death, which is in
my members. Tell me, my brother, tell me,
my sister, is it not so with you? To everything we read here about
the Apostle Paul, our whole life in this world is compelled to
say amen. I have a war in my soul through
flesh and spirit. Between Christ and Adam. Between holiness and sin. And my nature, my original nature,
my fallen nature, always sides with sin. But not that new man. He always sides with righteousness. Always. No exception. The old
man can't do anything but sin. The new man can't do anything
but righteousness. And that new man is Christ the
Lord. That new man is Christ the Lord. We had this warfare. There's nothing about my past
existence. And that's all I can call it,
an existence. Childhood before God saved me,
I was just moving and breathing, that's all. I wouldn't call it
life. I sure have given up a lot, not
me, not me. There's nothing about my past
existence that I desire or like or approve of. Nothing about
my nature. Nothing about the life of the
world that I envy. Nothing. I hate all of it. All of it. As I find it in me. And I delight in the will of
God, the glory of God, and the righteousness of God. I delight
in holiness, justice, and truth. I delight in mercy, love, and
grace. And that causes a perpetual warfare
in my soul. But sin shall not have dominion
over us. We shall never be judged, condemned, or treated as a corrupt,
contemptible thing by God. The law can never condemn us
because we have a new hope, a good hope through grace. Look at what
Paul says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? Paul here compares our life in
this state to that inflicted on criminals in ancient times
by their barbaric rulers. They would fasten a living body
to a putrid carcass, and the condemned man would be compelled
to live body joined to body. Death joined to life until the
criminal finally pined away in a miserable death. That's the
picture Paul has here of our old nature, this body of death. No wonder he earnestly cried,
who shall deliver me? Who shall deliver me? The Roman
poet Virgil captured what he's saying here. The living and the
dead at his command were coupled face-to-face and hand-to-hand,
till choked by stench and loathed embraces tied, the lingering
wretches pined away and died. Here I am, a living man, and face-to-face and hand-to-hand
chest to chest and foot to foot and nose to nose. Here I am with
death, corruption in me all the time. Oh God, who shall deliver
me? Christ has and Christ shall. That's the answer. Look at verse
25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with
the mind I myself serve the law of God. but with the flesh the
law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no condemnation. Now, now, not tomorrow, now to
them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. My grace is sufficient for you.
My strength is made perfect in weakness. For the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. What? What's he talking about,
the law of sin and death? That law of sin and death that's
in me? No, no, no. He's asking for deliverance from
that, that law of sin and death. What's he talking about? He's
talking about that law of sin and death by which you were condemned
before. The law of Moses, the commandment
of God. Now, Christ has made me free
from the law of sin and death. But what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh. The law couldn't improve
me. The law couldn't make me good
and the law couldn't make me better. But 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." What's he talking about? Walk not after
the flesh but after the spirit. Well, if you live really good,
if you pray enough, and you read your Bible enough, and you behave
good enough, and you don't get out of sorts too often, and you
don't cuss too much, and you don't go dancing, and you don't
go to the picture show, and you dress just right, and you live
kind of heavenly minded, and you don't get carried away too
much with things down here, and then you walk in the spirit,
and you have no condemnation. Oh no, no, that will condemn
you. That'll condemn you. That'll
keep you constantly under the thumb of judgment. Always. What's he talking about then?
He's talking about walking through this world in the teeth of all
your lust, and all your sin, and all your corruption, and
all your depravity. Walking through this world, believing
on the Son of God. Sin shall not have dominion over
you because you've got a new husband. You're married to Christ. You have a new life. Christ in
you, the hope of glory. You have a new nature, partakers
of the divine nature. You have a new hope, not a hope
of law work, but a hope of grace, pure, free grace through Christ,
the substitute. Oh, may God give you now faith
in his dear son and give you grace to go home today with this
promise from God ringing in your soul. Sin shall not have dominion
over you. Sin will never bring you to judgment. Sin will never carry you to hell
because Christ is yours and you are Christ. Amen.