It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. I've entitled this morning's
message, Married to the Law or Christ? The text is found in
Romans chapter 7. We're going to look at the first
six verses. But before we get there, let's
look at the context in which Paul is speaking when he speaks
of being married to the law or married to Christ. In Romans
5, verse 20, he said, moreover, the law entered that the offense
might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Now listen to what he says. He
says, the law entered that the offense, that the sin, that the
transgression might abound and overflow, not to restrain it,
but it causes it to overflow. But where sin abounded, wherever
sin abounded, and someone sees themselves to be nothing but
sin, and sin overflows in them, in that very place where sin
abounds, grace did much more abound. Now, if sin doesn't abound
in you, it's because the law's never entered to you. You've
never really understood it. You are yet in ignorance as to
what sin is. Someone who knows what sin is
knows that all they are is sin. Now, he goes on to say in verse
21, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now, we read of the reign of
sin and the reign of death and the reign of grace. Now, regarding
death, how much power do you have to prevent death? You don't
have any power at all to prevent death. How much power do you
have to prevent grace? If God intends to be gracious
toward you, what can you do to stop it? No more than you can
stop death. God's grace is grace that will
not take no for an answer. Now, that's the way grace works.
It's sovereign grace. It's reigning grace. God's grace
saves. If He intends on saving you,
saved you must be. That's what that passage of Scripture
says. This is not my word, but the word of God. You know, when
I preach, I always want people to try what I'm saying with the
Word of God. Don't believe something because
I say it. Believe something because it's what the Scripture actually
teaches. Now, Paul anticipated the objections
men would have to this, so he says in chapter 6, verse 1, what
should we say then? Shall we continue in sin? The
grace may abound. Why, teaching like that, that grace saves and
you can't stop it, that'll lead people to think that it doesn't
matter whether they sin or not. Let's go ahead and keep sinning
so grace may abound. They say that that will lead
to licentiousness. That's what a legalist always
says. He can't understand the freedom of grace, and he doesn't
understand what grace will do. So he always thinks, well, this
will lead people to live immoral lives if grace really does work
like that. Now, Paul uses the remainder
of Romans 6 to prove that that's not so. Grace never led anybody
to sin. He says in Romans 6, verse 14,
for sin shall not have dominion over you. For ye are not under
the law, but under grace. And then in chapter 7, verse
1, he says, 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 lives. Now when he's talking about the
law, he's talking about God's law. He's talking about the Ten
Commandments. The law has dominion over a man
as long as he lives. Now, let me give you an illustration
of the law having dominion over a man. Let's say there's an individual
who believes that it's wrong for the government to make him
pay taxes. He's a true conscientious objector. He believes it's wrong to have
to pay Social Security. He does not believe he should
have to pay taxes. And he thinks it's morally wrong
for the government to expect him to do so. Now, let's say
this individual says, I think it's wrong and I'm not going
to pay taxes. What's going to happen to him? He's going to
be thrown in jail. Even if he does object to it,
the law has dominion over him. Even if he truly thinks it would
be wrong for him to have to pay taxes, if he fails to pay his
taxes, he'll be thrown in jail. He is under dominion to the law. And the only time he is not going
to have to pay taxes is when he dies. Then the government
can't expect him to pay taxes. but the law has dominion over
a man as long as he lives." Now, Paul goes on to use the biblical
law of marriage to illustrate what he's saying. He says in
verse 2, for the law, or for the woman which hath a husband,
he's using the biblical laws of marriage to show how law has
dominion over a man as long as he lives, and it's only when
he's dead that he's loose from the law. 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, set free
from the law of her husband. She's no longer responsible to
him. So then if while her husband lives she be married to another
man, she should be called an adulteress. But if her husband
be dead, she's free from that law so that she's no adulteress,
though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren,
you 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." At one
time, Paul says you were married to the law Then you died to the
law through the death of Christ, and now you're married to Christ.
That's true of every believer. Now, married to the law or married
to Christ. Now, according to the Bible,
the biblical law of marriage, that can only be dissolved when
two people are married. It can only be dissolved by death. Now, the Lord says in Matthew
5.32, if there's adultery in the relationship, a divorce is
acceptable. Someone has a grounds for divorce.
And 1 Corinthians 7.15 seems to imply that final desertion,
if someone leaves you, is a biblical ground. He said, if the unbelieving
depart, let them depart. A brother or sister is not under
bondage in such cases. But the Bible doesn't recognize
irreconcilable differences. The Bible doesn't recognize people
having a hard time getting along. If you're married, you are to
stay married. You see, marriage is a God ordained
institution. It was instituted even before
the fall in the garden. The two shall be one flesh and
marriage is of God and the Bible does not allow divorce the way
it's so freely done today. Now marital bliss, let me talk
about marriage. Marital bliss is a great blessing. Two people in love with each
other, committed to each other until death alone dissolves that
relationship. Faithful to one another. They
love each other. They make go up that doesn't
mean there's everything's always rosy. Anytime you have two people
living together there'll be problems but these people are committed
to one another and they love one another and they are faithful
to one another and it's so beautiful. A happy marriage is a beautiful
thing, but you know, there are a whole lot of unhappy marriages. There are a lot of instances
where the couple, one feels defrauded by the other or wronged by the
other, treated in an unjust manner, and they're not happy. They're
thinking, I didn't sign up for this. This is not happiness to
me being in this situation. Let's, let me give a scenario. Let's say a woman is married
to a man. She feels like she's in love
with him, but once they get married, this man ends up being somewhat
of a deadbeat. He doesn't seek to make a living
for her or provide for her. He's always critical of her.
He's never complimentary to her. He never makes her feel loved.
He never makes her feel special. He never spends evenings with
her, but he's always out with his buddies, out drinking and
just avoiding her at all costs. And let's say that while he's
gone, he gives her a long list of chores that he wants done.
He returns, they're not all done perfectly. He's going to berate
her and physically, not physically abuse her, but verbally abuse
her with harsh words. And if she was going to spend
her whole life like this, you'd be happy for her if that man
got killed in a car wreck because she would be free to marry somebody
else. You'd be happy about that. But
is she free to marry somebody else? Is she free to divorce
that man and marry somebody else? No, not according to scriptures.
Now we're talking about biblical law. The law has dominion over
a man as long as he lives. That woman must stay with her
husband as long as he lives. For the woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
her husband be dead, She is loosed from the law of her husband.
That's what the Bible teaches. Let's say a man falls in love
with a woman and he marries her and he finds out real soon that
she was not what he thought she was. Let's say he tries to go
out and work hard and make a living and make it to where she can
stay home. And stay home she does. She doesn't
cook. She doesn't clean. She doesn't do anything. She
never seeks to be attractive to him. She refuses to be his
lover. She gives him no affirmation,
although he provides so well for her. but she's always critical
of him and acts like she despises him. Now, if that man was to
spend the rest of his life with that woman, you would be happy
for him if a car ran over her and she would die and he would
be loosed from that woman so he could marry someone and be
happy. Now, all of us feel that way.
Now, the fact of the matter is, though, that man would have no
biblical ground for divorce. You see, we're bound As the scripture
says, 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
is loose from the law of her husband. Now, let's take that
woman living with that monster. Let's say she says, I'm not taking
any more of this. And you really can't blame her.
I'm not taking any more of this. I'm leaving him. I'm going to
go marry my high school sweetheart who will be nice to me. Let's
say she did that. What is she according to the
scriptures? An adulteress. That's what the Bible says. Verse
3, so then if while her husband liveth she be married to another
man, she shall be called an adulteress. That is biblical law. She's broken the marriage vow.
It's only if that man dies. that she's free to marry another. Now Paul is using all this to
illustrate law and grace. Don't just get stuck on the biblical
laws regarding marriage, although they're good, they come from
God, but understand what it is Paul is teaching. Now let's read
verse four. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ. When he died, you died. And now the law has nothing to
say to you. That relationship is dissolved. Wherefore, my brethren, you 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. Now, our
first husband was the law. And the law has dominion over
us as long as we are alive. We were married to the law and
it was not a good marriage. The problem was not with the
law, the problem was with us. The law is holy and just and
good, but it was not a good marriage. All the law could do is find
fault and criticize and expose our sin. Everything it said was
true, but it was not a good marriage. But we've become dead to the
law by the death of Christ. It has as much jurisdiction over
me now as it does, as the law has over a dead man. You see
all the sins of God's elect were placed upon Christ. That's why
he died and he paid the debt demanded by the law. And now
the law says I'm satisfied. The law can't condemn me. My
relationship with that law is dissolved. Christ fulfilled it
for me. Now the wages of sin is death.
He answered those demands. And I am dead to the law. Now listen real carefully. There
is a place called hell. And when people go to hell, they're
there eternally. The fires of hell will never
be extinct, and here's why. The death of a man can never
satisfy God. God is holy, and that man's death,
his sin is infinitely too great. God can never say by his death,
I'm satisfied. That's why hell is eternal. But
when the Lord Jesus died, His death was like no other man's
because he actually satisfied God. God said, enough. Payment
has been made. That's why he raised him from
the dead. When Christ was raised from the dead, I was too. And
the law has nothing to say to someone who has no sin. You see,
the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
disobedient. That's what 1 Timothy 1.8 says. The law has nothing
to say to a righteous man. And in Christ, I am righteous.
I'm dead to the law. Now our bad marriage with our
first husband is over because our first husband is dead, and
now we're married to another, Christ Jesus the Lord, and we
bring forth fruit unto life. Now marriage is given to picture
the relationship between Christ and His church. Let me read you
a passage from Ephesians chapter five. Paul said, husbands, Love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. Who did Christ love? The church. He gave himself for the church,
made up of every believer, all of God's elect, all of those
who believe. And here's why he gave himself,
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word. Make it holy. that he may present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. but that it should be holy and
without blemish. That's what the Lord accomplished
on Calvary's tree. He made it to where all of his
people are holy and without blemish. You see, my sin's been washed
away. I've been given the very righteousness of Jesus Christ.
That's my wedding garment. That's the fine linen, clean
and white that all of the bride wears, the righteousness of Christ.
He says, In verse 28, so ought men to love their wives as their
own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. When Christ loved his wife, he
was loving himself, because the church is one with him, united
to him. The two shall be one flesh. All of God's people are one with
the Lord Jesus Christ, not two stuck close together, but one,
united to him as the vine and the branches. Oh, I love to think
about that. When Christ loves me, he's just
loving himself, because I'm in him, I'm himself. Verse 29, For
no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth
it, even as the Lord the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. Now this is a great mystery,
Paul says, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. All of
these things that I'm saying about marriage, it has to do
with the marriage of the Lamb to His wife, the Bride of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to think about
being married to Christ. When Christ marries me, I take
His name. In Jeremiah 23, 6, we read, this
is the name wherewith he shall be called, Jehovah Tzidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. And then in Jeremiah 33, it says
there's, this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the exact
same name, Jehovah Tzidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. That's
my new name. He took all my debts. And he
willingly paid them in full. And what a provider he is. He provides his very own righteousness. He provides his grace. All that
God requires of me, he provides for me. And what a protector.
He said, I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither should any man pluck them out of my
hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no
man can pluck them out of my Father's hand. And what a lover
he is. He says to all of his bride,
thou art all fair, my love, thou art all fair, there's no spot
in thee. He's not like one of these men
who look at their wives and think, well, they don't look good enough,
they need to look. No, he sees his bride as altogether beautiful
because he has made them so. beautiful through His righteousness,
through His comeliness. And our reply to Him is, let
Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth. I am my Beloved's,
and my Beloved is mine. And our greatest desire is perfect
submission to Him. We want to submit to Him because
He's altogether worthy of our complete submission. You know,
when a believer desires to be under law, And yes, a believer
can do that. He can commit any kind of sin.
But when a believer desires to be under the law, it's like that
woman wanting to go back to her first husband who treated her
so bad. That'd be crazy. Now, through this marriage, he
says, we're married to another, even to him who was raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Through
this marriage, we actually bring forth fruit to God. And this
is talking about the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. Galatians
522, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Now, the law never produces any
fruit like that, never has, never will. As a matter of fact, you
find me someone who's under the law, and I'll find you someone
who is very evil. The law doesn't do them any good,
and they might try to put others under the law. thinking that'll
make it better for them, but God knows better. That person
who seeks to bring people under law, there's always some kind
of uncleanness or gross inconsistency in their life, and they're trying
to cover something, they're trying to hide something. That's what
people do who try to put people under law. If you find me a law
person, I'll show you a lawless person, someone who, they're
not what they seem to be. There's always something unclean
underneath. You see, all the law does is
stir up sinful passions. It doesn't create holiness. It
doesn't create the fruit of the Spirit. It just stirs up passions. If I tell you not to do something,
if I tell you not to think something, that's exactly what you'll want
to do. That's exactly what you'll want to think. That is what the
law does. Now, Paul says we bring forth
fruit unto God, not through our marriage to the law, You know,
really, when we were married to the law, we didn't love our
husband. We were afraid of him. We resented
him. We were afraid of what would
take place if we didn't measure up. But we didn't love our husband.
But oh, when we're dead to that law and married to Christ, how
we love our husband, the Lord Jesus Christ, how we love being
his bride. Now, he says in verse five, for
when we were in the flesh, That means we didn't have a new nature.
We had no eyes to see Christ or to look to Him. We had no
love for Him. When we were in the flesh, the motions or passions
of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. That's all law ever does. It
brings forth fruit unto death. Somebody that tries to keep the
law demonstrates they don't even know what the law means, because
all the law does is expose sin and bring forth fruit unto death.
But Paul says, But now we are delivered from the law, that
being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness
of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. Now the letter
of the law is do and live. Keep this commandment and live. If you do not keep this commandment,
you'll be cursed. That's the letter of the law. Do and live, don't do and be
cursed. The spirit of the law is when
the law shows us that we're guilty and it drives us to Christ to
look to Him as our righteousness before that law. The spirit of
the law is not due. The spirit of the law is, it's
done. Christ finished the work. There's
nothing else that God requires of me. I'm dead to that law by
the body of Christ. It's all done. There's nothing
for me to do. Now that's the spirit of the
law. If all I understand is the letter, Do this and live, don't
do this and be cursed. All it can do is curse me because
I've never done it. I've never kept the commandment
and all it can do is curse me. But that's not why the law was
given. The law wasn't given merely to curse us, but the law was
given to show us our utter sinfulness and our need of the righteousness
of somebody else because we can't come up with one. All the law
does is curse us. The spirit of the law is, look
to the Lord Jesus Christ as your righteousness before God. And
we serve him in newness of spirit. That's talking about the new
spirit, the new creation. If any man be in Christ, he's a
new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. Now, what does that mean? Does
that mean I don't sin anymore? Well, my conscious tells me that's
not so. It's not, well, I don't desire,
I don't have sinful desires anymore. Somebody that says that, they're
not telling the truth. That old things that are passed away,
it's that old relationship before the law, and that old guiltiness
before the law. I don't stand before the law
in any other way but justified. You know, justification is a
new history. If you're a new creature or a
new creation, you have a new history. My old history, my past
history, my sinful history, it's been blotted out. It's been taken
away by the blood of Christ, and I have a brand new history
where I'm not guilty. And that's because of the New
Testament or the New Covenant, the blood of the New Covenant
that washed away all my sins. We have a new doctrine. The doctrine
of Christ. We have a new name, Jehovah's
Akenu, the Lord, our righteousness. That's our name. We have a new
song. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. We have a new motive. Love. Now, in our first marriage, we
didn't love our husband. We resented him. We were afraid
of him. But now we say the love of Christ
constraineth me. We have a new commandment to
love one another. We have a new garment, that fine
linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the saints, which is nothing
less than the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have
a new Jerusalem, and a new heaven, and a new earth, all because
of Him who makes all things new, and we serve Him in newness of
spirit. Now there's nothing so pleasurable
as being married to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing
more miserable than being married to the law. All it does is curse,
all it does is bring into bondage, all it does is stir up sin, and
believe me, The law is not the problem, we're the problem. God's
law is holy and just and good. But whenever anyone is married
to law, salvation dependent upon what you do, all it does is curse. It doesn't do you any good at
all. But oh, if I'm dead to that law by the body of Christ, that
relationship is dissolved and I'm married to the Lord Jesus
Christ, then I bring forth fruit unto God because of the gracious
glory of my new husband. Married to the law or married
to Christ. Every believer is married to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church or write
or email, we'll send you a copy. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at todsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.