Which turned back to Romans seven. I've entitled this message. Serving. In newness of spirit. Look at verse six. Of Romans
chapter seven. But now. We are delivered from
the law. We are saved 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, whatever that is, that sounds
good, doesn't it? Serving in newness of spirit
and not in the oldness of the letter. And whatever that means,
I want to enter into it. I want to learn something about
what it is to serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness
of the letter. Now, look back at verse one. 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." God's law. All of the thou shalts
and all of the thou shalt not. God's law. As dominion over man,
all men are obligated to obey God perfectly. There's nothing that you or I
can do to get out from under God's law. Somebody may be thinking,
why are you speaking of the holy law of God as something you want
to be free from? Well, the problem is me. I admit
that right off the bat. The problem is me. The problem
is not with the law. God's law is holy and just and good, but
the problem is me. Let's go on reading. Verse 2.
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he liveth. If the husband be dead, she is
loosed from the law of her husband. Now, the law is compared to a
strict, severe husband. Let's say a woman has a husband
who is demanding and has all kinds of laws and rules that
that woman must keep or she is in trouble. Now, does she have
the right to leave her husband? No. She's bound by the law to
her husband as long as he is alive. Now, have you ever seen
a woman in a situation or a man in a situation, for that matter,
where you think it would be a blessing to them if their spouse would
die? They're so hard. They're so demanding. They're
so harsh that that spouse would be better off if that husband died, they'd be set free. Verse 3, so then, if while her
husband lives, she be married to another man, maybe a man that
would treat her better, she shall still be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free. from that law, so that she is
no more an adulteress, though she be married to another man. As long as that man is alive,
she must stay with him, or she will be called an adulteress
if she leaves him and marries somebody else. But if he dies,
she is free to marry a man that will love her and that will treat
her better with kindness and mercy and compassion. Verse 4, 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, you
were married to the law. And remember, I'm the problem,
not the law. I'm the problem, but the law doesn't do me any
good. All it does is give me requirements
that I cannot keep. All it gives me is rules that
I can't live up to. The law The problem's not with
the law. The problem's with me. But in
my experience, the law is a harsh and a cruel husband. And I cannot
live up to its requirements. I'm always failing. I'm always
getting beat down. Now, I'm married to the law.
I come into this world married to the law. And I cannot get
myself out of that. But I have become dead to the
law by the body. by the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, all the commandments of the law he met, he kept, he
honored God's holy law, and all the punishments of the lawbreaker
he was made to bear, and now the husband that made those demands
of me that I could not live up to is dead. And I'm free. to be married to another, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now Christ died, and my old husband
died with him, and now I'm married to him that was raised from the
dead, and he meets me on resurrection ground. Now what does that mean? Well, I keep going back to John
chapter 8, that's one of my favorite passages of Scripture, where
that woman is caught in adultery. in the very act. And I don't
have any doubt she was set up because there are some men spying
on her. And they brought her before the Lord and they threw
her down before the Lord naked after they'd caught her in adultery.
And they said to her, she's been caught in adultery in the very
act. She is guilty. There's no question about it.
We saw her. We're eyewitnesses. Now, Moses in the law said that
such a one should be stoned. But what sayest thou? And they
thought they had the Lord entrapped. If you say stoner, we'll say,
where's your mercy? Where's your grace? You talk
about being compassionate towards sinners. Where is it? I don't
see it. And if we and if he says, let her go, we can say, where's
your respect to the law? You don't have any respect to
the law. You don't have any respect to what God says. They thought
they had Christ entrapped. And they kept asking him. And
Scripture says, he stooped down as though he heard them not. I love to think of him doing
that, don't you? Those religious guys that you see, he just stooped
down. Aren't you paying attention to us? No, no, no. And then he raised himself up
after they continued asking. And he said, he that's without
sin among you. And I have no doubt he's talking
about this particular sin. I'm not talking about any general
vague, generic way, but I'm talking about this particular sin, whether
actually, or in their heart, this particular sin. He that's
without sin among you, let him throw the first stone. And then
he stooped down again and rode on the ground. Two stoops. And these represent the two stoops
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He stooped when he became a man,
and how he stooped when he was made sin. Now, as he's writing
on the ground, I love thinking about what he wrote on the ground.
There's only two times God has said to write. The first time
when he said, thou shalt not commit adultery. And the second
time is thou art weighed in the balances. and found wanting. I don't know that that's what
the Lord was writing in the ground, but it may have been. It may
have been. And those men left. And he looked
at that woman. He stood back up. And he looked
at that woman. He said, Woman, where are those
thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. He said,
Neither do I. You see, speaking to her on resurrection
ground, there was nothing to condemn her for. That's why he didn't condemn
her. There was nothing to condemn
her for. Neither do I condemn thee. Go
and sin no more. And then he said, I am the light
of the world. Now he can look at me and he
can say, I don't condemn you. Now, this is the glory of the
gospel. She was guilty, but because he
met her on resurrection ground, there's nothing to condemn her
for. Now, being married to this glorious husband, we bring forth
fruit unto God, being married to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
married to the law, I don't bring forth any fruit. Law doesn't
produce love. It produces fear. It produces
mistrust. It produces just a vacuum. It doesn't produce peace. It
doesn't produce joy. It doesn't produce patience.
It doesn't produce gentleness and goodness. It doesn't produce
faith and meekness and temperance. All it does is expose my sin. And you put me under law, and
all it does is inflame my wicked desires. You know, even a marriage. In your marriage, if you put
your spouse under law, see what it does. See what it does. They're
going to come out swinging. It doesn't work. It does not
work. And it doesn't work with us.
It just doesn't do it. Law just inflames passion. That's all it does. Now, it can't
produce this fruit. But because Christ died for my
sins, the Holy Spirit burst me into his kingdom and I bear forth
fruit unto God, being married to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at verse four again. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law. by the body of Christ that you
should be married to another. Oh, what a husband he is. There is no husband that can
compare to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a husband he is. What a gracious, kind, uncondemning,
merciful husband. Even to him who is raised from
the dead, he meets us on resurrection ground and says, neither do I
condemn thee. And through him, we should bring
forth fruit unto God. Four, verse five. When we were
in the flesh, the motions, the passions, the sins, which were
by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. When we were in a state of nature,
enemies of God. Now, the law doesn't cause sin. The law does not cause sin. Once again, I say the problem
is me. But I think about the way the
New Testament speaks about God's holy law. It talks about the
weakness and the unprofitableness of the law. Now, somebody says,
how can he use such language as that? Because it won't do
him any good. It has absolutely nothing to
do with me having any love for God, with me believing all it
does is expose my sin. All it does is stir up sin. What
I tell you to do, if I give you a commandment concerning it,
is going to make you want to do it. That's all it's going to
do. That's because of our sinful nature. Now look at Romans chapter
7, verse 7. What should we say then? Is the
law sin? Is the law my problem? 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. But sin, taking occasion, using
as a base of operations the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence
and covetousness and evil desire. For without the law, 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, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which
is good made death unto me? Is that the cause of my death?
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. The only fruit that comes from
the law is fruit unto death. Now back to verse 6. But now,
Romans chapter 7 verse 6, but now, we are delivered from the
law. When Christ died, I was delivered
from God's holy law, and I was made free to marry the Lord Jesus
Christ. 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. We've been set free from the
law. It had a claim on us, but when Christ died, we were set
free. And I think it's interesting
how the law is depicted as a harsh husband. That is the illustration
he's using. The law is depicted as a harsh,
demanding husband who knows no mercy. But we're set free. And
now we're to serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness
of the letter. Now, what does that mean? The
oldness of the letter. is the law. The newness of spirit
is the gospel. Now, law is any part of salvation
being dependent upon me or you. That's law. If any aspect of
any part of salvation to any degree is dependent upon something
I do, I believe in law. And the proof of that is Galatians
chapter 4. When Paul describes, he says,
tell me you that desire to be under the law. Don't you hear
the law? He tells us about Sarah and Hagar, Ishmael and
Isaac. It's where Sarah said, Abraham,
I know God promised us a son and it hadn't happened. We need
to do our part. If we don't do our part, God's
promise will be revealed. It will take place. So here's
Hagar. You go into her, we'll do our
part, and we'll have a boy. And Hagar, he went into Hagar,
he did his part, and they had Ishmael. And this is not the
child of promise. Sarah. And her boy, Isaac, is
the child of promise. Ishmael is not acknowledged as
a son. And he said, Hagar is Mount Sinai. If any part of salvation is dependent
upon me in any way to any degree, it won't happen unless I do my
part. That is law. What is the letter of the law?
You know the word letter means to trace. That's what it means
to trace. You know when you trace something,
you've traced something before. I don't know how many times when I was
a kid I used to trace comics. You know, I'd trace it. Boy,
I'm pretty good. I'd trace that real well. Looked just like Daffy
Dunn. Just looked like whoever it was I was tracing. But did
I really do it? No. I was just tracing. There wasn't any reality to it.
I didn't do anything. And the letter of the law is
tracing the outline. Here's the glory of the gospel.
The gospel makes it. And this is the mystery of the
gospel. The gospel makes it so that I
did the righteousness. When the Lord did it, I did it. It wasn't tracing. That actually
is my personal righteousness before God. I think of Revelation,
chapter 19, verse eight, where it says it speaks of the fine
linen, clean and white. And this is the righteousness
of the saints. When Jesus Christ obeyed the
law, I obeyed the law, too. You know, it's interesting. I
got a letter from Felgis this week. And he was kind of arguing
against the point in a message regarding the obedience of the
believer actually being the righteousness of Christ. And he talked about
how he said, you said that That when Adam sinned, we sinned. Well, you can't explain that
or prove it. Well, it just says it. What else do I need to do?
If it says it, do I need to prove it? I mean, it's what God's Word
says. When Adam sinned, I sinned. It's not just that Adam's sin
was charged to me. I did the sinning. When Adam sinned, I
sinned. When Christ obeyed, I obeyed. His righteousness is my righteousness
before God. And that's what gives me confidence.
That's the glory of the Gospel. It's not just a trace. His righteousness
is my righteousness before God. Now, the letter is knowing how
to spell, but not knowing the meaning. Were you ever in a spelling
bee when you were a kid? We used to do that all the time
in grade school. My goal was always to win one, and I never
did. I never did very well in spelling. As a matter of fact,
I always got one of the first ones to sit down. I had to go
through that humiliation. But you could win a spelling
bee and not know the meaning of any of the words. You could
spell the most difficult words and not know the meaning of it.
Well, that's the letter of the law. It's knowing how to pronounce,
but not knowing the meaning of the words. You can read the Bible. If you can read the Bible, you're
going to believe that the Bible teaches, for instance, that God
elected a people before time began. You can't read the Bible
and say, well, it doesn't teach it. Yeah, it does. It's right
there. You can read all that. You can read it and say, well,
yeah, it says that. I got to agree with it. But you
can read all that, acknowledge it, and never really understand
it. That's the letter of the law.
Why, you know, The law, you know the rules, you know the commandments,
but you don't know the intent of the law, you don't know the
purpose of the law. You know, we're not supposed to lie. We're
not supposed to steal. But you don't understand that the law
is given to show us that we're nothing but sin and to drive
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the purpose. That's the
spirit. That's the letter. That's that's the serving the
Lord in newness of spirit. Now, you can have the oldness
of the letter. You can have your doctrine down.
I know all kinds of people. They've got their doctrine down.
They can they can they can spit out their doctrine like a machine
gun. They know what it is and they they've got it all down
pat. But they don't They don't know anything about the serving
in newness of spirit. Now, you prove you only know
the letter of the law if you think you can keep it or if you
even try to keep it. I'm trying to keep the law. I don't try
to keep the law. I've kept it. I've kept it. I love God's holy
law. I've kept it. Don't try to keep
it. I've kept it in the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't serve
in the oldness of the letter, but in newness of spirit. Now, new does not mean new in
respect to time, but new in respect to nature. Something totally
different. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Verse five, not that we're sufficient
of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. But our sufficiency
is of God, who also have made us able ministers of the New
Testament, not of the letter. Not of the outline, but of the
spirit for the letter. killeth, but the Spirit giveth
life. We're able ministers of the New
Testament or the New Covenant. And I love to think of our, our
Lord said, this is the New Testament in my blood shed for many, the
New Covenant. Here's the glory of the New Covenant.
It's where the old covenant is salvation in some way. be it
ever so small, some way being dependent upon me doing my part.
Now that, like I said, that's weak and impossible for me. It
won't do me any good because if any of it's dependent on me,
I'm not going to do it. I know that. I know that. Here's
the New Testament that everything that God requires, he looks to
his son for. And I have all that God requires
in the gospel. Now that is the New Testament. It's different and it's altogether
different. It's new. Look in Hebrews chapter
13. Hebrews chapter 13. I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 8. Verse 10. For this is the covenant,
the testament that I'll make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws into their mind. and write them in their hearts. And notice he doesn't say, I'll
do this if. Everything here is an I will.
I will. No, nothing else. He said, I
will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. And
they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his
brother, saying, Lord, the Lord for all shall know me from the
least to the greatest. For I will be merciful. If I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness and their sins and iniquity, will I remember
no more? These are all these things God
says he's going to do. Not if we do something. This is what
he's going to do. Ended he say the new covenant,
he made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth old.
That's talking about God's law. He says it's decaying and waxing
old is ready to vanish away. Turn to Genesis 43 for just a
moment. Here's the New Testament. Here's the new covenant. Here's
the gospel. Now, Jacob loved Benjamin. He only
loved Joseph better than the rest of his sons. Joseph was
his favorite. As far as he knew, Joseph was
dead. And he had Benjamin. And Benjamin was his favorite.
And he would let all the other... It didn't matter what happened
to the other fellows as long as Benjamin was safe. And you
remember the story. Benjamin was going to have to
go with his brothers back into Egypt in order for them to get
food. And Jacob didn't want to send
them. As a matter of fact, in the previous chapter, Reuben
had given her a shot. And he said, I'm not sending
him with you. He knew Reuben, unstable as water. He said, I'm
not sending my boy with you. Ain't no way. Now, look what
happens in verse 7 of Genesis 43. And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, is your
father yet alive? Have you another brother? And we told him, according
to the tenor of these words, could we certainly know that
he would say, bring your brother down? And remember, Jacob was
mad at him about this. And Judah, Where did the Lord
come from? Judah. The tribe of Judah. And Judah said unto Israel his
father, send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that
we may live and not die, both we and thou, and also our little
ones. I will be surety for him. of my hand, shalt thou require
him? If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever."
Now, that's what the Lord Jesus Christ did for me. He said, I'll
be surety for him. Everything you require of him,
you look to me for. Now, is that a better testament?
That's the New Testament. We have new doctrine. They said,
what new doctrine is this that with authority he commanded the
unclean spirits and they obey him? The new doctrine is the
doctrine of the sovereign, authoritative grace of God. When he says, I
will, it takes place. That's the new doctrine. Why we're called a new creation.
Look in Second Corinthians, Chapter five. Verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature, he's a new creation, he's a new creation
of God that was not there before. Now, salvation is a creative
act of God. How much do you and I have to
do with creation? Nothing. It's his work. And we're a new,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have
passed away. My old standing before the law
has passed away. I'm not condemned, I'm justified.
My old heart, I've got a new heart. One that was not there
before. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have
become new and all things are of God. We have a new standing. We have a new man. Why, we're
given a new name. I love Aaron. In the book of
Revelation, where it talks about the new name that he's given
that no man knows, saves, neither has it. What is that new name?
The Lord, our righteousness. That's my name. Jehovah Sidkenia,
the Lord, our right. That's his name. That's my name.
He said to Jacob, he said, you're not going to be called Israel
anymore. I mean, Jacob anymore. You're Israel as a prince. Thou has power with God and you've
prevailed. We sing a new song. Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, tribe,
and nation, and has made us kings and priests unto God, and we
shall reign on the earth. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive riches and power and honor and glory and blessing."
We have a new psalm, and we have a new commandment. It's actually
very simple. It's a new commandment. The new
commandment I give unto you, he said, that you love one another as I have loved you. So should
you love one another. Now, how does he love me? He couldn't love me more, and he couldn't love me less.
That's how he loved me. How does he see me? He sees me as beautiful, without
sin, without blemish, without spot. Perfect. And that's how he loves me. He
loves me with a love that knows no degrees, no variation. It's
not up here and down here. It's always the same in its power
and in its glory. That's how he loves me. And he
says, you love each other the way I have loved you. Now, I can look at some people
and I know there's blemishes and faults in you and you know
the same about me. I realize that. I mean, all of
us are just that close to falling apart. You know that. You know
that. You know how I look at you? Perfect. I look at you right now. Right
now, by the grace of God, I'm looking at you the way God looks
at you. Without sin. Perfect in Christ Jesus. And
that is the way I'm called upon to love you the way he loves
me. He said, as the father has loved
me, so have I loved you. Now, how did the father love
him? Oh, when the father looks at his son, he sees him who is
altogether lovely. No blemish. Oh, the perfections
and the beauties of Jesus Christ. That's every believer. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Now, a new commandment I give you, that
you love one another as I have loved you. You know, doesn't
that commandment cover everything? You find me one thing that that
commandment doesn't cover. That one commandment covers everything. Boy, the glory and genius of
the gospel. There's nothing like it, is there? And one of these days, in the
New Jerusalem, In the new heaven and earth we will drink wine
new with him, he tells us, eternally in fellowship. Now, we're dead
to the law. Don't bring him back up. We're
always doing it, aren't we? Trying to raise him back up.
No, you're dead to the law. You're not under law, but under
grace. dead to the law through the body of Christ, that we should
be married to another, even him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God, and serve not in the
oldness of the letter, but in newness of spirit. Let's pray.