Now we're looking at Romans chapter
7. Romans chapter 7. We're going
to go back and look for just a moment at verse 6. But now,
Romans 7 verse 6. But now, but now, by His grace,
but now. We are delivered, delivered from
the curse of the law by the blessed obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that being dead, wherein we were held. The law had us in bondage,
but the Lord has came and delivered us from the curse of the law,
that we should serve Him. serve him in newness." I like
that word, newness of spirit, not in the oldness, oldness of
the letter. Now notice the marginal reference
there on that verse is 2 Corinthians 3, 6, and I've written it down
here. Paul said that God had made him
an able minister of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the
spirit. Then he says, the letter killeth,
talking about the law. The letter of the law killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life, for the Spirit quickens. He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sin. Believers, having been
set free by the power of God through the gospel, by the purpose
of God, By the promise of God to save sinners in Christ, by
God's grace, believers are highly motivated and inspired, inspired
and motivated to walk and live in the newness, the newness of
the Spirit, or the newness of life, the newness of the Spirit
of the living God. They're not motivated by the
cold, dead letter of the law. It is the truth of the gospel
of Christ, that's the power of God and the salvation, that sets
us free. Free. Whom the Son sets free,
they are free indeed. Our Lord said, you shall know
the truth, and that truth will set you free. And then I love
that scripture in Galatians 5 verse 1 where it says, Paul declares
that God, He set us free. We've been set free, liberated
in Christ, not to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has set us free. Believers have been given in
regenerating grace a new, holy, divine nature. We still have
this flesh, but we have a new, holy, divine nature that God
implants within us that changes our desires, our attitude, our
thoughts about God, about sin, about self, and the way that
God saves sinners. Peter says we are partakers of
a divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in this
world. The believer is under new management. He's under the loving lordship
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not the cold dead letter of the
law, but we have in Christ this loving relationship with God
Almighty in the blessed Son. For we are accepted in the Beloved,
and believers are motivated not by threats of the law, not even
by promise of reward, but rather they are motivated by love to
the Lord Jesus Christ. His love constrains us. Now,
what we see here in these verses, verse 7 down through verse 14,
we see Paul's experience of grace as he was Saul of Tarsus. And then in verses 15 down through
verse 25, we see the apostle in his life as a believer that
is described, and we'll look at that next time. Now what we
find here in Romans 7 verse 7 down to verse 14 is similar to what
the Apostle Paul writes about in Philippians chapter 3. He
called himself a pattern to them which should hereafter believe
on him to everlasting life. Now look what he says in verse
7. So believers have being made
new creatures in Christ if any man be in Christ He is a new
creature. Look at verse 7. What shall we
say then? What shall we say then? Is the
holy, just law of God, is the law sin or is the law of God
sinful? We have to agree with Paul, God
forbid. The law of God is just and holy
and right. Reveals the very character of
God. Then he says, God forbid. Nay,
he said, I had not known sin, but by the law of God. Remember when John described
what sin is? Sin is transgression against
the law of God. I had not known lust, except
the law had said, thou shall not lust. Covenant, not one time,
not one way. That's what the law of God demands,
absolute perfect holiness. Now, is the law sinful? Does
the law of God cause us to sin against God? The law is not the
problem. What is the problem? We're the
problem. We're sinners. We are sinners. Man in his best state is altogether
vanity. The law does not cause us to
sin against God. It is holy, just, and right.
The problem is not with the law. The problem is with our weak
and sinful flesh, is it not? That's what Paul points out here,
turn one page, Romans 8, verse 3. For what the law could not
do, The law could not pronounce a guilty sinner justified, could
it? By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh. Nothing wrong with the
law of God. The problems are wicked, sinful
flesh, and the only remedy for that is 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 rather after the Spirit
of God. So the problem clearly is not
with the law. It is holy, it is just, it is
good as God Himself. But the problem is our flesh. You remember what Paul said over
here in Romans 7 verse 18? Our flesh, that which is born
of the flesh, as all it ever will be is flesh, sinful flesh. For I know, Romans 7 verse 18,
for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing. For the will is present with
me, but how to perform that which is good?" He said, even as an
apostle, I don't do that. I don't do that. I can't. And
then he tells us about his experience of grace. I had not known sin,
my sin against God, except the holy law of God exposed it to
me. The law revealed the lust of
my heart. The law of God says thou shalt
not only do no evil, but the law of God says you should not
even think evil. Now wouldn't that be something,
if you never had an evil wicked thought. That's what the law
of God demands. The only one who met that standard
was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who had no sin, knew no sin,
and did no sin. The extent of the holy law of
God demands perfection in word, deed, thought, and motive. Complete perfection all the time. Whosoever committed sin transgresses
also the law, For sin is transgression against the law. And we know,
thank God for the second part of that verse, we know that He
was manifested to take away our sin, and in Him is no sin. Reminds me of that verse in Romans
6, 23. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Is the
law sinful? God forbid. I had not known,
Really what sin is, except the law pointed it out to me. I had
not known lust, except the law had said, you shouldn't do that.
You should never ever have another sinful, lustful thought. That's what the law of God demands.
Now, look at verse 8. But sin, now here's the problem,
but sin, sin is what we are. Sin is what we are. What we do
is S-I-N-S, sins. But sin is what we are. If we
say we have no sin nature, we deceive ourselves and truth is
not in us, 1 John 1, 7. But sin, taking occasion, opportunity,
by the commandment, wrought in me, worked in me all manner of
concupiscence, all manner of lust, For without the law, sin
was dead." Now, what's he saying here? The holy law of God found
in me, that is found in Paul, every opportunity, every occasion,
as he was known as Saul of Tarsus the Pharisee, to expose and condemn
Paul in all his sinful lusts and deeds. That's what the law
of God does. You remember in Romans chapter
3 it says, stop your mouth. Guilty. Guilty before God. Guilty. It's like the mirror
on the wall. All of us looked at the mirror
this morning, didn't we? What did you see in that mirror?
You saw yourself, didn't you? Like the mirror on the wall,
when you look at the mirror, it reveals what we really are. It reveals every blemish and
spot. It exposes you, doesn't it? Like
the law of God. It does nothing to improve you. Looking at the mirror, you look
at it all day. Not going to change your appearance one bit. It just
reveals what's there. S-I-N. The law and the mirror
does not hide your faults or remove your faults, it simply
exposes you as you are before God. And then he says, for without
the law, sin was dead. Before we are convicted of our
sin by the power of the Holy Spirit revealing the holy demands
of the law of God, sin was dead in us because we were dead in
sin. It was dormant in us. Sin was
there all along, but we didn't realize it, we didn't know it,
because God had not taken the law of God and revealed the high
holy standard of the law. It's like this, it's like the
malignant tumor within our body full of diseases. We know nothing
of it until we have an MRI and it reveals it and exposes our
dreadful condition. Now that test doesn't remove
the cancer, it simply exposes the disease, and that's what
the law of God does. It exposes us for what we are,
S-I-N. And I tell you, it's a good thing
that God does use that holy law of God to expose our sin, because
you know what it does? It drives us to the remedy, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 9. Verse 8, but sin, taking occasion
or opportunity by the commandment, worked in me all manner, all
manner of lusts. Without the law, sin was dead. I didn't really realize I was
a sinner before God. I was alive, verse 9, now this
is Saul of Tarsus as the Pharisee speaking here. He said, I was
alive without the law once. You remember Saul of Tarsus,
as he describes his experience as a religious lost man, he said,
concerning the law, blameless. He said, I was a Pharisee of
Pharisees. My mother was a Hebrew. My dad
was a Hebrew. I was circumcised the eighth
day. He said, I had, I thought what was life and salvation without
the law once, when he was a lost religious man. But when the law
of God came in the hands of God the Holy Spirit, sin revived. Sin was exposed. Sin came alive. And you know what it did? He
said, it killed me. Killed any hope I had by the
deeds of the law. I was alive without the law once.
That was Saul of Tarsus. The proud, self-righteous Pharisee. But when the law really came,
and the convicting power of God the Holy Spirit, sin came alive. That's when he realized that
he was a sinner before God. And then it says, I died. It killed me. Now look at verse
10. And the commandment, was, and
the two words there, was ordained to life, have been added, the
commandment to life, I found that it killed me. It brought
me to death, to death. Judgment, judgment, judgment. The holy law of God promised
life The holy law of God, now listen, promised life upon the
condition of absolute obedience, perfection, word, deed, thought,
and motive. Here's what it says in Leviticus
18. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgment. If a man do, he shall live in
them, I am the Lord. Now, if you can do the law, you
can have life by it. But we know that that's impossible
in this flesh. The only one who kept the law
of God, and he did that for us, not for himself, was the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, quoting Leviticus
18 in Galatians chapter 3, he says, And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Paul declares,
then, I found that I could not obey the law, therefore the law
pronounced the sentence of death upon me. You remember Galatians
3 verse 12? Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. But think about what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for
us. What He has done for us. In the
salvation of sinners, the law of God was not ignored or set
aside. The holy law of God was perfectly
honored by the Lord Jesus Christ in His life. That is the mystery
and glory and beauty of the gospel. How God can honor His holy law,
not set it aside. He can't do that because He's
holy. The law is just. But the beauty and the mystery
of the gospel is how God can honor His own holy law and justly
save sinners, not at the expense of His holiness. And that's the
beauty and mystery of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. He honored the law of God in
his life and in his death. Such a high priest became us,
who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin." This
is exactly saying the same thing as Paul says back over here in
Romans 3.26. to declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of
them which believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." He is the only
just God and Savior, and that's the mystery and beauty and power
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law of God is not
set aside, the law of God is honored. Our Lord said this in
Matthew 5, 17. He said, think not that I'm come
to destroy the law of the prophets. I'm not come to destroy. I came
to fulfill it. Now the law of God has to be
honored. The only way that God can justify the ungodly is for
that law of God to be honored. And the law of God being honored,
now in Christ, the law of God demands that we are set free. In Isaiah 42, 1, we read this,
Behold my servants, talking of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I
uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. And then in
Isaiah 42, verse 21, it says, "...the Lord is well pleased,
for His righteousness sake, He will magnify the law and make
it honorable for us." Now see, the law of God is not shoved
aside, it's honored. You remember back over here in
Romans chapter 3, verse 31, where Paul asked this question, Do we then make void the law
through faith? No. God forbid, he said, we establish
the law. How do we establish the law?
The Lord Jesus Christ honored the law of God for us, satisfied
the justice of God's holy law for us, and has set us free. The debt being fully paid, God
said, I have found a ransom. deliver them from going down
to the pit, I have found a ransom." That ransom is the blood atonement
of the Lord Himself. Now, look down at verse 11. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it, it slew me. Now, Paul says, when he was Saul
of Tarsus, that he was so deceived by his sinful nature, through
his depraved and sinful nature, that one time he thought he kept
and that he honored the law of God. You remember the story of
the young rich ruler who said to the Lord Jesus Christ, all
these I've kept from my youth, what do I lack? You see, he was
deceived by his own sinful nature thinking that he kept the law.
Multitudes in our day are deceived the same exact way. Our heart is so sinful and so
desperately wicked, deceitful above all things, who can know
it? Sinners that are untaught of God, self-righteous religious
people who are untaught of God, they think they actually honor
the law of God by what they do, say, think. They're deceived. That's what Saul of Tarsus said
here. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, it deceived
me, and then it killed me, when it came in the hands of God,
the Holy Spirit, in conviction. Wherefore, the law is holy, the
commandment is holy, The commandment and law of God is just because
God is just and it is good. It's reflection of God's good
character in every way. The law of God is perfect and
good. You see, then the problem is
not with the holy law of God, is it? All the precepts of the
law are good and right. In all of its commandments they
require nothing but absolute holiness, justice. It reflects
the very holy character of God and the very will of God. The
law is holy, the commandment is holy, it's just and it is
good. We can say with David, I delight
in the law of God. And that's what Paul says over
here. Look what it says in Romans 7 verse 22. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. After that new holy nature given
in regenerating grace. Now look at verse 13. Was then
that which is good made death to me, and then again he said,
God forbid, but sin, that it might appear what it really is,
sin, sin working death in me by that which is good, holy,
and just, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Now as we grow in grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see more of the necessity
of grace, we see more of the necessity of Christ, we think
better of Him, higher of Him, and we think of ourselves worse
and worse and worse. As he says over here in Romans
7.24, this is the Apostle Paul. He says, Oh wretched man that
I am. It doesn't say that I was, that
I am. You see the flesh doesn't get
better. The flesh doesn't improve. As we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see ourselves more sinful
than we ever did before. We see more of the necessity
and beauty and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful. Was then the holy, just, and
good law of God the cause of my death? Not the cause of my death, is
it? What's the cause of death? Sin. Sin. By one man, sin entered
into this world, and death by sin. When sin is finished, it
brings death. It is my sin against God that
condemns me. The law only reveals that I'm
a sinner, exceeding sinful, but it does not cause me to sin,
does it? The law is not the problem. The problem is my sin and my
flesh. Therefore, he says, verse 14,
we know, we know that the law is spiritual. It demands spiritual
perfection and we can't produce it. But he said, I am carnal,
I am carnal, sold, sold under sin. Now look over in Romans
7 verse 25. Paul said, I'm carnal, I'm fleshly,
fleshly man, a sinner with all the infirmities of the flesh.
And then he says, I'm still a wretched man in my flesh. O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Who
can? Who can deliver me from this
body of death? Well, we can't deliver ourselves.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's our deliverer. So then with my mind I serve
the law of God. Now how do we do that? By faith
looking to Christ. But with the flesh The flesh,
according to the law of God, says we're guilty. But with the
flesh, the law of sin. That which is born of the flesh,
flesh. That which is born of the Spirit,
is Spirit. Now, we'll pick up there next
time, in verse 15, down through verse 25, we have here, in the
last part of this chapter, Paul's experience as a believer, before
his experience as a self-righteous lost religious Pharisee, now
as a believer. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that's what
I do. Boy, that's something to think
about, isn't it? You look at those verses for
preparation of our study next week.