Turning now to Romans chapter
7, and let me make this introduction. Paul in this chapter illustrates
for us what he had been saying about the believer and the believer's
relationship to the holy law of God being in union with Christ,
being made one with Him. We know from reading the previous
chapters The law reveals the fact that we are sinners, right?
It reveals that fact. Look at Romans chapter 5 verse
20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Remember, sin is described as
transgression against the law, but where sin abounded, grace
does much more abound. The law of God reveals the fact
that I'm a sinner. But it does nothing to put away
our sin. Nothing whatsoever. It exposes our sin, but does
not do anything about redeeming us from the curse of the law.
How much different is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, where
sin abounded, Grace does much more, much more abound. Our blessed Savior came to put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and that's what He did.
He did that for us. How much different then is the
gospel of Christ compared to the law of God? The law finds
us dead in sin. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ raises us up from the dead and makes us new creatures
in Christ. you hath he quickened who were
dead, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." The
law puts us under the dominion and reign of death and sin, but
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ puts us under the reign
of grace and life in Christ. Look back at Romans chapter 6
verse 11, Likewise, reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
And again, in Romans 6, look at verse 14, "'For sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but
under grace.'" Under grace. being made free from sin, free
from its guilt, free from its penalty, free from its curse,
free from its dominion to condemn, free from its punishment. Now,
because the Lord Jesus Christ has set us free, we are free
to love and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. He mentions this
several times. In chapter 6, look at verse 7,
"...for he that is dead is freed from sin, or justified." Again
in Romans 6 verse 18, "...being then made free from sin, you
became servants of righteousness." Verse 22, Romans 6, "...but now
being made free from sin." He keeps saying that over and over
and over again, doesn't He? "...being made free from sin,
and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto God, your
fruit unto holiness, and in the end, is everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now, beginning in Romans chapter
7, verse 1, know you not, know you not, Believers are not ignorant,
they're taught of God. Know you not brethren? Now he's
writing to the believers in Rome, many of which were converted
Jews. You remember back in Romans chapter
1 verse 7. To all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called saints, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it is an amazing
miracle of God's grace that in that city of Rome, which was
so controlled by idolatry and bondage and all these cruelties,
to all men that God would have an elect in that city that were
called out through the preaching of the gospel. And that is who
Paul is writing to. Evidently, many of those in that
church at Rome, or the churches located in Rome, were Jews who
knew the letter of the law. That's what he says there, "'Know
ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law.'"
know what the law demands. How that the law hath dominion,
dominion reigned over man as long as he seeking salvation
by the deeds of the law. These Jews who were converted,
who believed the gospel, they knew the letter of the law, that
is what the law demanded. what the penalty for breaking
that law was. Do you remember the penalty for
breaking any aspect of that law? Death. It was either perfection
or death. These Jews who were converted
by the grace of God who became lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ
knew the letter of the law and they were resting in the freedom
and liberty that they had in the Lord Jesus Christ. What does
the law demand? The law said, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to The law doesn't expect us to live under its rules
and regulations. The law only condemns us. It does not lift us up. It condemns
us and pushes us down. As long as a person lives under
the dominion of the law, That is, seeking salvation or sanctification
or justification by the dominion of the holy law of God, he is
under its obligation to keep the WHOLE law. Remember Paul
said, to offend in any point is to be guilty of all the law
of God. So here's what he's saying. If
you go that route of seeking salvation by the deeds of the
law, it's not just some part you've got to keep and the other
part you exclude. You have to go the whole route
of salvation by the deeds of the law. And we have seen clearly
as it's taught in Romans chapter 3, by the deeds of the law, shall
no flesh be justified. But, here's what he's saying,
when a man dies to the judgment of the law of God, its penalties
and its judgments have no more legal obligation on the man who
is dead. Now for example, a man under
the law, living under that law, if he was found guilty of violating
the Sabbath day, he was to be stoned. Now, when the law executed
judgment on him and he died, does the law have any more claim
on that man? He's already dead. He's already
dead. The law has no more legal obligation
on that man because he is dead. And I often use this illustration. When a man is sentenced to death,
by the state of Kentucky or by the state of West Virginia for
a crime that he has committed. He's been tried, he's been convicted,
he's been found guilty, he's been sentenced to death and the
judge says you're guilty and the law says that you must die.
After that man is executed by whatever method, the law of the
state of Kentucky or West Virginia It's satisfied, isn't it? It
has no more claim on that man who has broken the law. Even
so, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him crucified, we are dead
to the law by the body of Christ being crucified with Him. And that's what it says over
here in Romans 6.6. Romans 6.6. Knowing this, that
our old man is crucified with Him. that the body of sin might
be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve." We should
not serve or seek salvation by the deeds of the law. Now Paul
in verse 2 and verse 3, he goes on to further illustrate this
by the marriage covenant. This is the marriage covenant.
Now remember we're talking about under the law. This is what the
exactness of the law remains. For the woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth. And if the husband be dead, she
is loose from the law of her husband. So then, if while her
husband liveth, she be married to another man, she be called
an adulteress. This is what the strictness of
the law of God demands. But if her husband be dead, now
here's what his illustration, he's not really talking about
marriage so much as he's using this as an illustration. But
if her husband be dead, she is free from that law. So that she
is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Now death dissolves legal obligation. And this is what Paul illustrates.
Paul illustrates the legal obligation being dissolved. Like when a
husband or a wife, when one of them die, the marriage covenant
is dissolved and the other person is free to marry another. Now
again, I emphasize here, this is what the strictness of the
Levitical law demanded. The strictness of the Levitical
law demanded marriage be not broken except by death. The only
way that covenant of marriage could be broken was by death,
and that's what he's illustrating here. Now, I understand that
in the Gospel and in the New Testament there are exceptions
for that marriage covenant to be broken, and I'm not going
to Go into that at this time, we've taught these things before,
but I don't want you to be distracted from what he's saying here. Under
the law, the first husband being dead, the woman is now set free,
not by her death, but by his death. And here's the message. Christ died for us. under the
obligation, the legal obligation to the law of God, and we are
set free from our first husband, that is the holy law of God,
and are free to marry now in that covenant of love to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is now our head and husband
in our experience. You remember from Isaiah 54 where
it says, the Lord said, thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts
is his name, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of
the whole earth. Now the Lord Jesus Christ in
our experience of grace has been revealed to us as our covenant
head and as our husband. We are married to him. But now
think about this, in reality, In the eternal covenant of grace,
we've always been married to Him. When He chose us in eternity,
we've always been married to the Lord Jesus Christ. But in
our experience in life, He makes this a reality. by the revelation
of God, that in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have all things
in Him. He married us when He chose us,
and then by the experience of grace, we lay hold upon the Lord
Jesus Christ as our husband and as our head. Now, look at verse
4, Wherefore, my brethren, ye are also become dead to the law,
Dead to the law. Just like that first husband
died, the woman now is set free. He said, you are 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,
remember he was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification that we should bring forth fruit, fruit
unto God. Believers are likewise dead to
the law by the Lord Jesus Christ dying in our room and in our
stead as our substitute. Find the book of Galatians chapter
2. The book of Galatians chapter
2. Believers are dead to the law
through the Lord Jesus Christ being executed. He died in our
room and in our stead and we died in Him. Galatians chapter
2, look at verse 19. For I through the law am dead
to the law that I might live unto God, that I might serve
God. Galatians 2, 19. Now look at verse 20. I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Now verse 21, this is one of
my favorite verses. I do not frustrate, distort,
or confuse the grace of God, for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. No need for the Lord
Jesus Christ to die. If I can obey the law in such
a way as to satisfy, to earn salvation, no need for Christ
to come and die in my room and in our stead. Our first husband,
that is the law, had a rightful and legal claim on us because
we are born under the law, born in sin. We were married to the
law under obligation to honor it every thought, Word, motive,
and deed. But we know that's impossible.
God set that bar and that standard so high that the law tells us
to stop our mouth and the law declares unto us we're guilty,
guilty before God. But the law of God being honored
and satisfied by the death of Christ. Here is the key to understanding
the gospel. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for us. In his life, he perfectly obeyed
every precept of that law in word, deed, thought, and motive. God said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. God is well pleased with His
Son and He's well pleased with us in His Son. So the Lord Jesus
Christ satisfied every precept of that law, honored that law. He worked out, as we say, a perfect
righteousness for His people and He freely gives that unto
them. But there's the other aspect
of that law. Not only does the precepts of
that law have to be satisfied and honored, but the penalty
of that law too. And this is what happened at
Calvary. The Lord Jesus Christ being made sin for us, being
made guilty for us, having our sin laid upon Him, our sin was
reckoned to Him, the just dying for the unjust, He satisfied
the penalty of that law. The Lord Jesus Christ really
did die under the curse and judgment of the Law of God, and we were
one with Him, and being one with Him, the Law killed us as well. The Lord Jesus Christ therefore
honored the Law of God, satisfied the Law of God. The first husband,
the Law, has no more claim on him, nor on us, does it? dead to the law, now alive unto
God. Notice in Romans 6 verse 11,
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God, alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Now in our experience of grace
by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we now see and love
our Lord Jesus Christ as our lawful husband and head. We look to him for all of salvation. We look to him to provide all
things freely for us. We don't look to the law For
any part of our salvation, we only look to Christ, who satisfied,
He took care of everything for us. That we being, as it says
there, even to Him who was raised from the dead, that we being
raised from the dead, that we should walk in newness of life,
being raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. Now, what is this fruit? It's
not the fruit of the flesh. It's the fruit of the Spirit.
You remember in John 15, verse 5, I read this last week. Let
me just read it to you again. The Lord said, I am the vine,
you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me you
can do nothing." Nothing. And then the Lord says this in
John 15, 16. He said, You have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you, and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit.
It's His fruit. Fruit of the Spirit. And that
your fruit should remain that whatsoever he shall ask of the
Father in my name, he may give it to you." And then Paul says,
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. Now, I think we read that last
week from Galatians 5.22, where it says, the fruit of the Spirit,
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. It's everything that God gives
us. It's the fruit of the Spirit
now. And notice it's fruit, not fruits, fruit of the Spirit. Now, he gives us the contrast
here. So we bring forth fruit unto
God, and it gives Him, remember in John 15 it said, Herein my
Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit. Now it's His
fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. Now look at verse 5, For when
ye were in the flesh, The motions of sin, or the passions of sin,
as the marginal reference had, the passions of sin, which were
by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit, not to
salvation, unto death. Fruit unto God, or
fruit unto death. Now, we still have this body
of flesh to deal with every day, don't we? You remember what Paul
said about the flesh? Look at Romans 7 verse 18. Our
Lord said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. 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 can't do that. I can't do that. The flesh can
never honor or satisfy the law of God. Therefore the flesh will
never be sanctified or holy flesh. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am, this flesh, this body of flesh will never be sanctified
or will never be holy flesh, not in this life. Now one day
we'll have a new resurrected body like unto his glorious body. We will not even have the capacity
to sin, not in the flesh. We'll have a new body like unto
his. But this is primarily talking about seeking salvation by the
deeds of the law, our fleshly efforts at obedience to the law,
and going about to establish a righteousness by the deeds
of the law. It only produces fruit unto death. for by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified." And that's why Paul tells those same folks
in Romans 10 that we are no longer going about to establish a righteousness
by the law, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. All our efforts at seeking salvation
by the deeds of the law only produce fruit, fruit unto death. Now, have you ever asked a religious
person if he keeps the law? Ask him someday. Are you a keeper
of the law? And they'll stumble and they'll
fumble and they'll say, well, well, well, probably I'll mess
up once in a while. But that's the issue is guilty,
guilty. Those who seek salvation by the
deeds of the law only bring forth fruit unto death. Well, I wish
we'd get a hold of that. Fruit, if you go the law route,
it's death, it's death. There is a way that seems right
unto man, the end thereof is the ways of death. Proverbs 14,
12. The wage of sin is death, death. But, look at verse 6 now, Romans
7, verse 6. But now, but now, we have delivered
ourselves from the law. That's not what it says. Now
we are delivered from the law. How are we delivered? Remember
Galatians 3 verse 13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on the tree. But now we are delivered
from the law. Who delivered us? He delivered
us. God who spared not His own Son,
He delivered Him up for us all, that we might be delivered, that
being dead, wherein we were held." We were held captive in bondage
to sin, death, and the law. He set us free. Stand fast in
the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free. Being set free,
you remember the Lord said in Luke chapter 4 verse 18, He came
to set the captive free, And this is his doing, totally his
doing. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath set us free, and don't be entangled again with
the bondage of the law, that we should serve being set free,
that we should serve in newness of spirit. We've been made new
creatures in Christ. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things become new, not in the oldness of the letter. Being set free, free from the
law, oh happy condition, Christ has died and now in Him there
is no condemnation. We are delivered from the law,
being redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now by His grace we serve
the Lord Jesus Christ out of love. not constrained by the
penalty of the law, but out of love to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the love of God constrains
us in Christ Jesus. We now, by His grace, we walk
in the newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. Now, turn to one page, Romans
chapter 8. We walk in the newness of life.
the newness of life, the newness of the Spirit. We've been made
new creatures. We're not seeking salvation to
obtain God's favor or to remove His wrath by the letter of the
law. Romans 8 verse 1, There is therefore
now no condemnation to those, to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh. We walk not after the flesh.
What does that mean? We're not seeking salvation by
our fleshly obedience. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death, for what the law could not do. The law what it could not do.
Now, the problem wasn't with the law. I mean, the law is good
and holy and right. The problem is the weakness of
the flesh. Look what it says there. in that it was weak through
the flesh. Whose flesh? Our flesh. God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, or
by sacrifice for sin, he 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, we've been made new creatures
in Christ and we serve Him. We have a new master. We have
a new covenant. We have a new way. We have the
newness of life. All things are new in Christ. Not according to the oldness
and deadness of the letter of the law, but we have the freedom
of the Spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ.