Now, Romans, look at chapter 6, just for a
moment, just for a moment. Chapter 6, verse 14. The Apostle Paul says in verse
14 that the true believer is not under the law, not under
the law, but under grace. Verse 14, "'For sin shall not
have dominion over you, shall not reign over you, for you are
not under the law.'" You are not under the law, you are under
grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not
under the law but under grace? God forbid. What a ridiculous
conclusion. The law to which Paul refers
here is not the ceremonial law. Every believer knows that. We're
not under the ceremonial law of Moses. It's been fulfilled
by Christ. The ceremonial law, which includes
the Sabbath days and the holy days and the sacrifices and the
Old Testament priesthood and the tithe and the storehouse
and the baptisms and washings and all included under that Old
Testament priesthood and Mosaic law and ceremonial law, the believer
is not under that. And people make a mistake to
try to bring back even part of that Old Testament ceremonial
law. Paul is talking here, when he
says we're not under the law, he's talking about the moral
law of God. That's right. He's talking about
that holy, now listen, that holy will of God that he manifested
to all mankind in the Garden of Eden. He said, Adam, of all
the trees in the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for
in the day you eat thereof you die. That's the holy will and
the perfect holiness of God expected, demanded, required of every human
being. Obey God in every jot and tittle. That's the law that we're talking
about. It's that law he gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden,
a law of universal obedience by which he bound Adam and his
posterity to a perfect rule of righteousness. Obey God. obey
God. And he pronounced a curse upon
anyone who failed in the smallest measure not to obey God. James says to offend and one
point, one point of the law is to be guilty of the whole thing.
So this is the law we're talking about. We're talking about that
holy will of God. This is the will of God, your
sanctification, your perfection. that holy will of God, that law
of universal obedience to God, which he gave to Adam, and which
he repeated on the mountain, the mountain of smoke and fire
and lightning and thunder, the birth of God, to which the people
responded by running away and said to Moses, you talk to him,
don't let us talk to him. And it's that law that he's written
in every human heart. It's a light that lighteth every
man that comes into the world, and it's called conscience. Even
in your babies, you'll detect it when they drop their heads
when they've done something wrong. That's right. They know. I read
about one little fellow that just, his father didn't have
to send him to the corner, he just walked over there. It's a conscience. It's that
inoculate, infinite, unchangeable. And it's unchangeable. This holy
law of universal obedience is unchangeable as God is unchangeable. I'm the Lord. I've changed not.
This law doesn't change, which requires perfect obedience. To
be accepted, it must be perfect. And that perfection, now listen,
reaches not just to the act, but to attitude. Our Lord said to look and lust
is to commit adultery. Not in the act, in the thought.
To look and to hate is to be a murderer. To add anything to
your yes or no, except yes or no, is to be a blasphemer. The law of God is unchangeable.
It reaches not just to the manners, but to the motive. Not what you
do, it's why you do it. or bless your heart why you didn't
do it. And it reaches not only to the
deeds, but to the thoughts. Will you have to run them out
of your head like you run bats out of a church belfry? Get out,
get out of there, you're not welcome here. They root there. It's their home. Thoughts, thoughts,
thoughts, oh, my thoughts. And God looks not on the outward
countenance, he looks on the heart. And that which is well-pleasing
in the sight of men is an abomination in the sight of God. And Almighty
God has declared that the whole world, the whole world is guilty,
guilty, and under the judgment of God Almighty. Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things written in that holy, immaculate, perfect
revelation of his will and holiness to keep him. Cursed, he's cursed.
And I'll tell you, every man and woman that's ever had a clear
look at the holiness of God, at the law of God, has been smitten
and devastated. No matter how great they are,
no matter how good they are, no matter how moral they are.
Take Job, for example. God said of Job, there's not
another man on earth like him. Not another man like him. He's
so special. But when Job got a good look
at the holiness of God, he said, I hate myself. I hate myself. I repent in sackcloth and ashes.
I've opened my mouth too many times, I'll never speak again."
Isaiah served under four kings, prophet of God, got a good look
at the holiness of God. And he said, I'm a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
I'm cut off! I'm undone. The Apostle Paul, who was such
a religionist, such a moral man, such a Pharisee, such an outstanding
student, scholar, member of the Sanhedrin, Bible scholar, didn't
know God. And when he saw the Lord, he
said, I just died. I just died. And Peter, you know
how he loved the Savior? He said, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. You know,
I love you." But one day he saw the majesty of Christ, the glory
of Christ, the power of Christ, and he said to this one whom
he loved, Lord, you better leave me. I'm a sinful man. We better dissolve this relationship
now because I'm not fit company for you. I tell you, you're commencing
to begin to get started to be saved when you find that You're
not fit company for God. You're not fit company. What
are we going to do? How in the world can we be freed
from this impossible, this impossible law, this impossible position? This position where God says,
do all this and live, append in one point. How are we going
to get out from under that? Die. Die. Die. Die. But I'm talking about somebody
else's death though. Let's read about it. In Romans
chapter 7, Know ye not, brethren, verse 1, I speak to them who
know the law, you people who are taught of God, how that the
law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives. As long
as he lives, the law has dominion over him. God's perfect law of
universal obedience has dominion over that man as long as he lives.
And here's an example. For the woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law of her husband as long as he lives. As long
as that husband lives, she's bound by the law of that man.
But now when he dies, if her husband dies, she's loose from
the law, she's free. That law binding her to that
husband, she's dead to that law. And she's loose from that law,
and she's as free as any 16-year-old girl to marry again in the Lord. But she's free. She's not bound
in any way to that husband. She was while he lived. He says in verse 3, so if a husband
lives, she's married to another man, she's an adulteress. She's
a bigamist. But if he be dead, she's free,
free, free, free of that law, from that law. So she's an adulteress
no matter whether she marries or not. And you and I, under
the moral law of God, this law of God's perfect universal obedience,
like that woman is in bondage or under the law of her husband.
But when our Lord Jesus came to this earth in the human form
as a man, took upon himself our flesh, he met every claim of
the law in perfect obedience as God required of us. He answered
every charge. He paid every debt. But then
he died on the cross under the curse of that broken law. And
he did that for us. We were in him and with him,
and his death is our death. And we are as free from that
law, from its curse, from its judgment, from its requirements.
We're as free from that law as if we'd never been under it.
That woman whose husband is dead is as free from that law of marriage
as she was as if she'd never been married to him. And that's
what he said in the message I brought to Winston and I back here in
chapter 6. Let's look at that. Chapter 6
of Romans, verse 6. Listen to this. Knowing that
our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin
might be destroyed at his forth, we should not serve sin. For
he that is dead is free from sin. Our Lord Jesus took our
sins in his body on the tree and paid for them. He's dead.
He's free from the law, free from the curse, free from the
judgment. Now, if we be dead with Christ,
we believe we shall also live with Christ. Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead doth no more, and death hath no more
dominion over him, no more dominion at all. And it hath not over
us no more claim on him. For in that he died, he died
once. He died under sin once. In that
he lives, he lives under God. He died once and was raised to
die no more. We died in him once. Fulfilled
the law, satisfied the law, fulfilled justice, there it rose again
and ascended and was seated with Christ into heaven. And he lives, he died once, in
that he lives, he lives unto God. Is that true? Sure, it's
true. His sacrifice was not for himself,
it was for us. Do you believe that? Then verse
11, Then likewise reckon ye yourselves, be ye dead indeed unto sin, free
from the law, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ Our
Lord. If a man commits a crime and
they execute him, he's free from that law. Doesn't matter if he
killed one person or 15 people. He's free. He's dead. The law
is satisfied. The law can't touch him anymore.
And when Christ died, we died. When Christ was buried, we were
buried. When Christ arose, we arose. And the law has no claim
on him. Judgment has no claim. Justice
has no claim. It has no claim on you. So verse
11 says, if that be true, and you do believe, Reckon ye yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord, dead to the law, married to Christ. Dead to the law, married to Christ. Our dependence is on him. Our
happiness is in wearing his name. Our joy is in sharing his love
and his fellowship. Our hope is one day to awake
in his likeness and dwell forever in his house. We are married
to Christ. We are as free from the covenant
of the law as if we had never been under it. We are married
to him who loved us forever. Go over here to chapter 7, verse
4. Chapter 7, verse 4. Therefore,
my brethren, you are become dead to the law by the body of Christ,
by the death of Christ, that you should be married to another,
dead to the law, married to Christ, even to him. who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. We are
married to him who has always loved us from before the foundation
of the world. We are married to him who loved
us even when we were dead in sins. But God who is rich in mercy
for his great love and wherewith he loved us even when we were
dead in sins, he has always loved us. The law never loved us. Christ has always loved us. We
are married to him who died for us. The law presents nothing,
offers nothing, can give nothing, no mercy. We are married to him
who is perfect, and in him we are perfect. We are married to
him, listen to this, we are married to him who is the heir of God.
And being married to him, we are joint heirs with him. And verse 5, listen to this.
We never knew any true happiness or peace or joy under the law,
under false religion married to the law. We never had any
joy there. It says in verse 5, when we were
in the flesh, and that's not just talking about
natural flesh, that's talking about religious flesh. Every
one of us were raised in some kind of religion, most of us
were, just like Saul of Tarsus. And when we were in that flesh
and in that fleshy religion, We never had any happiness. We
never had any peace. We never had any joy. We were
married to a law. We were under a law, under religious
rules and regulations. Our old husband, the law, demanded
perfection. He's unbending. He demanded what
we couldn't produce. Back then when we were in false
religion, it demanded what we couldn't produce. Oh, we could
produce it outwardly, but we couldn't produce it inwardly.
We could go through the motions of prayer, but we didn't know
how to pray. We could go to worship services, but we didn't worship.
We could abstain from evil outwardly, but we couldn't abstain from
it inwardly. We could keep our tongues from
cursing, but not our hearts. We never had any peace. When
we were in the flesh, when we were married to that law, when
we were under that law of The motions of sin, that's the passions
of sin, that's the inward cravings, which were by the law. The law
was what stirred those things up. Don't do it, just got to
anyway. Stolen fruits are sweet. The
motions of sin, they work in our memories and just brought
forth food unto death. What am I saying? I'm saying
that old religious Law demanded what I couldn't produce. It expected
perfection, and I knew in my heart I wasn't perfect. I knew
it. And that old law's strict presence
depressed me, depressed you. I always felt guilty. Always felt guilty. How do I
feel now? I'm not guilty. In Christ, I'm
not guilty. In Christ I'm righteous, in Christ
I have peace, in Christ I have joy, in Christ the debt's paid,
I'm happy! I don't have to impress God,
I don't have to impress you, I don't have to make you think,
he's been studied a lot, he's been prayed a lot, he's been
given a lot, I don't have to impress you, it doesn't matter
a hell of a heart's right with him in Christ.
That's right. In that false religion, in that
strict presence of the law and the demands of that religion,
they depress us, and they make us feel guilty. We carry a guilt
complex all the time, a shameful complex, never having a peace. I remember one time Back years
ago, they used to have these drive-in movies here. They had
good movies back then, you know. They had movies like Bambi and
other things like that. Anyway, we'd take our families
and go to the drive-in. A whole carload of kids. You
remember that? Buy popcorn, sit down and watch
the screen. And one of the ladies invited
a friend from another congregation. I'm not going to give the name.
But anyway, went by to pick her up, and she had on, night time
now, we were going to a drive-in movie, she had on dark glasses,
and she had a bandana around her head, you know. I didn't
know who she was. Who are you? I didn't want anybody to see
me go in that movie. Gil. They used to tell us, don't go
to a movie, the Lord might come while you're in there and he'll
pass you by. Gil. Why did you serve him? We had
to. We served out of fear. We served out of duty. We served
for rewards. We did these things, so we had
to, but we couldn't stop the motions in here, the motions
of sin. When we were endless out with
duties and all these deeds and works, trying to impress people, Be what we were. The motions
of sin. You ever heard somebody say he's
going through the motions? That's it. Motions of sin. And what
they do, they produce fruits of death. Fruits of death. And those same
people stood before our Lord in the judgment and said, Lord,
we preached in your name. We cast out devils in your name.
We did many wonderful works, and he said, I never knew you.
Workers of what? Iniquity. Self-righteousness. Go and do the motions. But I'll tell you what we've
done. We've been to a funeral, and we've been to a wedding. We've been to a funeral. Verse
4, here's the funeral. you become dead to the law. That's
what Paul did in Philippians 3. Turn over there to Philippians
3. We've been to a funeral. Paul over here in Philippians
3. I'm giving the biography of about half this congregation
right here. We've been to a funeral. The
apostle Paul said in verse 4 of Philippians 3, have confidence
in the flesh. If any other man thinks he hath
wealth he might trust in the flesh, I'm over it. I've circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin,
the Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisees. Concerning
zeal, persecuting the Church, touching the righteousness which
is of the law, I was blameless. But what things were gained to
me I count lost. I buried them, all my heritage
and ancestry and duties and deeds and professions, and I bear them,
I count them lost. Yea, doubtless, I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. I do
count them, but don't, that I may win Christ and be found in him."
Not having this, my own righteousness, like religious doings and Oh, my, trying to impress folks,
trying to impress God, which is of the law. That old law,
you can't please it now. You've got to die to it. Whichever
law, not my righteousness, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
will be married to another, to Christ. verse in Romans 7 again, wherefore,
my brethren, you are dead, dead to the law, buried by the body
of Christ, that you should be married to another, married to
Christ, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God. Now, what's the difference in
the fruit? Down here in verse 6, and now we're delivered from
the law, we're delivered from the law that being dead wherein
we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, not
in the oldness of the latter. I brought a message on the joy
of giving on television, I have received more responses From
that message and any single message I've ever preached, the joy of
giving. I told people how that in religion,
people are under bondage of the tithe, the old mosaic tithe. And that's set aside 10% of what
they make and give it to the church. And they don't give it
because they want to or delight to or love to. They give it because
they have to. It's required. It's a duty. And
that's the oldness of the letter. Like when those Jews went to
the temple, they had to go. Every male had to go to a certain
place every year at a certain time. He had to, whether he wanted
to or not. That's what he did. That's the
oldness of the letter. But now, being married to one
who loves us, who's tender and compassionate, wonderful to us,
who's always loved us, The relationship is one not of duty, but of love. Not something required, or else
we get a whipping. We do it because we want to.
And that's giving. You give as a man purposes in
his heart, so let it give. Not grudgingly, not of necessity.
God loves a cheerful giver. And that point of giving applies
to all of religious We do it because we love her, we want
her, we're married to Christ. That's it. We serve him not in
the oldness of the latter, but in newness of spirit. Well, where's
the law? Well, let's turn to Deuteronomy
10. I looked at this again. I gave
this to you some time ago, and I looked at it again while I
was studying for this message. In Deuteronomy 10. At that time the Lord said unto
me, this is Moses talking now, the Lord said unto me, Hew thee
two tables of stone, like unto the first. Remember Moses made
two tables of stone, took them to the mountain, and God wrote
the Ten Commandments, and he came down and broke them. So
God says, Come back up here, come up unto me into the mountain,
and make thee an ark of wood. Get the tablets, get the two
tables of stone, and make an ark. And you know how the ark was
made. It was a certain size and made of a certain kind of wood.
And then on the top of the ark was a mercy seat with a chair
of beams. That's the artist talking about.
And God said, I will write on the tables the words that were
in the first table which you broke. And you shall put them in the
ark. Put this law in the ark. And I read an art of Shethemwood,
and I hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and I went
up into the mountain, having the two tables in my hand. And
he, the Lord, wrote on the tables, according to the first writing,
the Ten Commandments, that holy law of God, which the Lord spake
unto you in the mount, out of the mist of the fire in the day
of the assembly, the Lord gave them to me. And I turned myself,
and I came down from the mountain. And I put the tables in the ark
which I had made, and there they be. Where is that awesome, holy
law of perfection? It's in the ark under the blood,
the blood of Christ, forgiven, paid for, put away, under the
blood of Jesus, saved in the shepherd's fold. under the blood
of Jesus, safe while the ages roll, safe though the world may
tremble, safe though the stars grow dim, under the blood of
Jesus. I'm secure, I'm safe, at peace, joy, eternal life,
blessed hope in Him. I'm not under that law. Married
to Christ. Married to Him. I want to read
one more scripture and then we're closed. Ephesians. chapter 5,
Ephesians chapter 5, beginning with verse 22. Wives, submit yourselves to your
own husbands. In this case, that's so easy,
because he's the greatest, most loving husband, our Lord While
the husband is head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the
Church, he's the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the Church
is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands
and everything. And husbands, love your wives
as Christ, even as Christ loved the Church, gave himself for
it, that he might sanctify it, cleanse it with the washing of
the water with the Word, and present it to himself, a glorious
Church. This is us now. not having spot
or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish in his sight." Dead to the law and married to
Christ. May God bless his word. Be with
us tonight as we continue this study.