Tonight, we turn in our Bibles to Romans chapter 6. We're continuing our study through the book of Romans. And actually, it's chapter 7. And we will consider together the first six verses tonight. Just a few things. I mentioned that I flew to see Norman and to do part of his ordination. That was a wonderful experience, and I was very thankful to do that. I did get food poisoning on the way back. so I'm surprised I'm here right now doing this. I'm sure Air Canada won't want me back on their plane. Second, the sermon tonight very much parallels Dr. Clark's this morning, and I thought, well, I don't know, it sounds so much alike, but if you weren't paying attention, then maybe you'll figure I did a better job, okay? so. This is Romans chapter 7 tonight, the first six verses. Let's give our attention to God's Word. Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives. For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. And I ask you to keep your Bibles open tonight as we will go back to the Old Testament for a passage to look at. What Paul has been doing in Romans and what he has been explaining for us is what the life and the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. And it's been just wonderful to study this and to look at this in this great book of Romans. And in chapter 6, he had been laboring to explain what this means for a Christian, the Christian life, the new life in Christ. A very important section for understanding what we now are as Christians. And I suppose that's what's been the most difficult for us to grasp. I'm sure I was reading some of these statements in Romans, and things don't set in quickly. Every time I go through these things, I learn more and the truth sets in a little deeper and I'm shocked at how much I didn't understand before. That's how it always seems to go. But I'm sure as you're going through some of this and trying to ponder exactly what's being said, maybe for the first time it's hitting you, maybe you've heard this and now it's hitting you afresh, or maybe you've never understood this. But it could be that as you were listening to some of these statements, you became discouraged. I mean, think about it. In verse 16 of chapter 6, think of this statement. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness. So you're either enslaved to one or the other. And you stand here and you say, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. You're describing something that doesn't seem at all to fit my reality if I am free. You've been saying over and over and over, Pastor. You've been saying over and over, we're dead to sin. And we're now alive in Him. Then why do I find myself so easily giving in to the same old sins? You know? Why? Why when some, whatever it might be, whatever lust arouses me, It gets a hold of my thinking. And when I know it's wrong, I so easily give myself into it. What does that then mean for me? Am I still a slave? In what way? Does it mean that maybe I'm not a Christian? Paul knows that for the Christian who has been made alive, he's very sensitive to his sin. Paul knows that. Paul understands that. And one of the deepest fears and agony for the christian who has new life who has been brought out is the great struggle that we do not finally get rid of the sinful nature until we physically die and enter into glory that's hard it's hard to deal with at times and he knows that christians can be very careless at times he knows that christians can be very lazy at times and if that weren't so he wouldn't be constantly telling the new testament writers wouldn't be constantly telling us wake up wake up it's high time for you guys to wake up out of sleep because it's about ready to be over i mean this is the kind of push of the new testament and as with anything paul knows these things and he is encouraging the Christian first and foremost with this right thinking leads to right action right thinking leads to right action and so the apostle has been having us think correctly first about who we are he knows this is a struggle he knows this is real and he wants us to think just about what the lord has accomplished and so he has been fixing our eyes on him he has been telling us look to him trust him look at his life look at his death look at his resurrection and coming by faith to him you have everything you need he has said this over and over this is what the doctrine of justification was and for the past week we have been looking then at the truth the past few weeks of what it is to be united to him so that we can understand that whatever happened to him happened to us to think that way i was so encouraged that one of you walked up to me an older member um after the last sermon in romans and said you know i don't know if it's never hit me before but his death is mine and i love that i love it to hear um believers see these things and and and understand these things but it doesn't come quick it doesn't come quick and that's why we mine through a book like this at the speed we're going not too slow but the speed we're going so what paul is doing is explaining for us how this all works how are being joined to christ by faith how this all works for us and what it means for us and what he has been doing is giving us all these different contrasts to tell us the same thing notice there's all these series of contrasts here and he's doing that to tell us one great truth of what he said in verse 2 that we died that was the great thesis you can't go on sinning that grace may abound why because you died to sin you died the old adam the old man and so think of the contrast that's what he gave in chapter 5 there's the old adam and everyone is either in the old Adam or in the last Adam or the second Adam who is Jesus. You're in one or the other and that comes right out of this morning's sermon where Dr. Clark said there's two ways of relating that God, we relate to God. In which Adam? He made that contrast. That's been very important. In the old Adam, if we're in the old Adam, we're still dead in trespasses and sins and then he makes the great contrast being brought into the new Adam. You've been taken out of this one put into this one you're out of darkness you're into light these contrasts are everywhere and last time he used another example of slavery using the weakness of our understandings he says that he uses this example of slavery and he says you're either a slave of one or the other there's no middle ground here it's not me in the autonomous sovereign middle he says you're either one or the you're either slave of sin or you're slave of christ and all of these contrasts saying the same thing that we died when christ died believing and trusting in him and then in verse 11 he had told us of chapter 6 think of yourself this way you reckon yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to him you do what god's already done you learn to think in your minds of what god has already done for you it's already done entirely different way of thinking isn't it it's not do this or else no god's already done this for you dear believer now be who you are beautiful beautiful now that tells us we looked at in chapter 6 we have to continue to fight you will still struggle with sin but every provision has been made and everything has been accomplished for you to be forgiven who have come to christ and believed in him that he has cleansed you from all of your sins and what does he say first john says if you do sin guess what you can do you come to the lord and you know what he's going to do for you he's going to forgive you he'll cleanse you from all of your sins confess them come to him he wants you to talk to him so last week we started one major contrast that now paul's running with in chapter 7 the contrast was the capstone really of them all where the great one now he's going to spend developing in chapter 7 because he knew this was the big one this was the struggle for the jews this is the struggle for all of us and that's why i said it connects so well to this morning's sermon if you'll look at verse 14 of chapter 6 remember what he said last time sin will not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace now i don't know if when you stop and hear that and it's just the the verse you have to think about a lot how radical that statement would have been to the average jew but how radical a statement it is period when we go back and consider what we heard this morning when god put israel under the law because that's essentially what paul said happened in chapter 3 to israel when he said god whoever he puts under the law whoever those have the law he puts under the law that the whole the mouth of all the world might be stopped He was saying, look at Israel and look at the phenomenon of what it is like to be under the law. It was not a good situation. Sinai was a devastating event. It was black. It was trembling. There was lightning. There was thunder. And as we heard this morning, not even a beast could touch the mountain. And lo and behold, what happened to that generation out in the wilderness? They all died. That generation, you remember the age, certain age and older, all of them perished in the wilderness so that we would look back at that experience and say, oh, my, my, my, my, my. I don't want to be under the law. I don't want to be under the law. And so that's what Paul has been dealing with here. And that's what he's been showing us. A great contrast was made. And so he introduces this radically different principle that obviously, as we heard this morning goes back to abraham because as we heard that's the that's the the father that's the one we look at the father of the faith abraham being justified by faith it's the radical principle of grace different principle than law it raised all sorts of questions though you're not under law but under grace paul's coming back to it and the questions would have gone if you're talking to a Jew, I could only imagine the questions would go something like this. Why did you even give the law then? And the big one being, which Paul deals with in chapter 7, in your contrast, Paul, you're almost making the law sound evil. You're almost making it, the law itself, sound like something that's sinful. You could really hear why a Jew would get angry at the teaching of justification by faith alone i mean hey we we sung out from psalm 119 tonight how much we love god's law and how much the law means to us because their identity and the basis of their acceptance was the law think about it i mean they would say in their prayers what nation is there who is so blessed as us to have the law this is right out of the old testament deuteronomy 4 and you can understand why they were so infuriated at the apostle paul remember in acts 21 the jews from asia seeing him in the temple stirred up the whole crowd laid hands on him crying out men of israel help this is the man who teaches men everywhere against the people the law and this place heart of it being the law now and paul is having us in romans think about the purpose of the law the law he said something shocking the law arouses sin in you the law arouses sin and he was running around saying you have to turn from that turn from looking to your obedience and turn to jesus he's your messiah he is god's answer turn to him this is hard for us because we think what defines us and how we're defined is by what we do or don't do and that's why i've said you know in the history of the uh the sermon maker or the sermon tape maker you know what sermons were the most checked out always it was the sermon that blasts everyone on the outside for not keeping the law some form of it and the apostle paul is explaining to us tonight how this all works what about the law the great charge against paul has been paul the message of grace that you're proclaiming attacks the law and paul's addressing this in romans 7 and his answer and main point of the passage is that the message of the christian gospel is in fact a definitive break from being under the law absolutely our relation to it as sinners in that old way has ended now that we have come to christ and you need to understand why that is so you need to grasp why that is so important for you in the new life there had to be a break with the old as we heard this morning there had to be a break with that there had to be the new and that's what we're looking at here in romans 7 look at verse 1 look at verse 1 for do you not know brothers for i'm speaking to those who know the law that the law is binding on a person as long as he lives let's stop there the law the better word here i believe because paul's been using it in romans 6 is dominion the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives paul is looking at the jews who were handed the law and what we're going to see is that this has wide implications for everyone because though they were handed the letter and the written code though they were handed that paul has already made the case that everyone is under the law as we heard this morning even by the law written on the conscience but we look at israel and see when they had the written law handed to them how did they do with it and paul is saying that actually when it was handed to them which should teach the whole world that it has absolute dominion over him as long as he lives dominion now this is a very important section here what is that what does that mean dominion what does the law do it commands he just said if someone's under it it has dominion so we looked at last time these aren't suggestions um and right in line with this morning turn back just for a moment to Exodus 19 and this whole section of Exodus 19 to 24 here we see this whole ceremony this morning we looked at the ceremony of it ratified but I want you to notice um again how this this whole terms the whole terms of this were set up and I want you to think as I'm doing this of a wedding ceremony where the parties are standing there and making their oaths and i want you to ask the question who swore the oath notice this in in exodus chapter 19 at verse 5 now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation these are the words you shall speak to the people of israel so moses came and called the elders of the people and set them all before set before them all these words that the lord had commanded him all the people answered together and said now think of exodus 24 all that the lord has spoken we will do and moses reported the words of the people to the lord now that's a wow verse god put the terms there but notice how it came if you keep all this then now how does that strike you that strikes you and should strike you in many different ways If you will think back to Pastor Donovan's sermon a couple, yeah, last Sunday morning. When God cut the covenant with Abraham, where was Abraham? Asleep. And did you get that here in Exodus 19? They're standing up and they're saying, they're taking the oath, we'll do it. And then as you heard this morning, when it was ratified, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, blood's on you. Now think of a marriage for a minute. Israel got married that day. Israel got married. Now, what happens here? Think of what Paul's developing. Paul has challenged us. How did Israel do under the law? Terribly. They did none of it. Now come back to Romans 7 and listen to it with that in mind. Everything you heard this morning and then tonight. You who know the law, do you know it has dominion over a man as long as he lives? the dominion of the law required heidelberg 10 and taking right out of galatians cursed is everyone who does not do all things written in the book of the law to do them now paul's going to say the law is good but you know what the law was it was an overwhelming yoke an overwhelming yoke and paul is reacting to those who had an entirely wrong view of the law and its purpose why did god give the law the fact is the law the jews would run around even saying this law is a heavy yoke and now you can kind of understand what the apostle is dealing with and saying that the law was given to show us if you will the exceedingly exceeding sinfulness of sin it's not that the law is the problem the problem's the human heart and you kind of understand tonight why there is a reaction in christianity when christianity is presented only as a system of morality is a christian christianity moral yes and we teach morality but when it's only presented that way you have all sorts of problems it actually you end up leveling upon the people new yokes that they can't keep in fact when i was a christian school teacher my students it was interesting i'd always probe the students and talk to the students in the classroom about the chapels and my students often were troubled by the chapels and i'm relaying what they said to me you know they were troubled by the chap chapels and i i understood that the faculty wanted to uh to get spirituality into the students because the students were showing such little spirituality. I heard that all the time. And they were going to bring in somebody who was going to lay it on thick about living. And he was going to lay it on thick. And if you could always summarize the title of the chapel message, it was, What You Should Not Do. And so we would have graphic chapels on sex and alcohol, and the speaker would then give detailed examples of things that he tried in his own life that the students should not do. And what do you think that did in the hearts of the students? What has Paul said about the law? What does it do? It arouses sin. And this caused problems. Remember the cookie. You take a chocolate cookie and you set it in front of a kid and you say don't. What does he want to do? Eat the cookie. And so the law is arousing sin. And I always knew they were playing with fire doing this stuff because what they were doing, when Paul says here that this is what it does, it was the worst kind of glamorization of sin and those with any kind of sensitive conscience coming out of chapel felt, I'm missing something. I am missing something in the Christian life because I'm not having that experience of this really bad guy who's telling me how bad he was. It was very similar in the Jewish religion that they had created a whole system of oral traditions on top of the law of God to get people in line. And it was an unbearable yoke over the law of Moses, adding all of these commands and compounding the problem. Nobody could come and measure up before God. And the early church wrestled with this. It's interesting. When the church was going out, they didn't know what to do, how to relate to the law. Remember what the Judaizers were doing to the early church? This is why they had the first council. And in Acts 15, this is what we read. When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all the things that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up saying, it's necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. They need to do that. Imagine this. In the midst of all of that, hands put up, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden. Come to me and I will take that yoke. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Can you hear it? My yoke is not that. I'll take it. Come to me. And you understand what infuriated the religious community when somebody was running around speaking like that. Jesus was saying, I'm the way. Through me you find freedom. Not looking and living under the law which brings you bondage. You're getting a sense tonight of what Paul means here. The law has dominion over you for as long as you live. It's a master over you. It's a tyrant for you because it says you have to keep it perfectly and if you do not, you die, as we heard this morning. And now Paul illustrates, and this is where we'll end tonight. I want to let this set in. The illustration is powerful. Notice he proves it here in verse 2. For the woman, for a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she's released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she's free from that law, and if she marries another man, she's not an adulteress. It's a very simple illustration tonight, and you can't take it too far or else you'll get lost in it. It's simple. Everyone knows that when a man and a woman marry, it's for what? Life. That's how God intended it. Paul says we all know that a woman who has a husband is bound there. As long as she lives, she's bound. And Paul is teaching the principle here that the husband has authority over the woman as long as she lives. And Paul says we understand this about marriage. We know this about marriage if we know anything of the biblical design. It's a law for life. Now Paul's thinking in biblical terms of this unbreakable bond of marriage. The only way that bond is broken is if there's a death. That's it. And so if while her husband still lives and she goes out and she marries another, she is an adulteress. But if her husband died, she's free. Now I hope you're starting to see this come together. Paul uses this illustration to make one main point. You don't have to go further with it than you need to. The main point is to show that a way someone is free from being under the law is by death. Now, do you get what he's doing? When Israel had that formal ceremony in Exodus 24, that was a kind of marriage ceremony that shows us that everyone's under the law. And if making a connection to marriage, the only way the marriage relationship is broken is through death, you've got a problem how could Israel be freed from the law Israel shows us that everyone in Adam is under the law and Paul is proclaiming what what did he proclaim in chapter 6 verse 2 there was a death and chapter 6 verse 2 what does he say actually it's 6 verse yeah what shall we say are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means how can we who died still died to sin still live in it there was a death there was a death and isn't that what paul says in verse four tonight therefore my brethren i love this in verse four likewise my brothers. You also have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You're betrothed to another. You're married to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit to God. Now that should all come together for you. The thesis he's been developing tonight is you can't just go on carelessly living in sin with no conscience, unrepentant, under its mastery, under its dominion as a believer. Why? Because you died. And you were joined to another. And if the law's purpose was to show us our sin, the law had complete dominion over us. It was our husband, if you will. That relationship was shattered by death. Whose death? Our death in the death of Christ. So that just like when a woman who loses her husband is free from that commitment so there was a death for you you say when what we've been saying the whole time see how this isn't that complex when jesus died and believing in him by faith you died you were set free and you came under a brand new husband, if you will. You became married to another, to Christ. You are totally free from being under the law for condemnation. See how this all anticipates Romans 8? There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. It is absolutely impossible. With his death, since you died by faith believing in him you're freed now and you are joined to him who is christ you are brought into a relationship with a master who is what gracious loving he doesn't condemn you he's freed you what he came to do and what about the law well the paradox of the whole thing as we said last time is when you now been set free from the law of sin and death being under a gracious master you actually end up pursuing from the heart what the law requires and that's the beauty of it that's why the heidelberg does not put the law in the guilt section but puts it in the grace section to tell us you honor it as those who are free all the demands met in jesus christ his perfect life not only were they met but being united with him in death this penalty of breaking the law all of the curse falling on him you were freed from that yoke right then and there to be ever accepted and received before this holy god and that's the glorious gospel he's been showing us over and over and over you know the fact is our commitments fail don't they our commitments fail and the reality is we're going to see in romans 7 i'm incredibly cold to him i don't love him the way that i wish i did i give little care and devotion to him my worship is half-hearted my love is weak at best i'm often shamed by the things that i continue to do that i don't want to do but the beautiful truth put on display in roman 7 is my husband is absolutely committed to this relationship christ wants us to understand the bond that exists between him and His church cannot be broken. When He has freed His elect and brought them in and given them life, He will not divorce us. And that means that in dying for you, all of these, what we've looked at in the Greek, eris tenses here, which are completed actions of the past that have immense benefits for the present, means that He decided to be a spiritual husband to us. And He has desired and He has committed Himself through thick and thin, through our failures, to present us as a beautiful bride without spot and without wrinkle. That's what we are in Him. And He loves you that much to make sure that's how it is. So Paul is saying the purpose of your death here, and I love this, if anyone's ever concerned about the concern that we're throwing out the law or that we're antinomians. What did Paul say here at the end? He says, we're released from the law. And notice what he says. When you're under the law, you're bearing fruit for what? Death. But now being released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, we now serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code we're bearing fruit that's what he's working in us the works even prepared beforehand that we should walk in them so notice in verse six that beautiful statement the reality is you once were darkness now you're light you've been delivered from this you've died to sin you've been freed through the body of christ now you're the holy spirit is committed to bring about a fruitful relationship and here's what's happening i leave you with the words tonight of galatians 5 which are absolutely beautiful and showing the contrast again and we'll close with this i say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish but if you are led by the spirit you're not under the law now the works of the flesh are evident which are adultery fornication uncleanness lewdness idolatry sorcery hatred contentions jealousies outbursts of wrath selfish ambitions dissensions heresies envy murders drunkenness revelries and the like of which I tell you beforehand just as I told you in times past notice how he says it that those who practice such things they're living in it with no repentance no sorrow those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Can you hear that now? Can you hear that? Do you want that now? That's the desire and pursuit of one who's come under God's relentless, pursuing, amazing grace. Amen. O Lord our God, we are grateful for the gracious way and the wonderful grace that You've shown to us by sending Your Son to die. That we, having died to sin, now might live to You, slaves of righteousness, being brought out, set free, loved, so that the relationship can never be broken because of the wonderful covenant of grace that you made so many years ago with your servant Abraham. And when you made that promise, passing through those pieces, you assured us that those descendants would be as the stars in the heavens and the sand on the seashore, and that all the Gentiles of the earth would be blessed in him. And tonight we are blessed. Thank you for saving us by grace through faith by the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen.