[0:00] Welcome to our services today, and as we come together around the Word of God, let us seek his blessing upon his Word.
[0:16] Eternal and ever-blessed Lord, what a great privilege that thou hast given to us when we can come around thine own Word.
[0:30] And so we pray, O Lord, that it would please thee through thy Spirit to enlighten our understanding and to lead us into thine own Word.
[0:44] That we may be comforted and encouraged and strengthened in our faith through thine own Word today. O Lord, we give thanks that thou hast given us that revelation of thyself, as a God who delighteth in mercy.
[1:06] For who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of thine own heritage?
[1:18] O Lord, we give thanks that thou art the God who will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
[1:28] Not because of any merit that belongs to ourselves, but because of the merits of thy Son, who came into this world, unto our nature, unto himself.
[1:45] That in that body which he took to himself he would suffer all that our sins deserved. That he would open a way whereby sinners can draw near to thee with boldness and confidence, seeking thy mercy and seeking thy grace to help us in our time of need.
[2:13] We come today, O Lord, confessing your sins. We come today, O Lord, in humility of mind, of heart and of spirit.
[2:25] We bow down before thee, O Lord, and seek that it may please thee to grant unto us thy mercy through the merits of thine own Son.
[2:39] O Lord, we pray that thou would bless our homes and our families. Bless our young people and our children.
[2:51] O Lord, we pray that a generation would rise up. He would fear the Lord. A generation who would be thine own witnesses in this world.
[3:02] O Lord, we pray, O Lord, that thou would bless all thy servants who have gone forth this day with thine own word to proclaim the riches of thy grace through Jesus Christ.
[3:18] May the ears of our people be unstopped by thy spirit, that they may truly hear the glad tidings of the gospel.
[3:29] O Lord, we pray that thou would bless all the gospel.
[3:59] Bless thine own people, those whom thou hast redeemed to thyself. Grant to them that they may be faithful witnesses for thee in this world.
[4:14] Remember the careless and the indifferent. Remember those who today may be in turmoil of mind and of spirit.
[4:24] O Lord, thou knowest our needs. They are not hidden from thee. And we pray that thou would meet with our needs out of the riches of thy grace through Jesus Christ.
[4:40] We pray, O Lord, that thou would bless us as a nation. O Lord, we pray that thou would turn us again to thyself.
[4:51] That we would see days of repentance. Days when people would sorrow over their sin. Days when people would turn away from their sin.
[5:03] And embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray, O Lord, that thou would continue with us for the moments that we are together today.
[5:17] Blessing thy word to us. Strengthening us in our faith. And all that we ask with the forgiveness of our many sins is in Jesus' name and for his sake.
[5:30] Amen. May we now read the word of God as we find it in the New Testament. In Paul's epistle to the Romans and chapter 7.
[5:44] Amen. Amen. Amen. 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.
[5:58] For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
[6:09] So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. 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.
[6:28] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
[6:43] For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 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 latter.
[7:09] What shall we say then? Is the law of sin? 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.
[7:24] But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concussions, 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.
[7:40] 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.
[7:53] Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good.
[8:08] That sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal-souled under sin.
[8:20] For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
[8:34] Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 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 find not.
[8:51] For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
[9:04] I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warning against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
[9:22] O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, O Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
[9:40] May the Lord bless unto us the reading of his own word. Now seeking the Lord's blessing, we shall look at verse 5 and 6.
[9:52] That is Romans 7, verse 5 and 6. Now last week we began our study, Now last week we began our study on this chapter, and our relationship to the law of God.
[10:33] We noted that we are all under the law of God without exception, and therefore we are accountable to God. What does the law of God demand?
[10:46] The law demands are quite clear to us, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. However, in practice we are unable to obey the law of God, which means that we come under its condemnation, for in the presence of God we are all guilty, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[11:14] How can we then be set free from its condemnation? How can we be just before God? Well, it is quite clear that the law can never be the way of salvation.
[11:29] Not because there is anything wrong with the law, but because the law had to work through us, in us and by means of us.
[11:39] Therefore, it was bound to fail. The law could not produce the required righteousness because it depended on us, because it had to work through us, in us and by means of us.
[11:58] But Paul tells us that what the law could not do, God did. How? 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.
[12:20] So, if we are going to receive salvation or be delivered from the condemnation of the law, then a change must come about regarding our relationship to the law.
[12:36] In the first few verses of this chapter, Paul deals with that exact point. He tells us that through union with Christ by faith, that the Christian stands in a new relationship with the law.
[12:55] The Christian is no longer married to the law, but married to another, namely Jesus Christ. Now, when we say that the Christian is dead to the law, it does not mean that the law is abolished as far as the Christian is concerned.
[13:13] For the Christian is still bound by every single imperative of the law. Last week, we noted the words of Robert Shaw, who says, though believers are under the moral law as a rule of life, they are completely freed from it as a covenant of works.
[13:35] In other words, Christians do not look to the law or the keeping of the law as the path to life. Being married or in union with Christ means the establishing of a new and happy relationship to the law.
[13:56] In 1 John chapter 5, we read, For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. There was once upon a time and they were grievous.
[14:13] They were a bondage to us. But now, they are the Christian's delight. For instance, in Psalm 119, we read of a psalmist who says, O how love I thy law!
[14:31] It is my meditation all the day. I hate vain thoughts. I hate vain thoughts. But thy law do I love.
[14:46] And Paul explains how we have become dead to the law that it was by the body of Christ, by which he means the death of Christ, by what happened to Jesus on the cross.
[15:04] The reason that Jesus Christ died on the cross was because of the law of God. It was all in terms of his relationship to the law of God.
[15:21] In Galatians chapter 4, Paul says, He made himself under the law for us.
[15:49] On our behalf, Jesus was to keep the law and he was to meet with the punishment of the broken law. The law said, that the man which doeth these things shall live by them.
[16:09] And the same law said, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And Jesus Christ puts himself under the law in order to redeem his people in order to deliver them from the condemnation of the broken law.
[16:35] So that we have become dead to the law by the body of Christ as a way of salvation. because we could never keep the law perfectly.
[16:51] Neither could we ever bring satisfaction to the law of God. We would never come to the point where the law would say it is enough.
[17:10] I am fully satisfied Now Paul is going to explain why it was necessary that our relationship to the law should be dissolved so that we could be united to another even Jesus Christ.
[17:32] Paul says, for when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
[17:46] What does Paul mean when he says when we were in the flesh? In scripture the term flesh is used in different ways.
[17:59] It is used sometimes to mean the whole of mankind like we have in the gospel of Luke chapter 3 where it says and all flesh shall see the salvation of God that is all mankind shall see the salvation of God or as we have it in 1 Peter and chapter 1 where for all flesh is as grass all mankind is as grass and all the glory of man is the flower of grass the grass will earth and the flower thereof falleth away.
[18:34] But at other times the word flesh is used to mean the body like for instance Galatians chapter 2 where we read these words I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not die but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh that is in the body I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
[19:09] However the term here in the flesh that we have in Romans 7 verse 5 cannot be explained by any of these two. For Paul says when we were in the flesh the reference here clearly speaking of something that was true of him and others in the past when we were in contrast to what we are now.
[19:40] in this verse Paul speaks of those who were in the flesh and when he speaks of them he is speaking of a particular group of people.
[19:59] He is speaking of those who are now united to Jesus Christ. He is not speaking of the whole of mankind but he is speaking of a particular group those who are now united to Jesus Christ.
[20:22] He is speaking of a particular group of people. And he says and when we were in the flesh now as we say that cannot be a reference to the whole of mankind it is a reference to a particular group of people.
[20:43] It is reference to those who are now united to Christ. And when he writes when we were in the flesh cannot be a reference here to the body because Paul was still in the body.
[20:59] So it's not a reference to all mankind mind and it's a reference to a particular group of people and it is not a reference to the body because Paul is still in the body.
[21:15] For he says when we were in the flesh past. To understand the term were in the flesh we can go to chapter 8 where we read for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit.
[21:40] So what Paul is saying here in verse 5 is that we were in the flesh but we are now in the spirit. We can put it like this to be in the flesh is to be unregenerate.
[21:57] to be outside the realm of the Holy Spirit. It is the natural state of mankind who is in a state of sin. For when a person is converted or born again the Holy Spirit comes to indwell in that person.
[22:17] That person is no longer in the realm of the flesh but in the realm of the spirit. So Paul is speaking of what was true of us all at one time who are Christians.
[22:31] We were in the flesh. We were outside the life of the spirit. And being in the flesh also meant that we were under the law as a path to life.
[22:47] You will recall that in our study of Philippians that Paul spoke to us of his own experience. He says for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
[23:07] When he was in the flesh he was very self confident basing his salvation on being circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee concerning seal persecuting the church touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless.
[23:33] He was confident that by keeping the law he would be accepted by God. Well that may be your own position today.
[23:44] Under the delusion that by your good works or by your best ability in keeping the law of God you are going to receive salvation or you are going to be accepted with God.
[24:02] It is a reminder to us that however moral and religious we may be that if we are not in the spirit that is having the spirit of Christ in us if we are not born again by the spirit then we are in the flesh we are under the law and not under grace Paul tells us those things in which he was so self confident what things he says were gained to me those I counted lost for Christ the Christian is a person who was in the flesh unregenerate and under the law but he is now a person who is in the spirit and under grace and there are only those two positions every one of us is either in the flesh under the law or we are in the spirit and under grace so let us examine ourselves today which of these two positions are we in are we in the flesh and under the law or are we in the spirit and under grace well
[25:33] Paul here says for when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the Lord at work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death what does he mean by the motions of sin maybe the ESV translation will be easier for us to understand for there we read 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 the motions of sin or our sinful passions when God created man all the natural desires and cravings that belonged to our nature was in their rightful place but when man sinned the natural desires and cravings that were good in and of themselves they acquired an evil bias instead of man being able to control his desires and cravings they began to control man that is why we get those feelings and desires and cravings that drives us and prompts us and stimulates us and urges us to commit acts of sin we may ask where did they come from while
[27:11] David says in Psalm 51 behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me we are all born as sinners in Romans chapter 3 we read there is none righteous no not one there is none that understand death there is none that seek it after gone they are all gone out of the way they are all together become unprofitable there is none that do good no not one for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and so Paul goes on and he says that while we were in the flesh those desires and passions and cravings which were by the law now one would almost conclude here that Paul is saying that those sinful emotions were created by the law but what he is actually saying is that they were aroused by the law he is not talking about their origin but what he is saying is that the law stirs them up those sinful desires and passions and lusts stirred up by the law and they did work in our members now the word work here means that they worked powerfully in our members and by our members he means our faculties the body the mind the imagination the whole person you see it's a reminder to us that a person sins not only outwardly by actions of the body but also inwardly by action of the mind even of the imagination we sin not only in the body but in the mind and imagination in
[29:27] Genesis 6 before the flood we have recorded for us the words of God which said that God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 5 we are told that Jesus said ye have heard it was said by them of all time thou shalt not commit adultery but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart you see the problem of society and the problem of mankind my problem your problem is a problem of the heart Jesus said for from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders thefts covetousness wickedness deceit lasciviousness an evil eye blasphemy pride foolishness no wonder that
[30:50] David in psalm 51 when he became so conscious of his sin and his heart he says create in me a clean heart oh god and renew a right spirit within me and the thing is that those sinful desires and passions they are aroused or stirred up or agitated by the law of god now what does paul mean by that what does he mean when he says those motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit into death those motions of sin which are stirred up by the law that very law that prohibits those sinful desires and passion actually stirs them up in us you see you tell a child not to do something and you can be sure that the child will do it when we warn our children against doing certain actions their curiosity will be aroused and they will indulge in it
[32:14] Paul writing to Titus chapter 1 says unto the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and their conscience is defiled the matter for our children and ourselves is that we are not pure so that even the very holy love God stirs up those sinful passions and cravings within us but what does Paul show us here well he shows us the power of sin it is so powerful that even God's law cannot deliver us from it people especially our politicians think that if we teach morality if we educate our children for instance that it will solve the problems of bad behaviour and crime what we need to say is not to punish but to educate our people they fail to understand that the passions of sin are too powerful for us to control that instead they control us those sinful desires and passions and cravings we cannot control them they control us you see education cannot change the heart or the desires of a sinful man in fact it inflames and stimulates the passions our own government at present is on a drive to teach our children about sex and they actually think that this is going to solve a lot of problems they fail to understand that they are only going to arouse and inflame already sinful passions and cravings of our children into becoming curious and inquisitive and to suffer the consequences what is needed is a change of heart what is the result of all this the motions of sin which were by the
[34:45] Lord at work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death that is what an unregenerate life is a life of sin is leading towards death we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sin and physical death must also be included here for if man had never sinned man would never have died man was created not to die he was not meant to die it was sin that produced physical death death is the last enemy it is an enemy Paul writing to the church at current says the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death death now how does this apply or work out in the life of a
[35:50] Christian well for the Christian he dies in the sure hope of a resurrection to life when death is swallowed up in victory Paul concludes there in Corinthians but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and of course there is not only spiritual death and physical death but there is also eternal death or the second death which means eternal separation from God for Christians they were dead in sin and they may go through physical death but the second death they shall not experience in
[36:51] John's Gospel and chapter 11 we read that when Jesus came to see Mary and Martha whose brother Lazarus had died that he said to Martha I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believest thou this see Jesus was saying to her I am the resurrection and I am the life life they are both in me I am the resurrection and the life your soul lives because it is united to me by faith he was saying and your body shall live because it too is united to me in the same faith he was saying to her
[37:59] I am not only the author of resurrection and life I am the substance of it you live because I live in you if you believe in this man who is resurrection and life you may die but even though you die even although you meet physical death the separation of body and soul you are going to live for he says your body will rise again death does not interrupt the life that Christ gives to you because your body remains united to Christ and it will be raised in glory though
[39:02] Lazarus had died yet because he was a believer he lived and that should have been a message of comfort to Mary and Martha it is a message of comfort for every believer and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die and you may ask what's the meaning of all that well it is this the spiritual life that he gives you is not touched by death at all yes death can touch your physical life but Jesus is going to restore it to you but the life that he actually gives you it's not touched by death at all death cannot touch the spiritual life that the
[40:10] Lord gives you death shall not have victory over your physical body yes he separates the body and soul and yet the Lord is going to restore your body and soul again but he cannot death cannot conquer the victory that you have through Christ he cannot touch the spiritual life that the Lord gives you he cannot touch the fact that you will conquer death through Jesus Christ and verse 5 here brings before us the depth of sin and the inability of the
[41:15] Lord to save us and it brings before us the necessity of Jesus and the cross if we are going to be saved from the consequences of our sin and the condemnation of the law then it can only be through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his perfect work in his life and on the cross.
[41:45] The Christian having been delivered from the law, Paul says, but now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve a newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Unfortunately again one could easily read that the law is dead but it is not the law that has died but we are dead to the law. It is us who have died to the law. The law has not died.
[42:20] The ESV puts it like this, but now we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive. It is us who have died. The law is not dead. It is we who have become dead to the law as a path of life or of gaining salvation by the law. Now what is interesting here are the words wherein we were held. In verse 1 we read, know ye not brethren how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? Well it is the same idea here when he says wherein we were held. It is the idea here that the law has dominion or you are ruled by the law. Every person until you become a Christian is under the law, the law has dominion over you. But Christians has been delivered from the law that they should serve a newness of spirit. Notice here that Paul is contrasting newness and with oldness. He is contrasting the Christian life, this newness of spirit with a non-Christian life, the oldness of the letter.
[43:38] What Paul actually wrote was not letter but writing in reference to the law given to Moses because God wrote it on two tables of stone. The ESV calls it the written code. And the word spirit here should also actually have a capital S. Having been delivered from the law we said a newness of spirit with a capital S.
[44:04] the Christian life is an entirely new life which is made possible because of the Holy Spirit which has come to indwell in the Christian. As we have already noted they now mind the things of the spirit and not the things of the flesh. They are interested in new things, they are now interested in spiritual things.
[44:30] We recently noted how Paul speaks of this great difference when he said to the Philippians, we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We no longer lay emphasis on buildings and rituals for we worship in the spirit.
[44:51] Probably another way of putting this contrast is given to us by Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, sorry, chapter 3, where we read, You see the law for the Christian is not something outside of him written with ink on tables of stone.
[45:27] But it is now something that is inside the Christian, written with the Holy Spirit on the tables of the heart. The heart here means as we often bring before you the inner being or the very centre of our personality.
[45:44] Again we can hear, perhaps read the words of Jeremiah in chapter 31, where he says, After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts, and will be their God and they shall be my people.
[46:07] What happened really is a person begins to understand the spiritual character of the law. This is brought out by Paul in his own experience later on in this letter.
[46:22] Or should I say later on even in this chapter. He was a man who lived according to the oldness of the letter, but a change came about by which he came to serve in the newness of the spirit.
[46:34] So as we look and examine ourselves this morning, can you say, I am a new creature. Everything has changed. The old things have passed away.
[46:45] Behold, all things have become new. No longer do I hope to gain salvation by keeping the law, but by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law on my behalf.
[46:59] My sins are forgiven not because of anything that I have done or will do, but all because of what Jesus did in his life and on the cross on my behalf.
[47:15] No longer do I try and keep the law because of the fear of hell, because I am afraid of God, because of the fear of death and judgment. But now I am crucified with Christ.
[47:31] 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.
[47:44] I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy laws within my heart. O, but now we are delivered from the law, that when dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the later.
[48:04] Well, may the Lord bless our thoughts this morning. Let us pray. Eternal and ever blessed Lord, we acknowledge that our salvation is in Christ alone, that our salvation is in what he did in his life, and what he did on the cross of Golgotha, that he fulfilled the law on our behalf, that he kept the law perfectly, and that he met with the condemnation of the law that belonged to us in his own body on the cross of Golgotha, that he satisfied the law, and thereby that he opened a way for us whereby we can be saved.
[49:01] We give thee thanks, O Lord, for that great message today of salvation, and that we can be delivered and set free from the law as a path of life in Jesus Christ.
[49:17] Seek, O Lord, thy blessing to continue with us, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all, now and forevermore.
[49:32] Amen.