Our theme tonight is Free from the Law.
Our text is Romans 7 verses 1 through 6.
Or do you not know, brethren, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law has
jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives.
For the married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he is living.
But if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
So then if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called
an adulteress.
But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress,
though she is joined to another man.
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ,
that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might
bear fruit for God.
For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were
at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound,
so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Most of us are very accustomed to hearing the message of salvation by grace through
faith.
It does not occur to us that there might have been some people at one time or another who
violently disagreed with that message.
Of course, there are those today who are that way, but particularly in the early days of
this age, there were those who violently disagreed with the gospel of grace which the apostle
Paul was proclaiming.
I speak particularly regarding the Jewish people of that day who had deep commitment,
of course, to the law of Moses.
The Jew in particular had two problems with the message of salvation by grace through
faith.
The first problem was, in their minds, will this message not lead people to continue to
sin?
Paul has answered that in chapter 6 as we have studied it.
His response is, absolutely not.
The message of grace does not lead people to sin if they understand it.
A second question that the Jewish mind would pose in that day regarding the message of
grace was, well, if this is God's message, then what was the purpose of the law?
Now, remember that the law was what they knew.
It was the Old Testament revelation they had in their possession.
Now they're hearing a message that says that the sanctions of the law were no longer binding
on their relationship to God.
So they ask, well, then what was the purpose of the law?
Paul seeks to answer that in this chapter, chapter 7.
In chapter 6 he dealt with this fact that the believer is free from sin.
We no longer are dominated by the old master.
The believer is free from sin.
But in chapter 7 he takes it a step farther and he says that the believer is free from
the law.
We are no longer under the law.
Now he's already said that in chapter 6 verse 14.
But then in verses 15 through 23 he begins to follow a certain line of truth and only
now in chapter 7 does he come back to elaborate upon that statement that he made.
You are not under law, but under grace.
Now we see that sin was the main theme in chapter 6.
For in verse 1 of that chapter he says, are we to continue in sin?
And now in chapter 7 in verse 1 the law is the theme.
For he says, do you not know, brethren, that the law has jurisdiction over a person as
long as he lives?
In chapter 6 in verse 2 we see that he says we died to sin.
That is through our identification with Jesus Christ.
In chapter 7 in verse 4 he says that we have died to the law.
In chapter 6 in verse 4 he says we have died to sin so that we might walk in newness of
life.
Do you see that?
But in chapter 7 in verse 6 he says that we have died to the law that we might serve God
in the newness of the Spirit.
Not under the old letter or the old obligations of the law.
In chapter 6 in verse 7 he says he who has died is freed from sin.
In chapter 7 in verse 6 he says that we have died to that by which we were bound, that
is the law.
In chapter 6 in verse 18 he said that we have been set free from sin.
And now in chapter 7 in verse 6 he says we have been released from the law.
And so you see there is a parallel here.
In the one chapter he is dealing with sin and showing what our relationship to sin is
now.
In the other he is dealing with the law and he shows what our relationship to the law
is now in Jesus Christ.
In chapter 6 he is telling us how to stop doing bad things, sin.
In chapter 7 he tells us how not to do good things.
He tells us that we are neither saved by the law nor are we made holy or sanctified by
the law.
We have been set free from it.
Now his theme in this chapter is basically you are not under law.
That is you are not under law as a means or as a method of acquiring salvation or of experiencing
in your life the righteousness of God.
You are not under law.
He has already told us in Romans 3 and verse 19 that the law speaks condemnation to those
who are under it.
That's all it can say.
The law condemns those who are under it.
But we are not now under the law.
He says we are under grace.
Now to impress upon us this major significant truth that we are not under law, Paul first
illustrates it and then applies it.
The illustration is basically in verses 1 through 3 of our text and it is the illustration of
marriage.
Now why does Paul use marriage as an illustration?
I think there are five reasons.
Number one, marriage represents a lifelong union between two parties.
It says in the marriage ceremony that we use, so long as you both shall live.
Marriage is intended by God to be lifelong.
In verse 2 when it speaks about being bound to the husband it uses a verb there that means
to be permanently bound, united to the husband.
And so the marriage represents a lifelong union between two parties.
Now I'll show you in a moment why that's important.
Secondly, he uses marriage as an illustration because it is a union that is broken by death.
It is a physical union and it is broken by physical death.
Some people in reading this say wow, this is very strict.
What about divorce?
How does this passage affect that whole area of discussion?
The thing that we have to keep in mind that divorce is not the subject here.
Paul is not dealing with that.
He makes it very clear that God's original intent in marriage was that it be permanent.
In fact, God's original intent was that it never be broken.
A man and woman united together for unending ages as husband and wife.
Marriage was intended to be permanent but of course the ideal was ruined by sin.
Death intervened and marriage ends at death.
Now I would like to elaborate upon how this passage fits together with the rest of the
teaching regarding marriage and divorce in the New Testament but time does not allow
even a comment on that tonight.
Just notice here that it is a physical union that is broken by physical death.
Then thirdly, marriage when it's broken by death is broken forever.
When death occurs, that marriage union is at that point broken forever.
Not to be resumed.
That does not mean that in heaven a man and woman will not realize that they were husband
and wife in this world.
I believe that will be the case.
There will of course be very special feelings about that we would imagine.
But the fact is that when death breaks the union, it is broken forever.
The one who is left living is free from the law of marriage under which he or she lived
because of death.
This was illustrated to me in a phone call last night.
I called home to Kansas and talked to my sister and those of you who have come know that my
mother passed away last summer.
And I found out that last night my stepfather was out on a date.
I had mixed feelings about that.
I did.
Not justly, I mean it was feelings, right?
He has a perfectly good right to do that and I want him to be happy.
I don't think there's anything beyond dating at this point and I guess I really shouldn't
be announcing his dates to the world and I don't intend to.
But the point I'm making is this, that he is free from the law of marriage to my mother
because death intervened and the marriage is over.
That brings me to the fourth reason I think that Paul uses this illustration and that
is that when it is broken, the marriage is broken, the possibility exists for another
union.
The survivor has that right in the Lord to be married again without any thought of adultery
being involved.
And that marriage of course should be in the Lord, that is to another believer.
And then the fifth reason is that the purpose of marriage is at least in part for propagation
as we saw here tonight, illustrated amply.
The Lord said, replenish the earth, be fruitful and multiply.
That's God's plan.
The purpose of marriage is at least in part propagation of the human race.
I think those are the five reasons that Paul uses marriage as an illustration and here's
why.
Let's take a look at the application.
Because in the application there is a corresponding truth that the apostle Paul wants to impress
in our hearts.
Every point of that illustration that I mentioned, all five of them, has an application now that
we need to grasp.
We said that marriage represents a lifelong union between two parties.
And so it is in the union between the sinner and the law.
When we were unsaved, Paul calls it in verse 5, in the flesh, that's a phrase he uses that
means unsaved, unregenerate.
When we were in the flesh, we were under the law.
And to use Paul's illustration, we were married or united to it.
Now what did it do for us?
Well, he tells us in the text in verse 5 that it aroused the sinful passions in us.
The law did not control us.
We knew what it said, we knew the commandments, but the law did not put us under restraint.
On the contrary, it aroused the sin within us.
It stimulated it.
And Paul will say that again as we move on through the chapter.
Kenneth Weiss said, the law gives neither the desire nor the power to obey its precepts.
Instead it brings out sin all the more because its very presence incites rebellion in the
totally depraved nature of the individual.
So said Kenneth Weiss.
Please, that I did attribute the quote to the person that I used the quote from.
Now I would also like to point out that the law bound us according to verse 6.
That word means to hold down, to hold fast.
The law bound us to obligations that we were unable to keep.
That's what it did for us.
I'm not saying these things are positive.
I'm just telling you what our marriage to the law did for us.
And then thirdly, it condemned us to a just judgment of death.
Suggest that in verse 5.
Paul says it clearly previously in chapter 3 verses 19 and 20.
But the ministry of the law was a ministry of condemnation.
And our marriage to it meant that we were married to the judge who was coming down on
us because of our sin.
Now if you were unsaved tonight, you would still be married to that law.
And if you don't know Jesus Christ tonight, you find that the law, though you may be able
to quote the Ten Commandments, that does not control the sinful passions in you.
All it does is really stimulate you.
And it binds you.
The law brings obligations upon you you cannot keep.
And it condemns you because you cannot keep them.
That doesn't mean the law is bad, it's good.
It doesn't mean it's sinful, it's holy.
And Paul will say that later in the chapter.
But that's what it did for you.
Then we said that marriage is a union broken by death.
And so, this spiritual union to the law was broken by our spiritual identification with
Jesus Christ in His death.
As verse 4 says, we were made to die to the law through the body of Christ.
That's what he's saying.
When you and I placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we were identified with Him in death.
And we died, not only to sin, but we died to the law.
Now in the illustration that Paul uses, the husband who dies and the wife remains alive
and married again.
Now Paul kind of flips it here.
We correspond in the illustration to the husband who died.
You see the law, it didn't die.
We died.
We died by our union with Jesus Christ.
So the spiritual union, that bond that we had to the law before we were saved, ended
when we trusted Christ and were identified with Him in His death.
Now we said that when death breaks marriage, it's broken forever.
And so, once this bondage to the law is broken, once that union is broken, it is forever ended.
Verse 6 says that we have been released or discharged from the law.
It's not that we now become anti-law, that isn't the point.
The point is that we no longer have any relationship to it.
Because there's no need for it anymore.
Our bondage to it ended.
And we said that when in marriage that union is broken, the possibility exists for another
union.
So now in the application, that old union having been broken, there is a new union that
exists.
It is that union with Jesus Christ that is talked about in verse 4.
That you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead.
And so not only did we die with Christ, but we were raised with Christ, and now we have
a new partner, a new spouse, a new person that we are joined to, and that is Jesus Christ.
We are one with Him.
A new union.
A new marriage, if you please.
Before we said that the purpose of marriage is propagation.
The purpose of our union to Jesus Christ is that we might bear fruit for God, verse 4.
The law was unable to produce anything, but grace does produce it.
We now serve God in the newness, He says, of the Spirit, in verse 6.
There is a new dynamic that is at work in us.
It is the Holy Spirit.
Before the law had its external demands placed upon us, but now the Spirit of God works within
us and dynamically produces the righteousness of God from the inside out.
It's internal, not external.
That is the fruit that it's talking about in verse 4.
So just as marriage produces fruit, so marriage to Jesus Christ produces fruit in the life
of the believer.
It's called fruit for God.
So Paul says you are not under law, you are under grace.
No longer are you married to the law.
No longer are you participating in what the law does for you.
You are now married to Jesus Christ.
You are under grace and you are bearing fruit by the power of the Spirit within.
Fruit that is for God.
Just quickly and closely, I want to talk about three points for life action of this doctrine
that we've looked at this evening very quickly.
Number one, as we hear this kind of truth, we need to be careful of extreme reactions.
We need to seek a balance in response to it.
There are two extremes.
On the one hand there are those who practice license.
Hey, they say I'm free from the law, I can do what I please.
God doesn't care anymore.
And of course that is not true.
God does care.
And we still are under what is called the law of Christ, 1 Corinthians 9, 21.
Being free from the law of the Old Testament doesn't mean now that I am free to do what
I please.
It means that I am free to do what Christ pleases.
Be careful of overreacting in the direction of liberty to the point of license.
And there are those who go that direction.
God now gives us an inward control.
We don't have that external restraint and constraint anymore, which we couldn't keep
anyway.
But there is within our hearts an internal control that God has placed there.
But then there's another extreme, and that is the extreme of legalism.
This is that person who says I must keep the rules to please God.
Warren Wiersbie says, legalism measures spirituality by a list of do's and don'ts.
I was basically raised in that kind of a church.
Where if you did these things, you were unspiritual.
If you didn't do these things, you were spiritual.
It was a list of do's.
Do this, don't do that.
And by measuring yourself according to those man-made rules, you can know whether you were
spiritual or not.
That, of course, is not true.
Legalism bases its judgment on the outward appearance rather than the inward reality.
And in the end, legalism leads to hypocrisy and even complete collapse.
I have seen that, and perhaps you have as well.
Even the legalist is one who has a very judgmental attitude.
Not based upon what the Scripture says, but based upon his own personal preferences about
things.
That is wrong.
Now the fact is that we can and need to live under certain rules.
This doctrine that we're talking about doesn't mean that I therefore don't have to obey
the government, for example.
I still do need to obey the government, pay the price if I don't.
If you're a college student, this doctrine does not mean that you no longer, now that
you understand this blessed truth, have to obey what the college rules are.
It doesn't mean that you don't have to obey your parents in the home if there are some
rules that your parents have established.
It's not the point here.
The point is, with regards to the law of God, the Mosaic law of the Old Testament, we are
no longer under its constraint.
And one's spirituality is not to be based upon a list of man-made do's and don'ts
and rules that are established.
Brig the extreme of libertinism or license and the extreme of legalism.
And then a second application that I want to talk about is this.
We need to follow Paul's example when it's appropriate and be willing to place ourselves
as it were under law if the situation demands it so that we can be an effective witness.
Paul had occasion to practice this in his ministry.
There were times when Paul, as far as his outward conduct was concerned, conformed to
some aspects of the Jewish law, even though he was free from it.
An example of that is in Acts chapter 21, when he went back to Jerusalem, you remember,
and was involved in going into the temple.
Paul was not inconsistent there with what his practice was in his ministry.
When he was ministering to the Jews, who were especially sensitive in the area of the law,
he was very careful about his conduct.
He was willing to lay aside his personal liberties, his personal rights, if you please, so that
he would not become an offense to the Jews.
So he restricted himself.
He was careful about his conduct.
On the other hand, when he was with Gentiles, he was a little looser.
He was not overly concerned about the Jewish law.
Indeed, he wasn't concerned about it at all.
He puts it this way in 1 Corinthians chapter 9.
He says, when I'm with those who are under the law, I make myself under the law.
When I'm with those who do not have the law, the Gentiles, and I make myself as having
no law.
You say, well, how does that apply to me today?
I don't understand.
I don't minister to a lot of Jews and the law.
I don't understand how that applies to me.
Here's how it applies.
You and I live around people who have certain personal preferences and convictions regarding
cultural issues.
Now, it may be that you have freedom in your conscience to live without regard to a certain
cultural issue.
That is not an issue for you while it is for others.
When you are with those who have what the New Testament calls a weak conscience, when
you're with those who are easily convicted, very sensitive in their conscience regarding
some of these things, the New Testament teaches that you and I should conform our conduct
so that we are not an offense to those people.
Romans chapter 14, 1 Corinthians 8.
That was clear.
On the other hand, when we are with those where these things are not issues, cultural
matters now, I'm not talking about clear black and whites, but I'm talking about what are
so-called gray areas or the non-essentials of lifestyle, when we are with those who have
a stronger conscience, with those who do not have the sensitivity of certain areas, then
we can be free to be with them and to live as they do.
That was Paul's principle in ministry.
He said, I seek to identify with people, not to cut them off, but to build bridges into
their lives.
And that should be our application here as well.
Occasionally, when I'm preaching in another church, I come to a situation, particularly
in the South, where a congregation has a particular belief regarding the King James Version.
And their feeling is that if it was good enough for Paul, it's good enough for me, and that's
the only Bible I believe in, the King James Version.
Now, I don't agree with that.
I believe that the New American Standard is a very fine translation.
That's the one I use.
I think the New Indispensable Version is a very fine translation.
Some of you use that.
I don't have strong convictions about that.
Some do.
Now, when I go there to preach, what should I do?
Well, I could go there and pull out my NASV and say, hey, you folks, you need to understand
some things regarding this translation business.
And I can make that an issue.
And you know, if I did that, whatever else I may have said in the message would mean
nothing because it would be an offense to them, because in their setting, the King James
Version is the Bible to use.
So what I would do would be to get out my King James Bible, and I would use that so
that that did not become an issue.
Do you see how that applies to your own life and your own relationships with people?
So often, we are so concerned about enforcing on other people our standards.
Or we are concerned about some rights that we have, and we tightly grasp those rights,
and we refuse to surrender them to somebody else.
Folks, the law of love in the New Testament demands of us that we be willing to place
ourselves under constraint and restraint for the sake of others, that what liberty we may
feel that we have does not become an offense to somebody else.
That's an application of what Paul says here.
And then the final one that I think is important is this.
Because so many of us grow up in churches and denominations and situations where salvation
is a mixture of believing on Christ but keeping the Ten Commandments also, or believing on
Christ but doing this or doing that, I think it's important to be sure that we're genuine
Christians as we hear a message like Romans chapter 7.
There are those tonight who believe that they are saved in part, at least, because of their
quote, law keeping, because they have done certain things to please God.
A real Christian is one in whom there has been a radical change.
He has realized that law keeping, the keeping of rules, doing something, even religious
some things, to impress God doesn't make it.
It's not a part of God's plan of salvation.
God saves by grace.
The purpose of the law is singular.
It is to bring us to an awareness of our sinfulness before God.
That's why God gave the law.
He did not give it to us to be a part of our becoming Christians.
When the law has accomplished its purpose of convicting us of our sin and our need for
Christ, then it's done its work.
When we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, we are done with the law and we enter into a new
union with Jesus Christ to experience then the dynamic of his Spirit working in us.
Is that dynamic working in you tonight?
Are you a genuine Christian?
Is your salvation resting only upon your faith in Jesus Christ?
That is the message of grace that Paul proclaimed is troublesome to some.
There are those today who do not like this message.
They resisted and fight it for some of the same reasons that the Jews did in Paul's
day.
But this is the message that saves.
It is the message that liberates.
It is the message that empowers us to live a life that is pleasing to God.
Let's bow together.
I wonder if there may be some friend who is here tonight.
Perhaps you've come to our church on other occasions or maybe this is your first time
with us.
But very frankly, in your background, you have understood salvation to be part grace
and part law.
That is, yes, it's by faith in Christ, but there are certain things you have to do as
well.
Maybe it's keeping the golden rule or doing the best you can or you've tried to turn
over a new leaf or you're trying to please God by your baptism or whatever else it may
be, some ritual or sacrament.
Please, please understand tonight that God will allow no mixing together of the gospel
of grace and the message of the law.
Grace cannot be a part of your saving experience.
If tonight you understand that, perhaps for the first time, and you see your need of Christ
tonight, and you're willing to lay aside your works and what you've trusted in before
this and to trust in Jesus Christ alone, will you do that right where you're seated?
Just tell Himself.
He sees your hard attitude.
Tell Jesus that you know He died and rose again for you and that now you want to trust
in Him as your own Savior.
Father, I pray that if there be some friend here tonight who is right at the door, right
at the verge, and who needs to take that step of faith that you will, by grace in that heart,
enable that one to believe.
May there be a doing away with the law and with works and a trust in the gospel of grace
that will save that soul.
Now, Lord, help us who know you already to comprehend this message and to be done with
rule keeping as a means of salvation, a means of sanctification as well as salvation.
May we understand that we grow in grace by walking with you in liberty and freedom, not
by placing ourselves under the restraint of rules and laws again.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.