1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,240 But we're no longer enslaved to it. 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:11,400 And we have learned in chapter 7 that we are no longer under the domination of the law 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:17,420 of God, that we through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ have been freed from it so 4 00:00:17,420 --> 00:00:20,820 that we might bear fruit for God. 5 00:00:20,820 --> 00:00:28,200 In our study of the law, that is the moral standard summarized by the Ten Commandments, 6 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:34,360 it was Jesus then summarized in just two, love God with all of your being and your neighbor 7 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:36,800 as yourself. 8 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:43,600 What we've learned about the law is, number one, that it cannot justify the sinner. 9 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:48,120 And number two, it cannot sanctify the saint. 10 00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:50,760 God did not give it for that purpose. 11 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:55,800 We have learned in our study of the book of Romans that it cannot save a person from his 12 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:56,800 sin. 13 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,000 It cannot save the sinner. 14 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,120 On the other hand, it cannot cause a Christian to be more Christ-like. 15 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:05,520 It cannot sanctify the saint. 16 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:10,760 And so the question comes up then, then what is the usefulness of the law? 17 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:13,680 Of what good is it if it can't do those things? 18 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:21,320 The Jews, of course, believed that the works of the law justified them and also that it 19 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:24,120 procured holiness for them. 20 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:30,920 And now Paul's teaching comes along regarding the law and they misinterpret what he's saying 21 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,400 as though he is turning them to lawlessness. 22 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:39,640 Is that what Paul is meaning when he says we're no longer under the law? 23 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:45,400 Well, beginning in chapter seven and verse seven, Paul gives us some very personal words. 24 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:50,960 You will notice that he now begins to use the word I because he is incorporating his 25 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:52,080 own experience. 26 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:59,360 He tells us in these verses what was going on inside of his heart on the Damascus road 27 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:01,600 at the time of his conversion. 28 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:02,600 What shall we say then? 29 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:04,680 Is the law sin? 30 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:06,560 May it never be. 31 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:12,720 On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law, for I would 32 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:18,880 not have known about coveting if the law had not said you shall not covet. 33 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:25,880 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, or the law, produced in me coveting of every 34 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,360 kind, for apart from the law sin is dead. 35 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:36,120 And I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive and 36 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,360 I died. 37 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:44,900 And this commandment which was to result in life proved to result in death for me. 38 00:02:44,900 --> 00:02:51,240 For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 39 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,560 So then the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 40 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,680 Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? 41 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:01,760 May it never be. 42 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,000 Rather it was sin. 43 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:10,240 In order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is 44 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:17,600 good, that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. 45 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:23,320 Now these verses have puzzled many and indeed they are complicated as they are written here 46 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:31,000 for us, but let's seek this evening to find in this paragraph the four works which the 47 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,440 law is to accomplish. 48 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,520 We're going to try to understand now the good works of God's law. 49 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,700 There are four of them. 50 00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:50,180 The works of the law are all in the life of the sinner, not in the life of the Christian. 51 00:03:50,180 --> 00:03:56,240 The four works of the law are works in the life of the person who has not come to Jesus 52 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:57,880 Christ. 53 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:03,560 Work number one, it reveals sin in the sinner. 54 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,200 Paul tells us of his own experience. 55 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:11,920 He says, I would not have come to know sin except through the law. 56 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:17,560 Now Paul could give you a theological definition of sin, no question about that. 57 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,480 He was a trained rabbi. 58 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:26,320 He knew how to define sin in theological terms, but what he means is that he would not have 59 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:32,960 come to know personal conviction of his own sinfulness if it had not been for the law 60 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,240 working within him. 61 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:41,840 Intellectually he could tell you what sin was, but he said it was law that caused him 62 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:46,720 to feel guilt for his personal sinfulness. 63 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:48,880 That is the point here. 64 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:57,360 It is the law that put up the standard in his heart which exposed how short he came 65 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:00,360 of that perfect standard of righteousness. 66 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:07,440 So Paul says, I would not have had personal awareness of my own sinfulness if it had not 67 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:13,720 been for the work of the law revealing sin in me. 68 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,960 I was playing basketball back in high school. 69 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:21,920 There was a certain move that I had developed on my own, a move that I thought was pretty 70 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,440 good and I worked at it quite a bit. 71 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:31,280 The only problem was the coach did not think it was a good move. 72 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:37,760 When he held up the standard of what I should be doing against what I was doing, it showed 73 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:49,760 up that my maneuver, my plan, my play was not sufficient to make it in the game. 74 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:54,920 Having showed up my shortcoming, he then went on to show me, to make me aware of what I 75 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:59,280 should be doing so that I might play a better game. 76 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:01,520 Too bad it did not work. 77 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,400 But that was the idea anyway. 78 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:06,080 You see, that is what the law does. 79 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,800 It shows up our shortcoming. 80 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:13,840 We have our own sense of righteousness. 81 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:20,240 We have our own way of seeking to impress God as sinners. 82 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:27,280 But the law comes along as it were as a coach and it says, ah friend, here's the way it 83 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:28,280 ought to be. 84 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:30,960 Here's the perfect standard. 85 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:38,400 And as it holds up that standard of moral perfection, the sinner says, I am short of 86 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:39,400 that. 87 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,480 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 88 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:48,160 The problem of the unregenerate, unsaved person is that he does not understand the truth about 89 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:49,160 sin. 90 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:53,800 As I've said, he has his own moral code written within him. 91 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:59,040 He may even feel guilty when he breaks his own moral code, but he does not grasp the 92 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,000 sinfulness of sin. 93 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:08,620 When he begins to see sin for what it really is, he becomes troubled in his soul, not self-confident. 94 00:07:08,620 --> 00:07:10,440 He doesn't feel positive about himself. 95 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:13,200 He feels terrible about himself. 96 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:14,720 He doesn't feel self-sufficient. 97 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:20,120 He feels empty within as the law begins to do its work of revealing sin. 98 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:24,520 Paul's personal experience was with the sin of coveting. 99 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:33,120 Up to this point, when the law began to expose his sin, Paul felt about himself blameless. 100 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:39,920 He says this in Philippians concerning righteousness in the law, blameless. 101 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:45,560 That is, his external righteousness was without fault. 102 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:47,760 He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. 103 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:49,680 He kept all the rules. 104 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,360 Externally, everything was fine with Paul. 105 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:58,840 He felt very good about himself, very self-righteous. 106 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:02,600 Concerning the righteousness in the law, blameless, he says. 107 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:07,800 But then the law began to do a deeper work in the life of this man. 108 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:12,160 He says here, I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall 109 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:13,600 not covet. 110 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:19,360 So Paul begins to personally open up here and to say that it was, in fact, the 10th 111 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:24,560 commandment, which brought about to him a personal awareness of his own sinfulness. 112 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:25,720 Now, it's interesting. 113 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,680 It was the 10th commandment. 114 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:32,840 That of all the others, perhaps, is the most invisible one. 115 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:35,700 It's an attitude. 116 00:08:35,700 --> 00:08:40,280 It produces action, but it's an attitude of the heart, first of all, isn't it? 117 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:46,800 And it's that one, that one that reveals inward attitudes that are wrong, that God 118 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,360 used in Paul's life. 119 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:53,120 This particular one, of course, is basic to all the others. 120 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:54,280 It leads to lying. 121 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:55,280 It leads to stealing. 122 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:56,280 It leads to murder. 123 00:08:56,280 --> 00:08:58,440 It leads to adultery. 124 00:08:58,440 --> 00:08:59,440 It's a very basic one. 125 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,640 And Paul says it was coveting. 126 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:03,280 And the law said, thou shall not covet. 127 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,880 And all of a sudden, the light was turned on, and he said, I was aware of the coveting 128 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,600 within my soul. 129 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:16,040 I want to say to you, my friend, that before a person can be saved, there has to be a work 130 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:24,520 within his soul of God the Holy Spirit using the law to show that person a need within. 131 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:32,600 He must experience something of the agony and the shame of exposure of the inner man 132 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,280 before the holiness of God. 133 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:41,200 And when that has been done, that person can be a candidate for salvation. 134 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:43,940 But that first work must be accomplished. 135 00:09:43,940 --> 00:09:48,640 The law must reveal sin in the sinner in order for him to seek a Savior. 136 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,320 Then in verses 8 and 9, there's a second work. 137 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:58,640 It not only reveals sin in the sinner, it revives sin in the sinner. 138 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:04,560 The sin, he says, sin rather taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting 139 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:06,520 of every kind. 140 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:12,200 Have you ever noticed how prohibitions tend to create a deeper desire to do the very thing 141 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,960 that is forbidden? 142 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:22,800 A person gets on the plane who's a smoker, and he is told you cannot smoke on this flight. 143 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,320 What does he want to do for the next two hours? 144 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:33,440 Well, if he already had a nicotine problem, the very commandment, you shall not smoke, 145 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:38,680 only causes within him a more intense desire to smoke. 146 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:41,700 That's just the way we are made as human beings. 147 00:10:41,700 --> 00:10:47,000 I was touring a church building a few weeks ago in another city, and on the sign there 148 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,840 in the hallway it said, wet paint on the railing. 149 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,320 You know what the first thing was I did? 150 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:57,920 I put my hand on the railing to see if it was wet. 151 00:10:57,920 --> 00:10:59,880 Fortunately, it was dry by that time. 152 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:02,120 But isn't that true of all of us? 153 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:07,480 When there's a prohibition, that very statement, you shall not do this, only creates within 154 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,360 us a deeper desire to do it. 155 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:11,840 It's that way with little children. 156 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:15,000 Don't touch that. 157 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,040 They reach out to touch it. 158 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:23,560 It's just that inbred desire, the law revives sin in the sinner. 159 00:11:23,560 --> 00:11:30,120 Paul says in the last part of verse 8, apart from the law, sin is dead. 160 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:31,840 What does he mean by that? 161 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:38,520 Well, he's saying that, he's not saying that sin wasn't there, sin was present, but he's 162 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:42,520 saying that it was not apparent. 163 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:51,240 Sin with its power, its virulence, was not apparent within him apart from the law. 164 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:59,920 But sin took advantage of that law's presence within him to form a staging area. 165 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:02,400 That's what the word opportunity means in verse 8. 166 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:04,160 It's a military term. 167 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:07,720 It's a base of operations. 168 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:17,020 The law said within Paul, you shall not covet, and sin within Paul used that very statement 169 00:12:17,020 --> 00:12:22,740 as a beachhead in Paul to attack him, to express itself. 170 00:12:22,740 --> 00:12:30,140 So that sin which before was not even apparent suddenly became a raging, consuming monster 171 00:12:30,140 --> 00:12:35,760 within Paul and produced coveting of every kind, he says. 172 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:44,640 So the law not only revealed sin in Paul, but it actually excited it, it exacerbated 173 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:51,520 it, it revived it so that sin was everywhere all of a sudden, coveting was everywhere. 174 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:53,480 Verse 9 elaborates upon this thought. 175 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:59,340 There are really four movements here in verse 9 to Paul's thought. 176 00:12:59,340 --> 00:13:05,140 He talks first about being alive apart from the law at one time. 177 00:13:05,140 --> 00:13:06,920 That's a strange statement, isn't it? 178 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:10,440 Alive apart from the law once. 179 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:18,100 He's talking about that time before his conversion, a time when he was unconscious of the rebellion 180 00:13:18,100 --> 00:13:20,780 against God that was in him. 181 00:13:20,780 --> 00:13:24,440 He was not aware of the alienation from God. 182 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,800 In fact, he thought himself to be a pretty okay guy. 183 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:35,840 Indeed, as he measured himself externally with others and against the external commands 184 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:42,400 of the law, he felt himself blameless or as it were alive. 185 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:47,280 We might put it this way and paraphrase, in the days of my ignorance when a stranger to 186 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:54,800 the law, Paul would say, I deemed myself all right in good standing before God. 187 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,680 In other words, Paul felt he had his act together. 188 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:02,840 He was alive apart from the law once. 189 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:07,760 Then he speaks about when the commandment came. 190 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,240 You shall not covet. 191 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,680 The Spirit of God slammed that into the heart of Paul. 192 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:21,440 It was more than just a part of his intellectual knowledge as a Pharisee, but it was slammed 193 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:29,200 deeply into his heart, and he became aware of his covetousness when the law came. 194 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:35,120 The third movement then was that sin revived, or it became alive, he says. 195 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,120 It sprang to life within him. 196 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,520 It became powerful. 197 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:45,840 That sin created all kinds of lusting, things that Paul didn't even know were there suddenly 198 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,080 came popping to the surface within him. 199 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:53,360 The fourth movement that he describes is, I died. 200 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:54,360 I died. 201 00:14:54,360 --> 00:15:03,080 In other words, he was conscious now of his condemnation before God, of his spiritual 202 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:04,620 deadness. 203 00:15:04,620 --> 00:15:09,520 His loss of self-righteousness was as though it were death to him. 204 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:11,600 He was devastated. 205 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:19,000 The religious goodness about him, which he clung to before self-righteously, he lost. 206 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,200 He says, I died, as it were. 207 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:31,400 I want to reiterate that I believe before a person can be saved, he must come to this 208 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:43,440 kind of a death, a death to his own self-righteousness, his own sense of well-being, his own feeling 209 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:48,340 of goodness because he's a religious or a moral person. 210 00:15:48,340 --> 00:15:51,320 There must be a death to all of that. 211 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:56,360 As Paul states in Philippians 3, there must be a point when the sinner would count all 212 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:05,720 of that but dung, but manure for the righteousness, the true righteousness that is in Jesus Christ. 213 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:10,360 The law revives sin in the sinner. 214 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:12,720 It doesn't help control it. 215 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:17,040 It only excites it. 216 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:22,080 I want to say by way of application that the same is true, my friend, of the Christian 217 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:31,040 who tries to live under legalism, who tries to be spiritual or to please God by keeping 218 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,640 rules, man-made rules. 219 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:39,320 Legalism will not lead a Christian to true holiness. 220 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:46,280 Legalism will not cause an individual to be able to contain his sin. 221 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:53,080 In fact, legalism will only arouse the sin within a Christian and create a greater problem 222 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,440 for him in the end. 223 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:02,920 The Galatian believers were caught up in legalism. 224 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:09,400 Having been delivered from the law, they went back to it now as believers, seeking to please 225 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:11,440 God by keeping the law. 226 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:17,360 Paul writes that letter to them to warn them about it, to warn them. 227 00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:22,960 In the case of the Galatians, that legalistic spirit that overcame them did not help them, 228 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:26,520 did not produce in them the control of sin and the flesh. 229 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:31,360 In fact, they were biting and devouring one another. 230 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:32,360 What had happened? 231 00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:39,040 Well, that legalism, that sense of law keeping, that obligation to keep rules that they felt 232 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:45,560 as believers actually only had a reverse impact in their lives. 233 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:51,840 It produced in them all kinds of problems and expressions of the flesh. 234 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:58,960 Just as the law only excites sin in the sinner, so law keeping only excites sin in the Christian 235 00:17:58,960 --> 00:17:59,960 too. 236 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:04,720 There's a third work of the law that we see in verses 10 and 11. 237 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,760 It results in death to the sinner. 238 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:16,560 The apostle says that the commandment or the law was to result in life. 239 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:22,360 In other words, it would produce a way of life pleasing to God. 240 00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:28,480 God of course knows how a full and meaningful life can be experienced. 241 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:33,480 A happiness and holiness are twins. 242 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,560 Blessedness and prosperity come with keeping the law. 243 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,520 There's only one problem. 244 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:45,520 The law can't be kept in the power of the sinner's flesh. 245 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:51,280 So that which could result in life proved to result in death for me as a sinner, says 246 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,800 Paul. 247 00:18:54,800 --> 00:19:02,680 It resulted in death because sin used the law, he says in verse 11, to do two things, 248 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:06,600 to deceive me and to kill me. 249 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:08,560 The word deceived is a very strong word. 250 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:11,880 Paul says I was utterly deceived. 251 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:12,880 Very strong. 252 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:21,000 He is saying that sin, which is so subtle, so tricky, so beguiling, actually used the 253 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:25,640 law to deceive Paul. 254 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:30,560 The law seemed to say do this and live. 255 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:33,000 God intended for that to translate to the sinner. 256 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:37,040 You can't do it, therefore trust. 257 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:43,560 But sin took that concept, do this and live, and deceived Paul into thinking that he could 258 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,640 do it and could live. 259 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,280 That's what he means here. 260 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,600 How subtle and tricky sin is. 261 00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:58,040 The law says do and live and sin deceives the human heart into thinking that one can 262 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:02,800 do that. 263 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:06,960 Then Paul says the law also killed me. 264 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,480 He writes to the Corinthians and he calls the law the ministry unto condemnation. 265 00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:12,480 What does that mean? 266 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:20,800 Well it means that the law delivers the sinner to judgment and that judgment is death. 267 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,960 It kills. 268 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:27,080 Sin does the killing, but it's the law that delivers one to death. 269 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:30,480 It's the ministry of condemnation. 270 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:36,720 The law results in death to the sinner. 271 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:43,360 I just want to say in passing with regard to Christians as well, that law keeping or 272 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:50,280 legalism results in spiritual death, not spiritual life in one's experience. 273 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:57,320 One has said few things are more dead than a church that is orthodox and legalistic trying 274 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:03,280 to live up to its high standard in the energy of the flesh. 275 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:08,080 What usually happens in a legalistic church or among legalistic Christians is that they 276 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:15,640 begin to judge one another because others are not keeping the same standards I'm keeping. 277 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:20,040 That judging of one another leads to fights and the fights lead to splits and the splits 278 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:25,920 lead to long lasting bitterness. 279 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,400 And that's tragic. 280 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:36,200 Legalism does not produce life, spiritual abundant life in the believer, in the Christian. 281 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:41,080 It only produces the opposite just as it produces death in the sinner. 282 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,600 And finally in verses 12 and 13 we see the fourth work of the law. 283 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:50,920 It reveals sin's sinfulness to the sinner. 284 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:53,360 Is the law sin? 285 00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:56,520 Paul began in verse 7 by asking that question. 286 00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:03,360 Now he says in verse 12 the law actually is holy, not sinful. 287 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:08,400 He says the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 288 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,040 Three terms used there of the law of God. 289 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:12,200 Holy. 290 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:16,480 It comes from a holy God and it searches out sin. 291 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:20,160 The law is the opposite of sin. 292 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:25,320 If a man is condemned by the law it's not the law's fault, it's the man's fault. 293 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,000 It's his sin. 294 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:28,400 That's the problem, not the law. 295 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:32,040 The law is holy because it comes from a holy God. 296 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,080 It's righteous. 297 00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:38,880 It lays just requirements upon men. 298 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,840 It condemns what needs to be condemned. 299 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:47,360 Sin says about the law that it's unfair. 300 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:50,800 It's unjust, but that is not so. 301 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,680 The law warns in advance of its consequences. 302 00:22:53,680 --> 00:23:02,520 If you think of Adam and Eve who knew in advance what God set down as the law, it was not a 303 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:07,640 surprise to them that they died because they knew in advance. 304 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:09,000 The law doesn't trick anyone. 305 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,360 It's just, it's completely fair. 306 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:17,680 It states in advance its consequences and when it's broken those consequences fall upon 307 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:18,680 the sinner. 308 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:23,480 It's just, perfectly just and righteous. 309 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:26,240 Then he says it's good. 310 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,880 That is, its aim, its purpose is life. 311 00:23:29,880 --> 00:23:31,860 It has a good purpose. 312 00:23:31,860 --> 00:23:41,560 Its purpose is to expose the sinner's guilt and to bring him to faith in Jesus Christ. 313 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:47,900 Sin is so evil though that it takes even that which is good and holy and righteous. 314 00:23:47,900 --> 00:23:52,880 He takes that which God meant for man's good and brings him to death. 315 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,640 By that the real nature of sin is exposed to us. 316 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,280 Its perversity is there. 317 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:04,280 It twists what God gives for good. 318 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:10,800 The apostle says it was sin that caused death. 319 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:17,600 In order that it might be shown to be sin, he says through the commandments sin became 320 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:22,000 utterly sinful, exceedingly sinful. 321 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,280 So what does the law do? 322 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:37,600 It reveals the utter sinfulness of sin to the sinner. 323 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:44,720 I fear that there are a lot of people today who are part of evangelical churches like 324 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:53,260 ours who have never been genuinely converted. 325 00:24:53,260 --> 00:24:55,840 They know the language. 326 00:24:55,840 --> 00:25:00,760 They go through some of the motions, the ones that please them to go through, the ones that 327 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:11,640 are comfortable to do, the ones that don't require commitment and sacrifice. 328 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:19,320 They talk a good line but they don't walk a good walk. 329 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:26,240 I fear that we have many people in our church who have never come to understand the utter 330 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:37,520 sinfulness of their own sin and who in some superficial way have made a decision for Christ 331 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:42,800 that has never been genuine. 332 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:50,200 I believe that what we need more than ever before in our churches today is an understanding 333 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:59,040 of what the moral standard of God is, what the law says, the standard that it sets up, 334 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:10,160 so that we might be aware of the holiness of the God with whom we claim to have to do. 335 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:18,880 When we come to understand the exceeding sinfulness of sin by the work of the Spirit of God through 336 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:25,000 the law in our lives, it will bring us to genuine conversion. 337 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:31,760 It is the law, it is the commandment which prepares the sinner to receive the Savior. 338 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:39,040 But so often we try to do that through positive messages. 339 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:44,840 We try to approach people with four simple spiritual laws that tell them how they can 340 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:53,100 have a wonderful and abundant life without their ever facing up to the need for repentance 341 00:26:53,100 --> 00:26:57,120 of their sin before a holy God. 342 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:02,020 And so they make quick decisions. 343 00:27:02,020 --> 00:27:09,160 They believe superficially and think themselves to be saved because we go on to show them 344 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,560 now that they've prayed this prayer, they have assurance of eternal life. 345 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:20,560 And I wonder how many people we've given assurance to who actually have no true understanding 346 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,520 of salvation. 347 00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:31,320 The law, the commandment prepares the sinner to receive the Savior by exposing the terrible 348 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:33,800 need within him. 349 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:39,760 I don't believe a person will, I don't believe a person can truly trust in Jesus Christ until 350 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:48,800 he is confronted by the law, until he understands the exceeding sinfulness of his sin. 351 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:54,160 I think it's important, beloved, for us to be careful of short circuiting the law's 352 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,280 ministry in a sinner. 353 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,400 Sometimes we go to people who are hurting and burdened by their sinfulness and we try 354 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,200 to soothe them. 355 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,080 We try to comfort them. 356 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:10,400 And what we need to do is allow the law to have its full work in them, to bring them 357 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:15,280 to genuine repentance and faith in Christ. 358 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:22,200 John MacArthur said, don't waltz a sinner into the kingdom through positive thinking. 359 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,840 I just wonder how often that happens. 360 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:35,600 I fear that there are times when we may abort the actual new birth process by causing a 361 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,960 sinner to pray a prayer too soon. 362 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:45,160 You say, how do you know then when to help them to pray that prayer? 363 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:49,960 I'm not sure I have all the answers on that. 364 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:54,240 But I do believe this, that we need to allow the Spirit of God to do that full work of 365 00:28:54,240 --> 00:29:02,440 conviction in a person's life and not encourage a person to pray the prayer until he realizes, 366 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:09,200 I mean inwardly realizes, his sinful offense before a holy God. 367 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:14,920 Because it's then when he senses that desperate need within him and his condemnation and his 368 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:23,800 death before God, his exposure before God's holiness, that he is willing to repent and 369 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:36,120 receive the Son of God who died to forgive him of his sin. 370 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:41,440 The good works of God's law, it boils down to this. 371 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,960 The law is a tutor to bring us to Christ. 372 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:52,160 The word tutor isn't teacher there in Galatians 3, but it means the law is a custodian, an 373 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:57,120 attendant, we might say a babysitter. 374 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:02,200 It's the word that would be used for the one who would take the child to school where he 375 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:05,920 would sit at the feet of the teacher. 376 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:11,160 So what does the law do by the goodness, the grace, the plan of God? 377 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:19,480 It takes the sinner by the hand and leads him to the Savior and prepares his heart to 378 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:25,800 genuinely trust in the only one who can save from the condemnation of the law. 379 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:31,040 That's the work of God's law and it did its work in Paul and it's done its work, I trust, 380 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:37,480 in your heart and mine in bringing us to a genuine relationship to Jesus Christ. 381 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:43,040 Let's pray together and then we will have a song sung to us and be dismissed. 382 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:51,040 Father in heaven, I pray that you will give us an appreciation for the law that perhaps 383 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:59,840 we've not had before, that we might understand the good work it does in the sinner. 384 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:07,120 And as we deal with people who are under conviction, give us a spirit-led sensitivity. 385 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:13,960 Oh, that we might not short-circuit in their lives what you're doing, that we might not 386 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:23,840 abort the process only midway, that we might not try to pluck the fruit before it's ripened. 387 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:32,080 But give us a sensitivity to know when the heart has been genuinely prepared. 388 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:39,480 And then may we seek with all of the persuasion that the Spirit of God would give us to bring 389 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:47,120 that friend or that loved one to faith in Christ. 390 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:54,280 Thank you Father for exposing to us one day what you did to Paul. 391 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,880 Perhaps it was another aspect of the law. 392 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:05,720 It was some other area of conviction that was used other than coveting, that you brought 393 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:11,020 us to death to our own self-righteousness, that we might have the true righteousness 394 00:32:11,020 --> 00:32:13,000 which is by faith in Christ. 395 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:14,960 Thank you. 396 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:15,960 Thank you for that. 397 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:16,960 In Jesus' name. 398 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:18,760 Would you sing the chorus with me? 399 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:21,760 Our heads bowed. 400 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:29,560 Thank you Lord for saving my soul. 401 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:37,960 Thank you Lord for making me whole. 402 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:46,360 Thank you Lord for giving to me. 403 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:56,440 Thy great salvation so rich and free.