Out from Under the Law, Part 2

If you would take your Bibles
and turn back to Romans, chapter 7. Romans, chapter 7, where we
have begun a new section, but not a new subject. Paul is dealing with the great
subject of sanctification, and he continues it here in chapter
7, but in a new and different way, essentially beginning a
process of telling us how we have been liberated from the
law and that is the great subject of chapter 7, our relationship
to the law. I have suggested in weeks past
that the structure of this section really ties us all the way back
to chapter 5 verse 20 where Paul made a comment, a strong comment
that he had to double back and explain In 520, he said, the
law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin
increased, grace abounded all the more. Now, Paul takes that
and begins to answer that in chapter 6, verse 1. We’ve seen
that, and at the end of that little explanation in verse 14,
Paul makes another comment that he will desire to explain. In 614, he says, Sin shall not
be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
Now that, again, seizes people’s attention, and Paul knows it.
Paul knows that he has to fully explain these words, and that’s
what he begins to do in verse 15 and following, but he only
answers the first portion of that, as we’ve seen in those
verses 15 through 23. He answers the first part of
that question. There, he answers the portion
that says, sin shall not be master over you, and he used that image
of slavery in order to accomplish that. But as I said, he’s only
answered part of the question, and as we move into chapter 7,
he begins to answer the second portion of that, which is the
statement that you are not under law, but under grace. He needs
to explain that, and he desires to do so. And so here in chapter
7, he begins to explain the other half of that equation. And he
does so, as we’ve seen, by reminding them that they had been liberated
from the law by death. They had been liberated by the
law by their own death, death with their Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, they hadn’t died physically, but on the cross, they essentially,
by placing their faith in Christ, had died with Christ. What Paul,
remember, is really primarily seeking to do in this section
is to remind us of our need of sanctification, remind us of
the process of sanctification, and remind us that sanctification
does not come by way of the law. No strict adherence to the law
can save us. That’s what the earlier chapters
were for. and no strict adherence to the law can or will sanctify
us. But Paul really is seeking to
clarify here. He’s really seeking to guard
against this idea of a strict law-keeping as a way of securing
some kind of righteous position before a holy God. Paul had already
said this. In Romans 3.20, he said, By the
works of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight. And
his conclusion here is nearly the same. By the works of the
law, no one shall be sanctified by the law. Well, Paul uses a
simple illustration in order to make this statement. He says in verse 1, 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.
Paul wants to reiterate the quality, the depth of the law, the seriousness
of the law, the strength and power of the law. But Paul also
wants to limit the law. Paul wants to acknowledge that
the law has its limits. The law has its boundaries. And
he does so in this statement. The law has jurisdiction over
a person as long as he lives. Which, if you were here for the
last couple of weeks, you know what Paul is saying there. That
the law does have power. The law does have jurisdiction.
but only so long as a person is alive that has no power at
all over a dead man. That’s Paul’s point. And in order
to illustrate that, he moves into verses 2 and 3 with a very
simple illustration. Look at verses 2 and 3. He says,
For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he
is living. That was, according to the Jewish
law, the law of Moses, And that’s what Paul is talking about here.
That is exactly what the law said. This is the law of marriage
and against divorce. The married woman is bound by
law to her husband as long as he is alive, while he is living. But, if her husband dies, she
is released from the law concerning the husband. It’s a simple illustration. Paul wants to flesh it out. Paul
wants us to really understand and grasp this, and so he applies
it here in verse 3, continuing the illustration when he says,
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, even
though she is joined to another man. It’s a very simple illustration.
But Paul is illustrating the point that he has already made
in verse 1. The law has jurisdiction over
a person as long as he lives, and when he dies, the law no
longer has jurisdiction over him. Now, Paul has finished his
illustration, and I made a strident effort last Lord’s Day to remind
you of that, to really point out the fact that Paul has finished
his illustration in verse 3. The illustration does not continue
on to verse 4. In verse 4, Paul begins to apply
the illustration to our lives. How does it shake out practically
in the believer’s life? Read along with me verses 4 through
6, where we hope to be today. 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.” These are profound
verses, as one suggested, that in these verses are contained
the essence of the Christian faith. It is the gospel, as another
said, in a nutshell. We began to look at these verses
last week, and really what Paul is doing here is He’s not giving
a strong polemic against the Jewish faith, or he’s not guarding
against Judaizers necessarily, but he knows that he must speak
to the Jews on this issue, and he knows the Gentiles are listening
in, but essentially Paul is speaking to the Christians in Rome. He’s
speaking to Jews and Gentiles, but he’s got the Jewish believers
in focus, and that’s why he mentions the law. basically says here
that when death should come, if death should come, the wife
or the husband is released from the law, that the law basically
has these limits, it can’t touch a dead person. The illustration,
as I said, comes to a screeching halt at verse 3. The problem
is, as I pointed out last Lord’s Day, that so many come to this
passage, they don’t know where the illustration begins or ends,
and so the illustration itself begins to fall apart quickly
if it’s misapplied or misused in any way, as we saw in full
last week. Now, in order to do that, people
have to take a lot of liberties with Scripture, and as I pointed
out, not only unnecessary, it’s totally unwarranted. It’s not
right, and it leads only to error and to a mischaracterization
of these verses. Look at verse 4 once again. There
is a play on words there, and this is where so many people
go astray. Paul had already mentioned, in the context of marriage, the
words, to be joined together. He says it twice in verse 3.
To be joined together. and joined to another man. Well,
that in the context of marriage is speaking about the marital
union. But in verse 4, as I said, the
illustration is over. Paul’s not talking about any
kind of marriage union anymore. He’s talking about our, that
is, believers’ relationship to Christ. He isn’t talking about
marriage. He’s simply making a play on
words. He isn’t talking about how we are married in any sense
to Christ. He is talking about our relationship
to him. The point is simple, and it becomes
clear when Paul says in verse 4, therefore. That should be
a clue that Paul is drawing a conclusion here. He’s not bringing an illustration
forward into verse 4. He’s talking about what this
practically means, application of the death to the law, what
that means in a believer’s life. And he says, therefore, my brethren,
you also were made to die to the law. The law didn’t die,
we died. As I said, the illustration falls
apart immediately if you begin to assign strict correlation
of every person or every member of that illustration. It doesn’t
work. We were made to die to the law.
We saw that it’s a past tense, in a sense. We saw that it’s
passive. We were, in a sense, put to death,
just as Christ was put to death. We were put to death on the cross,
and it was a violent death. Paul moves here in this sentence,
in verse 4, his whole point is revealing to us the new way,
the new manner, if you will, that the grace of the gospel
delivers us out of the dominion of the law and out of sin and
into a new realm as believers. And he did so, he points out
that this was done by way of the body of Christ, the body
of our Lord and Savior. He’s talking about Christ’s very
body crucified on the cross. He’s not talking about the body
of Christ as the church, as we pointed out last Lord’s Day.
Now, that’s essentially the foundation on which we stand this morning.
Paul gave us an illustration, an illustration of the statement
he made in verse 1. Verse 4 begins his application,
and his application is simple. You were made to die to the law
through the body of Christ, that when we placed our faith in Christ,
We died with him and we died specifically to the law so that
we might be joined to another. We might have a new relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ like never before. To him, the very
one who was raised from the dead. And there’s a purpose. There’s a purpose for this whole
thing. And finally, Paul gets to that at the end of verse four,
what is the purpose of this whole transaction, this transaction
that he’s been discussing, this death with Christ, this death
to the law, with the very one who had been risen from the dead
after having been crucified. What is the purpose? Look at
verse four once again. Therefore, my brethren, you 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. That’s the whole purpose
of this section. sanctification, that we might
bear fruit for God. Now, as we’ve been saying, the
illustration, as I pointed out, is limited to verses two and
three. You’ve heard me say that at least twenty times. Forty,
if you were here last Lord’s Day. Verse four is the application. That’s important. We’re not married
to Jesus as individuals, and it’s even more important that
we have a clear perspective on these verses, as Paul concludes. because no sooner does Paul mention
bearing fruit that those who maintain that this is a continuation
of the illustration not only maintain the idea of marriage,
but that the union, that marriage, is productive of offspring, the
fruit of the womb, children as it were. Now, it is so outlandish
and so far-fetched that essentially what they have to do is allegorize
this whole section. to even begin to wiggle out of
it. Offspring, it’s very clear what Paul’s talking about here,
isn’t it? It’s the fruit of the Spirit, as we will go on and
discover this morning. That’s the fruit that Paul is
talking about. It’s the fruit of sanctification. It’s changed lives. No wonder
one pastor, in writing, in responding to this ridiculous charge of
continuing this illustration and making us married to Jesus,
bearing offspring, it is somewhat far-fetched to think that the
marriage metaphor is being continued so that the fruit here spoken
of is viewed as the offspring of a new marriage. The fruit,
like the fruit unto holiness, is a righteous life characterized
by those good works which God has before ordained that we should
walk in them. That’s the fruit. And to miss
that is to miss almost the entire purpose of the book of Romans,
not to mention chapter 7. Some, said one, maintained that
in using the word translated here in our Bibles, bear fruit,
Paul had in mind the image of bearing children. The image of
our bearing offspring to God is altogether grotesque. So, the kind of fruit that Paul
has in mind here is very clear from the context. If you stand
back and look, you can see the illustration, you can see the
point that Paul is illustrating in verse 1, and you can see the
application come flowing directly out of it in verse 4. As one
said, as Christians, we have an entirely new purpose in life,
to bring forth fruit unto God. The person who is not a Christian
knows nothing of that purpose. He lives for himself. He brings
forth fruit for himself. He lives to satisfy himself.
He is self-centered. He is proud of his morality,
pleasing himself, trusting in his own efforts. But the one
who has become a Christian, he has an entirely new purpose,
to bring forth fruit to God. You know, and as you stand back
and you look, not just at what Paul is saying here, but at what
Paul says in all of his letters, in what the New Testament echoes,
in what indeed the entire Scriptures say, it’s fruit-bearing that
is always in view for God. It has changed lives, but the
image is used throughout Scripture. Great emphasis of Scripture.
is placed on fruit-bearing, Psalm 1. You know it. He will be like
a tree, firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit
in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and whatever he does,
he prospers. Bear fruit. Psalm 92, 14. They will still yield fruit in
old age, the godly ones. They shall be full of sap and
very green.” Proverbs 11.30, the fruit of the righteous is
a tree of life. Jeremiah 17, you will be like
a tree planted by the water, an echo of Psalm 1. Romans 1.13,
beginning a summary of Paul’s epistles. I do not want you to be unaware,
brethren, that I have often planned to come to you and often been
prevented so that I may obtain some fruit among you.” Paul wanted
to come in and disciple them and raise them up so that they
might be and become and bear fruit as they were designed by
God. We saw it just recently, Romans
6, 21 and 22. What benefit? What benefit were you deriving
from the things which you are now ashamed? Look back at your
lives, look back at the fruit that your lives were bearing,
for the outcome of those things is death, but now having been
freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit
resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life. It’s
an echo of that very principle. You know what the fruit is. The
fruit is the fruit of the Spirit, also from Paul’s epistle to the
Galatians. 5, 22 and 23, the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
goodness, gentleness, self-control against such things there is
no law. Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2.10,
which verse we just read. We are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus for good works. Fruit. which God has prepared
beforehand so that we should walk in them. Ephesians 5.9,
the fruit of the light consists in goodness and righteousness
and truth. The image, the illustration really of bearing fruit is, as
I said, throughout scripture. It isn’t limited to Paul’s epistles. Jesus himself suggested the illustration
when he said, I am the true vine. Every branch in me that does
not bear fruit, he takes away. So, that’s what Paul is talking
about here, and in fact, if you think about it, in fact, let’s
take a quick tour. In fact, for the sake of time,
just listen as I take a quick tour, and you can jot down the
verses if you’re interested. It’s sanctification, really,
bearing fruit, fruitful Christian lives that is in view, But it
doesn’t always have to have the word fruit in it in order to
have that intention. It’s changed lives, lives changed
and touched by the grace of God that bear out exactly what God
is trying to do in our lives and in this world. Colossians 3, listen to this
one. So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved,
put on a heart of compassion. These are infinitely practical
verses. Sanctification is infinitely
practical. It touches us where we live.
I love the way my brother laid out the discussion beforehand
of our confession. It’s infinitely practical. This
touches everything that we do. Put on a heart of compassion,
kindness. humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another, and forgiving each other. Whoever
has a complaint against anyone, in other words, Paul says there
to the Colossians, bear fruit. He said it likewise to the Corinthians
in much more pointed terms. 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9-11,
do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom
of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were
some of you, but you were washed You were sanctified. You were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the
spirit of our God. Bear fruit. Live it out. Be different. Say it to the Ephesians. Therefore, I, the prisoner of
the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling
with which you’ve been called. Ephesians 4, 1-3. Bear fruit. What does it look like? With
all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance
for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. Over and over again throughout
the scriptures, we have this constant refrain that we as Christians
are supposed to now, by God’s grace, live differently. We’re supposed to live productive
lives. fruitful lives, God-honoring,
Christ-like lives. 1 Corinthians 15, 58, Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain
in the Lord. These are all infinitely practical
verses. Jot them down, the rest of them,
if you would. Philippians 1, 9-11. Philippians
1, 27-28. 2 Corinthians 6, I can’t pass
this one. 2 Corinthians 6, do not be bound
together with unbelievers. For what partnership of righteousness
and lawlessness, what fellowship has light with darkness? What
harmony has Christ with Belial? Or what has a believer in common
with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple
with idols? For we are a temple of the living God. Paul goes
on to say, therefore, having these promises, brethren, let
us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Bear fruit. It’s the whole purpose of the
Christian life, isn’t it? The whole reason for which we
were saved. is to live lives that testify and proclaim in
everything that we do that we are different. Now, it’s important
that we look at verse 5 where Paul begins to give the reasons
for his statement. Look at verse 5 if you would,
and I’ll take it in a In a running fashion conclude or attacking
on verse 4 therefore my brethren you were made to die of 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 It’s crucial here. A little bit
tedious, I admit, ahead of time, but it’s crucial to break up
this complex sentence in front of us. Paul’s bottom line explanation
of verse 4 is the simple sentence, for the sinful passions were
at work in the members of our body. That’s what we used to
be. That’s how things used to be.
That’s how things used to operate. Now we’re supposed to bear fruits.
Because back then, the sinful passions were running amok in
our body. It’s very clear what the connection
is between verses 4 and verses 5, isn’t it? The connection is
over the matter of bearing fruit. Whereas now, in our saved condition,
by God’s grace, we have been made to die to the law, ultimately
for the purpose of bearing fruit to God, that’s not the way things
always were, is it? And you know it. You know it,
and I know it, that it’s not the way things always were, and
Paul says it quite plainly. We used to be in the business
of bearing fruit for death. We used to be in the business
of living a life that brought down death upon ourselves, and
spread death wherever we went. For the sinful passions were
at work in our body. Those sinful passions. I mean,
there were so many. colorful descriptions of what
that is. You know, you don’t even need
me to read these. You know what Paul’s talking
about. Whether it’s anger, or whether it’s any kind of perversion,
or whether it’s any kind of lustful behavior that just was hell-bent,
literally, on pursuing what you wanted. You know what it is. As one described it, it is the
effects of sin produced upon our nature. Another called it
the instincts of evil. I like that one. One called it
the sinful passions which were evoked by the law working themselves
out in our bodies. Can’t you just get that? It’s
like we get a disease and it just washes through every part
of our being and every part of our body. Another said of this. phrase
that the reference is to bad affections or passions, that’s
an understatement. It is ultimately concrete acts
of sin rather than sin as a general condition or principle. We, you
know, we don’t mind talking about sin when it’s out there as a
concept. That’s not what Paul’s talking
about. He’s talking about your grossest, vilest sins and mine
as well, all of ours. these utterly degrading, sinful
passions that were running amok in our bodies. They were at work
in our members. Literally, here, it is the passions
of sins. It isn’t merely these sinful
passions, these longings to do evil, but it is the actual process
of being stirred up into actual sin. It’s not just that we had
a feeling or an inclination towards sin, we were passionately engaged
in it, totally immersed in it. Look at this again. Paul is calling us to live different
lives. Paul is calling us to yearn for
sanctification, and he does so by pointing us back look over
our shoulder and look at what God saved us out of for our sinful
passions were at work in the members of our body. In all of
the various parts of our body, our eyes, as my brother said,
looked upon things we should not have looked on. Our hands
did things they shouldn’t have done. We used them as fists,
as weapons. Our ears heard things, our tongues
said things, our feet moved, as the scriptures say, swiftly
to do evil. It was our body that was doing
the bidding of our sinful passions. It was running amok. It was running
totally unchecked in our bodily members. All of our faculties,
whether our mind, our soul, our body, all of it was affected. As one said, such emotions as
lust and anger, hatred, ill will, jealousy, envy, unreasonable
fear, although these and similar passions pertain to a person’s
heart and mind, they express themselves physically. That’s what he’s saying. It was
running its course in our mind, and the tax on the end there,
the jealous eye, the clenched fist, the hateful gesture, all
of it. It wasn’t just that we had a
sinful tendency. It wasn’t just that we got tripped
up, suddenly surprised into some sin. It was that it was welling
up within us, and it was spreading like wildfire in our very bodies. Now, I want you to go back to
the sentence. There’s three modifiers to it, and it’s powerful. This
is powerful stuff, and it’s the very point that Paul’s making.
First of all, this occurred. while we were in the flesh. While we were in the flesh. Flesh
is used in a number of different ways
in scripture, and you know that. It can be used very, in a morally
neutral sense, just being in the flesh, being embodied. Jesus
Christ came to take on flesh. It’s not inherently evil, that
was the trouble, the error, really, of the Gnostics. It can be used in a morally neutral
sense just to speak about our physical existence on the earth.
We’re here in the flesh. But it can also refer to that
which is morally evil, and that’s what Paul’s talking about here.
We were in the flesh. We were living fleshly lives. We were living sinful, degrading
lives. One pastor said it this way here.
Paul uses the phrase to denote the condition which for Christians
belongs to the past, and only for Christians. You can’t extract
yourself from fleshly living outside of Christ. They are no
longer in the flesh in the sense of having the basic direction
for their lives determined and controlled by their fallen nature. Although the flesh in the sense
of fallen human nature is still an element, far from powerless
in their lives, But when they were controlled under the lives
dominated by the flesh, then that condition prevailed in our
lives, which the rest of verse 5 describes. It is the flesh that Paul points
to when we were living in that ungodly, unchecked condition
that our passions began to foment. Look again at the second modifier,
while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused
by the law. Now, this is trouble. This is,
for some people, just a verse that we cannot reconcile. How is it that the law, which
is good, the law which God gave, how is it that the law stirred
these things up? I mean, it’s stated there plainly,
the experiences that Paul’s talking about came about through the
influence of the law in our lives. How does the law spring up and
stir up these sinful passions? Now, Paul’s going to begin to
deal with that in verses 7 through 13. We’ll look at that next Lord’s
Day, but we need a short answer. Paul essentially says here that
the law, by the very nature of prohibiting something, restraining
something, essentially excites the passions within us to do
the very thing that’s forbidden. And you don’t need me to tell
you how that works. You know in your heart, don’t
do this. And that’s exactly what we want
to do, isn’t it? One commentator said, we always
strive after that which is forbidden and we desire after that which
is denied. If God should stretch a chain
across the road to hinder the progress of one violating the
Sabbath, the man would soon become conscious of wrathful feelings
against his maker. In other words, it stirs up not
only a desire to do the very thing that God forbids, but then
we make God the bad guy for putting up such a rule. Now I know this and part of the
privilege in now having teenagers is I can tell the stories of
the youth. In our home, all we have to do
is mention the baby gate and everybody knows what we were
talking about. The children, we were trying to train them
were to have room time, quiet time in their rooms for a period
of time. We were trying to train them
to be able to play by themselves and play quietly for a season. I’m not talking about locking
them in their rooms for a week. And so, the children would come
out of their rooms repeatedly. I need water, I have to go to
the… You know, all the excuses. Everybody’s nodding. You have
the Baby Gates story yourselves. Well, finally, we had instructed
and appealed and admonished until we were blue. And finally, in
order to keep the children where they’re supposed to be, we put
up the baby gate. And no sooner did we put up the baby gate,
the tears began to flow, and the cries began to begin, and
the protests of what terrible parents we are, essentially. That’s exactly, we don’t like
boundaries. That’s why we don’t like God.
We don’t like somebody to tell us what we can and cannot do.
We’re fine with people who will affirm us in every way, shape,
and form, but as soon as they confront us about the most minor
little thing, they whine, and they cry, and they gnash their
teeth, and they would tear your eyes if they could get to you.
John Calvin said, the work of the law in the absence of the
spirit is to inflame our hearts Still more. So that they burst
forth into such lustful desires. The perversity and lust of man’s
corrupt nature break forth with greater fury the more they are
held back by the restraints of righteousness. That’s essentially
what Paul said in Romans 1, isn’t it? That they hold down righteousness. They can’t bear, they can’t stand
the righteousness of God. They don’t want to hear about
it, and if they could stop their ears, they would, but they can’t,
and they hate God all the more because of it. Well, that’s us. He’s talking
about us. While we were in the flesh, which
passions were aroused by the law. They were challenged by
the law. Our life was challenged. Our
sinful tendencies were challenged. Our self-centeredness was challenged
by the law. One pastor concluded, one wonders
how such a good thing, such as the holy law of God, could arouse
that which is sinful. It does so because, apart from
knowledge of the law, a person would not know good from evil.
The law, in declaring what is wrong, arouses evil in the unregenerate
person because his naturally rebellious nature makes him want
to do the very things that he learns are forbidden. We know
that. There’s a final modifier in verse
5 that we have to consider. We looked at the simple explanation,
the sinful passions were at work in the members of our body, but
they were there while we were in the flesh, and they were stirred
up, it says, they were stirred up, aroused, as it were, by the
law. And the whole point of all of
this, what were the, what was the point of the sinful passions?
What was, which were actually at work in all the various members
of our body? To bear fruit for death. That’s
all we got out of it. That’s the only benefit we got
out of it. Paul’s already said it in chapter
six. Paul’s echoing verse four, whereas
now we’re called to bear fruit for God. There was a time where
the only kind of fruit we bore, the only kind of produce that
came out of the gardens of our lives was death. whereas we used
to live lives that produced an evil crop. Now, having been justified
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to live productive,
fruit-bearing lives, lives that bring forth good fruit, wholesome
lives, lives that are lived to the glory of God in every realm. That’s what Paul says in verse
6, but now. What a relief, isn’t it? After
reading verse five and the reminder of our lives, isn’t it just almost
overwhelming? And Paul lets us up. He lets
us breathe again. He lets us come back to reality,
back to the reminder that that’s not the way things are now. No
longer. Look at verse six. But now we have been released
from the law. The law doesn’t condemn us anymore,
as we saw We have been released from the law having died to that
which we were bound so that we serve in newness of the spirit
and not in oldness of the letter. You know where we’re going. We’ve
been there. We’ve said this for several weeks running. We’ve
been released from the law. We died. We died as it were to
the law. And this little word now basically
points to the beginning of a new chapter in our lives, a new book,
a new life. It’s totally new, but it’s in
contrast to the previous condition that we were in, isn’t it? What he points to here is the
time when believers come to the Lord Jesus, they come to faith
in him, and they begin to present themselves in their lives in
this new state in which he’s called them to. The law at one
time had held us completely under its authority, under its bondage.
We were under its condemnation, absolutely, and justly so. But
when a person comes to Jesus Christ, he dies. Because of that,
as one said, he is discharged from all legal liabilities and
penalties. Because we as believers died
in Jesus Christ when he paid for our sin on the cross, We
were thereby released from our moral and spiritual liabilities
and penalties under God’s law. We can’t be held by anybody.
That’s what Romans 8 is all about. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. We are under no condemnation. It is cancelled. Even more pointedly,
it is abolished, put to nothing. What Paul points to here is that,
essentially, our lives are no longer governed by our sinful
nature. And since Jesus, by dying on our behalf, paid the debt
that we have to the law, we are no longer under the law’s domination. We are no longer under the law’s
condemnation. We are no longer under the law’s
curse. We have been released from the law. Having died, look
again at verse 6, having died to that by which we were bound,
it’s the law again. We were bound and held down,
we had no freedom, no freedom to do what we wanted to do, but
by virtue of this death, we were released from it completely and
totally. And so we’re released, much in
a sense, we come back as it were to the slave imagery, don’t we? We’ve been set free. We’ve been
released, as it were. And so, what do we do? I remember watching a documentary
about a slave who was faced with that very dilemma. And he went
and bounced around from city to town. He had no idea what
to do with his life. And he landed in a spot. And in God’s providence, he flourished.
He started a business. began to grow the business, began
to serve others in the community. He bore a good name. He walked
as a Christian in the community. That’s essentially an illustration
of what Paul says of us here. We’ve been set free. What do
we do? How do we live? Paul tells us right in verse
six. 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. We’re not slaves anymore. We
don’t have to obey the law, the law which had us in bondage. The newness of the Spirit that
he talks about is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit
that dwells in us. What Paul is talking about here
is when we are redeemed in Christ, not only are we able to do what’s
right, but we desire to do what’s right. God grants Ben a new kind
of release from the law so that we will serve by the power of
the Spirit. This newness of the Spirit that
he points to is none other, as I said, than the Holy Spirit.
Paul knows fully what we need by way of encouragement
and exhortation to live according to our faith. Those verses, all
of those verses that I read a moment ago on fruit-bearing lives in
every book of the Bible, there are those exhortations to live
new and different lives, lives according to God’s grace and lives according to God’s
spirit. But it’s no longer, as Paul points
out at the end, by the oldness of the letter. The letter there
is simply talking about the law. It’s the old condition that we
were in. It’s the old source of alleged
salvation. It’s the old source of alleged
sanctification. If we could only live according
to that law, we’d have it. If we only could live according
to that law, we’d have salvation and we would be righteous. The
problem was, we quickly discovered, we couldn’t. The oldness of the letter is
that, as one said, that old state in which the law is the source,
a state of condemnation and enmity to God. Instead of having the
legal and slavish spirit which arose from their condition under
the law, they now have the feelings of children. Children. We have His Spirit, we have the
testimony of Christ, we live lives now by His grace to please
and satisfy Him. Ephesians 4, in closing, echoes
this same thought. As a result, we are no longer
to be children tossed here and there by waves, carried about
by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness
and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love,
we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even
Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together
by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working
of each individual part. causes the growth of the body
for the building up of the self in love. We are to live new, we’ve been
set free. We’re not set free to do nothing.
We’re not set free to sit around and wait for heaven. We’re to
live new and vitally productive lives. We’re released from slavery,
slavery to the law, and now we have the Holy Spirit dwelling
in us, encouraging us. to live and walk in newness of
life. Let’s examine our hearts before
our King. O merciful God, we thank you
for the reminder of these passages, even for the instruction, even
for the clarity that we’ve gained by considering them as we’ve
walked. Lord of this simple application
of this beautiful illustration of the clear principle that we
have died to the law. The law no longer has jurisdiction
over us. We no longer try to please you
by living lives strictly according to your law, but we live by the
spirit. And as your spirit impresses
upon us and brings us to conviction of things, we confess to you
not out of a slavish obedience brought out of fear. We come
to you as children. desiring to please you, longing
to please you and walk with you as we will forever. Because we
are no longer under condemnation. Merciful God, we thank you and
praise you. We pray all of these things in
Jesus name.