The Point of the Law

We’ve embarked on a study of
Romans chapter 7, which comes in the midst of a greater section
that began in chapter 6 and will continue all the way through
chapter 8. And the overarching umbrella, as we have seen, is
the subject of sanctification. But in the midst of his discussion,
Paul has made a number of comments that could be construed as being
disparaging to the law of God. Paul would not hesitate to say
that the law of God will not save us, the law of God will
not sanctify us. There are some that would say
that in that, in Paul’s attitude, is embedded a disdain for the
law and so Paul, in chapter 7 of Romans, begins to talk about
this relationship that the Christian has with the law of God. What
is that relationship? What is the relationship of the
law in the life of the Christian? Now, we began this study, obviously,
in verse 1 with the stated principle. Paul lays it out very clearly
that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives.
That is the principle but it also embedded in that principle
is the limit of the law. The law is limited to the life
of the person. Where Paul goes from there is
to an illustration and then to the application as we’ve seen
for the last two Lord’s Days in verses four through six. The
application of that principle is essentially fruitfulness or
fruit bearing unto God that our lives Having been freed from
the bondage to the law to an attempt in our own power to be
pleasing to God and to achieve not only our salvation, but our
sanctification by means of adherence to the law, now we have been
freed up to another master, that is, to Christ. And our relationship
with him is no longer one of duty and burden, but now it is
one of a loving relationship, that of a child to a parent. Join with me again as we take
a running start at the verses we’ll be considering this morning
where Paul will focus in on the point of the law. If we have
died to the law, if the law only has jurisdiction over us as long
as we are alive, what is then the point of the law to the Christians? Paul will take that up, beginning
in verse 7. Go back, though, if you would,
to verse 1, where Paul wrote, For 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 law to her husband while he is living, that
if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning her 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 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. What shall we
say then? Is the law sin? May it never
be. On the contrary, I would not
have come to know sin except through the law. For I would
not have known about coveting if the law had not said, You
shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity through
the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law, sin is
dead. And I was once alive apart from
the law. But when the commandment came,
sin became alive and I died. And this commandment, which was
to result in life, proved to result in death for me. For sin, taking opportunity through
the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So
then the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous
and good. It would have been easy for those
in the Roman church not easy for the Jews, mind you, but easy
for a Christian reading Paul’s words, and even for a Jewish
Christian by the admonition of this converted Jew himself, the
Apostle Paul, who argues on his own behalf in Philippians 3,
one of the greatest Jews, one of the most accomplished Jews,
hearing Paul’s comments about the law, It might have been easy
for almost anyone listening to him to dust off their hands from
having anything to do with the law anymore. And even to conclude
that not only is the law unnecessary or unneeded or purposeless, the
law is sinful. The law is what is used to provoke
to sin and therefore it is the cause of sin and because of that
it is sin itself. It would have been easy. except
for Paul. Paul knew this. Paul knew what
some could do with his words. Paul knew how they could misconstrue
them. And so what Paul wants to do
here is to talk about the nature of the law. What is the nature
of God’s law? And what is the work? What does
it do? What is the purpose of the law?
What is the point of the law? wrote in preparation for a consideration
of this passage that Paul having shown that we must be delivered
from the law for our justification and that this freedom was no
less for sanctification. In other words, neither were
really secured by the law. Our salvation wasn’t secured
by the law. Our sanctification isn’t secured
by the law. What then is the purpose of the
law? He goes on. that Paul comes now
to explain more fully what he had previously done. What is
the use? And what is the effect of the
law? Paul wants to tell us. He’s eager
to tell us. He’s eager to unfold this before us. And the first
thing that he tells us is, make no mistake. The law is not sin. The law is not sin. Look back,
if you would, at verse 7, what shall we say then? A very familiar
device of Paul, drawing conclusions, wrapping up discussions. What
shall we say then? Let’s pause to consider any potential
of false inference, any potential of taking these words and twisting
them for a purpose other than for which they were designed.
What should we say then? Is the law sin? I mean, after
all, think of it. And I want to take you back in
your mind’s eye, at least, to some of the things that Paul
has said. That under the law, we were considered
as slaves to sin. Somebody might conclude then
that if we are slaves under the law to sin, then in a sense,
the law has a sinful purpose. Some of the things that Paul
has said in the course of this epistle already could be misconstrued,
as we have seen. Romans 5.20, the law came in
so that transgression would increase. Well, if we can pin it all on
the law, then the law must be sin and sinful. Romans 6.14,
which verse He had to explain, as well as we have seen, sin
shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but
under grace. Law, then, is completely unnecessary. As a result, it
must be superfluous, if not sinful itself. Romans 7, 5, which verse
we just read, for while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions
which were aroused by the law. It’s the law’s fault. As we glance back into that chapter,
we see the powerlessness of the law to deliver people from sin. The fact that it not only didn’t
help us, but it essentially aggravated the condition that we were in
and confirmed, put a stamp of approval on the fact that we
were thoroughgoing sinners. and finally is positioned by
Paul himself as being opposed to grace, opposite to grace,
the very antithesis of grace. So, does that mean that the law
is sinful? That the law was used by God
to provoke to sin? That it’s the origin of sin?
That in essence it becomes sin itself? Well, it doesn’t take
Paul long to draw a conclusion and to advance the argument that
the law is not sin. He says, may it never be, and
we’ve seen that before. It’s the strongest negative that
can be used by way of reminder. It is a vehement denial of such
a charge. Paul couldn’t have said it any
more strongly. May it never be. Don’t even put those words on
your lips. The law is not sin. The law isn’t sin. The law isn’t
sinful. It doesn’t produce or provoke
us to sin or lead us to sin or in any way could be blamed for
our sin. Secondly, what is the purpose
of the law? What is the nature of this law?
Not only is the law not sin, but look again at verse 7. The
law identifies and reveals sin. Look at the latter half of verse
7, coursing through verse 8. On the contrary, not only is
the law not sin, Paul says, on the contrary, I would not have
come to know sin except through the law, and so there is a positive
benefit to the law. There is a blessing of God to
the law, for I would not have known about coveting if the law
had not said, you shall not covet. Some suggested, and this is just
astounding, that Paul is speaking hypothetically here, as if to
say Paul couldn’t possibly have struggled with covetousness. Paul says it in the plainest
language possible, and we’ll talk about when and how this
came about. In essence, what Paul wants to
do is give us the testimony behind the testimony. Remember in our
study of the book of Acts, we came across a three-fold testimony
of Paul which is almost identical throughout the book of Acts.
Three different times he gives his testimony. The bright light
on the road to Damascus, God’s voice, calling into repentance,
Paul comes quickly and you know what? Nothing about this is written
in the book of Acts. What Paul is giving us is his
testimony, really his testimony, behind what transpired on the
road to Damascus. Paul says that all along God
was working with him and showing him that, you know what, Paul,
you’re just as covetous, you’re just as sinful as any of them,
even the Christians whom you persecute. You’re not accomplished. You’re not complete. You haven’t
completely adhered to the law, not even for a day. Paul says,
essentially, I didn’t even know what sin was. I heard about it. Paul probably had the Ten Commandments
memorized backwards and forwards. But even still, he says, it was
unconscious of it. I didn’t even know. I didn’t
even know what it meant, really. Paul says, I would have continued
on throughout life without a real understanding
of the real meaning of God’s law until I read and really began
to understand, until the Holy Spirit began to apply the meaning
of those words, you shall not covet. As one pastor said, since Paul
everywhere else recognizes that even in the absence of the law,
men do sin. Paul couldn’t possibly be here
suggesting that unless people know about the law, it’s not
sin. In the absence of the Tenth Amendment,
men do not have the experience of coveting. They don’t know
that it’s coveting and contrary to God and to his law, but it
is a longing for someone else’s property. It is a longing for
something that doesn’t belong to you. It is an illicit longing
nonetheless. He goes on. While men do actually
sin in the absence of the law, they do not fully recognize sin
for what it is. And that’s exactly where Paul
was. Paul was sailing along thinking that God must grade on a curve
and that God had to accept him because he had made an attempt
to adhere to the law. People don’t recognize sin for
what it is apart from the law. They do indeed experience covetousness
even though they do not know the Tenth Commandment. It is
only in light of that commandment that they recognize their coveting
for what it is. that coveting which God forbid,
a deliberate disobeying of God’s revealed will. You know what
Paul’s saying? There was a time as a faithful
Jew where he didn’t even understand what it meant. Thou shalt not
covet. God essentially had uncovered,
revealed to his people his divine standards and the law God had
shown them the righteousness that it demanded so that we might
be able to identify better what sin is and how we missed the
mark and how many ways we missed the mark by a failure to meet
those particular standards. That’s what he says is the point
of the law. The point of the law is first
identification and then ultimately a revelation to us of what sin
even is. Otherwise, we can’t figure it
out. We might have some moral standard if we’re heathen living
on an island that’s never been touched or met by the law of
God, but we can’t know how it affects God. We can’t know how
it offends God. We can’t know fully, and that’s
what Paul says, and that’s, it’s not a new principle. That’s what
Paul has said from the Beginning of Romans, Romans 3.20, through
the law comes the knowledge of sin. It’s not that people aren’t
sinning, but now they know it as sin. Once they hear that God
says, thou shalt not covet, now they know that it’s offensive
to God. Romans 4.15, where there is no
law, there is no violation. We studied that passage. Romans
5.13, sin is not imputed where there is no law. Well, it doesn’t
mean that they’re not sinning. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t
offend God. It just means that they’re oblivious
to that fact. So, it doesn’t mean that unless
someone is sitting there with the Decalogue before them or
with the entire Pentateuch or with the entire Old Testament
or with the entire Bible, it doesn’t mean that if they don’t
have that in front of them, that they’re not sinning. Even those
who have no earthly idea about God’s law and God’s standards
sin almost every moment of their life. What Paul is talking about
is not only his own awakening to
the real meaning of God’s word, but a need of that in every person
that’s ever born. Paul knew about the heathen.
Paul knew. Paul wrote Romans 2.15. Remember that? Speaking of the
heathen, they show the work of the law written in their hearts.
Sometimes, occasionally, every once in a great while, they do
what’s right. Paul said he knew that. But,
by and large, their testimony was one of sin. He’s talking
about a full awareness, the full extent of the law. the full meaning
of man’s depravity. As one pastor said, apart from
the law, we would have no way of accurately judging ourselves.
Only God’s law reveals His divine standard of righteousness and
thereby enables us to see how far short of His righteousness
we are. That’s the function of the law.
It is to highlight, to identify and reveal to us Pardon me. Note this. Look at the passage
once again. Paul says there, on the contrary,
I would not have come to know sin except through the law, for
I would not have known about coveting. It’s a key point to
understand what Paul means by that kind of knowledge. What
kind of knowledge What is he talking about? Is it just intellectual
knowledge? Because he had the Ten Commandments
memorized, no doubt. Paul knew what the Tenth Commandment
said, absolutely no doubt. Is it mere intellectual knowledge?
No. It’s a knowledge that really
ultimately leads to conviction. As one said, it includes the
consciousness of guilt and pollution. The law would awaken in him the
knowledge of his own state and character. And you see, there
was a season where Paul was oblivious to that. Absolutely oblivious,
even though he was a faithful Jew. The law awakened in him the knowledge
of his own state and character. He felt himself to be a sinner,
not merely a transgressor, but one in whom sin dwells. That was news to Paul. It was
the corruption of his nature that was revealed. And so what
Paul is saying here is that the law begins this process of detecting
sin in one’s life and shining the light to reveal it. What Paul says here is that without
that law, without really coming to an understanding of that law,
Paul would not have understood the depth of the sin in his own
life, the evil thoughts that he had, the resistance that he
had to God and to his will, he would not have known sin. Not as sin. One faithful commentator began
to point out regarding this particular commandment that this is a key a very key command not just to
Paul but to all of us. Paul could have picked any one
of the Ten Commandments and used that as an illustration of his
ignorance of God that how much more appropriate, how perfectly
appropriate is the use of the Ten Commandments, the Tenth Commandment
rather. In that particular commandment,
you shall not covet, sin essentially becomes the sneaky opportunist.
Seize advantage to get into our lives and gain a foothold and
to begin to produce havoc. What Paul says, it got into his
own life and began revealing to him his sinfulness and his
utter inability. The 10th commandment comes in
Exodus 20, 17, and it just says this. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife. or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox,
or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. As one said, it directs attention
to the inward root of man’s outward wrongdoing. And Paul says he
was oblivious to that time. Paul, no doubt, sinned like the
rest of us. But we don’t really understand
what’s at the root of that, do we? We might see the donkey and
think that we’re stealing the donkey, but what we really see
is that we’re wagging our finger at God for his failure to provide
the donkey. And that’s what Paul began to
understand as the depth of his sin. It directs attention to
the inward root of man’s outward wrongdoing, the culpable desire
of anything which belongs to another man. It reflects the
consciousness of the sinfulness of all inordinate desires as
the expression of man’s self-centeredness and self-assertion over against
God. We want what we want. And if
God hasn’t provided it, we’ll take it for ourselves. This word
lust or covetousness is the desire, not necessarily after forbidden
things, although it includes that, It might even be a good
desire that gets unhealthy. It gets unchecked and it becomes
our one lone passion. We become obsessed about acquiring
this one thing. One pastor said it’s natural
for human beings to want things. It’s not necessarily in and of
itself a bad thing to desire things. The hunger of a man urges
him on. It’s not bad to desire dinner. It’s not bad to desire a car
or a house. Those things urge us on. But when it’s brought to their
attention that certain things in which they want are forbidden
by law, then there is a tendency to want them all the more, to
set their hearts on them. And then it becomes lustfulness
and covetousness and desire for other people’s things. It’s not
that you want one just right they have. You want what they
have. And you’re angry at God because
he hasn’t provided it to you. So, people don’t understand their
sinfulness. They don’t understand or recognize
sin for what it is. They don’t understand the depth
of the roots of sin in their own lives. They see simple missteps
throughout the day. They don’t know that it’s hatred
in their heart for their neighbor. They don’t know that it’s hatred
for God in His failure to provide for them. Without the law, they
would never come to know that, Paul says. Without the law, they
would never come to know the depth of their own sin. One commentator said, why was
the divine command an opportunity to sin? That’s a great question. That’s what many people would
take this and twist it to point it back to the law as being evil. Why was it the divine command? Why of all things was the law
used? He answers faithfully by saying
it is that merciful limitation imposed on man by the commandment. and intended to preserve his
true freedom and dignity, it could be misinterpreted and misrepresented
as taking away his freedom and dignity. As soon as the law begins
to put restraints on us, thou shalt not covet. Watch what happens. Look at verse 8. But sin, taking
an opportunity through the commandment, Where Paul says here, now the
law has been applied and the law is going to echo in his mind
and in his heart and it is going to bear an ugly fruit. But sin
taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting
of every kind. For apart from the law, sin is
dead. What an astounding statement.
But sin taking opportunity. He pictures sin, he personifies
it as this devious, malevolent individual who cannot wait to
make attack. As one called it, the villain,
one referred to sin, the villain of this piece is sin. Sin seized
the opportunity, afforded it when the law showed me what was
right and wrong. Sin seized hold of that covetousness. And he pictures sin as this principle
that is at work for evil in our lives. This principle of sin
that produces nothing but corruption, the corruption of our nature,
which is standing behind all of our deeds. And note this, when he says taking
opportunity, sin taking opportunity, it is an absolutely fascinating
word. Stay with me for a moment. painted the picture this way,
having gotten the handle. So, sin is resident and sin is
just kind of floating through our bodies and in our lives,
but as soon as it hears the commandment, now it has, it sees this hold
of an opportunity. In essence, it’s what one another
called a starting point, a base of operation. Oh, that’s not
my cup of tea. It is an occasion. It is what
they would call in the military a beachhead, a foothold. It has set up camp. Sin is ready
to do battle and now it has something, some occasion for which to do
that. That’s the way the word is translated
and it’s interesting that more often than not this word is translated
in the context of an opportunity for evil. It is a foothold for
nefarious purposes, if you will. 2 Corinthians 5, 12. We are not
again commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an occasion
to be proud of us. It is used in a positive way.
2 Corinthians 11, 12. But what I am doing, I will continue
to do so that I may cut off opportunity, occasion, for those who desire
an opportunity to be regarded just as we are, and they’re used
in an evil way. Likewise, in Galatians 5.13,
you were called to freedom, brethren, but do not turn your freedom
into an opportunity, an occasion, a foothold, a beachhead for the
flesh. 1 Timothy 5.14, the last one that
I’ll cite, therefore I want younger widows to get married, bear children,
keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach. It’s a fascinating word. Years
ago, Barry asked me to go to the top of the mountain. And
I said, you know, I’ll be the Sherpa, not knowing what a Sherpa
was. See, what I had in mind as the
Sherpa was that I was going to set up base camp. And I was going
to stay at base camp all weekend long. What Barry had envisioned
is that as the Sherpa, I would carry his things to the top of
the mountain. What Paul is talking about here
is someone who is set up and established and intends to stay
at base camp and to take up this cause. Sin
did that. sin, taking opportunity through
the commandment, playing on that, pulling on that string, the laws
command like a cheap sweater produced in me coveting of every
kind. It just began to reveal to Paul,
and it does to us, over and over and over. You mean that’s coveting?
Then I begin to realize how much coveting I do through this passage,
this sin, personified as we’ve already
seen, this active power that is at work within us for a malicious
purpose, begins to produce in us and reveal
to us the extent of our depravity and the extent of our covetousness. One pastor said, the idea seems
to be that the impulses of a man’s nature are not recognized as
being right or wrong until the sense of right or wrong is awakened
by a positive command. And then once we know it, we
just begin. It’s like having glasses for
the first time and beginning to see the world as it really
is. That’s what Paul says. And then
you begin to see what a beautiful thing the law of God is in the
life of a Christian. That once where neutral impulses
become lost, desires of what is forbidden. It is this perverse
desire which is described as the work of sin. Impulses persisting
when there is present the knowledge that they are wrong. And the
true will and the true self is not strong enough to control
them. We begin to see just how utterly sinful we are and how
utterly helpless we are to mitigate against the battle that is within
us. Note again verse 8, but sin taking
opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting of every
kind, for apart from the law sin is dead. That doesn’t mean
that sin isn’t present. We already established that.
But sin, known as true sin, as resistance to God, It was essentially
stagnant, dormant, if you will, as a concept. The wrong was still
wrong. The wrong was still being done.
Coveting was still being practiced. And adultery and all other manner
of evil. But it wasn’t known as sin until
that moment. It wasn’t known as sin until
we read it. And every one of us, even as
Christians, have experienced that truth, haven’t we? We’re
sailing along just fine. And we feel good about our fellowship. And we enjoy being a Christian. We read our Bibles occasionally.
And we go to church. And we enjoy living differently
than we used to live. And then we come across that
passage. And it catches us off guard. And we begin to meditate. And
we turn our Bibles quickly away from it. We don’t want to read
that one again. And we come back to it days later. and it said
what it said. And we begin to recognize that
we’re in sin, that we’ve transgressed God’s law in a very particular
way. Christ has already paid for that
sin and we come in confession as Christians that it happens
to all of us, but until we knew about it, sin lay dormant, dead
as it were. There’s a third feature of God’s
law that is expounded here and we’ll begin
it today and likely finish it next Lord’s Day. In this course of considering
the need that we have of sanctification and this giant question of what
is the law in the life of the Christian, what is the purpose
of the law We see that the, regarding the nature of the law, that it
is not sin, that it is used by God to identify and reveal sin. But thirdly, it exposes a death
wish. I really wrestled with this one.
I really wrestled with how to communicate point three. The
law brings death. No, it doesn’t. Not exactly.
The law kills us. Well, It’s not entirely accurate. The law exposes us to death. No, it doesn’t. Not exactly. What it exposes in us is a death
wish. We joke about this as parents
from time to time, right? Our kids get up in the morning,
they have a sour attitude throughout the day. We call it a death wish,
right? They are going to push the envelope
until they get what’s coming to them, right? That’s what Paul
says we all have. We have a death wish. We could
say all day long that we don’t really want to bring down the
wrath of God upon us. We don’t really want death. But
the way that we live, the way that we live is so contrary to
God and so contrary to what God would have of us that what we
really are asking for is to be put to death. Look at verse nine. And I was alive. Pardon me, I once was alive apart
from the law. But when the commandment came,
sin became alive and I died. And this commandment, which was
to result in life, produced, proved to result in death for
me for sin, Taking opportunity through the commandment deceived
me and through it killed me. And so, in examining that, we
can’t lay the blame of the law on the death because it’s really
sin that does it. The law awakens sin, but it’s
sin and our desire to commit that sin that ultimately brings
death. It’s the death wish that we have.
We want to do what we want to do regardless of the cost. Even death. It’s a death wish. Paul goes back to this time in
his life and we don’t, we’ll talk next week of exactly when
this was. Some said that it was his pre-adolescent,
you know, state as a child. He didn’t really know Some said
that he’s, again, speaking hypothetically here, or he’s speaking in a vague
generality that encompasses all mankind. I don’t think that’s
true at all. I’ll tell you another time. I
think Paul is giving us his personal testimony. Paul goes back to
this premoral, whatever, preliminary state where he didn’t really
know and grasp the law, where, as one said, he was untouched
by numberless demands of the law. which accumulated with his
moral development. In other words, the more he lived,
the more he began to know God’s word and understand God’s word. At that period, whole regions
of his life were purely impulsive and one after another they came
under the touch of the law. And with each new pressure of
law upon his consciousness, the sphere was enlarged. Now, this
makes it seem like, you know, 25 years, Paul was learning,
and oh, now I know covetous, and then I’ll get to adultery
later, and he obviously, murder was one of the last ones on his
list. Well, let’s be realistic. What I think happened with Paul
is exactly what happened with you and I. That the knowledge
that you’re doing wrong is back there, it’s resonant, you know,
you You’ve come to know God’s law. You’re trying your best.
You’re really making a willful effort to change your life and
reform your life. And somewhere along the line,
Paul realized there is no self-reform. There is no hope for me. Woe
is me. Just like Isaiah, I am undone. And then he met Christ on the
road to Damascus. We’ll take up this subject next
Lord’s Day, but the law in Paul’s life exposed the death wish.
And that’s a good thing. It’s a good thing. We’ll take
it up next Lord’s Day. Our merciful God, we humble ourselves
before you. And Lord, we think of those that
vowed in hypocritical fashion to confess their sin to go through
some motion when, Lord, there is ample opportunity to come
to Christ and to really deal with their sin. Lord, we thank
you for those of us in our midst who have had just such an occasion,
having seen sin so vividly in our lives and known that what
your Word says is true. and that we could do nothing
about it, Father, we were brought by your grace to knees of repentance. And we pray that if there are
any in our midst, that it would not be a phony, half-hearted
confession, that they would come in true repentance to Christ,
who is the only one who can save for the sins that they’ve committed.
Lord, grant that grace even today. We thank you and we praise you
in Jesus’ name. Amen.