Latest / HBCWestminster / 4.2.23 Romans 7:1-12 Pastor Danny Gardner

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4.2.23 Romans 7:1-12 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, we continue our loopholes series, looking for loopholes, Romans chapter 7 and verses 1 to 12, if you're able to stand in honor of God's word. I would ask you to do that now as I pray, as I read the scripture and then pray. We'll study it together. The word of God says,
• 0:30
  But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
• 0:58
  For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means. Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.
• 1:26
  For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said you shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy and the commandment is holy.
• 1:55
  And righteous and good. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, what we know not, teach us. And what we have not, give us. And what we are not, kindly make us. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. Well, as Pastor Sam mentioned last week, we have crossed in our study of Romans into a new section dealing with God's revealed righteousness in sanctification.
• 2:28
  Thus far, we have studied the condemnation of mankind because of sin and the justification offered to mankind by faith through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And now, as we embark on this new section, we are reminded that sanctification can be easily defined as the process by which a person becomes increasingly Christ-like.
• 2:51
  through cooperation with the Holy Spirit. We are reminded that we are not simply saved from the wrath of God, but are actually in the process of becoming more and more Christ-like. The question Sam left us with last week is the question I launch our study with this morning. He asked this, are you cooperating with God in making those small adjustments which are necessary in order to bring your spiritual spine into alignment with God's will?
• 3:21
  Our text this morning continues an argument that the Apostle Paul anticipated from his audience. He knows the human condition, does the Apostle Paul. In fact, he was one of us. He shared the same nature that we share. He was not sinless. He battled against his own flesh the same way that you and I do. And so writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the author begins by shooting down opposition to God's call to sanctification.
• 3:51
  We must live holy lives. Amen? And yet, do you want to? Well, yes, I do want to. And yet, it's my flesh in me that battles against me that says you don't want to live a holy life. Has anybody noticed at this point you've walked with Jesus long enough to recognize that your body doesn't actually want you to win? What you want to do, you don't do. And those things that you don't want to do, you keep on doing.
• 4:25
  Isn't that true? That is the next text in Romans chapter 7. It's what we're going to study on Good Friday. This coming Friday, we're going to look at that text. What I don't want to do, those are the things I keep on doing. Who will rescue me from this body of death? That is Paul's conclusion. If not for Jesus Christ, nobody, nobody could rescue us from that body of death. Our body is actually at war.
• 4:49
  within us and even though we have actually been justified through jesus christ and we really have gained glorious access into this grace in which we now stand we nevertheless live in sinful bodies we've been declared legally righteous and yet our bodies war against us desiring sin rather than obedience after committing our lives to christ and being made new
• 5:16
  creations nevertheless the sinful desires of our hearts want to continue to live exactly how we were living before unregenerate and unholy does anybody else feel the strain of sin the strain of battling against your own flesh you feel that temptation to return to your sin do you not the way that a dog what's the rest of it say
• 5:45
  returns to its vomit. You're like, that is the most disgusting picture. It's so gross. Have you ever seen a dog do that? Like you who are dog owners know that although they really are man's best friend, they are disgusting animals. Look at your dog and just say, stop. That is so gross. Don't eat that. Can you imagine God from heaven looking down and just saying, Danny, stop.
• 6:18
  Why are you returning to that? Don't eat that. What is wrong with you? That is disgusting. I redeemed you from it. I saved you from it. Why do you keep going back to it? When our boys were young, Hallie liked to make simple breakfasts or desserts or hot chocolate special. She would dust the tops of each with colorful sprinkles. When our boys were really little, in fact, sometimes even today now that they're adults, pancakes were not pancakes.
• 6:47
  until they had a healthy dollop of whipped cream followed by many colored sprinkles. Most of the time, those sprinkles were festive based on the season. Christmas sprinkles, Halloween sprinkles, Valentine's sprinkles. You know, sprinkles are strictly for looks. If you closed your eyes and ate pancakes with sprinkles on them, you wouldn't even know that there were sprinkles on them, apart from the occasional crunch. They taste like nothing. Functionally speaking,
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  They are useless. Sprinkles are merely for show. Chapter 6 and 7 of Romans confront our wicked desire to make our faith like sprinkles. Merely for show. I'm going to live however I want to live. I'm going to continue to live according to the flesh, according to the sin, and what I'm going to do is just sprinkle over the top some sanctified sprinkles.
• 7:50
  Our flesh asks, can't I just continue to live like I want, but with some Jesus sprinkles dusted over the top? And the answer given over and over is by no means. Sam said you could translate that, never ever. Never ever. There is never a time when that works. Presented with the truths of salvation in chapters 4 and 5, our flesh begins to look.
• 8:19
  for loopholes which will legitimize our continued sin a loophole number one from two sundays ago sam asked this question can i send to the glory of god can i send to the glory of god turn back with me a page look at chapter 5 and verse 20. romans 5 and verse 20 it says now the law came in to increase the trespass but when sin increased what does it say grace
• 8:49
  abounded all the more when sin increased grace also increased and if you were looking for a loophole for continued sin then the natural weaselly progression of thought would be if god's grace abounds every time i sin then why should i not sin all the more because after all if i sin all the more then god's grace will abound all the more
• 9:16
  I can sin to the glory of God. And chapter 6 and verse 2 says, no. No. By no means, no. May it never be. Never ever. How can we who died to sin still live in it? You and I can't live in sin. Why? Because when we came to Christ, we died to sin. And now that we are dead, we've been set free. Look at chapter 6 and verse 7. For one who has died,
• 9:46
  has been set free from sin. Galatians 2 and verse 20, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Can I sin to the glory of God? Of course not. That's not the last loophole we've been looking for. Loophole number two, since I'm no longer a slave to sin, does that mean I'm no longer a slave?
• 10:14
  Romans 6 and verse 14 says this, for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace. You are not under law and therefore not under the condemnation of the law. Right? You are rather under grace and the forgiveness which is offered through the sacrifice of Jesus. Now if that's true, if you will no longer be condemned for your sin, then why not sin it up?
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  If you're under forgiveness, why not sin all the more? Do you see this loophole thinking? Like if I'm not going to be punished for it, then I can live however I want. I can do whatever I want. Knowing that Jesus took the penalty for my sin and that I will therefore never be punished for it. Because that is what we just celebrated in communion, is it not? That Jesus took the wrath of God. Then I'm going to live it up. I can sin openly and freely. I can walk in debauchery.
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  botchery the remainder of my days i can do whatever i want on saturday night knowing then that i can show up to church on sunday morning with my head held high with a clean conscience chapter 6 and verse 15 says what no no never ever by no means do you not know that if you present yourselves to one as
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  obedient slaves you are a slave of the one whom you obey either of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness the author says that although we are no longer slaves to sin which was a terrible malicious angry vengeful master we are now slaves to a righteous god who is glorious and kind again sam worded it this way and i thought it was well done he said every person serves one of two masters either sin or righteousness those are the only two options
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  No one is masterless. The lifestyle of a person shows the master of that person. Our obedience proves our master. In other words, just because we who are in Christ are no longer slaves to sin does not mean we are no longer slaves. In fact, chapter 6 and verse 19 said, just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness. Loophole number three.
• 12:44
  Here's what we're going to study this morning. Here's the question. Since we are no longer under the law but under grace, is the law itself sin? Did God do away with the law altogether because it was bad now that grace has come in to our lives? And I'm going to call this morning's section Free from the Law, Free to Obey.
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  It's an interesting idea. It almost seems like a dichotomy. He says, now that you are no longer under the law, you can actually freely obey it. Did you catch that? Now that you are no longer under the law, you can actually obey the law. Isn't that weird? The negative effect of the Mosaic law on unregenerate souls has been a recurring theme in the book of Romans.
• 13:31
  The Jews' mere possession of the law did not improve their spiritual condition because we know it's not possession of it, rather obedience to it that will change one's spiritual standing before the Lord. Romans 2 and verse 3, it's not hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the what? Doers of the law who will be justified. You may own a Bible. Good for you. Lots of people own them, right?
• 14:03
  It's not the owners of a Bible who will be justified in God's law, but rather who? The doers of the word who will live their lives upon the rock. The question really is, are you allowing that Bible to change your life from the inside out? The Jews own Bibles, if you want to think of it that way, but in their obedience to the law, they failed. In fact, all of humanity failed because none of us does what is good, not even one of us. The law stirs up consciousness of sin. It brings wrath.
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  It threatens punishment and provides no way of escape. Romans 3.20 says, For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. If one is to be justified, saved, then one must be taken out from under the law's binding authority, right? Because the law brings wrath, punishment.
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  So if you are going to be saved, you must be taken out from under the law's binding authority. But how is that to be done? The answer is in verse 1. Do you not know, it says, brethren, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives. How can we be taken out from under the law's binding authority? What is the answer? By dying. That's how. By death.
• 15:33
  The story goes that a Sunday school teacher was teaching her kindergarten class the gospel. You can imagine this little class of all five-year-olds, how to get to heaven. She asked, if I go to church every Sunday, does that mean I will automatically go to heaven? All those little kindergartners shouted, no. And she said, well, if I give a lot of money to people who need it, does that mean I will automatically go to heaven? And they shouted again, no.
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  Right, they're getting excited now because they're allowed to shout in class. And she said, what if I'm really nice to people and to pets? Does that mean I will automatically go to heaven? No, they declared a third time. And then she said, well, then how can I get to heaven? One little boy shouted with great enthusiasm, you gotta be dead. And here the answer is just as simple. The only way to get out from under the law is to die to the law.
• 16:36
  The apostle's use of that phrase, do you not know, makes the statement axiomatic. Everyone knows is the gist of what Paul is saying. Everyone knows that the law no longer applies to dead people. And so he begins with an illustration. Just to make sure everybody understands what he's talking about, he uses marriage as an illustration. Look at verse 2. A married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives.
• 17:03
  But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Each of us who is married stood before God and others and made vows to our spouse. And at some point in those vows, we all said the same phrase or some derivation of it. I promise, I promise, I promise, and promise until I'm dead. We all said that. We'll say it a little more flowery than that, okay? But until death do us part.
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  I'm making these vows, these laws. The law of marriage is going to be binding to me until we are separated by death. But once one or the other have died, those vows are no longer binding. The law of marriage is no longer binding. Verse 3, accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. If she's married to this guy but living with this guy, that's adultery is what he says. But if her husband dies,
• 17:59
  She's free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. Just like physical laws only apply to those who live under them, so also the law of God only applies to those who live under it. And here is the good news, church. We who are in Christ have been freed from the law and are therefore freed to obey God from a pure heart. If you want to use that illustration, it would be this way.
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  who are dead to the law, have been freed from the law, and are therefore freed to marry another, Jesus Christ. We are no longer married to the law which condemns, now we are married to Jesus. The remainder of the text gives three new abilities afforded to free people. There are three things you can now do which you couldn't do before. You ready for them? First,
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  Being freed from the law makes you free to bear better fruit. Being freed from the law makes you free to bear better fruit. Notice verse 4. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. There you go. You can get married now to somebody else. To him who has been raised from the dead. In order that. Did you guys see that phrase? That is a purpose clause. Why?
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  Have we died to the law and been married to Christ in order that we may bear fruit for God? Verse 4 provides us with the purpose for our lives. It means that this is what we were designed by God for, to bear fruit. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10 says it this way, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.
• 19:55
  2 Peter 1, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, brotherly affection with love. It's like Peter's fruits of the Spirit. There they are. But look what it says. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or, what's it say? You guys all right? Everybody's okay? There it is. I'm going to read it again.
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  They keep you from being ineffective or what? Unfruitful. Nobody wants to live an unfruitful life. And so he says, continue being sanctified. Continue walking in these fruits so that you will bear better fruit. Your life has meaning. It has purpose. You are not the result of random chance. Anybody who tells you that is lying to you.
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  You were made for good works, and the result of those good works is fruit. Now, verse 5 is weird, because verse 5 says you were actually bearing fruit before you were bearing that fruit. Before you came to Christ, you were bearing fruit as well. Look what verse 5 says. While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. This is a description of life under that old regime. Under the world?
• 21:27
  outside of god's grace outside of god's will outside of god's good pleasure we would live and bear fruit in the flesh without any regard for god of the spiritual realm when we were being controlled by our flesh controlled by our sinful sinful passions we were actually bearing fruit but that fruit was death and being freed from the law means that we can bear
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  better fruit that's first but notice second being freed from the law makes you free to serve in better ways verse 6 says but now we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive so that we may serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code
• 22:17
  Now that we are released from that law, we can serve according to the spirit of the law rather than according to the letter of the law. You say, well, what in the world does that mean? One of the top places that you will visit when you go with me someday to Israel. The western wall of the Temple Mount. That western wall of the oldest section of the Temple Mount, the giant patio upon which the Temple stood. Jews from around the world gather daily to pray, to weep, to read the Scriptures.
• 22:48
  My son Zach and I went to the Temple Mount, the Western Wall right there many times over the course of the week as we were in Jerusalem. In fact, most evenings, that's where we ended up trying to work our way in. Sometimes it was completely bare and empty. Sometimes it was very crowded. We work our way into those crowds and not in any kind of disrespectful way or to get in the way. We just wanted to be there and just to listen as people prayed and cried and read the scriptures. It is actually a very boisterous place.
• 23:17
  You'll see these Jewish people from all over the world wearing similar garb according to their own customs, prayer shawls up over their heads, kippahs, like those little cloth discs that men wear on their heads, sometimes hats, long beards on the men, of course, long hair for the women. Much of the time they'll be wearing these tiphaline or phylacteries, these boxes, one strapped to their left arm. The box of it actually sits up on their left bicep. It's actually tucked up under here right next to his heart.
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  Inside of that box is written a scroll, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God, the Shema, it's called. Another one rolled up and stuck right to his forehead. These Tifilin always, always, the men are dressed predominantly in black. They are in perpetual mourning because of the loss of their temple, and therefore in their minds, the loss of the presence of God dwelling among them.
• 24:14
  They are about as devoted as any people on earth. Their daily lives reflect their beliefs. I admire their devotion, but their hope is horribly misplaced. Even when the Messiah came, and he did come.
• 24:36
  And it was interesting. One day, Zach and I were standing in the midst of those people, of those men all around us with the shawls and the whole things. And we can hear them praying. We're standing right next to them. They're praying out loud. And so we can hear them praying. Messiah, come to us. Restore to us the kingdom. Make us a people. Give us your presence again. And I just leaned over to Zach, right? In the middle of that crew, I leaned over and I said, Zach, you know what's interesting? God has already answered every one of their prayers in Jesus.
• 25:06
  Every one of the prayers have already been answered. But they refused to recognize him because in their own minds, he broke the letter of the law. They read the law and from it extrapolated out this entire system of self-righteousness.
• 25:28
  that they then in a backward way tried to hold him too. When he showed up, he was perfectly obedient to the law, but not perfectly obedient to their law. And so they said, you, what a stroke of irony this was, you, the great law maker, are actually a law breaker. You're breaking the law that you made? Like how backward is that? What the author is saying in verse six is that having been released from the law,
• 25:59
  believers are now free to serve the lord according to the law in greater and better ways this is what the remainder of the text describes notice finally third being freed from the law makes you free to enjoy the law the way that it was intended being freed from the law makes you free to enjoy the law the way that it was intended and there are three ways that you can enjoy the law
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  The law of Moses did produce negative effects in the lives of the unregenerate, but that does not mean that the law itself was sin. In fact, look at verse 7. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? And how does he answer? By no means. No, never ever. In no way is that true. The law was given by God. God is good, and therefore the law cannot possibly be bad.
• 26:54
  And so you ask, okay, in what ways then is the law good? In what ways can we enjoy the law? Well, first, you can use the law as a flashlight to search out sin in your own heart. You can use the law as a flashlight to search out sin. Look at verse 7, continues, yet if it had not been for the law, I wouldn't have known sin. The only reason, he's saying, I know right from wrong is because God told me right from wrong.
• 27:26
  I wouldn't have known what it was to covet if the law hadn't said, you shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. He says, I didn't even realize how sinful I was until I read the law. And then I realized how sinful I actually am. It said, don't covet. And then all of a sudden I realized, man, I'm coveting everything. I had no idea how bad off I actually was.
• 27:57
  Just because we have died to the law, amen and amen, and are no longer bound to it, amen and amen, that does not mean we should be quick to throw it out. The law reflects the character and nature of God. It shows His passions. It shows His desires. It puts on display what is important to Him, how we can live fulfilling lives. It is true that there are some Old Testament laws which no longer apply to New Testament believers. Right?
• 28:27
  Is that true? Like, I don't know, I was zoning out. Say it again. Okay, I'll say it again. It is true that there are some Old Testament laws which no longer apply to New Testament believers. Like what? The sacrifices, certain food, kosher, right? Give you a very good word, starts with a B, ends with an Akin. You guys can all eat bacon, right? You can eat bacon. And so you're like, well, the law specifically forbade the consumption of pigs.
• 29:01
  How can we now eat bacon? Leviticus 11 describes many animals which were forbidden as food. That chapter goes on to describe fish and birds which were clean and unclean. In today's terms, bacon-wrapped scallops were in multiple ways off-limits. You're like, okay, so why do we eat them today? Well, because we read in Acts 10, the New Testament, that those dietary laws no longer apply. That is Acts 10, verse 15.
• 29:29
  What God forbade in the Old Testament, He allows in the New. And so some of those Old Testament laws we know were dissolved. But that does not mean that all Old Testament laws no longer apply. We know that some were specifically dissolved, but some were also upheld. Some can provide principles for wise and skillful living. Like, well, what's an example of one that was upheld? The Old Testament says that homosexuality is degrading.
• 30:01
  will only result in death and then that same warning is upheld multiple times in the new testament we should trust it the law was upheld here's one for wise and skillful living the lord commanded a sabbath rest in the ten commandments and other places although we need not be slavish to it because after all the sabbath was meant for man and not man for the sabbath it still remains a pretty good idea to take one day off per week as rest from our work
• 30:32
  That's a good, wise, skillful way to live. Work at your jobs five days, work on your home one day, and then devote one day per week to the Lord for worship, for recuperation. Take a day of pray and play.
• 30:51
  What we see in this text is that the Old Testament law can still be used like a flashlight to search out areas of our hearts which may need alignment, which will produce our sanctification. That's first. It's a flashlight. Second, how else can we enjoy the law? We can trust the law to reveal our spiritual status. It will actually tell us where we stand before God. Look at verse 9. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.
• 31:20
  The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me. And perhaps the best news regarding the negative impact of the law in the lives of those who disobey it is that it promises to make you miserable. If you will refuse to live according to God's holy standards, the promise that he gives in his grace is that you will not enjoy it. And that's actually great news.
• 31:51
  The Apostle Paul, prior to his conversion, was a Pharisee. He strictly held to the law of Moses in every conceivable way. And because he did, he should have been the happiest man on earth. The guy should have been delirious, perfectly obedient in all ways. In fact, he even said of himself, Philippians chapter 3 and verse 6, as to righteousness under the law, I was blameless.
• 32:17
  He should have been rejoicing all the day, and yet here in chapter 7, the apostle says, rather than providing the life which the law promised, it deceived him, condemned him, and killed him. He had searched and searched the law. He could recite it by memory, and yet it did not provide the life that he desired. It only revealed his spiritual status before the Lord, and that was that he was dead. Third, how can we enjoy the law by studying the law?
• 32:50
  To better understand the Lord's call to holiness. We can get a better understanding of holiness by studying the law. Verse 12 says, the law is holy. The commandment is holy and righteous and good. And final answer to his question, is the law sin? The author reiterates that it is not sin. The law given by God reflects the heart, nature, and priorities of God and is therefore good. The law was given by God to produce for himself a holy people.
• 33:17
  A people who live both differently and separately from other peoples on earth. By their holy living, the Lord intended to make them a conduit of blessing to all nations. Now, with all of those truths in mind, church, let me ask you, should we continue to read our Old Testaments? Yeah. Does everybody see? Yes. Is there still value in the Old Testament? Of course there is. Understanding, of course.
• 33:46
  that some of those laws have been dissolved, like bacon. Some have been upheld, like homosexuality. Some help paint a picture of godly and wise living, like the Sabbath. It remains our duty, according to 1 Peter 2, to become a holy nation, that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His glorious light. Allow me to pray.
• 34:19
  And we'll close. Lord God Almighty, You are our delight and our greatest desire is to walk in holiness as You are holy. We rejoice, Lord, that we are no longer under the law but under grace. And so now we ask that You use the freedom we possess to enjoy the law which You gave us as it was intended. In Jesus' name, amen.