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Romans 7:1-6 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Take out your copy of God's Word. I hope you have it with you today. Romans chapter 7.
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As you're doing so, I'd like to say welcome to our guests. It's really good to have you here this morning.
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! I hope that your family time is precious as you're visiting the area.
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We've been working our way together as a church through the book of Romans, verse by verse, as we love to do.
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But before I read Romans chapter 7, verse 1 through 6, I'm going to tell you that we're not going to spend a lot of time in it this morning.
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As a preacher, I've been doing this for a while, and there are times in my preparation that I'm led to do something a bit different than what the original plan was.
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I have notes actually prepared. I can scroll on down and see them for this text.
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This morning, though, as I was reviewing them, I was led elsewhere.
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So we're going to read this together. It doesn't totally depart from the text and the meaning of the text,
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but we're going to spend a little bit of time in the book of Luke this morning.
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Let's begin this morning by reading verses 1 through 6 of chapter 7.
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Let's read some of those.
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And if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.
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Likewise, my brothers, you have also died to the law through the body of Christ,
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so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead,
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nor that we may bear fruit for God.
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For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law
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were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
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But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive,
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so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
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Let's pray together.
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Father God, I thank you very much for this morning, and I thank you for your written word.
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And I pray, Father, this morning you will add to us knowledge and understanding
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that yields itself in wisdom for righteous living.
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We look to you for these things.
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We are incapable of speaking your word, of understanding it, of applying it,
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knowing it whatsoever apart from you.
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So we look to you to intervene this morning.
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We pray this in Christ's name.
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Amen.
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Well, not to completely neglect our text this morning,
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we have been led up to this point by Paul through a rather logical and linear argument
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to essentially say to us that there is a law of God given to man to expose our sinfulness.
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We worship a holy God who is entirely set apart, who dwells in righteousness.
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And the law was given to us to show us how short we come of that righteousness.
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I told you last week that the law demands two things of us.
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It demands fulfillment and it demands condemnation.
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It demands fulfillment and it demands condemnation.
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Look at Romans chapter 2, verse 12 through 15.
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First part of 15.
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For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.
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And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
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So those with the Mosaic law, those without the Mosaic law.
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Anyone who sinned will die by that law.
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For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God,
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but the doers of the law who will be justified.
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For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires,
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they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
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They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts.
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So we have working here throughout Romans two different types of law, if you'll allow me.
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The Mosaic law, those ten commandments and the commandments surrounding it
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that were given to Moses on Mount Sinai to give to the people of Israel.
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But we also have what's been commonly called the moral law.
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Those things that are written on our hearts.
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Those things we know are right and those things that we know are wrong.
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Interestingly, there's no article in the original language.
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We read all through the book of Romans, the law, the law, the law.
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There is no article, but in order for it to make sense in English, we must add an article to it.
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So he's simply saying law, speaking generally of both types of law.
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And both types demand fulfillment and condemnation.
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Just because we have to place our faith in Christ doesn't mean that the law doesn't need to be fulfilled any longer.
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Understand that the law must be kept.
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But it's kept in Christ.
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I'll explain that a bit more in a bit.
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But also because the law has been transgressed.
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It demands condemnation.
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Those who have transgressed the law must pay the due punishment for that transgression.
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Now this is the beauty of the person and work of Christ.
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Because he meets both of those requirements on our behalf.
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Because he lived a perfect life.
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It's so important to our Christology that we understand that Christ lived a perfect, blameless life.
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But he fulfilled the law.
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And because he died and bore the wrath of God for the sins of the church,
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he also met the requirement of the condemnation of the law.
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Now for us it's impossible.
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We can not fulfill the law on our own.
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Nathan, I can work my darndest.
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I could spend all of my time trying to obey the law.
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And it is impossible.
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Because of the sinful inclination of my heart that I inherited from Adam.
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Impossible.
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I will not accomplish it.
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But in Christ, my faith placed in Christ, it has been fulfilled.
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Such a beautiful, beautiful truth.
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2 Corinthians 5.21
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Paul writes,
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For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
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so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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Christopher Hitchens, you guys know who that is.
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An outspoken atheist.
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I think he actually at one point called himself a militant anti-Christian.
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Very well known for much of what he said against Christianity.
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Passed away this week.
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And you get online, there's some wonderful, wonderful articles written about that.
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But he believed that Christianity was immoral.
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He believed that for us as Christians to place our guilt upon the shoulders of Christ is immoral.
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That we ought not give away what is rightly ours to bear.
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The guilt of our sin against God.
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It's a man that doesn't believe in God, which is ironic in that case.
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So that Christianity is immoral.
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But the problem with this thinking is that he believes that we cast our guilt on Christ's shoulders.
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And the reality of it is that Christ took it from us.
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You have no choice in that matter.
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If you are his, he took it from you.
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Oh, what a Christ we praise.
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So as I was thinking about these truths, as we see in Romans chapter 7,
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that we have been set free from service to the law and we've been bound up with another.
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That is Christ.
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In him.
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To serve him.
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And that in that, we will live righteous lives.
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As I'm thinking about this, my mind is just pulled to my favorite parable.
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And that's where I want to spend our time today.
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In Luke chapter 15, the parable of the prodigal son.
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So if you'll please turn there with me.
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Because the intention to do this this morning came to me at about 645.
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I don't have notes.
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So this will be a new experience for you and for me.
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I'm just going to stop as we read through this together and give you my own commentary to it.
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And we'll sum it up at the end.
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But I want to start by having you look at the beginning of chapter 15 at verse 2.
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Because this is the stage that's set for this parable to be told.
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It actually comes after two parables before it.
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Verse 2 says,
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And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying,
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This man received sinners and eats with them.
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They've got a group of people that were very religious for our terms.
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They believed that they followed the law to the letter.
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They believed that their righteousness was found in their effort to keep the law.
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And they gather around Jesus and they say,
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Look at this man.
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He eats with sinners.
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How dare he?
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How could he possibly make himself unclean by even associating with people such as these?
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And these parables are the parables that Jesus tells in response to that.
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And so read with me, beginning in verse 11.
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And he said, Jesus,
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There was a man who had two sons.
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And the younger of them said to his father,
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Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.
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This story was a shock and awe story.
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For the group he was speaking to.
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And I'm going to show you along the way why it would have been that way.
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But here's the first point.
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As these Jewish people are gathering around him.
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The son says to the father,
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Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.
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In Jewish culture, this would have been him saying to his father,
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Father, I wish you were dead.
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There is something due me when you die, but I want it now.
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In Jewish culture, that would have been him saying,
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I hate you.
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I wish you were dead.
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I wish you would just go ahead and kick off so I could have what is mine.
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Got your attention?
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And the father, he divided his property between them.
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Not many days later, the young son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country.
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And there he squandered his property in reckless living or licentious living or prodigal living.
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It simply means extravagant.
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He spent it, boy.
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We see later, the other son points out that he spent it on prostitutes.
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Verse 14.
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And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need.
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So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
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And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate.
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And no one gave him anything.
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Now understand at this point in the story, once again, the shock that would have come upon these Jewish listeners to this story.
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He had brought himself so low that in their society, he got the lowest possible job.
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The worst job you could have.
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I'm not going to list jobs in our society because somebody may have that job here.
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But think of the worst possible job in your mind to have in our society.
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That's the one he had.
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He had been brought so low as a son of Israel.
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He had gone to another country and hired himself out to feed pigs.
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And he was in such desperate need that he wanted what the pigs were eating.
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Now the pods that the pigs were eating is something that we couldn't even digest.
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They were fed to the pigs because the pigs have a special, I don't know, stomach.
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Pigs are special in this way and they can consume all kinds of stuff that we cannot consume.
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And these pods were one of those things.
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He was so desperately hungry that he even wanted to eat that to fill his stomach.
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Verse 17, but when he came to himself, and this is such an interesting phrase in the original language,
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literally means when his mind was made right.
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When his mind was made right.
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He said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread,
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but I perish here with hunger.
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I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him,
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Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
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I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
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Treat me as one of your hired servants.
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And he arose and came to his father.
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He was brought so low, but when his mind was made right,
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what does he say?
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I have a father who's so generous,
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whose mercy abounds to his servants.
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It would be better for me to be one of them.
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And he humbles himself.
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His mind is right.
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Father, I have sinned against you and God.
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And he goes to his father.
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But while he was still a long way off,
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his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced and kissed him.
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Third shock moment for the Jewish culture.
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This man was a wealthy man,
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which meant that he would have had a house in town.
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And he also would have had a house out in the country.
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He would have had a place that the servants stayed out in the country to tend for his fields.
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But he would have had a house in town where he could trade and be a well-to-do and have parties
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and people would know him.
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And he could be social in that way.
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What's implied here is that while the son was returning,
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the father was watching for him.
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That the father cared enough for him
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that he was pacing the front porch of his town home
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looking for him to come.
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Otherwise, why would he have seen him coming from a long way off?
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And what does he do?
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He has compassion and he runs to him.
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Rich people didn't run.
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In this day.
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You did not run.
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You had servants that ran for you.
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You said, go run and grab me my ledger.
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And they were the lowly ones that took off running.
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This man would have been wearing a long robe.
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In order for him to run,
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he would have had to pull it up,
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hike it up high enough for him to run.
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And he ran.
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He disgraced himself for the sake of his son.
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You guys getting who the father is in the story?
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He's Jesus Christ.
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He's Jesus Christ who disgraced himself on the cross for us,
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who was stripped naked and beaten and hung as a spectacle for all to see on our behalf.
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Also in this culture,
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you know the Jews had, by Mosaic law,
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had the right to stone to death a disobedient child?
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Children, you hear that?
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They had the right to do it.
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The child was disobedient.
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They could take him outside the gate and they could stone him to death.
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Now, very few, I would even venture to say,
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no parents actually did that.
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I believe the law was in place to show the children how important it was to obey your parents.
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However, a very common practice for a disobedient child
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was to lock them in the town square in stocks.
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You've seen that in the medieval times.
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Head goes through a hole, hands through a hole, and they get locked.
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And they become a spectacle, a disgrace.
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The father would put his son on display for everyone to see.
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Disobedient child.
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Look at this son that I have that doesn't obey me.
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This father disgraces himself,
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and he runs out of the town to meet his son
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before any disgrace can be delivered to him.
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Before any of the town folk,
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who I'm sure knew by now what had happened,
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jested and jeered at him,
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demanded that he be locked in the stocks.
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He runs out beforehand and meets him.
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As he's coming in.
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Look at the joy that the father has to see him too,
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as he's waited for him for all this time.
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Run out to embrace him.
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And to kiss him.
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Verse 21.
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And the son said to him,
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as he had planned to,
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Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
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I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
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But the father said to his servants,
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bring quickly the best robe and put it on him.
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And put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.
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And bring the fattened calf and kill it.
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And let us eat and celebrate.
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For this my son was dead and is alive again.
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He was lost and is found.
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And they began to celebrate.
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So he has a servant run back to town.
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Bring out of town,
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before he escorts him in,
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the best robe.
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Clothes him.
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In that thing that would have said to everybody,
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this is still my son.
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He will not be locked in the stocks.
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He will not be made a disgrace of.
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Because he is mine.
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Put on him a ring.
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The significance here would have been
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that it would have been one of his rings.
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A signet ring.
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That ring that had his stamp,
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his seal in it.
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So when he wrote a letter
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and sealed it with wax
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and stamped his sign in that,
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people knew this is a message
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from the rich man.
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He placed that ring
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on the son's finger.
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The ring that would have said,
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this son speaks for me.
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And then he put shoes on his feet.
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It was a sign of wealth.
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Welcome back to the family's son.
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And they take the fattened calf.
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A rich man always had a calf
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hanging out.
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Doing no activity.
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But being fed very well.
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Those of you steak lovers out there know,
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how good meat is
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when it's being prepared
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to be eaten.
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For no other reason
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but to eat it.
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It's much better that way.
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And he would have had this fattened calf.
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It would have been
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kept waiting
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for a big celebration.
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The biggest thing
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that could have happened.
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Possibly the older son
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being married.
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That could have been
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why it was being prepared
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that the older son
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was approaching that age.
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But it was slaughtered
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for the sake
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of the prodigal son.
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And they began to celebrate.
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Verse 25.
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Now his older son
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was in the field
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and he came and drew near to the house.
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He heard music
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and dancing.
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And he called one of the servants
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and asked what
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these things meant.
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And he said to him,
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Your brother has come
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and your father has killed
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the fattened calf
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because he has received him back
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safe and sound.
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But he was angry
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and refused to go in.
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His father came out
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and entreated him.
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But he answered his father,
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Look, these many years
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I have served you
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and I never disobeyed
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your command.
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Yet you never gave me
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a young goat
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that I might celebrate
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with my friends.
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But when the son of yours came
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who has devoured
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your property
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with prostitutes,
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you killed the fattened calf
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for him.
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And he said to him,
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Son,
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you are always with me
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and all that is mine
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is yours.
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It was fitting to celebrate
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and be glad
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for this your brother
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was dead and is alive.
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He was lost
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and is found.
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So here we see the older son
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who isn't even willing
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to approach the house.
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His father is throwing a party
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and he's not going to go
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to his father to ask why.
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He asks one of the servants,
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What does this mean?
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What is going on at the house?
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Why?
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Such a charade
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going on there.
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And he's mad.
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He's furious
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at what has happened.
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His father comes out to him.
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Note that.
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His father comes out
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of the house to him
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and says,
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Please, come in.
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Join us in the celebration.
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My joy would be complete
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if my sons were together.
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Once again,
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he says,
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Father,
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all these years
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I have served you.
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And what have you done for me?
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Nothing.
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But yet,
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you'll give everything
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to the son.
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What a picture
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this is
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of grace to us.
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What a beautiful,
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beautiful story
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it is.
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And my question for you
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this morning
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is,
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which of the characters
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are you
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in the story?
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I believe there are
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three
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you can be.
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You can be the
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prodigal version
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of the younger son.
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You can be that person
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that says to God,
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I hate you.
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I wish you were dead.
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Just give me what is mine.
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Let me go on my way.
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Your ways
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mean nothing to me.
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Your law
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given to me,
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that's not the way
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for me to be happy.
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I'm going to follow
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my own philosophy
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of happiness
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in this life.
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I'm going to chase it
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with all that I am.
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If you're that person,
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I would say to you,
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you're going to be
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brought low.
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Whether in this life
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now
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or
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eternally,
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certainly eternally,
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you will be brought low.
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You will
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beg to be satisfied
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on things that
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will not satisfy you.
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are you the
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prodigal son
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returned?
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It's the
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second
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person you could be.
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The prodigal son
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returned.
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Have you placed
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your faith
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in Christ?
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Have you said
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humbly
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of yourself,
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I have sinned
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against you.
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I'm not
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even
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worthy
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to be called
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your son.
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but yet
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you have found
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yourself
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clothed
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in the
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righteousness
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of Christ.
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You've been
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given a ring
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that you might
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speak on behalf
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of him
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who has loved you
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with such a
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magnificent
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love.
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I hope that's
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where we all
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find ourselves
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this morning.
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That's the place
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we want to be
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with our identity
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wrapped up
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in the personal
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work of Christ
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because Christ
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is the
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only
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person
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that can
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meet the
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demands
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of the
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law.
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Are you
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the older
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son?
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I'm the
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older son
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sometimes.
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I hope
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not all
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the time.
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I hope
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not the
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majority
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of the
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time.
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But I'm
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the older
24:35
son.
24:36
I believe
24:36
I have
24:37
some
24:37
right
24:38
to the
24:39
things of
24:39
God.
24:39
I believe
24:40
that I
24:42
have
24:42
earned
24:43
that.
24:45
And I
24:46
get mad
24:47
when I
24:47
see him
24:47
merciful
24:48
towards
24:48
other
24:48
people.
24:49
God,
24:49
look at
24:50
all that
24:50
I do
24:51
for you.
24:52
What do
24:52
I get
24:52
in return?
24:54
I don't
24:54
even get
24:54
a goat
24:55
to party
24:55
with my
24:56
friends,
24:56
and yet
24:56
you've
24:57
killed
24:57
the
24:57
fattened
24:57
calf
24:58
for him
24:59
or for
24:59
her.
25:03
I believe
25:04
that the
25:06
job of
25:06
the
25:06
older
25:06
son
25:07
in this
25:08
story
25:09
should
25:10
have
25:10
been
25:10
to
25:11
pursue
25:11
the
25:11
younger
25:11
son.
25:13
To
25:14
love
25:14
the
25:15
things
25:15
that
25:15
his
25:15
father
25:16
loves.
25:18
To
25:19
have
25:19
been
25:19
about
25:19
that
25:20
work.
25:20
Here's
25:20
his
25:20
father
25:21
pacing
25:21
the
25:22
porch
25:22
of the
25:23
town
25:23
home.
25:26
The
25:26
son
25:26
should
25:26
have
25:27
been
25:27
out
25:27
there
25:27
finding
25:28
the
25:28
younger
25:29
son,
25:30
reminding
25:31
him
25:31
of how
25:31
merciful
25:32
his
25:33
father
25:33
is,
25:33
and
25:34
bringing
25:34
him
25:34
home.
25:35
too
25:38
often
25:38
we
25:39
don't
25:39
do
25:39
that.
25:41
We
25:41
hold
25:41
holy
25:42
club
25:43
meetings.
25:47
We
25:47
feel so
25:48
entitled
25:49
to so
25:50
much
25:51
as
25:52
Christians
25:52
rather
25:53
than
25:54
saying,
25:54
Father,
25:55
I have
25:55
sinned
25:56
against
25:56
you,
25:57
and I
25:58
do not
25:58
deserve to
25:59
be called
25:59
your son,
26:01
but I
26:02
praise you
26:02
that I
26:03
am,
26:03
that you
26:04
have
26:04
clothed
26:05
me in
26:05
this
26:05
way,
26:05
that you
26:06
have
26:06
given
26:06
me
26:06
your
26:06
way,
26:07
that you
26:07
have
26:07
put
26:07
shoes
26:07
on
26:07
my
26:08
feet.
26:09
What
26:09
a
26:10
blessing
26:10
that
26:12
is.
26:13
Look up
26:14
a bit
26:14
in
26:14
chapter
26:15
15
26:15
to the
26:18
parable
26:18
of the
26:19
lost
26:19
sheep.
26:20
This
26:21
is how
26:21
he
26:21
immediately
26:21
answers
26:22
that
26:22
question.
26:23
This
26:23
man
26:23
receives
26:24
sinners
26:24
and
26:24
eats
26:24
with
26:24
them.
26:25
He
26:25
says,
26:26
so
26:26
he
26:26
told
26:26
him
26:27
this
26:27
parable,
26:27
what
26:27
man
26:28
of
26:28
you,
26:29
having
26:29
a
26:30
hundred
26:30
sheep,
26:30
if he
26:30
has
26:31
lost
26:31
one
26:31
of
26:32
them,
26:32
does
26:32
not
26:32
leave
26:32
the
26:33
ninety-nine
26:33
in
26:33
the
26:33
open
26:34
country
26:34
and
26:35
go
26:35
after
26:35
the
26:35
one
26:36
that
26:36
is
26:36
lost
26:36
until
26:37
he
26:37
finds
26:37
it.
26:38
And
26:38
when
26:38
he
26:38
has
26:38
found
26:39
it,
26:39
he
26:39
lays
26:39
it
26:39
on
26:39
his
26:40
shoulders,
26:40
rejoicing.
26:41
And
26:42
when
26:42
he
26:42
comes
26:42
home,
26:42
he
26:43
calls
26:43
together
26:43
his
26:43
friends
26:44
and
26:44
his
26:44
neighbors,
26:44
saying
26:44
to
26:44
them,
26:45
rejoice
26:45
with
26:46
me,
26:46
for
26:46
I
26:46
found
26:47
my
26:47
sheep
26:47
that
26:47
was
26:47
lost.
26:48
Just
26:49
so I
27:00
people
27:00
who
27:00
didn't
27:01
need
27:01
repentance.
27:02
He
27:02
doesn't
27:03
mean
27:03
that.
27:04
What
27:05
he's
27:05
talking
27:05
about
27:05
are
27:05
these
27:06
Pharisees,
27:07
these
27:08
people
27:08
who
27:08
didn't
27:09
think
27:09
they
27:09
needed
27:09
repentance,
27:11
who
27:12
sought
27:13
to reach
27:14
to God
27:14
by obeying
27:15
the law.
27:17
There's
27:17
no rejoicing
27:18
over heaven
27:18
for them.
27:20
There's
27:20
great
27:20
rejoicing
27:21
for that
27:22
person
27:22
who
27:23
realizes
27:23
through
27:25
faith
27:25
that they
27:26
can't
27:26
and
27:27
believes
27:28
by
27:29
grace
27:30
that
27:31
Jesus
27:31
can
27:32
on
27:33
their
27:33
behalf.
27:37
I
27:37
want
27:38
us
27:38
to be
27:38
a
27:38
church.
27:40
Those
27:41
of you
27:41
who are
27:41
guests,
27:42
wherever
27:42
you
27:42
go,
27:44
I
27:44
want
27:44
us
27:44
to be
27:45
believers
27:46
who
27:48
act as
27:49
the
27:49
son
27:49
upon
27:49
his
27:50
return,
27:51
who
27:51
are
27:51
about
27:52
the
27:52
work
27:52
of
27:53
our
27:53
father.
27:55
I
27:56
don't
27:56
want
27:56
Christ
27:56
Family
27:56
Church
27:57
to be
27:57
a
27:57
club.
27:59
In
27:59
so
27:59
many
28:00
ways,
28:00
it's
28:00
not,
28:01
but
28:01
in
28:01
some
28:01
ways,
28:01
it is.
28:03
We
28:04
need to
28:04
be
28:04
searching
28:04
our
28:05
hearts,
28:07
asking
28:07
God to
28:08
expose
28:08
the
28:09
sinfulness
28:10
of them,
28:11
that we
28:11
might come
28:11
together in
28:12
this way.
28:15
Our
28:15
text,
28:16
Romans 7,
28:17
1-6,
28:18
which we
28:18
will get
28:19
back to
28:19
probably
28:22
after
28:22
Christmas.
28:24
Verse 4
28:25
says that
28:26
we've been
28:27
bound to
28:28
Christ,
28:29
that we
28:29
belong
28:29
to
28:30
another
28:30
in
28:31
order
28:31
that
28:31
we
28:31
may
28:31
bear
28:32
fruit
28:32
for
28:33
God.
28:34
And in
28:35
Galatians
28:35
5.13,
28:36
Paul wrote,
28:37
For you
28:37
were called
28:37
to freedom,
28:38
brothers,
28:39
set free
28:40
from the
28:40
bondage
28:40
of sin.
28:42
Only do
28:43
not use
28:44
your freedom
28:44
as an
28:44
opportunity
28:45
for the
28:45
flesh,
28:46
but through
28:47
love
28:47
serve
28:49
one
28:50
another.
28:51
of