Our Happy Condition
Free From the Law – Our Happy Condition
Lasting Freedom from the Captivity of Sin
Text: Romans 7:1-6
Romans 6-8 – “Breaking the Power of Cancelled Sin”
- Here is where we are in the flow of 6:1 – 7:6
- We have been rescued from the reign of Sin (6:1-14): Sin is portrayed as an evil ruler or king who has been defeated, and whose power and authority over us have been permanently nullified and brought to nothing. This is why, when we come to Christ, we must make a clean break with our old lives!
- We have been liberated from the enslavement to sin (6:15-23): Sin is depicted as a wicked master who paid us the wages of death and enslaved us to more and more bondage the more we served him. This is why, as Christians, we must actively engage and faithfully wage a daily war against the sins that continue to demand a place in our lives.
- But, now that we have been rescued/removed from the reign of sin and are being liberated from the enslavement to sin, we enjoy a radically new relationship to God and have received an astonishing new power from Him (7:1-6).
- We discover something amazing – we didn’t just get a new King who rules over us and a new Lord or Master who has freed us to serve Him and rewards us with the glorious gift of holiness and abundant life – we actually find out that our personal relationship with our new Lord has changed (we went from being slaves to sons — more about this in chapter 8), and our condition is nothing short of astonishing – God the Father has actually betrothed us to the crown prince of the realm (the universe)!
- But for this to happen, one final thing had to happen – we had to be released from a righteous authority that had jurisdiction over our lives and had a legitimate warrant for our condemnation and subsequent execution. We had to be released from the Law.
- And that is the subject of chapter 7. Paul refers to the concept of Law 30x in this chapter (“law” 23x and “commandment/code” 7x)!
- Here is the question that is being asked: “Paul – you have made it clear and have helped me understand why the Law is of no use in justification – Moses has no power to justify me!”
- “But, now that I am justified and have been declared righteous, won’t this Law that defines God’s righteous expectations for me be of immense help in my sanctification? Now that I am saved from the condemnation of the Law, don’t I need the Law to defeat the sins I am fighting to overcome? In other words, although Moses could not save me, can’t he be of immense help in sanctifying me?”
Paul gives three important answers to that question:
- The Law can’t help in your sanctification because you are no longer under its jurisdiction.
- When you tried to follow the Law, you realized that such obedience was impossible and that the law couldn’t produce in you the kind of obedience that God requires and that He said would bring life.
- In fact, the Law actually exacerbated the problem by establishing God’s righteous demands, clearly defining sin and disobedience, and inciting something in you to disobey those demands and willfully sin against His authority!
Chapter 7 is in our bibles to help us understand that Moses and the Law are of no more use in our sanctification than they were in our salvation!
I. __________________ that Explains (7:1)
Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?
- Nature of this Law – holy, righteous, and good.
- Extent of the power of this Law – limited to defining, prescribing, and commanding righteous conduct and rewarding obedience and punishing disobedience.
- Power or Authority of this Law – “jurisdiction”
- Duration of this Jurisdiction – for as long as they lived!
II. __________________ that Clarifies (7:2-3)
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 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.
- The divine intentionality of this illustration
- The general nature of this illustration
- The interpretational caution demanded by this illustration
- The spiritual point of this illustration
III. __________________ that Liberates (7:4-5)
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 has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 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.
- The Reality of Our Liberation (7:4a)
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ - The Purpose of Our Liberation (7:4b)
so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. - The Necessity of Our Liberation (7:5)
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.
IV. __________________ that Transforms (7:6)
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.
We serve a new and better Lord:
- In a new and better way,
- Under a new and better covenant
- By means of a new and better enablement (of the Spirit);
- To new and better ends
- With new and better results
Conclusion: Living under the Law produces one of two things in people.
- Either it hardens them and turns them into proud, arrogant, harsh, judgmental, self-righteous people like the Pharisee in Lk 19,
- Or it crushes them under the weight of its demands, drives them to deep soul despair, and robs them of all hope and joy, like the crowds Jesus saw in Matthew 9:35-36, who were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
- And that is where some of you find yourselves this morning.
- Others of us who are betrothed to Christ are being seduced away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ by the tempter to live in ways that are totally disloyal to Christ! (2 Cor 11:2-3)
- And what you need this morning is to respond to the voice of the Spirit who lives in you, whose ministry is to prepare you and escort you for the great marriage feast that is coming! Will you respond to grace? (Revelation 19:6-9)