The Law and the Believer

July 27, 2003                                                                                                                                  Northwest Bible Church

Worship Service                                                                                                                            Alan Conner

Rom. 7:1-6

The Law and the Believer

 

INTRO

I.    Theme - 1:16-17    The gospel of the righteousness of God

II.    Universal sin - 1:18-3:20        The need of righteousness    (has none and can get none)

III.  Justification by faith - 3:21-5:21      The provision of righteousness

IV.  Justification and sanctification -  6:1-8:17     The practice of righteousness

A. Sanctification and sin – ch. 6   (We died to sin)

B. Sanctification and the law – ch. 7  (We died to the law)

1) The believer’s bondage to the law is broken – 7:1-6  To the legalist

2) The believer’s problem is not the law but his sin – 7:7-13  To the antinomian

3) The believer’s inner conflict with the law – 7:14-25 – To the law-loving believer

 

“Is the law still binding on the Christian?”   YES and NO.

 

 

I.  THE AXIOM (Rom. 7:1).

 

Is Paul talking primarily to the Jewish believers at Rome?

 

 

 

II. THE ANALOGY (Rom. 7:2-3).

 

1) The marriage bond is “til death do us part.”

2) If joined to another while he lives, it is adultery.

3) Only death can bring freedom from the marriage bond so that one can be lawfully joined to another.

 

 

 

III.  THE APPLICATION (Rom. 7:4-6).

 

A.  The Christian has died to the law, husband #1, and is now joined to Christ, Husband #2, through His resurrection (Rom. 7:4).

 

1) “Died to the Law” (Rom. 7:4), “released from the Law” (Rom. 7:6) -   This means that the law no longer condemns us (Rom. 7:4), nor can it arouse the sinful passions of our flesh to produce fruit for death as it did when we were unregenerate (Rom. 7:5).

2) “through the body of Christ” – our union with Christ is here indicated again as in ch. 6.  Christ died to the law in our stead and we received the benefits of it.  He also rose from the dead and we also participated in his resurrection life.

 

3) “joined to Another, to [Christ]” - Now that the previous marriage has been terminated, we are free to marry another, Christ.

 

 

 

B.  Our marriage to the law was a bad marriage (Rom. 7:5).

 

1) our inability to keep the demands of the law.   Our sinful passion of our flesh worked to bear fruit for death.

 

2) the laws inability to change us, it could only condemn us. God’s law inflamed our sinful passions and we sinned all the more.  Then, the law judged us all the more.

 

 

 

C.  We now serve in newness of the Spirit, not in oldness of the letter (Rom. 7:6).

 

“oldness of the letter”  -  to serve in the oldness of the letter meant that we served the law as it was written in stone, we served in the power of the old man with a heart of stone which meant disaster and total disobedience.

 

“newness of the Spirit” -   We serve God now with the law  written on our hearts by the Spirit, and the Spirit has given us a new heart which loves God and empowers us to love his law and desire to keep it.   More in Chapter 8 on the Spirit.

 

RESULT:   Now we can bear fruit for God (Rom. 7:4-5).

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

1) We are no longer “under the law.”

 

2) This does not mean that there is no law for the believer.  We have a new relationship to the law in Christ.

a) We have been changed.

b) The Law has been changed.   Heb. 7:12.

 

3) Rejoice that in Christ we have a new glorious Husband that enables us to bear fruit for God as we serve in newness of the Spirit.