ROMANS 7:1-6 JUSTIFIED FREEDOM2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 7:1-6 Justified Freedom

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. And so we're here this evening in Romans chapter 7, and we will be looking at verses 1 through 6. And so let's begin by reading through this passage. Romans chapter 7, verses 1 through 6. Verse 1 says...

Verse 3.

So then, if while her husband lives she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God."

Verse 6. Verse 7.

We get to look this evening at Romans chapter 7 and continue on with the things that Paul has been sharing. And I'm going to back up a little bit to Romans chapter 5 because all of these things work together in Paul's argument and the things that he is presenting. You might remember in Romans chapter 5, we talked about grace abounding much more.

That whatever sin there is in the world, there's more grace. Whatever sin there is in your life, there's more grace. That we can never...

run out of God's grace, God's grace abounds much more. So where sin abounds, there's even more grace from God. And as we turn to Him and call out to Him, He has goodness towards us, forgiveness for us. It abounds much more than whatever sin we could be engaged in or participating in or haven't been involved in.

Ever since then, Paul has been dealing with some of the responses to that idea. So grace abounds much more. One of the bad ways to respond to that, some people then take it to the extreme and say, well, if grace abounds much more than sin, then I can live in sin.

then it doesn't matter if I sin. I can just live however I want to live. I can practice sin. I can, you know, get into sinful lifestyle. And it doesn't really matter because grace abounds much more. Well, Paul addressed that error in Romans chapter 6. And he basically said, no way. You're way off. That is not the way that God has designed it. God forbid. He says in Romans chapter 6, you are set free from sin.

And we're not to just continue in sin that grace may abound because you have died to sin. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you've died to sin and you don't have to be a slave to sin any longer. Well, another response that is a bad response to the idea of grace abounding much more is there will be those who say, well,

Okay, I understand. I'm not going to live in sin, but I can dabble in sin. I can sin a little bit. I can, you know, get into this area or that area and I have control and I can stop whenever I want to. And so I can dabble. I can play around with sin. It's not that big of a deal.

And we looked at that last week in the end of Romans chapter 6. And again, Paul says to that idea, no way. God forbid, certainly not. That is not what God has designed for you. You cannot or you should not dabble in sin. Now, he's making the point there in chapter 6, you are not under the law. But that doesn't mean that you're free from the consequences of sin.

So all things are lawful, but not all things help. Not all things benefit. And if you dabble in sin or engage in that sinful lifestyle, you're going to experience the consequences of sin. And he made the point, the wages of sin is death. So don't dabble in sin. Don't practice sin because you will be bringing destruction into your life. The wages of sin is death.

So we looked at those responses already. Hey, I can just live in sin. I can dabble in sin. Well, now Paul goes on to address another response to the idea of grace abounding much more. And the idea is, well, I will keep the law to then be even more acceptable to God.

And he's going to be talking about this idea of being under the law and the fact that we are not under the law as believers in Jesus. And so all of chapter 7 will really be devoted to this. We'll be looking at just the first part this evening. But again, Paul's response to this idea of, well, I must keep the law to be acceptable to God, or if I keep the law, I'll be even more acceptable to God. Paul's response to this is also, no way.

that idea of legalism is not God's design either. And so by a rigid, you know, keeping of rules and rituals, that is not a way to approach God. And that's what Paul is going to be explaining and explaining why here in Romans chapter 7. But as we get started looking at this passage,

I want to read to you a short passage from Warren Wiersbe as he talks about this. And I think it will help us kind of engage in this passage as we get started this evening. Here's what Warren Wiersbe says. He says,

So we start, as we're growing, we start getting victory. And then what happens, he says, is we start setting high standards and ideals for ourselves. And for a while, it seems like we get to attain them. We get to meet those standards that we set. But then he says, then everything collapses.

He says, And he says, I think what Wiersbe says here is,

really is appropriate for all of us. I think that if we would consider it, we all can relate to Romans chapter 6 and 7 in the way that he says. Where we have experienced victory and growth, if you've been, you know, walking with the Lord, you've experienced his work in your life,

But there's this tendency for us to drift towards legalism and we start setting standards for ourselves. And maybe we don't go back to the Old Testament, although some Christians do. Maybe we don't go back to try to, you know, keep the Levitical law, although some Christians do. But we establish our own system and we hold ourselves to our own standards and

And we think we're okay for a while, but then it all collapses. As we realize, as we find out, we can't keep up with our own standards. We can't measure up to our own standards. Whatever it is that we're trying to do in order to approach God, to be acceptable to God, to be forgiven by God, to earn God's forgiveness or earn God's blessings. Whatever it is, that system of laws that we establish...

We can't measure up to it. And that's what Paul is going to be here addressing in chapter 7. He's going to be warning us against that type of thing and against building those systems of law. And so here in Romans chapter 7 verses 1 through 6, I've titled the message, Justified Freedom.

We've been talking about justification and the results of justification. Because we are justified by believing in Jesus Christ, Paul is making the point here that we have freedom. We are free from law. We are free from the Old Testament law. We're free from any religious law. We're free from any system that we would invent for approaching God. And we're free from whatever standards that we wish we kept.

before God. We're free from the law as it relates to our relationship with God. So justified freedom. Three points we'll look at this evening. The first one we'll start out with is in verses one through three. And here I want to encourage you to know that you are free from the law. Know that you are free from the law. In verse one, he starts out with this passage saying, or do you not know?

He says, do you not know? Now, Paul has been stressing this idea of what you know. And there are things that you need to know. And what you know is so important. In Romans chapter 6 verse 3, he says, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

He's responding to those who say, hey, well, let's just sin that grace may abound then. And he says, well, maybe you think that way because you don't know what you need to know. That we were baptized into his death when we were baptized into Christ Jesus. In Romans chapter 6, verse 6, Paul says, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him.

And so he says, here's what you need to know. And what you know is going to influence what you believe and how you behave. And so you need to know this. In Romans chapter 6 verse 9, he says, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more and death has no dominion over him.

And so what you know is important and you need to know that Christ raised from the dead and he dies no more. And so this is important for you to understand that it would impact what you believe and how you behave. In verse 16 of Romans chapter 6, he says, Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one slave to whom you obey?

And so again, he says to the answer to the question, should I just dabble in sin? Is it okay for me to play around with sin? He says, don't you know, when you present yourself as a slave, you become a slave to that thing that you present yourself as a slave to. And so Paul has been stressing this idea. Now in verse 7, he says, or do you not know? And so he's giving us some things that you need to know.

What you know is really important. And these things that Paul is teaching are critical. You need to grasp, and I would encourage you to work, work hard to grasp these concepts that Paul is teaching us. Work with. And some of these arguments are kind of difficult to follow. They're kind of spread out and you have to work at it. But these are things you need to know. And these truths can change your life.

The things that Paul is teaching here, the things that he wants you to know, these things can change your life. And if you will know them,

They will impact you. They will change you for the rest of your life. And as you learn these things, as you get to know these things, my good friend G.I. Joe says, knowing is half the battle, right? That's half the battle. That's not necessarily a biblical standard, but it's a good principle, right? When you know these things, Paul says, it's going to help you

with the rest of your life. It's going to help you deal with sin issues. It's going to help you deal with legalism in your life. And so what you know is really important. And Paul wants you to know. So he says here in verse one, or do you not know brethren? He says, for I speak to those who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.

So Paul says, don't you know, and then he kind of puts in a little side note. He says, I'm speaking to those who know the law. Now, who exactly he's speaking to here, who knows the law, there's a little bit of a discussion that could be had over who specifically he's referring to.

Most obvious, it seems like he's speaking to the Jewish people who knew the Old Testament law. And that's, you know, usually the general understanding of who Paul is addressing here. But there are also those who suggest that Paul is talking to the Romans,

because the Romans were very big on laws. And so they, you know, would establish laws, they would debate and discuss laws. And so it could be that he's addressing the Romans as he's writing to the church in Rome there. And he's saying, look, you guys are very familiar with laws. Laws are an everyday subject for you. And so you know what laws are all about. And it makes sense that Paul might be saying that because what he's addressing here is a general truth about all law,

as he starts out this argument. It's not necessarily limited to the Old Testament law, but the point that he's about to make here, this is something that applies to laws in general, whether it be religious laws or national laws. So what is the point that he's making? He says, "...the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives."

The law has dominion. The law has authority. The law has power over a person. Now that's the reality. That's the truth. Every living person is subject to the law of God. Every living person will be judged by the standard of God's law. And so as we look at the law of God and the Old Testament law, as we look at God's standard of perfection,

That law has dominion over every person. Everyone is subject. There's no one who is not subject to the law of God unless there is a death. He says the law has dominion over man as long as he lives. And so the law has its limits. The law comes to an end. The law can't reach beyond death.

And so it's limited to life. It's not extended into death. And Paul gives an illustration of that here in verses 2 and 3. In verse 2, he says, So Paul says, think about a marriage. Now, marriage, he says, it's limited to this life.

And as we have wedding ceremonies even today, one of the things that we say in the vows and part of the process of the ceremony is, until death do we part. That this is a covenant for this life until death. But the covenant ends, that law is limited to this life. And when there's death, then that changes everything. And so he says, a woman who has a husband is bound by the law as long as her husband is alive.

But if her husband dies, well, then she's released. She's no longer bound by that law. That covenant is ended. That authority is no more. She's not bound any longer. Verse 3, he says, So while this law is in effect, if she goes off and marries another man,

Well, that's going to be a violation of the law and it's going to be adultery. But he goes on to say, if her husband dies and she goes off to marry another man, then it's no longer adultery because her husband has died. And so because there's been a death, it's changed the relationship of that law. It's changed the authority of that law. And so it's not adultery any longer.

And so he uses this example to paint the picture. This is the extent of the law. This is the limit of the law's authority and the law's power. And so he says there back in verse one, the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. And he uses this marriage illustration as an example for us to help us grasp the concept. Now, his point isn't

really about marriage. It's just to help us understand when there's a death then the authority of the law is broken and the authority of the law it no longer has dominion over those who have died. And so even in our court system today, it's only effective, it's only authoritative for those who are alive.

And so if you have died, then you're not going to be dragged into the courtroom and tried for any crime. It's only for those who are alive. Those who are alive, yes, you can be taken to court, you can be judged, you can be sentenced. But if you've died, you're not going to be taken to court. You're not going to be put on trial and you're not going to be sentenced because it's limited to this life.

It's limited to the duration of life. And when there's a death, then the relationship to the law has changed. Now, think about where Paul has been coming from. Again, back in Romans chapter 5, we looked at the idea of representation and our representatives. We have two representatives when it comes to our standing with God. First, we have Adam as our representative.

And every single one of us and every human being is part of Adam's family at the beginning. When we're born, we're born into Adam's family. And when you're born into Adam's family, it means that the law has dominion over you because you're born into Adam's family and you live as a member of Adam's family and you are subject to the law of God. If you die,

Being a member of Adam's family, then you will stand before God and be judged by the law of God. You will be measured against the standard of perfection and you will not be perfect. And so you will be condemned because you're not perfect if you're a member of Adam's family. Now that's the condition of every person outside of Christ.

But there's another representative. Adam represented you in the garden and so you inherited his nature and the law has dominion over you because you're part of Adam's family. But the second representative is Christ. And so when Christ acted on our behalf on the cross, it counteracts Adam acting on our behalf in the garden. And so Christ on the cross taking our place, receiving our penalty, he is our representative.

And so if you become a member of Christ's family, that is by believing in Jesus, you are born again. And so you're born into this new family, the family of Jesus. Now the law has no dominion over you any longer. The law only has dominion authority over you if you're part of Adam's family. But if you're part of the family of Christ, the law has no dominion over you. That's what Paul is saying here.

Now, remember what Paul said in Romans chapter 6. In verse 3, he says, Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? When you became a part of Christ, when you believed in Jesus and were born again, you were baptized into his death. You were included with him in his death, his burial, and his resurrection.

And as we are water baptized, that's what it represents. This change that has taken place. That now you're part of the family of Christ. That you have died with Christ. And because you've died with Christ, Paul is saying, the law no longer has dominion over you. Because you've died. And so there's a real reality to this idea of representation.

Adam represented you. And if you leave it there, then you're part of his family. The law has dominion over you and you will be judged by the law when you stand before God. But if you are born again, if you receive the blessing of forgiveness and new life that Jesus offers, then, well, you're included with him. He's your representative. You died. And so because of the death, the law no longer has dominion over you.

And so the first thing Paul wants us to know about the law this evening is that you are free from it. And you need to know that you are free from the law.

You need to know that this is the truth. This is the reality. The law has no dominion over you. Now, I'm not saying that then, you know, you can drive whatever speed you want and the officer pulls you over and says, hey, the law has no dominion over me. No, what are we talking about? We're talking about the law as a means to approach God.

as a means to receive God's blessing, as a means to receive God's forgiveness, to earn God's favor. And that's not what the law is for. Whether it be the Old Testament law or again, whatever system that we establish and standards that we try to hold ourselves to, you are free from the law. There are no standards that can be applied that would be effective at making you free.

more approved by God or pleasing to God or to earn his forgiveness, to earn his goodness. But any system that we apply in attempt of that, that's legalism. Legalism is an attempt to gain acceptance or forgiveness from God through our efforts, through our works, through our merits, through us earning or measuring up or meeting some standard.

And Paul is making the point here, you are free from that. You don't have to measure up to some standard in order to be accepted by God. You don't have to keep some system in order to receive God's forgiveness. You don't have to follow some set of rules in order to receive God's blessing. You don't have to. You're free from the law. But as I shared at the beginning,

I think as believers, we all have this tendency to drift towards legalism. And so if we're not careful, if we don't pay attention, if we don't remind ourselves of what we know, we can easily find ourselves caught up in this legalistic mentality, trying to approach God or walk with God on the basis of how well we perform. And, and,

You can tell when that begins to happen by a variety of ways. You start losing your joy. You start, you know, being very judgmental and critical of others and what they do. I think maybe one of the signs of legalism is when you gasp in horror over things that are not actually forbidden in Scripture.

And sometimes we can do that. We get very religious sometimes. You're like, you know, I can't believe he said that. I can't believe she said that, right? But if you don't have, you know, the scripture that says, thou shalt not, this is, you know, something that God says we are not to be involved with.

you better check your heart because it's a sign that sometimes we become so religious, we become so pious, we become so caught up in those things. It's like, I can't believe someone would ever call themselves a Christian and do that. But if God hasn't actually said one way or the other, well, we've developed our own standards now. We've established our own system and we need to be careful of that.

You can tell that you've been caught up in legalism when you expect God to bless you because of your performance. If you're looking back at the week and you're thinking, wow, you know, God, I've been so faithful in my devotions this week. I mean, every day for at least three or four minutes, I've been reading the Bible every day, Lord. And so there's this expectation now, God, you should really bless me this weekend because I've been so faithful this week.

And that's a sign you're getting caught up in legalism. You're beginning to think, if I'm performing well, then, well, now God has to bless me because I've been so good.

But the other way around is also a sign of legalism. When you expect God not to bless you because of your performance or lack of performance. And you wake up on Saturday morning and you're like, well, for sure God's not going to bless me this weekend because, you know, I only read my Bible once this week. And so I can't expect God to bless me. I can't expect God to work. I can't expect God to forgive me.

That's a sign of legalism. It's our hearts getting caught up in these standards. And what Paul is saying is, you need to know that you are free from the law, that you have access to God,

Apart from how well you perform. You have access to God apart from what standards you keep. You have access to God by faith in Jesus Christ. And by faith in Jesus Christ, you are justified. It's just as if you'd never sinned. You're declared righteous. You're declared not guilty. And God invites you into his presence because you believe in Jesus Christ. You need to know that you are free from the law.

And so when you find those signs, you know, you start gasping in horror at things that are not actually addressed in the scripture. When you start expecting God to bless you because you're performing well, or when you're expecting, well, God can't bless me because I'm not performing well, recognize those signs and begin to remind yourself of what you know. You are free from the law. What's going on in verse four and five, point number two this evening, is that you are free to commit to Jesus.

So you are free from the law, but you need to know what your freedom is designed for. You are free to commit to Jesus. Check out verse 4. He says,

So he says, therefore, so here's the conclusion or the application of the point that he's making. You're free from the law. And so that means you've become dead to the law because you were part of Christ. He represented you in his death upon the cross. You died to the law through the body of Christ.

That's the point of the illustration of marriage that he's saying. You were with Christ. You died to the law. And so that dominion has been broken. The authority of the law has been broken in your life. Previously, you were part of Adam's family and the law had dominion over you. But as a member of Christ's family, the law no longer has dominion. Now, God set this up.

He established this break from the law for a purpose. He says, So the idea is he uses this illustration of marriage to say, hey, when death happens, then the law is changed.

And now that death has occurred because you've believed in Jesus, well, now you're free to marry. You're free to marry Jesus. Or put another way, and that's why I made the point this way, you are free to commit to Jesus. To commit to Jesus in a similar way to we commit to one another in marriage. That it's this commit to walk together, to love one another for the rest of our life. And so you are free now.

to love Jesus, to be devoted to Jesus. And this is why the law has been removed. In essence, you could think of it like the law was an obstacle. You couldn't really be fully committed to Jesus because the law was in the way.

But God designed it so that when you believed in Jesus, you're dead to the law. The law no longer has dominion. You're free from the law. And so now that obstacle is out of the way and you are totally free. The way is clear. You can fully devote yourself to Jesus Christ. It's so easy for us to miss this. But this is the main thing. We always talk about Christianity is not a religion, right? It's a relationship.

And it's so common, I think sometimes we forget the significance. What we're saying is Christianity is not a religion. It's not a law. It's not a system of rules by which we try to present ourselves acceptable to God or approved of God. That's not what it is. It's a relationship. But relationship is not just, you know, some word that we say that has no meaning.

The whole point of the Christian life is for you to be married to Jesus, for you to pursue Jesus. This is the main thing of what Paul is saying. Walk with God. Live your life in pursuit of God. Know God. And as you walk with God, he's going to be speaking to you and then you obey him, but not as a means of trying to present yourself to God so that he can forgive you, but it's just the natural overflow of you speaking

Having a real relationship with God. It's easy for us to become devoted to a list, to a system of rules, to a system of laws. Again, whether it be the Old Testament or our own system that we've established, it's easy for us to have a real devotion to those things. And in doing so, we become like the religious leaders of Jesus' day.

You remember in John chapter 5, Jesus addressed these religious leaders. And in verse 39 of John 5, he says, You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. He says, and these are they which testify of me. These talk about me. You're searching the scriptures because you think in the system itself you have life. But you've missed the point that the system points to me.

And he goes on in John 5, 40 to say, but you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.

And so it's easy for us to follow that example, to be caught up in our system and be really devoted to our system and be really devoted and hold fast to, well, you have to live life this way. You have to go to church on this day. You have to go to church this many times a week. You have to read your Bible this way at this time in the day. You have to follow these things and drive this way and act this way and talk that way. And you have to follow these things and we can become excellent.

in whatever system it is that we're devoted to, like the religious leaders. And we can search that system and we can know it inside and out and have it all memorized and be able to quote, you know, article 5.3.7, section 2, you know, sub particle 4 or whatever. You know, you can quote all the details, but miss the point. The point is Jesus says, you're not willing to come to me that you may have life.

It's so important. And Paul's going to be working through this through the rest of chapter 7. And you can see his emphasis here. You can see his focus because at the end of chapter 7, as he's talking about the relationship with the law that we have and the struggle that we have and the things that we want to do, we don't do, and the things we don't want to do, that we find ourselves doing, and the frustration in that. And then he says, who can deliver me from the body of death?

Who can deliver me from this trap, this bondage that I'm in to this law that's at work within my members? Who can deliver me? And then he answers that question saying, I thank God through Jesus Christ. It's through Jesus Christ we have deliverance. Jesus says to the religious leaders, you're not willing to come to me. And so many times we're looking for the how. What's the system? Give me the procedure. Tell me the steps I need to take.

But the Christian life is not about the how, it's about the who. It's about, well, here's the step. Get married to Jesus. That's it. Get married to Jesus. Devote yourself to him. Live with him. Walk with him. Talk to him. Hear him. Just live in that relationship with Jesus Christ. And that's the way that you have life.

that's the resolution to your problems. I'm not saying that they all go away, but as you walk with him, he works those things out and he gives you the insights. He gives you the instruction. And so I can't hand you a list of, okay, you're dealing with this sin. Take these five steps. You'll be set. You're dealing with that sin. Okay. Well, that's a little bit more difficult one. So there's eight steps for you. So here, follow these eight steps and then you'll be fixed.

Oh, you're dealing with that situation? All right, here's three things that you need to do. That's what we gravitate towards. We want those procedures. We want, just give me the list of check boxes that I need to fill out. But Paul says, it's not about that. You've been set free from that system, from that whole type of thing, so that you could be married to the one who is raised from the dead.

So that you can be devoted to Jesus Christ. You can throw out all that system. You can throw out all those check boxes. You can throw out all those things. And you can just focus completely and wholly on running after Jesus and following him. There's only one requirement. And that is believe in Jesus Christ. Believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. And when you do, you're born again. Which means that you're dead to sin.

which means that you are dead to the law and you are free to give yourself completely to pursue Jesus. Paul goes on there in verse four to explain that the result of that, when we give ourselves in marriage to the Lord, when we pursue that relationship, he says at the end that we should bear fruit to God. The result of this kind of devotion to Jesus is fruit. The idea of sanctification is

Justification is that you are declared righteous. Sanctification is, well, it's acknowledging the reality. Even though you're declared righteous, you're still sinful. You still practice sin. You still have sin issues in your life. And sanctification is the process by which God cleanses us. And he deals with those sinful practices and things in our lives.

If we try to be sanctified, if we try to become more like God or become holy or have those issues cleansed by the law, we're going to fail. It's never going to work. But if you know that you're free from the law and you use that,

To propel yourself to just walk with the Lord, even though you fail, even though you don't measure up to that system, even though you don't fulfill it, even though you fall short miserably, if you will just continue to walk with the Lord and be married to Jesus and pursue him, the result will be you will bear fruit to God. And just like regular fruit, you know, it doesn't happen overnight. And sometimes we get frustrated by that.

Well, I walk with Jesus today. How come I don't see any fruit tomorrow? You know, that's, it takes some time, but, but you just focus on walking with the Lord. Forget about trying to measure up to some standard. Forget about your system of legalism. Forget about, you know, following those laws. You just make sure you walk with Jesus. Make sure you connect with him and talk to him and, and have a relationship with him. And it will bear fruit.

You'll bear fruit to God. You'll become more like God. You'll begin to adopt the characteristics of God. You'll begin to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. That's the natural product of you spending time with God. God works in you and through you as you walk with Him. And legalism just gets in the way. It keeps you awake because, well, I can't walk with the Lord today because of what I did yesterday.

Or I can't walk with the Lord today because I haven't measured up. I haven't earned it. I haven't done enough good works to walk with God. And those things hinder us. But if you throw out that stuff and by faith receive his forgiveness and know that you're justified, know that you have complete access to God, then just forget all the laws and just walk with God and talk to him and call out to him and cry out to him. And as you do that,

as you do that consistently in your life you will bear fruit to god god will be doing a work he gives a contrast now in verse 5 he says for when we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death so he gives the contrast here when we were in the flesh that is before christ as unbelievers

Our sinful passions were aroused, notice what he says, by the law. And they were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. And so there's two types of fruit that you can bear. Fruit to God or fruit to death. We talked about that last week as well. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so under the law, we bear fruit. But it's a fruit that produces death. It produces destruction.

David Guzik points out, The law can't help you with justification or sanctification. It doesn't help you with either. It doesn't make you right before God. It doesn't help you grow with God. It doesn't help you become more like God. Laws don't produce holiness. Now again,

Paul says, you need to know these things. And we might know these things, but we forget these things. And we tend towards these things. And sometimes we slip into this idea that, well, if I make this law, if I make this rule in my life, then I will be more holy. And so here's the rule. I'm not going to watch TV any longer after seven o'clock in the evening. If I want to do something, I can just read my Bible. And all I got to do is follow that rule. As long as I follow that rule, I'm going to draw near to God. I'm going to be closer to God.

Listen, by making rules and laws, by trying to, you know, resolve situations, you're struggling with this sin. Let me give you a couple of rules. All you got to do is just implement these rules in your life and then you'll be free from that sin. Laws don't help you. They sound good. We really want them to be the answer. But laws won't produce holiness in your life. Laws won't produce growth in your life. You are free from the law because...

Well, what the law does is actually opposite of what we intended to do. Notice what he says there in verse 5. He says, Notice what happens here. Our sinful passions were aroused by the law. The law didn't produce holiness. Instead, it produced this rearing up of our sinful passions.

Lord, help us to get this through our heads. Help us to understand this. The law arouses sinful passions. The law stirs up sinful desires and cravings. Listen, our sinful nature rebels against instruction. That's just the way that it is. You want to give instruction? Our natural tendency? Rebel against it. Someone gives you instruction? You don't know. I know better. I want to do what I want to do.

Someone tells you not to do something, why? You tell me why, I'll decide if it's a really good rule or not. I'll decide if it's... We rebel against instruction. And not only that, but our nature craves the forbidden. We rebel against instruction and we crave the forbidden. You can demonstrate this in your life very easily. If you want to demonstrate this, I'm going to make a rule. None of you can eat breakfast tomorrow. That's the rule. Otherwise, you can't come back to church here. I'm just kidding, but...

But have you ever noticed if you're busy and caught up and you skip a meal because you know things are just happening and you weren't paying attention, you're fine. But if you're told, "Hey, you have a medical test in the morning, you can't have dinner." Then suddenly it's like the hardest thing in the world to not eat. And it's like on your mind, it's like distressing you, it's troubling you and you're like starving your stomachs, yelling at you and screaming. But you skipped dinner a thousand times before, it didn't even bother you, you weren't paying attention.

But as soon as you're not supposed to, well now all of a sudden it's a big issue. It's a real big problem. That's a demonstration of our sinful nature. We rebel against instruction and if it's forbidden, oh we crave it. My parents have shared a few times about when I was a kid. They would tell me to stop doing something. And when they told me to stop doing something, I would do it one more time. And then I would say something like, I wanted to stop anyways.

So I would do it one more time to show you're not the boss of me. I could do it one more time if I want to do it one more time. And then I would say, I didn't stop because you told me to stop, but I wanted to stop. So that's why I stopped when I wanted to stop. That's our nature, guys. We rebel against instruction. We crave the forbidden.

And so those systems of laws that we love, those things that we, oh, it's like this is going to answer our problems. This is going to make our Christian life so much better. This is going to make us more like God. This is going to take us further. We're really going to make a difference for the kingdom of God now. We're really going to be free of that sin forever now. Those things that we love so much, we establish these laws, we make these rules. Those things actually have the opposite effect in our lives.

They take us the other direction. They produce death and not life. Instead, they stir up those passions and desires. They do more harm than good. And so Paul says, you need to know that you are free from the law, but not just free from the law and that's it, but you're free from the law so that you can commit yourself to Jesus.

Because if you really want those things, if you really want to grow, if you really want to make a difference for the kingdom of God, if you really want to deal with that sin issue in your life, then here's what you need to do. Commit yourself to Jesus. You're free from the law to marry Jesus. And so your job, it's a one-step program, is to walk with God.

That's what you need to do. Pursue that relationship with him. Know him. Walk with him. And some will say, you know, I can't really give myself fully to Jesus because I'm too messed up. But that's legalism. You think I don't measure up, but that's legalism. You're dead to the law. The law was removed so that those standards don't get in your way and you can just go in to the presence of God. You can enter in to his presence.

presence. You can walk with him. You can call out to him. You can talk with him. You can hear from him. You can be blessed by him. He can work in your life because you believe in Jesus Christ. And as a believer, you're dead to the law. It no longer has dominion. And so you can just focus on, I don't have to worry about keeping laws or whether or not, can you imagine?

Can you imagine if before you prayed, you had to like go through this checklist? Okay, did I do this? And did I do that? And did I do that? Did I not do that? Okay, I didn't do that. So now I have to wait for this amount of time. And then I can, it would be horrendous. You're free from all that. You can call out to God right now. You can call out to God in the midst of your sin. You can call out to God in the midst of that argument.

You can walk with him. You can hear from him. He can work in your life no matter what's going on because you believe in Jesus Christ and you've transferred out of Adam's family. They're a bunch of weirdos, right? And you've transferred into the family of Christ. You've been born again. You're dead to the law. And so you are free to commit yourself to Jesus. And if you will do that, it will produce fruit.

He will sanctify you. God will work in you and through you as you walk with him. Well, the final point for this evening found in verse six is that you are free to serve. So you are free from the law. You're free to commit yourself to Jesus and you're free to serve. Verse six says, but now

He says, This is kind of a recap of the things that he's been saying. You had the representative Adam in the garden.

And he was your representative. He acted on your behalf there in the garden. And so you inherited his sinful nature because you're part of his family. The law has dominion over you. You were held by the law. You were measured by the law. But now you've been delivered from the law because you've transferred into the family of Christ. And so the law no longer has dominion because when you believed in Jesus, you were baptized into Christ. You were baptized into his death. You died with him.

therefore there's been a change in your relationship to the law. And God set up this break from the law for a purpose so that you could commit yourself to Jesus. And also here in verse six, he says, so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. There's a new work that God does in your life when you finally accept that you are free from the law. When you know that,

There's a newness of life that God is able to accomplish. In Romans chapter 6 verse 4, there he's making the point that we were buried with Christ through baptism into death. And just as Christ was raised by the glory of the Father, he says we also should walk in newness of life. As a believer in Jesus Christ, there's a new life that Christ has for you. And it's not achieved by the law.

It's not achieved by a system of rules and regulations. It's achieved by being justified, by believing in Jesus Christ. And you're declared righteous. You're declared not guilty. You have access to God. And so you have this newness of life. And you get to serve in the newness of the Spirit. Paul says, not in the oldness of the letter. The idea of the letter, that's legalism.

And so you don't have to serve God on the oldness, the old system, the keeping of rules and regulations. Well, I can't serve because, you know, I didn't follow these or I don't measure up there. You can serve God because you've been set free from the law. A new life in Christ and a new walk with Christ produces new action. It produces serving in this newness of the spirit. It's amazing.

It's a whole different thing. I don't know if you've had this experience, but have you ever had that where there's a change that happens where you're doing something because you have to, but as you do it because you have to, then there's this transition where you start to do it because you want to, you start to enjoy it. And so you start doing it because at first it was just, I have to do this. I have to do this. And so it's a discipline. You do it, you do it, you do it. But then there's a transition where you start to do it because you want to do it.

And that's kind of what Paul's talking about here. The oldness of the letters, you have to serve God this way. You have to do these things. You have to, you have to, you have to. But this new life in the spirit, this new opportunity to serve in the spirit, it's a transition from, it's not that you do things for God. It's not that you serve God because you have to, otherwise he rejects you. It's because you get to, you want to. There's a fresh desire. There's a newness of the spirit.

Where the Holy Spirit is producing in you the will and the to-do for God's good pleasure. Where it's God doing that work in you. Now I've also had the experience where that transition didn't happen, right? I was running for a while and I was hoping that it would start to transition into, well, I don't have to do this, but I really want to. Never experienced that for me though with running. It's always like, I have to do this. I have to do this. I have to do this. But what we have in Christ is,

Well, we get to experience that change. You don't have to serve God. You get to serve God. There's a newness. And you don't serve God on the basis of your keeping the law, but you serve God on this newness of the Spirit.

You serve God because of what he's doing in your life and he's developing within you. You are free to serve. The obstacle of the law is removed out of the way and you are able to be part of the kingdom of God. I like the way that J. Vernon McGee talks about this. He says, the believer is set free, but now in love, he gives himself to the savior as he never could do under the law. You're set free now.

The obstacle's out of the way. And so now you're able to give yourself to the Lord. You're able to give your service to the Lord in a way that you could never do under the law. You're not able to just give a little bit, but you're able to surrender yourself completely to the Lord because the law has been removed. Now, when we are caught up in legalism, it squashes the whole idea of serving. We start thinking about, well, I can't serve God because I'm not good enough.

I don't measure up. I'm not good enough. I don't do enough good things or I do too many bad things. We start thinking, well, I can't serve God because I've failed. I've messed up too many times. And so I can't serve God. I can't be part of what God wants to do. I can't serve God because I'm too busy keeping laws. I don't have time to serve God because I'm trying to keep all these laws and the system that I've developed or following these procedures or keeping those things. I have to do that. And I can't serve God. I can't serve God because I have to convince others that

They're supposed to follow the rules that I follow. And so sometimes we just distract ourselves with legalism. And we're chasing down everybody else saying, hey, how come you don't live the way that I live? How come you don't follow the rules? You do things that I don't do. You shouldn't be doing those things that I don't do. You should be doing the things that I do and not be doing the things that I don't do. So we spend all of our time trying to convince others they should follow our laws. Legalism squashes serving.

But God's removed the law. It's out of the way. It's no longer an obstacle. You are free to serve. And so we have justified freedom. Because you believe in Jesus Christ, you are declared righteous, you're declared not guilty, and you are free from the law. It no longer has dominion over you. It has no authority in your life. It is not the basis for God's approval. It's not the basis for God's forgiveness. It's not the basis for God's blessing.

You are free from the law and you're free to commit yourself to Jesus. It's not in the way anymore. And so you're able to give yourself entirely to God and to walk with him and know him. You are free to pursue Jesus and you're free to serve God in the spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to you. The Holy Spirit is at work in your life. You're free to serve in the newness of the spirit because the law has been removed. Now, this is your position in Christ.

This is the freedom that you have, but you only get to experience the benefits of that freedom if you live accordingly. I would ask you to think about it this way. If I was able to walk up to you this evening and give you a lifetime pass to Disneyland, I don't have that authority. I wish I did. But if I was able to, I could give you this lifetime pass to Disneyland and you could walk around and show it to everybody. Look, I can go anytime I want. I can go to Disneyland.

I can ride the Matterhorn, I can go to California Adventure, I can watch the color show or whatever. I can, anytime I want to. There's no blackout days. I can go whenever I want to. I don't have to pay. I can just walk right in. And you can be really proud of that. You can show it to everybody. You only actually get to enjoy Disneyland if you use it, if you go. And so you are walking around showing that to everybody and someone says, well, when's the last time you went? Well, I've never actually used it. I never actually went.

But look, I can go anytime I want to. You have that position, right? In the same way, we have that position in Christ. You are free. But many times as believers, even though we're free from the law, we submit ourselves to the law. And so we don't get to experience all the benefits of the freedom that God has purchased for us by Christ's death upon the cross.

Because we're caught up, we're bound up, and we continue to submit ourselves to, I have to follow rules. I have to follow regulations. I have to keep this system. I can only pray. I can only walk with God. I can only serve God if I, whatever our list of things is, whether it be the Old Testament, whether it be something that someone has told us or something that we've invented ourselves, we have the system, we have these rules, and we have to measure up. And so we live oftentimes missing out.

on the benefits. Listen, you only get to enjoy the benefits if you exercise the freedom that you have. If you really want to experience abundant life, Jesus says, I've come that you may have life and have it to the full, abundant, overflowing, then get married to Jesus. Really commit yourself to Jesus. You're never going to experience that abundant life if you don't enjoy the freedoms that you've been given.

And by enjoying the freedoms, I don't mean diving into sin. I mean diving into Christ and pursuing him, making him the passion of your life. The main thing is to walk with God, no matter what. Even if you've sinned, hey, grace abounds much more. Even if you don't measure up, it's okay. You're not held to the standard of the law. Even if you've fallen short, even if you've ran away,

Listen, you come back to God moment by moment, day by day, and walk with God and pursue him, know him, and he will change you. You don't clean up your life and then come to God. You come to God with your life a mess and he cleans you up as you walk with him. He does the work. You'll bear fruit to God as you walk with him. Amen? The ladies are going to come back up and lead us in a couple songs and

As they do, I want to encourage you, enjoy your freedom and spend this time and give yourself fully. Worship the Lord. Sing out to him. You're not limited. You're not hindered. So reflect on the words. Mean them. Let it be a time of worship for you. And as God prompts your heart, if you want to pray for one another or have someone pray for you or encourage one another with scriptures or something that God has put upon your heart, hey, you get to serve in a newness of life.

And so even, yeah, if you messed up this week, but God prompts your heart to pray for somebody, go pray for somebody. Do it. You're not held to some standard. You're not held to the law. You have freedom. So give yourself wholly to the Lord this evening as we worship and minister to one another, serve one another as God prompts your heart. Let's worship him together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.