Romans Week 24, February 12, 2023

Introduction

Good morning everyone. Welcome to a SuperBowl Sunday! Who all plans to watch the game tonight? Who plans to play games and eat snacks while the game plays in the background? Who doesn’t care at all about the Super Bowl? Who would prefer another Soup-SouperBowl over what the NFL has to offer? :)

Defending the Law

Romans B. The Value of Law (7:7–13)

God uses a holy thing (law) to reveal an evil thing (sin) so that a necessary thing (death) might result in the most important thing (life).

It's been said that chapter six of Romans defends grace and shows us how powerful grace is in our life and how it is not a license to sin. Chapter seven is a defense of the role the law still plays in our lives.

Romans 7:6 ESV

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.

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:2 ESV

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

The defense of the Law

Romans 7:7 ESV

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

White glove treatment

We struggle to understand the idea of heaven being never ending joy and happiness without pain because we are so used to the reality of pain and hurt in this world.

In the same way the law made it possible for Paul to know what covetting was.

And to covet something is to desire what someone else has often desire something that you can't have for yourself. In you might and you might ask the question did Paul covet before he encountered the law. He probably did. But the law gave him responsibility and showed him what his actions were doing. The law was a spotlight as it were shining the light to help him understand the truth of his actions.

I love how Paul puts it in this passage in galatians.

Galatians 3:24–25 ESV

24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

So the law has this incredible value of guarding and teaching us. It shows us what sin actually is. And this is important because if indeed God created the whole world we've got to know what's right and wrong in his sight. If indeed God made everything then we need to know the rules of his world.

And if indeed we want to know the freedom of living in the new way of the spirit that Paul talks about in Romans Chapter 7 verse six then we need to get there through the conviction that the law brings.

the path to faith in Jesus is through conviction that we are sinners and that conviction comes from the law.

So the law gets us to the point where we can accept the gift of forgiveness that Jesus one and gives to us. There's the value of the law.

So as we look ahead at this confusing passage we're going to divide it into two sections. The first section which we will cover today will be Romans Chapter 7 verses 7 through 13 and in these verses we're going to see the value of the law. Today we're going to talk about the value that the law brings to our life how it shows us what sin is. And points us to God. And then next week in verses 14 to 25 we will see the conflict that we have with the law.

I love how this commentator puts it.

Romans B. The Value of Law (7:7–13)

In the first case, the law aids in his salvation; in the second, the law aids in his sanctification.

I believe as we are reading these verses about Paul's struggle that he's talking about himself. And in a certain sense he is echoing what he wrote in Romans chapter five. Remember back in Romans chapter five he talked about how Adam stands in for all of humanity. We are all responsible for Adams actions. In a small sense Paul's struggle represents the struggle we all experience.

Let’s look at the next couple verses

Romans 7:7–8 ESV

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

The issue of the green button.

I wasn’t tempted to push the button until I was reminded that I shouldn’t touch the button.

Of course it actually says…don’t let your kids touch the button but still.....so tempting.

So the law is given as this good thing meant to show us how to live rightly in relationship with our creator and our fellow man. But the what the law also does is it shows our tendency to sin. It shows our tendency to put ourselves first and live selfishly instead of with the interests of others. In the same way those signs tempt me to push the button in rebellion the law shows us how much we have that in ourselves.

The law shows God's righteous character and how much we fall short of that.

As Paul says in this passage sin seizes the opportunity to demonstrate itself through the commandment producing covetousness. Producing that which the law says is wrong.

What becomes clear through the Bible is that God's purpose in giving the law to us was not that we should become perfect through obeying the law. But instead God gives us the law to show us how to live but also to lead us into relationship with him. The only way we could ever actually live out the commands of the law giver was to be in relationship with the law giver to know him.

I mean this is how sin has acted from the very beginning with relationship to the law. Remember the experience of Adam and Eve. Adam was alive apart from the law and lived happily in the garden but then God told him what he could not do and sin seizing the opportunity produced by the law produced in atom covetousness. And again covetousness is desiring something you cannot have.

Adam might have looked at the tree in the garden he might have recognized that fruit on that tree but there's a difference between looking at something and covering something.

Romans 7:10–11 ESV

10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

When we look at these verses we can really continue our comparison with Adam. God gave him a command that would lead to life but sin seized on that command and deceived him.

This is the promise of life God gave....

Genesis 2:17 ESV

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

and yet Sin was able to twist God’s words and deceive Adam and eve into sinning.

Paul’s struggle with sin mirror’s Adam’s struggle and that mirrors everyone’s struggle with sin.

Now of course we might argue if God had not given us these commandments we would not be tempted to disobey them. Just like a child saying if you hadn't told me not to cross the street I would not have crossed it but God told us and here we are. God told us and we are now dead because of our sin. And what's the value of being dead in our sin? When we realize how dead we are in our sin we can realize the life that God gives.

Ephesians 2:1 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

Colossians 2:13 ESV

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

The Law Reveals God’s Nature

Romans 7:12 ESV

12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

God is holy

Leviticus 19:2 ESV

2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

God is righteous

Daniel 9:14 ESV

14 Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.

God is Good

Mark 10:18 ESV

18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

The long reveals the character and quality of our God. God is demonstrably holy righteous and good! Throughout the Bible and throughout history God's commands and what God does leads to righteousness and goodness.

Two statements here

1 humans have always had a limited perspective on God much the same way my children have a limited perspective on the decisions I make. If you have any questions about the goodness of God I would challenge you to dig into this further to read books by Lee strobel such as the case for faith or the case for Christ. Because time and time again when you dig into a study of God you will see his goodness shine forth more brightly than any other religion out there. God is good and God's law helps us to see this.

Secondly the law reveals the goodness and the holiness and the righteousness of God. But ever since the beginning of time God's followers have not always and all been holy and righteous and good. Therefore the law reveals the sin in ourselves. And the sin in God's followers. Many times when people look at the church they see more of the sin of the people of the church and less of the holiness of God. God's law shows us where we fall short and calls us to humility.

the final question

Romans 7:13 ESV

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

Did the Law Become Death to Me?

It’s that sin comes to life in all it’s deadly rebellion in the face of law.

So Paul asks this reasonable question here does the law become death? Paul wants us to understand that the gospel delivers us from the law. We are free from it as he makes that point quite thoroughly in Romans chapter six. But if the law has so much value as we've been talking about today why do we need to be freed from it? If the law shows us God's goodness and his commands then why do we need to be free from it.? we need to be freed from the law because the law is unexplainably tied up with sin. Our sinful passions are aroused by the commands of the law. The conflict within us is ignited by the law and that's why the gospel frees us from it.

We still have a propensity to sin. And because of that inclination in our hearts the law brings death to us.

The good news of the gospel is that we are free from the commands of the law and therefore free from the control of our propensity to sin.

Conclusion

So where does that leave us today?

Go on from here thanking God for showing you his character in his law. Thank God that he revealed himself to you through the Bible. You can live in relationship with your creator because of what God gave you through his long. You can know how to avoid things that will bring death to you through his long period if you keep his commands and model your life after his word you will live in a increasingly close relationship with him.

But also go on from here knowing that the purpose of the law is to not make you perfect little Christians. The purpose of God's law is not that each and everyone of us will be so good at following the commands of scripture that we become perfect Christians. The purpose of the law is not so that each and everyone of us memorize the sermon on the mount and live out everything that Jesus teaches there. The purpose of the law is to point us to a relationship with the law giver. The purpose of the law is to in a sense trip you up so that when you fail and realize you're not perfect you run to your father who loves you and wants to live in relationship with you. God doesn't just want to give you a list of laws and commands he wants you to live talking with him praying to him walking with him each and every day.

and so as you walk out from here and you're tempted to covet recognize that you still have a signature. And in that moment you can say no to your sin nature because you're not controlled by it anymore. You can say yes to God you can walk with God and live in relationship with God. Because the law is not there condemning you anymore. You live under the free and overwhelming grace of God. So when you're tempted to covet turn to your savior and ask him for help. Put sin to death in your life and live in relationship with your savior.