Released from the Law

Opening idea: Removing the guardrails

I like driving on a winding mountain road.

You climbing higher, the road gets narrower, and eventually you come to a stretch with a steep drop beside you.

Some of the roads have heavy steel guardrails on the edge.

Now imagine my wife saying:

“You know what would make this drive more freeing? Let's get rid of those guardrails.”

Technically, it would give me more road.

Nothing would be restricting us from going wherever we wanted.

But nobody driving that road looks at the guardrail and thinks, 

That's the thing threatening my life.

The guardrail isn't the danger.

The cliff is.

In fact, the presence of the guardrail is evidence that somebody understands the danger better than you may at that moment.

I think sometimes that's how we approach God's Law.

We read something God commands,

something He prohibits—

that what we want—and because we feel restrained by it,

We begin assuming the restraint is the problem.

Why can't I do that?

Why does Christianity put boundaries around this part of my life?

In our passage this morning, Paul has just made a big claim:

We have been released from the Law.

Now, we could hear that and conclude:

The Law was the problem.

Or that Jesus came to get rid of all those restrictions.

But Paul says:

God's Law isn't evil or defective.

In fact, before this passage is finished, Paul calls it 

“holy and just and good.”

The problem isn't the guardrail.

The problem is the sinful heart that keeps wanting to drive toward the cliff.

And that's what our text uncovers.

Paul has shown us that Jesus didn't save us because God's standard was bad.

He saved us because we could never meet that standard,

and our sinful hearts actually rebel against the God who gave it.

But here's the beautiful thing the Gospel:

Jesus doesn't simply remove God's Law and tell us, 

“Now go live anyway you want.”

He changes what we want from the inside out.

Christ changes our desire. He begins changing what we love, how we live, and ultimately what kind of fruit our lives produce.

So

“What happens to my relationship with God's Law when I belong to Jesus?”

And Paul begins answering that in verse 1.

1. In Christ, We Belong to Someone New

Romans 7:1–6 CSB

Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives? For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

Paul begins chapter 7 by continuing the argument he has already been making. At the end of chapter 6, he told us that we are “not under law but under grace.”

But does that mean God’s law Is bad?

Has grace made God's commands irrelevant?

Paul says no.

Verse 1 gives us the principle:

“The law rules over someone as long as he lives.”

Then in verses 2–3 Paul uses marriage to make the point. A married woman is bound to her husband while he is alive. But when death occurs, that legal relationship changes.

We don't need to make every detail of the illustration correspond to something spiritually.

Paul's basic point is simple:

Death changes your relationship to what once held authority over you.

Then comes verse 4:

“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ…”

Notice that Paul doesn't say the Law died.

We died.

That's important because Paul isn't attacking God's Law.

Before this section is finished, he's going to call the Law holy, righteous, and good.

The change isn't what happened to God's Law.

The change is what happened to us through Christ.

Through our union with Jesus, His death counts as our death.

The Law condemns us because of our sin, but Jesus took that condemnation upon Himself.

We are no longer accepted by God based on our obedience to the Law; we are accepted because we belong to Christ.”

Think about how chapter 7 connects to what Paul has already taught us in Romans 6.

Paul said we died to sin.

Here he says we died to the Law.

In both cases, Paul is describing something that happened to us because we are united to Christ in His death.

Our old relationship has been broken because we now belong to the One who died and rose again.

And Paul tells us why:

“…so that you may belong to another—to him who was raised from the dead…”

Remember from last week, Jesus didn't die to make you autonomous.

Instead, He freed you so that you could belong to Him.

That's an important distinction because our culture often defines freedom as the absence of authority:

Nobody tells me what to do. I determine what is right for me.

Paul's definition of Christian freedom is different.

He doesn't celebrate independence.

He celebrates a new belonging.

You have been released from one relationship because you have been brought into another.

And the result is:

“…that we may bear fruit for God.”

Notice the movement:

We died with Christ. We belong to Christ. We bear fruit for God.

Our obedience hasn't disappeared, but the source has changed.

However, We don’t bear fruit to earn Christ’s acceptance. We bear fruit because, in Christ, we are already accepted.

That's the difference between legalism, antiNOmianism, and gospel freedom.

Legalism says:

“I obey so that God will accept me.”

Antinomianism says:

“God accepts me, so obedience doesn't matter.”

But gospel freedom says:

“God has accepted me in Christ, therefore I am finally free to obey.”

That doesn’t means we question God's moral commands, because we have been saved by grace.

Quite the opposite.

Because I belong to Christ, I want what Christ wants.

I want truth because He loves truth.

I want purity because He is pure.

Now I understand God’s commandments as expression of the character of the Savior I love.

The Law isn't a ladder I'm climbing trying to get to Jesus.

Jesus came down and got me.

Obedience now becomes the response of someone who knows he or she has already been accepted in Christ.

Verse 5 describes our old condition:

“For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death.”

Then verse 6 begins:

“But now…”

Something has changed.

We have been released from what bound us:

“…so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.”

We have been released so that we may serve. Did you catch that?

Christian freedom isn't freedom from obedience.

It is freedom for a new kind of obedience.

The old way says, Obey and maybe you'll be accepted.

The Gospel says, Believe In Christ & you are accepted; now serve Him in the newness of the Spirit.

Paul is telling his readers

I belong to Christ.

And because I belong to Him, I want my life to bear fruit for Him.

“Are you obeying God this morning?”

“Why are you obeying?”

[Transition]

Jesus didn't free you so you could belong to yourself; He freed you so you could belong to Him.

But if Paul says we've been released from the Law, he knows what somebody is going to ask:

“Then Paul anticipates his readers follow up question assuming they, are thinking Paul is saying the Law was the problem

2. God's Law Reveals the Sin Within Us

Romans 7:7–12 CSB

What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

Paul answers his own question:

“Is the law sin?”

“Absolutely not!”

Instead, Paul says:

“I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.”

That's the first thing the Law does.

The Law reveals sin.

The Law gives us God's standard rather than allowing us to establish our own.

And that's important because left to ourselves, we're incredibly good at redefining righteousness.

We compare our righteousness with ourselves.

I'm doing better than him.

I'm basically a good person.

But God's Law removes us as the standard.

God’s Law reveals His righteousness.

Notice the commandment Paul chooses:

“I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.”

That's significant because coveting isn't merely something you do.

It's something you desire.

You can appear externally righteous while coveting.

You can keep your behavior cleaned up while your heart is filled with envy,

discontentment,

or a jealousy for something God has given somebody else.

That's what makes this command so penetrating.

Paul looked at his outward religious performance and conclude that he was doing pretty well.

But then:

“Do not covet.”

Now God's Law has moved inside beyond

“Look at what you've done.”

“Look at what you want.”

That's why God's Law is such an uncomfortable mirror.

It doesn't just expose our behavior.

It exposes our hearts.

But then Paul goes even further in verse 8:

“Sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind.”

We have to be careful here.

Paul isn't saying the Law produced the sin.

Sin did.

The Law says, “Do not covet.”

And sin takes that good command and uses it as an opportunity for rebellion.

That tells us something important about the fallen human condition.

Our problem isn't merely that we occasionally break God's rules.

There is something within fallen humanity that resists God's right to rule us.

The command doesn't create the rebellion.

The command exposes the rebellion that is already there.

That's why Paul says in verses 9–11:

“Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again and I died.”

Illustration

There is debate about what experience Paul is describing,

and we don't need to solve all of that this morning to understand his central point.

There was a time when Paul believed he was alive.

Then God's commandment came home to him in its true depth, and suddenly Paul saw himself differently.

On the outside His external religious performance gave him confidence.

But God's Law penetrated beneath the performance and exposed his heart.

The Law didn't make Paul sinful. The Law showed Paul how sinful he already was.

Verse 11:

“For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.”

Notice Paul's language.

The Law didn't deceive him.

Sin deceived him.

The Law didn't seize the opportunity.

Sin seized it.

The Law isn't the villain here.

Sin is.

And that's why Paul concludes in verse 12:

“So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.”

The Law is holy because it comes from a holy God.

It is just because what God requires is right.

And it is good because God's purposes are good.

And this confronts something deep within us.

When God's Word exposes something we love, we're tempted to put God's command on trial.

Is this really wrong?

Does God really expect that?

We would rather lower the standard than admit what's wrong within us.

But Paul won't let us get away with that.

God's holiness isn't the problem.

God's commands aren't the problem.

Sin is the problem.

This is actually the grace of God's Law.

It tells the truth about my life that I would never tell myself.

The Law cannot save me. But it can show me why I need to be saved.

[Transition]

The Law isn't the disease; it's the diagnosis.

God's Law isn't what's wrong with us.

It reveals what's wrong within us.

But Paul isn't finished. Because there's still a troubling question:

If the Law is holy, righteous, and good—why does death keep showing up?

Verse 13 gives us the answer:

3. The Problem Isn't God's Law; the Problem Is Our Sin

Romans 7:13 CSB

Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.

Paul has just declared:

“The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.”

But that creates one final question:

“Therefore, did what is good become death to me?”

“If the Law is good, how can Paul say it resulted in death? Is the Law the problem?”

Again Paul responds:

“Absolutely not!”

Then he identifies the real culprit:

“On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good…”

That's Paul's distinction.

The Law is good. Sin produces death.

Sin takes something God intended for good and exploits it.

Paul says:

“…so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.”

This reveals how deep the problem of sin actually goes.

We tend to think of sin primarily in categories of behavior.

I did something I shouldn't have done.

Paul takes us deeper.

Sin isn't merely breaking a rule.

Sin is rebellion against the God who gave the rule.

That's why sin can take something holy, righteous, and good and use it as an opportunity for rebellion.

The problem isn't that God said:

“Do not covet.”

The problem is that something within us hears God's command and says:

“I want what I want more than I want what God wants.”

And that explains why the Law cannot rescue us.

Not because the Law is weak.

Or because God's standard is defective.

The problem is the sinner standing underneath it.

The Law can tell me what righteousness is.

The Law can show me where I have violated God's righteousness.

But the one thing the Law cannot do is:

It cannot rescue me from the sin it exposes.

It can diagnose but It cannot cure.

Our deepest problem is sin.

We need rescued.

And that's where this passage drives us toward Christ.

Jesus did what the Law could never do.

The Law could identify righteousness.

Jesus was righteous.

The Law could command obedience.

Jesus perfectly obeyed.

The Law could pronounce condemnation against sin.

Jesus took that condemnation upon Himself.

Therefore we are joined to the One who fulfilled righteousness for us and gives us new life.

the Law should send us back to Christ.

[Transition to Closing]

And that's where Paul's argument leaves us:

The Law exposes our sin, but only Jesus can rescue us from it.

The Law isn't our enemy.

It's holy.

It's righteous.

It's good.

And because we belong to Christ,

we don't have to fear what God's Word exposes,

and we don't have to pretend that what it exposes isn't there.

We can let God's Word tell us the truth about ourselves because the Gospel has already told us where our rescue is found.

Don't try to obey in order to belong.

We belong to Christ

—and because we belong to Him,

we are finally free to obey.

Closing [Worship Team Up]

I want you to think about what Paul has shown us.

God's Law is not the enemy.

It is holy. It is righteous. It is good.

But when God's good Law comes up against my heart, it reveals something about me that I would rather not see.

It shows me that my problem is deeper than a few bad decisions.

My problem is sin.

And maybe this morning God's Word has exposed something in you.

something you want that God has said no to.

or an area where you've been resisting God's authority.

Here's what I don't want you to do:

Don't waste the diagnosis.

If you're here this morning and you don't know Christ, don't walk out of here thinking, I need to become a better person.

That's not Paul's message.

The Law has already shown us why that won't work.

You don't simply need another rule.

You don't simply need another commitment.

You need a Savior.

And the good news of the Gospel is that the God whose righteous standard you and I have failed to meet sent His Son to meet it for us.

Jesus lived the righteous life we have not lived.

He went to the cross and bore the condemnation our sin deserves.

He died.

He rose again.

And now listen again to the language Paul used in verse 4:

“…so that you may belong to another—to him who was raised from the dead.”

That's the invitation of the Gospel.

Not Try harder, Clean yourself up. Do good things to make up for the bad.

Come belong to Christ.

Turn from your sin

and trust the One who died

and rose again to save you.

And Christian, the same Gospel speaks to us.

When God's Word exposes something in you, you don't have to run from Him.

You already belong to Christ.

So bring what God's Word has exposed into the light.

Confess it.

Turn from it.

And then, by the power of the Spirit, begin walking in the freedom Christ purchased for you.

What does it mean that the law rules over someone as long as they live?

In what ways have you experienced being freed from the law through Christ?

How can understanding our death to the Law impact how we pray, draw near to God, or worship Him?

What role does the law play in revealing sin and our hear according to the sermon text?

Why is the law described as holy, just, and good? How is it to be handled today for both believes and unbelievers?

What is the significance of being 'released from the law' in our Christian faith?