The Law & The Believer

Introduction

The typical pattern of preaching here at Covenant Life is to take a book and then preach that book, passage by passage until we get to the end.

Two weeks from today we are going to pick that same pattern back up as we continue in Romans 7

And 23 times in Romans 7 Paul mentions the Law. And leading up to this for the last 6 chapters we have heard Paul teach that the law is not sufficient to save us.

Romans 3:20 “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

What can easily happen as we rightly celebreate and trust in the gospel is that we begin to view the law of God as a bad thing. An oppresive force that Jesus defeated.

The beginning of this trail leads to some saying that the God of the OT is an angry God of wrath and the God of the NT is a merciful God of grace. Which is heresy. God has always been good, He has never changed.

And so this morning I want us to consider the law and answer two main questions about it.

Is the law bad?

What function does the law have in a believer’s life?

Is the Law Bad?

A couple of weeks ago Paul said something shocking about the law of God.

Romans 6:14 “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

Paul equates the breaking of the law—sin—with the presence of the law. How is it that you will be free from sin, he asks?

Well, the Jew in Paul’s day would have said unequivocally—the Law, by following the law a person will be free from sin.

But in Romans 6:14 Paul says that freedom from sin is to get out from under the law.

Furthermore in Romans 5:20 Paul says,“Now the law came in to increase the trespass...”

And in Romans 7:6 Paul says that “the law held us captive.”

Get out from under the Law? The Law came to increase trespass? The law was our captor! “Paul, you are crazy!”, the Jewish listener would say. Our hope is in the law! God gave Moses the law for our good!

And all along from the very beginning of Romans Paul has been saying our hope is in Jesus and Jesus alone!

And we see this tension in the early church as we read through the book of Acts. Do Gentile Christians need to follow the law of Moses in order to be saved? And the answer that Council of Jerusalem gives is, no—they don’t.

So as we think about all that Paul has been saying leading up to Romans 7: “We are not under the law---the law came to increase the trespass of sin—we are free from the law”

A question we have to ask and answer: Is the law bad?

Let’s look at what Scripture says.

Psalm 19:7–11 ESV

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

100 Psalms later Psalm 119 speaks about the law.

Psalm 119:12 “Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!”

Psalm 119:16 “I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.”

Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.”

Psalm 119:77 “Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.”

Psalm 119:97 “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.”

Psalm 119:136 “My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.”

Psalm 119:142 “Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.”

Psalm 119:165 “Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.”

Psalm 119:174 “I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight.”

Is the law bad? God’s Word definitely doesn’t say so. The law of God is wonderful and if we could follow it—it would be a glorious blessing in our lives.

But friends—you and I can’t follow it. Most of us can probably follow most of it. But when it comes to the law— “good enough” doesn’t cut it.

Matthew 5:48 “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

The law is like a string of Christmas lights—all the bulbs but one can be good and the whole string is useless. That one broken bulb will keep the lights from shining.

In Deuteronomy 28 God tells his people the blessings that they will receive if they keep the law.

Deuteronomy 28:3-6 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”

Deuteronomy 28:13-14 “And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”

If you obey these commands—if you keep my law not turning aside from ANY of the words I have given you, you’ll be blessed.

And then in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 God tells the people all the curses that will come upon them if they do not keep the law. For 53 verses God warns the people about all the bad that will happen as a result of breaking the law.

And as we continue throughout the history of God’s people we see that they break the law over and over and over again. And the curses that God promised came true—they were beseiged, defeated, attacked, carried away.

The whole book of Judges is the story of what happens when men and women do right in their own eyes. Some of the most horrific stories of human depravity are found in the book of Judges. When peopel abandon the good law of God there are terrible consequences.

Just to bring it home for a second. What is wrong with our American society? We have totally abandoned the law of God—we have rejected calling it good. We have left even trying to keep it! And the result is that our culture calls evil good and good evil. Our culture, driven by human wickedness is in control. In America—just like in Judges—everyone seems to do right by their own eyes. And there are terrible consequences.

The law of God is good and glorious and right and true and pure. It is a picture of the goodness of God—of His character. Is the law bad? No.

The law of God is good, but we are bad at keeping it.

IF we could keep the law it would be a glorious thing—but as we have been studying in Romans we can’t. We were born with a sin nature that prefers our rule over Gods. Like Adam—we too sin against God and reject His good law.

When Paul talks in Romans about being freed from the law—it is not because the law is evil. .

When Paul says the law is our captor—we must come out from under the law—that the law increases our trespass---He is saying that in regards to God’s good law we are law breakers and being a law breaker puts us under bondage as those who will receive the curses of law breakers.

Acts 15:10-11 “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.””

Matthew 5:17 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Jesus defeated death, he defeated sin, but he fulfilled the good law of God. And in doing so he earned the Covenant blessings of a law keeper.

That’s why salvation is in Jesus alone. That’s why Jesus says in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Because Jesus is the only one who has kept the law. And by coming to him we receive all the blessings of being found perfect in regards to the law—in Jesus we are holy as God is holy—we are perfect law keepers as God is.

We are free from the curses of the law—we are free from the guilt of the law—in Jesus we are free from the consequences of being law breakers.

So the law is good and Jesus is the good law keeper. We are freed from the consequences of being law breakers. But now lets look at our next question. What function does the law have in a believers life?

The Law and the Believer

So if we have been freed from the law—does the law have any place in our life?

And the answer is yes. While we should never look to the law to save us—the law does have a place in our lives for our Good.

The law of God found all throughout Scripture—in the OT and repeated in the NT—is useful for the follower of Jesus In 3 ways.

Shows our sin.

Romans 5:20 “Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,”

The Law and all its requirements show us that we are in desperate need.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

When we read the Bible—when we see all that God has called his people to. We are reminded that we are sinners and that we need saving.

This was the purpose of our Lord Jesus when he gave the sermon on the mount. It was to preach to a people who had grown comfortable with the law—who had tricked themselves into thinking they were keeping it---to understand that their sin and their need was more desperate than they knew.

Don’t commit adultery---but if you even entertain the idea in your head you are an adulterer.

Don’t murder —but the anger you have in your heart is just as sinful—even if your hands don’t carry it out.

Love others—not just your neighbors, those who are easy to love, but love your enemies.

Over and over again Jesus says—your sin consumed you.

When the law of God convicts you of your sin—thank Him for paying for those very sins. Jesus has paid for them—and while they grieve you know that they are forgiven and have been forgotten.

The law shows our aim.

The law of God is good. And it is our aim. We know that we will never keep it perfectly—this is why we need a savior.

But we also know that God is working in us everyday to make us more and more like our Lord Jesus who kept the law perfectly.

2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Verse 6 of our passage says

Romans 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 no longer are in bondage to sin—but we serve in the new way of the Spirit.

We look at the law and we desire that God would help us to grow more and more into the likeness of one who keeps it. We desire that God would bear good fruit in us.

Galatians 5 tells us the fruit that the Holy Spirit is working in us.

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

As we look at the good law of God we see that it is characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—we take the law of God and we aim for these things to be ever present in our lives.

The Law Show us our savior.

As we survey the law throughout the Bible—as we look at the human response to it—and our inability to keep it.

We must be in awe of our savior. Who kept the law perfectly.

Who is Jesus? He is the perfection of God’s good law. He is love. He is peace. He is patience. And kindness, and goodness. He is faithful. He is gentle. He has complete control of self.

Jesus doesn’t just do these things—he is these things.

When King David describes the law in Pslam 119 like we did at the beginning our time together—he is naming all of the wonderful attributes of our savior.

Hebrews 1:3 “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature...”

This is who our savior is. He is glorious, and perfect. Every law of God says something about the Son of Man.

The law of God shows the splendor of Christ. And as we behold this—we are drawn deeper into Jesus.

Conclusion

As we continue in the book of Romans we should not make the mistake in thinking that the law of God is something that Christ wiped out of the lives of his followers.

Remember, Christ didn’t defeat the law—he fulfilled it.

God’s law is good but our ability to keep his law is bad.

But the good law of God was kept perfectly by our good savior. In this Christ freed us from the consequences of being law breakers.

We are free from the consequences of the law which enables us to pursue the righteousness of the law as we follow Jesus.

And as we survey the law within all of Gods’ Word is shows us our need for Jesus and gives us our aim for walking with Jesus.

The law of God is good. Amen?

Pray.