Freed from the Law

The law is rooted and grounded in the character of God. It flows from the very being of God. And I remind you that as the author of human life, as the creator of your soul, he has every right to impose whatever obligations he wants to upon you. In Romans chapter 7, the Apostle Paul makes the point that as believers, we have been freed from God's law, His commandments.

So does that mean we can live any way we want? Today on Renewing Your Mind, we begin a new sermon series from R. C. Sproul in the book of Romans as we consider the law of God and our relationship to it as Christians. Before we get to today's sermon, you can own Dr.

Sproll's commentary on Romans. which was the fruit of his study and series in the book, you donate before midnight tonight at renewingyourmind.org.

Well, to start this short series, here's R. C. Sprawl in Romans chapter 7. I'm going to begin chapter seven at verse one. and read through verse six.

Or do you not know, brethren? For I speak to those who know the law, That the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband. As long as he lives. But if the husband dies, She is released from the law.

of her husband.

So then, if while her husband lives, She marries another man. She will be called an idolatress. 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 was raised from the dead. That we should bear fruit to God.

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. But now we have been delivered from the law. Having died to what we were held by, So that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit, And not and the oldness of the letter. He has this extended analogy here about marriage. It's very simple.

You get married, you take your vows, and in most liturgies of marriage, when the promises are made, we promise to honor each other and cherish each other. How long? As long as we both Chalet. Because we understand if one of the partners in that marriage covenant. should die.

that all of the obligations for the remaining person that were sworn to in the vows of that marriage or now Set aside. And the widow or the widower is completely free in the eyes of God. to be married again. to another Person.

So that the law that binds us and regulates our marriages is in effect in our lives. Only as long as as our partner. remains alive. That's pretty simple, isn't it? have to labor that 20 degrees.

The difficulty here. is the point. of the analogy that Paul makes here. Where we read in verse 4. Therefore, my brethren, You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ.

that you may be married to another.

Now notice the little shift here. It's not that Your spouse has died. But you have died. And notice that Paul does not say. that the law has died.

But you're the one who has died. And since you have died, Your marriage the law is over.

So that the law will no longer have dominion over you. The way it had Before you died.

Now again, you died in Christ. And in Christ, The law was fulfilled.

Now let me back up here. First of all, When Paul is talking about the law here, We could ask the question. Is he talking about the ceremonial law? Is he talking about the law of Moses given at Sinai? Or is he talking about law in an even wider and broader sense?

I'm persuaded that he's talking about the whole of the moral law of God, not just that which was given by Moses, not just that which is found in the ceremonies of the Old Testament. But he goes back to creation. He's already labored the point in chapter 5. That death reigned from Adam to Moses. Proving what?

that apart from the law there is no sin. And apart from sin, there is no death.

Now since death entered into the world with Adam and Eve. And people after Adam and Eve all died before The law of Moses was ever given, that means that sin was in the world before the law of Moses. And the only way sin could be in the world before the law of Moses is that there was another law that preceded the law of Moses, namely the moral law of God that He reveals in nature and in our consciences.

So that from the very beginning, The law of God has had dominion over the world. Over us. But now it's not that the law has been removed. and that the law is dead. But In Christ.

We have died. And he has taken The full weight. of the curse of the law. upon himself.

so that we are no longer with that burden on our backs. And because we died with him. We died to the law. As a way of salvation. We never look again.

to obeying the law ourselves in order To receive the blessing of God.

Now, be very, very careful. As Paul will say later, this doesn't mean that this gives us a license to sin, that since we're freed from the dominion of the law, freed from the curse of the law, we're not underneath the burden of the law. That doesn't mean that the law is a bad thing. We're supposed to despise the law. Everybody in this room.

is a sinner. And have you been awakened by the Holy Ghost? and have been convicted of your sin. To such a degree. That the law acted as a schoolmaster for you.

Taught you your sinfulness. Directed you to a Saviour. And you've been now redeemed and justified because you're putting your Hope. in his righteousness and not your own. If you have experienced what the Bible describes as the conviction of sin.

Where you've been made aware That you are a sinner. Let me say to you. That we haven't begun. to feel the weight of that conviction. We haven't begun.

to understand. How far short? We have fallen. of the glory of God. We haven't touched.

the guilt that we experience. What is the worst sin? That a person could commit. The logic is simple. If the great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart and strength and soul.

And your neighbor is yourself. It would seem to me. If that's the number one commandment from God. It's the worst thing we could ever do. Would be to break that one.

But have you ever lost sleep because you failed to keep the great commandment? I know you haven't. You see, Luther would look at himself at night and he'd say, In his prayers, God. I didn't love you with my whole heart today for five minutes. I've never committed my entire mind.

in the discipline of mastering your word. How can I get relief? From your judgment. Cause I haven't loved you. The way you've called me to love me see where that doesn't bother us.

It was killing Luther. As if ever a man tried to find his way to heaven. Through obeying the law. It was Martin Luther. And if he was crazy.

I thank God. that he gave us a crazy man. to open our eyes. to the gospel. It's the craziest thing you could ever do.

is to try to work your way. Into heaven. We are not able by the works of the flesh, the Apostle Paul has already told us. By the works of the law shall no flesh. flesh.

B Justified. But we still try to do it. That's the latter. that we try to climb. The latter of our own righteousness.

So that we can come to God at the last day with something in our hand. Other than the cross. Nobody understood this better than Augustus Toplady, Rock of Ages. Cliff for me. Let me hide myself.

In the Okay. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Vow I to the fountain fly, wash me, Saviour. Where I die, And this is what Paul is unpacking for us here.

In the end of chapter six. And end of chapter seven. Therefore, my brethren, You have become dead to the law. Through the body of Christ. Then you may be married to another.

It's not that your spouse has died. But you have died. And what claim does any law have on a dead man? The dead man's not capable of obedience or disobedience. The will has ceased functioning.

Dead people. Don't sin. The law does not reign. Over corpses. And in Jesus Christ.

You're a corpse. You're dead.

So the law King it. Tachu. With The scourge of its curse.

Well, again, I mentioned that Luther saw that the main function of the law was to lead us to Christ. Calvin had what has now become famously known as his threefold. function of the law. Review that briefly again. The first function of the law.

is to reveal the character of God. You know, that's what we have to understand. First of all, Whose law it is? The moral law is not simply a list of abstract duties. A list of do's and don'ts.

But the law, first of all, reveals The lawgiver. In the final analysis, it's not laws that are rooted and grounded in the nature of things. But the law is rooted and grounded in the character of God. It flows from the very being of God. And I remind you that as the author of human life, as the creator of your soul, he has every right to impose whatever obligations he wants to upon you.

God has the right to say, thou shalt do this and thou shalt not do that. And who are you? Who am I? To defy. The Lord God omnipotent says, You don't have any right.

To tell me what to do. And what not to do. I'm a woman. I have an inalienable right over my own body. Oh no you don't.

The God who made your body. Rules your body. And he tells you. What you may do with your body and what you may not do with your body. And so the law in the first use.

Since it comes from the character of God. expresses the character of God. It reveals His Holiness. That's why we distance ourselves from it. That's why we are not zealous to pursue a deeper knowledge of the law, because when we get involved with the study of the knowledge of God, we are drawn irresistibly close to that ultimate standard of righteousness.

Found in God's own character. And so, with that revelation. of his character at the same instant. That the law reveals the holiness of God. It reveals to us our unholiness.

The law is a mirror. I love that image. When I joined Weight Watchers 20 years ago, and successfully completed it. Became a lifetime member. Took me five years to put back the weight that I had taken off in Weight Watchers.

Okay. And so We're at a Weight Watchers meeting. And the instructor made us go around the room. And say What made you turn yourself in? What made you finally come and join this group?

And decide To really get serious about losing weight. And when she came and called on me, I said it was when I found out that when I walked past store windows on the street. I couldn't stand to look in the window because not only would I see the merchandise displayed in the window. But I would see the image of my rotund middle There. And then one day.

I was shopping in a golf shop and The proprietor came up to me and Said there's a telephone call for you from your wife. And so I took the call and talked to her and hung up, and then I said to the proprietor. How did you know that I was her husband? She said that well, she was calling for this Short fat guy. I didn't like the mirror.

I didn't like what it showed me. By my shape. Although round is a shape. We have other blemishes. that are revealed to us.

By honest mirrors But they don't make mirrors out there. For your soul. That mirror is found in the law of God. And when I look in that mirror. That mirror never lies.

And that mirror. Drives me to my knees. Because the law of God Reveals My pollution. And so, as Calvin said. Once the law Reveals to us Our corruption, then it serves.

as Luther said, as the pedagogue, that teaches us of the gospel and drives us to Christ. But there are two other uses of the law. On the other hand, the law. serves as a restraint. Upon our sin.

We live. in a lawless culture. And yet some sociologists are saying we're an over governed culture. Every year, Congress adds Hundreds and hundreds of new laws, new ways. to make us guilty.

before the state new ways in which we can get in trouble. And we have to have law enforcement to keep a civil society. Because every day people round and about are violating the law and violating people. And yet can you imagine? What society would be like.

If you didn't have any loss. You have laws that post the speed limit out there. 65 miles an hour, we go 75, we go 80. Take down the speed limits, and it's 90, 95. There is some restraint.

That's right. no government is worse than bad government. The worst of all possible societies are societies that are marked by anarchy. Because law. As much as we hate it.

Still exercises some restraints upon us, sinful as we are. we would be even more sinful. If the restraints were removed. And finally, the third use of the law, what is called in the Latin the tertius uses of the law in Calvin, which was one of the most important insights of. the Swiss theologian.

And that is Even though we're freed from the law, Its burden. Its destruction. Yet the law continues to reveal to us. What is pleasing to God? A couple of years ago I recounted the experience I had A long time ago, when I was invited.

to Rye, New York, to a Huge Presbyterian church there. made up of very well-to-do people. To give a series of lectures on the holiness of God. And I gave the first lecture, and afterwards, the committee that was sponsoring this group asked me to go back to one of the homes for. dessert and for prayer.

And I said, sure. About twenty of us went back to this Mansion of great grandeur Where you have a bird bath in your front yard, this lady had a Henry Moore sculptor out in the middle of the yard that the birds were swimming in. It was incredible. And We went in this house. The people turned out the lights, got on the floor, got on their knees, they started to pray.

And to my utterance, I think it was a very good idea Shock. They began to pray. to their departed Relatives. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out. What is this?

I was in the middle of a seance. I said, what are you doing? We're channeling. We're communicating. with our departed relatives.

I said Do you know? What the word of God says about that? That God has made this activity In the old covenant, A capital offence? He considers it an abomination, and not only would he punish the practitioners of it But if the nation tolerated it, He would curse the whole country. Yeah, we know that, but that's The Old Testament.

But now the Spirit has been. has led us.

Now that we're free from the law. That we are free to participate in this. I said, wait. What is it in the history of redemption? That has changed an activity that is utterly repugnant to God in one economy.

Now all of a sudden, Pleasing to him. You see, the law In its continual revelatory value. made it very clear to me. That that was something no Christian. Should ever, ever.

Be involved. with. And so there the law served as a guide. for me as it serves as a guide for you. We're not under its curse, we're not under its weight.

But the beauty of the law is still available to us. as Paul begins to Deal with in verse 7. We have been Dead. the law through Christ. We've been married to another to him who was raised from the dead.

that we should bear fruit to God. For even when we are in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law will work in our members to bear fruit to death. When we were under the law, the only fruit that we ever brought forth was the fruit of death. But now we've been delivered from that long. Having died to what we were held by, So that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit.

And not in the oldness. of the letter.

So what?

So what?

What shall we say then? Again, the rhetorical question. Is the law sin? The law was so destructive to us. This law put us in bondage, led to death.

So was it the law's fault? Is the law a bad thing?

Well, God willing. That's what we'll look at. The next time. We're together. That was R.

C. Sproul with his introduction to Romans chapter 7 on this Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind. Romans is such a rich book. Dr. Sproul would refer to it as the Apostle Paul's magnum opus.

It covers original sin. the order of salvation, sanctification, the assurance of our salvation. final victory in Christ, and much more. And you can study all of Romans with R. C.

Sproll as your guide when you request a copy of his hardcover commentary, when you give a donation before midnight tonight at renewingyourmind.org. Your support helps keep Renewing Your Mind on the airwaves and on devices around the world. And so your copy of this pastoral commentary is our way of saying thank you. Give your gift now at Renewing Your Mind dot org or by using the link in the podcast show notes. And if you live outside of the US and Canada, the E book edition is waiting for you at Renewing Your Mind dot org slash global.

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Next week, we'll continue this series in Romans with a sermon titled Sin's Advantage in the Law. Be sure to join us next Sunday here on Renewing Your Mind.