A lesson by Pastor John Skaggs

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

P.O. Box 1447, Claypool, Az. 85532

520-425-8345 or 520-402-9134

Email: pastorjohn@gila.net

Date: 5-2-99

Sermon Number: Romans 34

Text: 7:7-12

The Law is Holy, Righteous, and Good

A number of things have kept us from the book of Romans lately but today we return to our ongoing exposition. We have made our way to the seventh chapter thus far. In the early chapters Paul argued successfully that both Jews and Gentiles are guilty sinners without any righteousness of their own. In spite of what the world tells us man is not basically good and improving all the time. Rather, there is no one good among us. Isaiah tells us that the best deed performed by human hands is filthy and wicked in the eyes of God. Therefore, all men are sinners who cannot save themselves from the wrath of God. Paul goes on to show how sinners can be made right with God. It is through the instrument of faith. "The just shall live by faith." Or, "Those who will be saved from the wrath of God have been justified by believing in Jesus," as opposed to trusting in their own performance. Hear the familiar words of Romans 3:21-31 NASB. "But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, {22} even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; {23} for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, {24} being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; . . . {27} Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. {28} For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. . . {31} Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law." It is by faith that the sinner comes to have peace with God and is saved. "The just shall live by faith."

Salvation brings with it many benefits. We have peace with God, we are justified by the blood of Christ, and we are saved from the wrath to come, chapter five. By faith we have died to sin with Christ. We have been buried and we have risen with Christ from the dead. With Him we now walk in newness of life, chapter six. In this same chapter we also find that having died in Christ to sin we are freed from our former slavery to it. Since this is true, Paul counsels, ". . do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts." We have, says he, become slaves of righteousness, slaves of God.

In chapter seven Paul explains and illustrates this freedom from the law of sin and death. The relationship we once had with the law has been dissolved forever like the marriage bonds that once bound a widow to her husband. Before his death occurred she was bound to him by the law of marriage but when he died she was set free to be bound to another if she wished to be so bound. Likewise, says Paul, having died with Christ the law that bound us to its standard and consequences can no longer hold us responsible. Once I was bound to the law but now I am bound to Christ by grace through faith. The law cannot condemn me because I died and in that death it lost its power to rule over me. The law still cries out and threatens me but I am no longer afraid of its threats. There are two reasons for this. One, I am no longer bound by the law and, two, Christ fulfilled all the law’s demands on my behalf. He was perfect in my place and His perfections have been credited to my account. Not only was Jesus perfect in my place He also suffered the penalty of death for me. On both counts the law has been satisfied by Jesus. So when the law demands perfection and threatens death if I do not comply I simply refer him to Jesus. When the law begins to reveal my personal weakness and sinfulness trying to fill me with fear and foreboding I say, "I don’t have what you demand and I never did. You go talk to Jesus. He will provide all the perfection you require of me." The Christian is free from both the penalty and the demands of the law.

(Romans 7:5-6 NASB) "For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were AROUSED BY THE LAW, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. {6} But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, (We have been released in two ways. One, the law no longer arouses us to sin. Two, we are no longer subject to its penalties when we do sin. Being in Christ there is nothing to condemn us, not even the law of God.) so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."

As born again persons we now understand that we are not saved and forgiven because our performance meets a certain standard. Rather, we are saved by our perfect Savior. So, we don’t walk or live as if keeping the law was our ticket into heaven. Rather, we serve our Lord "in newness of the Spirit." That is, we live our lives day to day by faith, trusting in Jesus and Him alone for acceptance with God. We serve Him out of desire and love not fear of condemnation.

This morning we consider Paul’s second concern in the seventh chapter. He has pointed out previously that the law of Moses could never make a person right with God. On the contrary, he declares in chapter three, verse twenty, that the Law brings to us the knowledge of sin. Further, and far from making us holy as He is holy, the law actually arouses the sinners passions all the more. But does that mean the Law is evil or sinful? This is the question Paul answers in the text which concerns us today.

(Romans 7:7-12 NASB) "What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." {8} But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, (the law) produced (revealed) in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. (it is in the background out of sight.) {9} And I was once alive (or thought I was) apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died; (I understood that I was spiritually dead.) {10} and this commandment, which was to result in life, (to my way of thinking) proved to result in death for me; {11} for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it (the law) killed me. {12} So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good."

The amplified Bible helps us understand Paul’s statements. "What then do we conclude? Is the law identical with sin? Certainly not! Nevertheless, if it had not been for the Law, I should not have recognized sin or had known its meaning. For instance, I would not have known about covetousness - would have had no consciousness of sin or sense of guilt – if the Law had not repeatedly said, you shall not covet or have an evil desire for one thing and another. But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment to express itself got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires such as lust and covetousness. For without the law sin is dead – the sense of it is inactive and a lifeless thing. But when the commandment came, sin lived again, and I died – was sentenced by the law to death. For sin, seizing the opportunity and getting a hold on me by taking its incentive from the commandment, beguiled and entrapped and cheated me, and using it as a weapon killed me. The Law therefore is holy, and each commandment is holy and just and good."

God forbid, says Paul, that anyone should think the Law sinful in anyway. On the contrary it is perfectly holy. For, says Paul, "I would not have come to know sin except through Law. For I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said ‘thou shall not covet.’"

Now when Paul says "he would not have known sin without the Law" he evidently means that he was a sinner all along but until the law of God was applied to his heart by the Holy Spirit he did not know himself to be a sinner. When the Law was made real to him forbidding that which he was doing Paul realized that he was a very sinful person. The particular portion of Law which God used in Paul’s case was one of the ten commandments, "Thou shall not covet. " It could just as easily read, "Thou shalt not lust or entertain any evil desire." This is exactly the meaning of the commandment.

I needn’t prove to you that men are filled with every evil desire imaginable even from womb. However, until the Law comes in to set up its boundaries and parameters, till it puts up its no trespassing signs men do not know the sinfulness of these evil desires or at least the extent of the sinfulness of these desires. The Law taught Paul right and wrong as God sees it. "Thou shall not covet! Thou shall not have or entertain desires that God forbids! If you do have evil desires, that is, if you crave for and long for that which is forbidden by God’s law you have trespassed the law and you are a sinner. We can never forget what the Bible says about the sinner. "The soul that sins it shall die." The wages of sin, all sin, even, so called, little sins, is eternal death.

In verse eight Paul begins to paint a vivid picture of how God’s law effects a person who has been enlightened by the Holy Spirit so that he can see his sin with twenty-twenty vision. Paul recounts his experience and says that prior to hearing this commandment he knew of no problem in this area of his life. He did not believe himself to be a covetous person. But as soon as God made real to him the meaning of the commandment, that he should have no forbidden desire of any kind, sin in him began to live as it never had before. "I’ll have no one telling me what to do!", said the sin in Paul. In response to this commandment Paul was filled with evil coveting of every kind. In truth the law simply revealed the coveting that already filled his heart. Paul never imagined that he was as sinful as he now saw himself to be. He never imagined how many of kinds of coveting there were! Compared to the knowledge of himself he had before and what he knew now it was as if sin was dead but had now come to life. This is the meaning of the statement, "For apart from the Law sin is dead." Before Paul’s exposure to the law of God he felt good about himself. He was a self-righteous Pharisee. But after the Holy Spirit applied the law to his heart his ego was crushed. He could not boast about anything for all he could see was the corruption of his own heart and soul. God is the one to blame for crushing and destroying Paul’s pride and self esteem.

The world thinks this is a terrible thing indeed. In fact, there may be no greater crime than to make a person feel bad about themselves. This is one reason the Ten Commandments have been taken off the walls of America’s schools. Laws that forbid what we naturally want to do make us feel bad. They make us angry. Especially those laws that call us sinners and tell us that God will destroy us for our sin. We just can’t have that. We dare not hurt the little psyches of our children by telling them that there are eternal consequences that accompany fornication, adultery, dishonoring parents, idolatry, hatred and murder, stealing, lying and cheating, and coveting. This might make them feel bad about themselves and we mustn’t do that! The world says that the best thing for children and adults is that they maintain their pride, self esteem, a healthy ego. But I tell you that a person who goes to his grave with his pride, self esteem, and ego, intact is a person who will go to hell. For he has never seen his sin before God. This person has never repented of that sin. He has never trusted in Christ for salvation and will, therefore, never pass through the gates of heaven. But he will feel good on his way to hell and that, says the world, is the most important thing. The law is a bad thing in the eyes of the unbelieving world because it points out, emphasizes, and magnifies our inherent sinfulness.

Paul does not want us to adopt the world’s view of the law, that it is bad for us or evil. On the contrary the Law does a good and necessary, albeit painful, work in those God chooses to save. It serves to remove us from the land of the fairies. That place where no one deals with the truth, with the reality human sinfulness and guilt before the God who can and will damn the sinners soul. The law is used by God to irritate and inflame our sin nature by telling it no. When this happens sin crawls out of its dark hiding places to fight the law and in so doing reveals not only it’s presence but its power and ugliness. God uses the law to show us what we have never seen before. We are sinners who are sinful to the core or our being. Yes, sin has always been there but we’ve never really seen how ugly, black, filthy, and obscene it is until the law reveals it to us. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we have nothing to be proud of and we have no right or warrant to esteem ourselves highly. God’s law shows us this truth and that is a very good thing.

In this section of scripture Paul wants us to understand that the Law is not the source of sin neither is it sinful in itself. Rather, it is used by God to set us on fire with the sin that already lives in us and proceeds from us. It is used by God like a magnifying glass to make our sins appear as a many, and as large, and as evil as they really are. The law is used by God to kill us. Paul says is well in verse nine. {9} "And I was once alive (or thought I was) apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died."

In other words there was a day in Paul’s life when he thought he was right with God, he was alive. He speaks of his pre-salvation days when he was a Pharisee who, as far as he knew, kept the letter of a Law perfectly. In those days Paul believed himself to righteous in the eyes of God. He thought he stood head and shoulders above other man who did not know or obey the law. At that time Paul was really dead in his sin but he thought he was alive through his works. There are millions of people on this earth living day to day with the same ideas in theirs heads.

But then he says, "the commandment came." Prior to this Paul had the Law of God in the form of the scriptures Just like many people have a Bible in their house and portions of it in their heads but none of it in their hearts. He had recited the tenth commandment and had heard it read hundreds of time. But "it had not come to him." The words had not been opened up to him neither had they been applied to his heart. When God the Holy Spirit did reveal the true meaning of "thou shall not covet, thou shall have no evil desire," Paul was ruined. Everything he had thought to be true of himself was, in that moment, proven to be false. God used this one Law to expose the extent of the corruption that lived in his heart. God used this one Law to show him that far from being free he was a slave of his evil nature and of the devil himself. The Law spoke and Paul was driven to all manner of coveting. And he died. That is, he realized for the first time that he was dead in sin, a stranger to the covenants and promises, without God and without hope in this world. As the truth about himself rushed in upon him the Paul that used to be died. The man he thought he was virtually disappeared.

And this commandment which was to result in life, the commandment which Paul thought would bring life if obeyed, proved to result in death for him.

The word deceived, in verse eleven, means to lead astray, to seduce from the right way, and then to lead to sin. The same idea is found in the Thessalonians text where it is said, "the serpent deceived Eve through his subtlety." The meaning is that Paul’s corrupt nature, excited by the Law led him into even more sin than before. It urged him on into aggravated transgression. Paul was duped, deluded, deceived, much as the harlot is said to deceive the young and naive.

(Proverbs 7:7-27 NASB) And I saw among the naive, I discerned among the youths, A young man lacking sense, {8} Passing through the street near her corner; And he takes the way to her house, . . {10} And behold, a woman comes to meet him, Dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart. . . {18} "Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning; Let us delight ourselves with caresses. . . {21} With her many persuasions she entices him; With her flattering lips she seduces him. {22} Suddenly he follows her, As an ox goes to the slaughter, Or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool, {23} Until an arrow pierces through his liver; As a bird hastens to the snare, So he does not know that it will cost him his life. . . . {26} For many are the victims she has cast down, And numerous are all her slain. {27} Her house is the way to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death." This is a very good picture of how sin, our own corrupt hearts, and the devil himself, seek to lead us down the road to death. But the law of God exposes these deceivers for what they are. The misguided will and sinful desires of men will lead them to eternal death if God does not intervene with His law to expose sin for what it is and then with grace causing them to trust in Christ. It is a most painful but necessary process.

The scripture declares, "faithful are the wounds of a friend." In this case the friend strips us of all our supposed goodness so that we might not be self deceived. This friend is the law of God. By it sinners, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, realize they are dead in trespasses and sins. For the first time in their lives they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are not OK and neither is anyone else. Rather, they are separate from Christ, excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants and promises. They are without hope and without God in this world. WITHOUT THIS KNOWLEDGE NO MAN CAN BE SAVED. Therefore we must conclude with Paul that the law does a very good work indeed.

It is used to humble our pride. By the law we learn that in us there dwells no good thing. By the law God brings us to the end of ourselves so that we despair. The enlightened sinner declares, "All is lost, all is lost", and from the depths of his now enlightened spirit he cries out, "what must I do to be saved." This is the work of the Spirit whereby He convinces men of their sinfulness and guilt before God. Once this work is accomplished God then gives the gifts of repentance and faith toward Jesus Christ. This Jesus has fulfilled the Law on behalf of all who come to Him by faith. This Savior, imparts to the believing sinner the very righteousness of God by which he is accepted and saved from the wrath to come.

Therefore, the law is exclusively holy, good, and necessary. It is an instrument of God by which His elect people are struck down and striped of all elevated thoughts concerning themselves. Having brought us to despair the Law points us away from ourselves to Jesus. By grace through faith we trust Him finding everlasting life and peace with God. In Christ we discover that the way to find rest, joy, peace, and happiness, is not to think more highly of ourselves, rather, it is to have right and sane thoughts about God and His Christ who gave Himself for us. It is to look away from our sinful selves to Jesus who is perfect in our place who loved us and loves us still in spite of our infirmities. We must look away from every earthly hope to Christ who loves us with an everlasting love. To Him be the Glory! Amen