P104_021825 Rom. 7:1-4 Living By A Set Of Rules That Haunts You?

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

So now we come to chapter 7 of Romans, where Paul is talking about freedom from law, dead to the law. Now, you may think, well, this doesn’t sound very relevant to me, but let me tell you this. If you live by a set of rules, and those rules mean life and death to you, you’re talking about law. You’re under law. There are a lot of Christians who have great concern, naturally, about their life and their morality and the way they live and the way they conduct themselves in the kingdom of God, and they worry because they feel that they’re not coming up to the bar, they’re not meeting the standard that they’re supposed to, and they get concerned, and they are trying to follow a set of rules in order to to be Christians and to be good examples and so on. And if that doesn’t succeed, if they don’t succeed in their lives with those rules, then they feel condemned. They feel that God is disappointed with them. They feel they might be lost. They feel they might never have been converted. And so those rules become a life and death issue. And there are some people who take, who go to such extremes or arrive at such extremes that we call it compulsive OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. And they repeat the rule and keep doing it again and again to make it better next time. And then it’s never good enough. And so they do it again and again. And what they’re finding is that they are preoccupied almost all the day with these rules. They can’t reveal them to other people, so they do them secretly, and yet they never feel right. Now, if you’re not at that extreme, and most likely, of course, you’re not, think possibly of the depression you might feel. Where does your depression come from? It possibly comes from guilt. It comes from a feeling that you’re not satisfactory or you’re not adequate for God, that you haven’t done well enough, and that you feel that he’s not pleased with you, or you’re not pleased with yourself. You feel these endless accusations of the mind, you’re not good enough, you don’t measure up, and those accusations after a while get so tiring that the mind closes down and you move into a state of depression. Now, of course, many people don’t want to experience that depression, so they take antidepressants. But one might also consider looking at the way we think, the way we talk to ourselves, because the way we talk to ourselves may well be the law on the inside. When we talk about freedom from law, then, there’s a lot of relevance, because the law is not only written on two tables of stone, the Ten Commandments, it’s also in the heart. Paul talks about that, you remember, in Romans chapter 2. Let me just refer you to that. It says there, For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law by nature, do the things in the law, these… although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. Now there you have it, that the law is more than simply something written on two tables of stone. It’s in the heart as well. The trouble is the law is always telling us that we’re wrong, that we’re sinners, that we haven’t done things right. And that means that we never have peace. We never have joy in God. We’re always trying to please him with a new set of rules or a new habit that will possibly get rid of our old habits, and on we go. And so, you see, when Paul says, Or do you not know, brethren, that I speak to those who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives, that’s a very relevant thing, a relevant statement. You just have to learn how to interpret words in the Scripture. Why is he making the point that the law has dominion over us, rules over us, dominates us, that is the guilt and the shame and the fear, as long as we live? Why is he saying that? Because he’s about to make the point, and has already made it actually in another format in chapter 6, He’s about to say that we’re not alive, that we died in Christ. That is, that we were judged. But let’s not go there right now. Let’s look at the next verse. 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. Now he’s introducing the marriage imagery here. Why is he doing that? Well, he’s explaining that the law of marriage is not eternal, as a certain denomination suggests it is in this world, it’s not eternal. The law of marriage applies to a couple as long as they are still alive. But if one of the partners dies, then the other partner is free to marry again. which tells you that the law applies only as long as the two live. The partner that remains alive doesn’t have to say, oh, I can’t get married again because I married the first time. Yes, but she’s dead. Yes, but I know that that marriage arrangement lasts as long as I live too. No, it doesn’t. It lasts as long as both partners live. But when one of the partners dies, that law is ended. Now, what’s the point he’s making? So then, he says in verse 3, if when her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. So, this imagery is really interesting, but what’s the point? What does it apply to? Well, it applies to you and to me. Look at verse 4. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law. So then, Paul is making the comparison and saying that we were married at one time to the law. But one of us died. And who was it? Well, it’s difficult to carry the imagery through now because he mixes the two up, but that’s okay. What this is saying is that the law died. But really, you died. You died to the law. But how did you die? Did you die by a greatly disciplined life so that you overcame every sin and every thought, sinful thought, so that the law didn’t condemn you anymore because you had no sin to be condemned over? Is that what it’s saying? No. That’s what a perfectionist believes. That’s what a legalist believes, that he has to overcome all sin so that the law doesn’t condemn him anymore. No, what Paul is saying is that we died in the judgment that Christ took on the cross. That is, Christ took our judgment by his crucifixion on our behalf as a substitute for us so that you and I are no longer counted as condemned and judged by the law. Now that’s the truth of what God has done for you and me and for the whole world, then by faith we believe it. And the faith that God gives us is not something we stir up in our minds or cook up by discipline. It is a gift from God. And so you and I say, Father, thank you that Jesus sacrificed himself as a judgment for me so that I’m not condemned by the law anymore. But thank you also that you give me faith to believe that. And I do believe it, dear God. And Father, I will not accept the judgment of the law anymore. Now, when you first say that, let me tell you, you will be scared because if you’re so used to responding to fear by fear to the guilt of your mind, then once you refuse that guilt, you will be afraid all the more. And you will say, oh, I’m committing sacrilege. This is sinful for me to think this way. Some people who are legalists and live by guilt, the only way that they control themselves, they don’t really control themselves, but they think they do, is by guilt. then once they refuse guilt, they’re dead sure that they’re sinning against the Holy Spirit. They’re refusing guilt. And they say, yes, but it’s the Holy Spirit that’s convicting me of guilt and sin. Ah, be careful. Because very, very often, Satan will pose as the Holy Spirit, and it is his goal to torment you with the law so that you will feel so bad and so consistently bad that you won’t be able to stand it anymore, and you will walk away from Christ and walk away from the Christian fellowship or the church because it’s just too oppressive. Now, some of you listening to this radio program may recognize exactly that that’s been happening to you, and perhaps the lights are turning on all over right now. So let them. That’s good. Because you’ve been trying, perhaps, to conform to a set of rules, which are your interpretation of the Ten Commandments and the law, and yet the more you try to conform to that set of rules, the more condemned and guilty you feel. and you think that guilt and fear, that guilt comes from the Holy Spirit, and he’s wrapping your knuckles, and he’s poking you and saying you’re not good enough yet, what’s wrong with you? And you’ve come to interpret the Holy Spirit as a tyrant and a nagger that endlessly torments you with accusation, not realizing that you are listening to the voice of the devil rather than the voice of the Holy Spirit. and you just can’t stand it, and you walk away. Now, don’t get afraid by what I’ve been saying, because you are freed from the law. Paul is going to make that clear. Let me read the verse to you. Wait a minute, got the wrong place here. Here we go. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ. Now, what a wonderful statement that is. It gives you authority. You see, you want that authority to refuse condemnation. You’re afraid to take on the authority merely of your conscience because you think, well, my conscience may be sick, it may be distorted, it may be screwed up. Yes, but this is the authority of the Word of God. And it says you are dead to the law. That is, not that you don’t feel the condemnation anymore, but you are dead to its judgment, its power to condemn you. And you are able to say, Father in heaven, I thank you that I do not feel that I do not have to be condemned by the law anymore. Now, remember this. Dead to the law through the body of Christ. Do you see it? It is Christ’s body on the cross, his death for you, that enables you to liberate your conscience. Now, this will not take an instant. It will take a thousand or a million instances. But it’s okay. Just listen. Joyfully affirm, Father in heaven, I thank you that I do not have to feel guilty anymore over this obsession. I thank you that I’m not condemned. And as you keep thanking him, things begin to calm down. Thanks, I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.