1. Reading through this section of Romans, we might easily forget that Paul is pointing us to the wonderful grace of God.
• One of the reasons is that many put the discussion in an EITHER/OR situation.
• IT’S EITHER all grace and NO LAW.
• OR ALL LAW and NO GRACE.
• But Paul has taught us it’s BOTH.
• The Law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just & good!
Deuteronomy 4:8 (NKJV) 8 And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?
Psalm 119:172 (NKJV) 172 My tongue shall speak of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness.
WAIT A MINUTE PASTOR ED, are you saying that we must keep the law in order to be saved?
• NO WAY! & Neither is Paul.
• The LAW is established by our faith for the purpose for which it was created & given:
• LAW IS God’s STANDARD showing US OUR NEED FOR A SAVIOR!
• Let’s look again at vv7-12 and see at least 4 things God does when He uses the tool of the Law in our lives:
#1 – (v7) THE LAW DEFINES FOR US WHAT SIN IS.
• Paul says he wouldn’t even had known sin except for the Law.
• Because God uses the Law to show us what sin is.
• God has declared for all of mankind, all of eternity what sin is.
• Flip back to Joshua 8:30-35
NOTE: After the children of Israel had entered into the Promised Land, just after the defeat of the city Ai, Joshua decides to bring them back to Gods’ Word. ((READ THROUGH – Key is v34))
• Flip back to Deuteronomy 27.14ff – Jump to 28:1ff
NOTE: It was clear for the children of Israel that obedience brought blessings and disobedience brought consequences.
• That’s what God’s Law does, it defines for us what sin is.
• Sin is the #1 cause of death, pain, suffering, and sorrow.
• It creeps into houses, into cubicles, through the lives of those who choose it.
BUT WHO DEFINES SIN? God does.
• Society can’t define sin because the norms & morals of societies across the globe are unholy!
• Politicians cave into public pressure and high paid lobbyists.
• People clamor for looseness to approve of their own bad behaviors. We are living in a day much like that of the Judges.
Judges 17:6 (NKJV) 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
NOTE: That’s why when movies that uplift and glorify sinful sexual behaviors come out and make millions and win awards.
• Some of the population says, “Oh, that’s good, that’s great.”
• And another person says, “Oh, not that’s not good.”
• We need a Book that tells us what is good & what is right!
THAT’S WHY I’M SO THANKFUL FOR the Word of God!
• It reveals what sin is and helps us to avoid it altogether!
• It shows me what sexual sins are, what societal sins are, what personal sins are, what public sins are, private sins are.
• Look back to 1:28-32
WOW, it’s not only those that do them, but also those that approve of those that do them! Sin is far reaching, even into the depths of our hearts and motives!
• How do we know? God has shown us in His Word.
Micah 6:8 (NKJV) 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
• Flip over to Matthew 5:1ff… Jesus takes the Law and points it like a laser to our hearts!
ONE MORE THING… did you know that the Bible becomes very, very offensive if you’re living in, or clinging to sin?
• There is a tendency to avoid God’s loving Word to us if/when we find that our lives disagree with His heart for us.
• Listen, don’t be hardhearted & offended.
• Receive God’s Word to you today softly, and repent.
Acts 3:19-20 (NKJV) 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
SO THE LAW DEFINES FOR US WHAT SIN IS
#2 – THE LAW REVEALS THAT WE ARE SINNERS!
• Are you serious? I’m a sinner? That’s what the Law says.
• This is so contrary to what man likes to do with sin.
• Man likes to hide his sin, excuse his sin, explain his sin away.
• There are new labels for sin now, no longer calling sin what biblically it is. – Yet that doesn’t change it’s damage…
Paul says at the end of v7, I found out how coveting I really was because the Law revealed it to me!
• So the Law shows us what sin is and then it shows us the sins that are in our own lives!
• It’s not just sin out there, or sin in him or her, but it’s now sin in me! I’m a sinner separated from God the unbeliever learns!
COVETOUS… wow, I’m glad that’s not my sin… some thing.
• DICTIONARY defines covetousness as: to wish for earnestly OR to desire what belongs to another.
• It’s not something that’s readily seen by others, but it’s something God reveals to us day after day after day.
• Covetousness is the enemy of contentment.
• An attitude fed by Madison Ave Advertising executives every day.
But coveting covers not just the desire for more things, it can also relate to relationships.
• This is the essence of fictional romance novels and soap operas.
• Oh how I wish I had this man, that woman.
• For singles it’s I wish I had that life.
• At work it’s I wish I had that job, that lifestyle… etc.
Exodus 20:17 (NKJV) 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
What would life be without coveting? CONTENTMENT!
• Flip back to 1 Timothy 6:3-6
NOTE: You want gain? You want growth?
• It’s Godliness first then comes contentment.
• Be content with what you have today and all of a sudden you realize that you need a lot of the things you already have!
It’s THAT ATTITUDE of, “Father, whatever you send my way is fine with me because I trust in you.”
• Just enjoy the blessings and provision of God.
Psalm 84:11 (NKJV) 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.
As we are walking uprightly with the Lord, then He will withhold nothing good from you or me.
• Hey… wait a minute Pastor Ed. I don’t have that nice RED SUV!
• Well, then right now it’s not good for you. Yes it is!!!
• It’s IN THAT struggle where the discontentment lies guys!
THE CONTENTED LIFE SAYS… Lord, whatever you want for me!
• I understand that you will withhold no good thing as I walk and trust in you so I will continue to live with my eyes on you!
#1 – (v7) THE LAW DEFINES FOR US WHAT SIN IS.
#2 – (v7) THE LAW REVEALS THAT WE ARE SINNERS!
#3 – (v8-11) THE LAW SHOWS US HOW DECEITFUL SIN IS!
• This is amazing. The very thing that Paul thought was giving him life actually brought about death in him.
• The Law brought out and produces so many sinful desires.
• I thought I was living but in reality I was dying. That’s deceit!
Galatians 6:7 (NKJV) 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
• SIN is so deceitful. IT promises life, but delivers death!
BEFORE THE LAW, before anyone came over to my house, called me on the phone, and opened the Bible to me…
• I was free from an accusing conscience.
• I lived & you lived in a false sense of peace because we were truly ignorant of God’s righteous requirements.
• But now that I know the truth, it provides for me the truth about myself, about God, and about forgiveness!
YET the Law can only reveal it cannot regenerate!
• It had the power to REVEAL sin but no power to REMOVE sin.
• Event the sacrifices of Old Testament were but shadows of the coming One who would remove sin far from us taking upon Himself the penalty for our sins… PAST – PRESENT – FUTURE!
#1 – (v7) THE LAW DEFINES FOR US WHAT SIN IS.
#2 – (v7) THE LAW REVEALS THAT WE ARE SINNERS!
#3 – (v8-11) THE LAW SHOWS US HOW DECEITFUL SIN IS!
#4 – THE LAW POINTS US TO THE SAVIOR Jesus Christ!
• Let’s flip over to Galatians 3.15-22
Galatians 3:19 (NLT) Well then, why was the law given? It was given to show people how guilty they are. But this system of law was to last only until the coming of the child to whom God’s promise was made. And there is this further difference. God gave his laws to angels to give to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.
a. (23-24) Law served a purpose. It kept us and schooled us.
NOTE: In Greek & Roman homes, a child was given over to the full authority of a tutor, or a teacher until he/she grew up.
This tutor was a slave employed by Greek or Roman families whose duty was to supervise young boys on behalf of their parents. They took their young charges to and from school, made sure they studied their lessons, and trained them in obedience. They were strict disciplinarians, scolding and whipping when needed.
The role of the tutor was never permanent and it was a great day of deliverance when the boy finally gained their adult freedoms.
• There came a time though when the child grew up & the tutor was no longer needed.
• That’s what the Law does… I’ve shown you your need, now you have to go to the cross.
• That’s all the Law can do… show me my need for Jesus so that I might be justified by faith!
• (25) But after faith has come… no more need for the tutor.
• THE LAW doesn’t save… ONLY Faith in Jesus does.
FINALLY – 7:12
12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
WHY? Because…
#1 – (v7) THE LAW DEFINES FOR US WHAT SIN IS.
#2 – (v7) THE LAW REVEALS THAT WE ARE SINNERS!
#3 – (v8-11) THE LAW SHOWS US HOW DECEITFUL SIN IS!
#4 – THE LAW POINTS US TO THE SAVIOR Jesus Christ!
The Law brought about in me a death. I can’t do what God asks me to do with out a change of heart!
• Now that you know you need Me, God says, watch me bless you and give you more than you ever imagined!
• Paul found, as a sinner, that his best efforts to win salvation, to earn salvation, were empty.
• He was confronted with a Law that was just, holy & good and it revealed in him, as it does in us a desire to throw ourselves into the arms of Jesus and live by the power of His Spirit.
Galatians 2:20 (NKJV) 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
