SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). Two Husbands (vs 1-6).
(2). Two Discoveries (vs 7-14)
(3). Two Principles (vs 15-25)
SERMON BODY
Ill:
• In 1965 the United Kingdom set up The Law Commission,
• Their job was to update the country’s legal system,
• And push for reforms where needed.
• Since its implementation, over two thousand outdated laws have been repealed,
• But not all of them!
• We still have some very old rules that are so ridiculous and so outdated,
• That they didn’t feel they needed to change those laws.
• Here’s four of them.
• Did you know:
• It's illegal to stand sockless within 100 yards of the King.
• Thanks to a law enacted by Edward VI, between 1547 and 1553,
• Did you know:
• It’s illegal to break a boiled egg at the sharp end!
• If caught you could be sentenced to 24 hours in the village stocks.
• Another of Edward VI unrevoked laws!
• Did you know:
• It is illegal to hail a black cab as it speeds towards you,
• With its yellow 'for hire' light on!
• According to the strict letter of the 1843 London Hackney Carriage Act,
• London cabbies are allowed to seek custom only when they're stationary.
• Did you know:
• It’s illegal to drop dead in the Houses of Parliament.
• According to the 1887 Coroners Act, which was 're-enacted' by the 1988 Coroners Act
TRANSITION: This morning we are thinking of the Law,
• Not silly UK laws,
• Not even British or international law.
• We are thinking about Old Testament law.
Note: Now that word, “Law” can sometimes cause confusion.
• In the New Testament the word, “Law” has at least three different meanings,
• And the context surrounding that word determines it’s meaning.
• e.g., It can refer to the whole Old Testament,
• (as in Romans chapter 3 verse 19)
• e.g., It can refer to part of the OT (“Law & the prophets”),
• (as in Matthew chapter 5 verse 17).
• e.g., It can specifically, refer to that part of the OT written by Moses,
• The first five books of the Bible, called the Torah (as in Luke chapter 24 verse 44),
• The Torah, the legal code of Judaism can be divided into three sections.
• The Moral Law, Ceremonial Law, Civil Law.
• I would suggest that is what the apostle Paul is referring to here,
• The Torah, the first five books of the Bible.
• But either interpretation does not change the meaning or application of these verses.
Ill:
Evangelist Fred Brown used three images to describe the purpose of the law.
• First, he likened it to a dentist’s little mirror,
• Which he sticks into the patient’s mouth.
• With the mirror he can detect any cavities.
• But he doesn’t drill with it or use it to pull teeth.
• It can show him the decayed area or other abnormality,
• But it can’t provide the solution.
• Second, The law is also like a flashlight. If suddenly at night the lights go out,
• You use it to guide you down the darkened basement stairs to the electrical box.
• If you had old wiring, when you point it toward the fuses,
• It helps you see the one that is burned out.
• But after you’ve removed the bad fuse,
• You don’t try to insert the flashlight in its place.
• You put in a new fuse to restore the electricity.
• In his third image, Brown likened the law to a plumbline.
• When a builder wants to check his work,
• He uses a weighted string to see if it’s true to the vertical.
• But if he finds that he has made a mistake, he doesn’t use the plumbline to correct it.
• He gets out his hammer and saw.
• The law points out the problem of sin; it doesn’t provide a solution.
• OK, Let’s look at the passage,
• Let me divide it up under three headings.
(1). Two Husbands (vs 1-6).
“Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Note:
• Let me clarify straight away I am not talking about same-sex marriage.
• And I am not talking about polygamy,
• The practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time.
• You all know my view, that marriage is between one man and one woman.
• This is merely using an illustration, an metaphor of two husbands,
• The two husbands are identified for us as “The Law” and “Jesus Christ.”
Ill:
• I believe in marriage; marriage is a wonderful institution.
• Quote/Joke: Groucho Marx
• “Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?”
Now in most cultures most people understand the principles behind marriage.
• If the husband is alive and the lady is married to her husband,
• If the husband dies, the lady is free to remarry.
• But if the hubby is not dead and the wife marries somebody else,
• Then she just committed adultery according to the Bible,
• And bigamy according to UK law (she could face a 7-year prison sentence).
• So, if you are married to one person, you can't go out and marry another person,
• It's a plain, straightforward analogy.
• The whole point of marriage is that it binds one person to another person.
• Now here's the point that the apostle Paul is making,
• Just as death concludes, an end to a marriage,
• Likewise, death ends a person's responsibility to the Law.
Ill:
• Let's say somebody leaves this Church this morning,
• And zooms off down the motorway,
• They are in a hurry and are doing 100 miles an hour,
• They look in their rearview mirror they spot a blue flashing light,
• That person is pulled over by the police and given a fixed penalty notice (speeding ticket).
• Normally for an illustration like this I might pick on someone I know,
• But I won’t because my illustration goes from bad to worse!
• Before the speeder can pay the fixed penalty notice (speeding ticket).- they die!
• The day comes for that person’s funeral service.
• The Church is full of that person’s family & friends.
• We break with tradition in this Church, and we have an open coffin.
• The service is going well until somebody representing the court walks in,
• Comes up to the open coffin and says,
• “Just in time, he hasn’t paid his ticket. He still owes this ticket,”
• And he says to the corpse, “Pay it!”
• As family and friends, we would be fuming!
• “What do you mean by coming here today? He's dead”.
• The law no longer has any rights upon him!
• TRANSITION: And that is exactly the point the apostle Paul is making!
• Death ends moral responsibility to law.
• Every legal system recognizes that!
• So too in a marriage, if the husband dies, the wife is free to remarry.
• The wife is free from the law because death ends responsibility.
• Now every Christian died in Christ.
• That's the apostle Paul's point.
• And as we saw last week in chapter 6,
• We identify with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection.
• Now if you are a Christian (i.e. been converted), something happened,
• Your conversion, you died to the old life,
• And that means your relationship to the law is over.
• That's the idea that Paul is making here.
• Your identification with Christ means husband number 1 – the Law is over,
• You now are married to another husband – number 2 – you belong to Christ!
(2). Two Discoveries (vs 7-14)
“7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b] 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.”
• The two discoveries are:
• One: The law is good. Two: People are corrupt (sinful).
Question: Now did you notice the shift in these verses?
Answer:
• It is easy to spot, because the apostle Paul goes from the third person in his writing,
• And the second person, to the first person.
• Notice he is talking about, “I, me, my, myself.”
• Make a note of those personal pronouns in this section,
• We are getting Paul's autobiographical sketch of his struggle with his old nature.
• We see this in verse 7 through the end of the chapter,
• The struggle that all Christians experience.
Ill:
• A number of years ago the Times Newspaper,
• Sent out a questionnaire to some famous authors,
• The asked them one short simple question, “What’s wrong with the world?”
• The British writer and Christian apologist G. K. Chesterton responded:
• “Dear Sir, I am. Yours, G. K. Chesterton.”
• TRANSITION: now hold that thought!
• Because that is what the apostle Paul is saying in these verses.
• He is simply saying, “I am the problem.”
To a Jew who lives his whole life based on the Torah, the Law of God.
• The apostle Paul’s words are controversial, they are radical,
• If you say as he does in verse 4, we are “dead to the Law.”
• And that Christians have been, “released from the law” (vs 6).
• That brings up a number of questions.
• So, the apostle Paul anticipates that reaction from his readers,
• And he is one step ahead and in verse 7, responds to what they might be thinking.
“What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
• The apostle Paul is not trashing the law, he is being critical of the law,
• He is not even saying that the law is not important.
• What he is saying is,
• The problem is not with the law, the problem is with me.
• e.g., The law is a mirror that reveals the inner man and shows us how dirty we are.
Note:
• There are ten main commandments,
• Did you notice which one of the ten the apostle Paul quoted.
• He quotes, number 10, the last one, “You shall not covet.”
• (Exodus chapter 20 verse 17; Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 21)
• The last commandment differs from the other nine,
• Because it is an inward attitude, not an outward action.
• e.g., murder, stealing, or adultery.
• This commandment deals with not just what have I done, but what have I wanted.
• And the commandment lists seven things a person shouldn't covet.
• "You shall not covet your neighbour's house.”
• Do you ever see a house and think, wow, I wish I had that house.
• "You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife,
• Do you ever see someone else’s partner and think, wow, I wish I was…
• "Nor…covet anything that is your neighbour’s."
• I think we get the point!
• That's the 10th commandment,
• And breaking the 10th commandment leads to breaking other commandments,
• Because once you start wanting something that bad,
• It opens the door to additional behaviour.
• Covetousness leads to the breaking of the other commandments.
• It is an insidious sin that most people never recognize in their own lives,
• But God’s law reveals it.
Now that is very, very scary!
• That means we can break God's law as soon as we open my eyes in the morning,
• We can break his law even before our feet have hit the floor,
• Even before we left the house to face a world full of temptation!
The law shows us our faults, but it is unable to correct those faults.
• And in verse 10 the apostle Paul makes an insightful statement,
• He says, "the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death."
• There's nothing wrong with a commandment.
• It's holy because it comes from a holy God.
• The problem is me, human beings are not holy,
• Each commandment reminds us of our fallen condition!
Ill:
• The law is like this microphone that I am using,
• The mic amplifies my voice so that you can all clearly hear me speak.
• Likewise, the law amplifies the sin that is in me.
• And in verse 14 he says it so clear,
• “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,”
Quote: C. S. Lewis ended one of his essays saying this:
"These, then, are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about us and the universe we live in."
• TRANSITION:
• “All humans know we need laws is spiritual; but for others not us,”
• “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,”
(3). Two Principles (vs 15-25).
“15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.”
Ill:
• Remember that winning a war is often determined by a decisive battle,
• One that shifts the advantage.
• With that decisive battle won,
• Winning the war becomes just a matter of time.
• For example, World War II ended on 8th May 1945.
• That day was “VE-Day”, the day of victory and celebration.
• That victory came about.
• Because of the decisive change that came about on 6th June 1944.
• That was when the Allies landed at Normandy.
• That day was known as “D-Day”.
• It was the decisive battle that began the change that finally led to victory.
• TRANSITION: Satan has had his ‘D-Day’.
• On the cross he lost the battle; he lost his hold over humanity.
• By the death of Jesus Christ, Satan has now been defeated, he has had his ‘D-day.’
• And soon – we don’t know when – but soon.
• Satan will face a ‘VE Day’.
• On that occasion God will put an end to all wickedness!
• God, will He eliminate Satan's influence forever.
• You can read about it in the book of Revelation.
• And a t the moment with is at that in-between stage.
• We are still battling, we are still struggling, we are still fighting,
• But one day, hat battle, that fight, that struggle will be over forever!
Note:
• In verse 24 the apostle Paul asks a question.
• “Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”
• Now aren't you glad the chapter doesn't end with that question?
• Aren’t you glad the chapter finishes with verse 25 and not verse 24?
• The answer is triumphant,
• "I thank God" it is God not self that will deliver him and us!
• And then he tells us who will deliver him - "Jesus Christ our Lord!
This last verse is such a contrast to what has gone on before in this chapter:
• The apostle Paul paints an amazing picture of a man.
• Who is groaning under the weight of trying to keep the law,
• Which of course is an impossible thing to do!
• Therefore, he is under the burden of sin and the sentence of death.
• The whole chapter should be defeat, defeat, defeat!
• But verse 25 starts with a contrast; “But…”
• He goes on to tell us that victory is possible,
• But victory is only found in Jesus Christ.
• “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord,”
• The apostle knew that without Christ he could do nothing!
• But with Christ who gives us strength, he and we can live in victory!
Ill:
• A Church leader started to speak to a man who had recently come to faith in Christ.
• The leader asked him, “How are you finding the Christian life?”
• To the leaders surprise the man said, “It’s terrible”.
• Well, the leader was shocked, He expected him to be full of the joy of the Lord,
• So, he asked him what the problem was.
• The new Christian said, “It is like I have rope tied around each arm,
• At the end of both ropes there are two horses,
• One is pulling me in one direction towards sin,
• And the other is pulling me in the opposite direction towards holiness,
• I am in the middle being pulled this way and that way and it hurts!”
• The Church leader asked the new Christian; “Which horse is winning?”
• The new Christian said, “The horse to which I say, ‘giddy-up’ too!”
• TRANSITION: That new Christian realised he had a choice,
• Before he was saved, he battled in his own strength against sin and temptation.
• But now he had a choice!
• When a Christian finally realises.
• “Without Christ I can do nothing but in Christ I can do all things.”
• Then and only then, will they discover the secret that it is GOD who gives victory.
• We cannot be justified in our own strength,
• And we cannot be sanctified in our own strength.
• We are not able to save ourselves FROM sin (justification),
• And we are not able to live the Christian live in our own strength (sanctification).
• It is ALL through Christ and Him ALONE.
• The struggle of Roman chapter 7 is the experience of most Christians,
• We trust Christ to save us, we are saved by grace through faith.
• But then we make the mistake.
• Of trying to live their Christian life in our own strength!
• But the apostle Paul reminds us here that in our own strength we cannot!
• It is who empowers and strengthens me as I daily seek to put him first in my life.
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=ZC4eg8o9zlGRgixTVpKu4ZbZynaLqlGS
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/xGuHZkX6FMI
