We're turning to Romans again this evening, and
we're at chapter 7 tonight.
This great, mighty, wonderful letter of Paul to
the Romans, and we're at chapter 7 this
evening, and we're going through the first 13
verses tonight, very carefully, because this is one
of the great chapters in Romans.
Now, I think that I must put you
over what's gone before very quickly, of course,
because I want the young believers here to
get a grip of this great letter, and
I believe if you get a grip of
it, and it gets a grip of you,
that your life will never be the same
again.
I think you remember this, that in chapters
1 and 2, and the first 20 verses
of chapter 3, we see that Paul pulls
out all the stops to bring the whole
world any guilty before God.
If ever you want to prove that all
have sinned and come forth of the glory
of God, then you immediately turn to these
early chapters of Romans.
In the first chapter, you can see the
depth of the cesspool of sin and iniquity
that man really sank into.
Don't you remember how he proved that even
self-righteousness is a filthy rag in the
eyes of a holy God?
When he dealt with the religious Jew, who
was only a Jew outwardly, and when he
got the Gentiles and the self-righteous man
and the religious Jew, then he brings in
the law, and whatsoever the law says stops
every mouth, and the whole world becomes guilty
before God.
So we've just dribbled over those chapters, the
condemnation of sinners.
You've got that in your mind.
And then starting at verse 21 in the
third chapter, going right through that chapter, and
all chapter four and all chapter five, he
brings in the great subject, justification by faith
alone.
This is the Protestant doctrine, that even men
who had got into the depths of the
cesspool of iniquity, the grace of God had
provided a salvation that brought them in justified
before a holy God through faith alone in
Jesus Christ.
And do you remember how he came to
the conclusion in that chapter four?
He concluded that we are justified by faith
without the deeds of the law.
It's justification by faith alone.
And so you write over the first three
the condemnation of sinners, and you write over
the next three the justification of believers.
Then starting at chapter six, going right through
six, right through seven, right through eight, we're
looking these nights at the sanctification of faith.
You see, when God calls men out of
darkness, out of the first three chapters, or
two and a half if you like, and
he brings them into this wonderful standing of
justification, do you know he wants them to
live for himself then?
Because the grace that saves us is the
grace that teaches us that benign on godliness
and worldly love we should live soberly and
righteously and godly in this present world.
And so that's what we're not listening to
this evening and these evenings.
We're looking at this practical sanctification for justified
believers.
And in chapter six and right through seven
and then into eight, we're finding great ways
that lead us into godly living.
That's what I've entitled these chapters, God's Gateways
to Godly Living.
Can I go through the gateways again we've
passed by?
Do you remember Romans six and we went
from one to ten?
And that is what we called the first
gateway.
It was identification with Christ.
You see, true believers, they look back to
the cross.
And they really believe that when Jesus died,
they died.
They really believe that when he was buried,
they were buried.
And that when he rose again, they rose
again.
That's what we Baptists profess in Believer's Baptism.
My, when we're baptized, we go into death,
is it, where?
And then we're buried, and then we come
out again.
And we testify that when Christ went in,
we went in with him.
When he was buried, we were buried with
him.
When he rose again, we rose with him.
And sprinkling dust doesn't do that.
It takes immersion to bring out those great
truths.
And so in our Believer's Baptism, we profess
to the world that we were identified with
Christ.
But when we come down to chapter 6,
a little bit, to verse 11, we find
this verse, Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead, and ye unto death.
You know, we don't only look back and
believe that when Jesus died, we died.
But here's the great truth for you young
believers.
We've got to die daily.
That's what Paul talked about, dying daily.
He didn't talk about going into a wee
bathroom and closing his eyes and getting up.
He just talked about dying daily.
This is what we thought, calculation.
My, we're tainted by something.
And we look back and we remember that
we died for a thing in Christ.
And now we've got to actually turn our
back upon it.
We die daily.
We calculate ourselves dead.
And then when we went to the 13th
verse in chapter 6, we found that we
were to yield ourselves unto God.
And that was presentation, wasn't it?
So that you get the gateway of identification
with Christ, and then calculation in Christ, and
then presentation to Christ.
And then last week when the fog was
on and so many of you were hindered,
and we were very sorry about that, we
went right through from verse 15 to the
end of the chapter.
And in verses 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
and then verse 22, yes, seven verses, we
found the word servants eight times.
So that we came to the conclusion that
servants, this was the subject of last week's
exposition.
And we call this vocation for Christ.
You see, this is how it works with
the young believer.
He's been tempted.
He remembers that he died for this thing
when Christ died.
Now he's got to actually do it.
He reckons himself dead for this thing.
I can't go in there.
I can't touch it.
He turns away.
He presents his members to God.
And when he gives this presentation, he becomes
a servant of the living God.
That's vocation.
That's what you call practical godly living.
That's what we need in these days.
We need to be taught how to live
for God.
And that's what the great apostle is teaching
in these chapters.
So we went through chapter 6, and we've
come to chapter 7 this evening, and we're
going through the first 13 verses, and the
gateway you shall find is unification with Christ
this evening.
But we'll take our time about the exposition.
Now we're at chapter 7, and we're beginning
at verse 1, and you'll notice that Paul
is asking a question.
Paul's a great teacher, and good teachers ask
questions, and they answer them.
And so this is Paul's interrogation.
He says, No, ye not brethren, and I
want to underline the word brethren just for
a moment there.
I want you to get your mind fixed
that he's really talking to saints, and not
sinners.
For far too many dragged sinners into this
7th chapter, and I will have you to
understand that he's talking to brethren.
That's why he put it in there, so
that we wouldn't get muddled in the thing.
Do you know, it's really wonderful how Paul
talks to his brethren again and again.
See verse 4, he says, Wherefore my brethren,
he's telling society, so that you'll not get
muddled.
He's keeping this before.
When he gets along a little bit, he
talks about my beloved brethren.
Do you know, I think we should always
keep this in our minds.
We should keep it in our minds when
dealing with one another too.
You know, when Paul wrote the letter to
the Corinthians, you remember that in the 3rd
chapter, he said to the Corinthians, I could
not speak unto you as unto spiritual.
You're not spiritual people at all.
You're yet calm.
You walk as men.
There are strife and divisions among us.
And yet in the 15th chapter he said,
My beloved brethren, these steadfast, unmovable, so on.
And we should never forget that even though
men are not really pulling the line, as
we call it, and maybe they don't see
eye to eye with us, if they're born
again washed in the blood of the Lamb,
never forget that they're our brethren.
And we must never forget it.
Paul loved all the saints.
And there were no cloud on earth who
said so much about Paul behind the back
of the Corinthians.
And yet he called them my beloved brethren.
So let's settle it that he's talking to
faith.
And he says, No, ye not.
You see, he's teaching the saints something, or
at least he's trying to.
Know ye not, brethren, for I speak for
them that know the law.
Now, we must settle what law this is
he's talking about.
And that's very easily settled from the verses
that come afterward.
It's the civil law.
It's not the moral law, they claim commandments.
And it's not the ceremonial law of the
Jews, of the types and shadows.
No, no.
You see, he's actually writing for faith and
law.
So it wouldn't be the moral law.
And it's certainly not the ceremonial law.
No, it's just the civil law.
That's the law of the Lamb.
And he says, I'm writing to boys who
really know it.
And the boys at home really knew the
law, all right.
No trouble about that.
So let's get that settled.
I approve that, of course, as we go
on reading.
He says, No, ye not, brethren, for I
speak for them that know the law.
How doth the law have dominion over a
man?
What's the word dominion?
Because you'll have to face it once it's
right in the texture.
He says, You know, the civil law hath
dominion over a man as long as he
liveth.
Because you know that, don't you?
They put up now in the town that
you're to go to at thirty miles an
hour.
I know you don't all keep it.
I know that.
I see the policeman at the back smiling.
I'm sure he's perfectly aware that the pastor
is the worst offender.
But nevertheless, it's the law.
It's the civil law.
It's the law of the land.
And it hath dominion over us as long
as we live.
As long as it's kept, it hath dominion
over us.
So he's just talking to his brethren who
know the law, and he's pointing this out,
that the law hath dominion over a man
as long as he liveth.
And now he comes to use an illustration.
For the woman which hath a husband is
bound by the law to her husband so
long as he liveth.
And you'll notice the words, is bound by
the law to her husband so long as
he liveth.
That's a big saying, isn't it?
Mind you, you want to get that into
your mind when you're getting married, that you're
going to be bound to this old cellar
you're taking, and you're going to be bound
to it as long as he lives and
you live.
And there's no joke about it, because I
think it's something that all the young ones
need to say.
It's a very salient matter in life, but
you're going to be bound by law.
You're going to be bound to this man
long as he liveth.
Now, watch this, because there's a tremendous point
here.
We'll have an illustration in verse 2.
For the woman which hath a husband is
bound by the law to her husband so
long as he liveth.
But if the husband be dead, she is
loosed from the law for her husband.
So that you can see the binding in
the one case, and you can see the
loosing in the other case.
And then it goes on with the illustration,
So then if, while her husband liveth, she
be married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress.
But if her husband be dead, she is
free from that law.
So that she is no adulteress, though she
be married to another man.
Now, you will notice this, that when Paul's
talking of a woman getting loosed, and it
works on the other side just the same,
he says that the only thing that can
loose a person who's married is death.
And he never even brings about divorce to
her.
He just says the only thing that's going
to do away with this law as far
as you're concerned is death.
And he never contemplates divorce, not in these
verses.
Now, for a moment.
You see, I know that our civil laws
might bind you when you're married.
And I know that they've got a lot
of things that they'll let you free on.
But Paul's not thinking up this point about
what the civil law will do for married
people.
The moment he takes up the illustration, he's
only using it to show that the civil
law binds you.
And then he immediately takes up God's point
of view.
You can't be loosed.
And you can't, you know.
There's no such thing as getting out of
it.
Oh, I know that the land will let
you out, but God doesn't.
Would you like me to go further with
that?
All right.
Matthew, we're at Matthew 19.
I think it's worthwhile taking a moment with
this this evening.
It's come up in the chapter, and we
might as well trash it out for the
moment or two.
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 19, and we're at verse
3.
The Pharisees also came unto him, the Lord
Jesus, tempting him, saying unto him, Is it
lawful for a man to put away his
wife for every cause?
The Lord Jesus answered and said unto them,
Have ye not read?
Are you young fellows, just put up your
ears and listen to the way the Lord
Jesus answers things.
Now, the moment that the Lord Jesus was
faced with answering about doctrine, of it whose,
he always went to the word of God,
never used his logic, as it were.
And mind you, all the pleasures of wisdom
belonged to him.
He always went to the old book.
You remember when the devil came to him,
he immediately answered the devil, It is written.
And the next time he came, It is
written.
And then the next time, It is written.
He always goes to the word of God.
So when anybody bothers you, just start thinking
about what God's word says, would you?
And it will help you out.
If you can handle the cause properly, I'll
tell you this, you can defeat the devil.
So you don't need to be worried about
anybody else.
If it's good enough to defeat the devil,
you don't need to get worried about humans.
So if you know the book and you
are through, then you can use the thought.
Now watch what he said, verse 4.
The unwritten said unto them, Have ye not
read, that he which made them at the
beginning, made them male and female?
I didn't believe in evolution, did I?
No, he really believed that God made them.
He didn't think that they came out of
some porcelain that was in the bottom of
an old muddy pool.
No, the Lord Jesus said this and it's
good enough for me.
That he that made them at the beginning,
made them male and female.
And that's exactly what I believe.
You can think you know better than the
Lord Jesus if you like, but you're a
poor fool if you do.
I believe that Christ, with God's Son and
all the treasures of wisdom belong to him,
and yet he's talking about what God did
at the beginning.
He said he made them male and female.
And said, you know God didn't only make
them, he talked to them.
And said, for this cause shall a man
leave father and mother, and shall cleave to
his wife.
Mind you, we parents need to view this.
You know this is a mighty thing when
it takes place.
And you may hear a boy and he
grows up and you see him developing and
he falls in love.
A wife will leave home when he gets
married and cleave to his wife.
And you should be minding your own business,
you know.
And you'll be happier for them if you
do.
This, this is what God said anyway.
That a man shall leave his father and
mother and cleave to his wife.
It's a very dear relationship this, you know.
This is not just nonsense.
This is very dear and very near.
And it is what God said for them
all.
For this cause shall a man leave father
and mother and shall cleave to his wife,
and they twin shall be one flesh.
It's a tremendous statement.
They twin shall be one flesh.
Therefore, said Jesus, they are no more twin
but one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together.
Let not man be a religious man or
a judge man or whatever kind of man
you like to make him.
Let not man put them asunder.
But man has put them asunder, you know.
But God said let not man do it.
But man doesn't care, man just does it.
But that doesn't vindicate the doing.
God says don't do it.
Let not man put asunder.
They say unto him, Why did Moses
then command to give her writing of divorce
to me and to put her away?
I remember this very well, you know.
What Jesus said unto them, Moses, because of
the hardness of your heart, you know, Moses
had a reason for giving in his.
Suffered, did you get the word?
Suffered you to put away your wife.
But from the beginning it was not so.
So Jesus said, There are no more than
this, you know.
None at all.
They're made one, and therefore they are no
more twins.
See verse 6.
Therefore they are no more twins.
And you can't make them two again either.
For it's right to know.
But you can't do it.
They are no more.
And we come to the picture a bit
simply.
This man.
And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put
away his wife, except it be for fornication.
And that rephrase is the phrase that they
think opens the door.
But he's talking about putting away a wife
for fornication.
And shall marry another.
Committed adultery.
Oh yes, the separation taught in this book,
but not divorce.
Separation.
You can't ask a man to live with
a woman who's become a widow.
And he can get away from her after
he's had.
Not a bit of it.
He can't marry.
If he puts away his wife and marries
another, he's an adulterer.
Watch this.
I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away
his wife, except it be for fornication.
And shall marry another.
Committed adultery.
And who shall marry a pair which is
put away, doth commit adultery.
There's no getting out of it.
I tell you the only way that this
law is put away is by death.
Can't get out of it.
Once that the two are made one, they
shall be no more twins.
They can't make them two again.
Can't force them to live together if they
can't live together.
They can separate.
You can't go and marry another one.
Wonderful experience in chapter 7.
I think it will clear it up for
you.
Chapter 7 and verse 10.
Paul is writing here to the married ones.
But unto the married I command, lest not
I but the Lord, let not the wife
depart from her husband.
Now watch these two words.
But and if.
Isn't that well put?
But and if she departs.
Now watch this thing.
Let her remain unmarried.
That's what it says.
Or be reconciled to her husband.
And let not the husband put away his
wife.
You see, the but and if is there.
You see, you can't ask a woman to
live in a cage with a bear, can
you?
Not at all.
If the man she's married has turned in
to be a brute beast, we can't put
her in for war.
But if she can't put it on, if
she's got to get out.
But she's got to remain unmarried.
Or there is a barrier.
Don't look all here.
My dear young folks, marriage is a very
sacred thing.
And if you stand before God one day,
and God makes the twin one, they shall
never be twin again.
On the face of this earth.
If he dies, she's loosed, it's true.
But you can't separate them and make them
two again.
Or you can't just walk out for nothing
and go and get another one.
That's why the corruption is sweeping America tonight.
And before long we'll be faced with a
fear.
This is the teaching of God's Word.
If you can't live with them, you can
get out.
If it's just, you can get out.
My, we know poor ladies that just simply
could go no further.
And no Christian man would have asked them
to do it either.
Well, they just have to get out.
But they remain unmarried to the end of
their days, or his days.
Don't forget that.
Well, let's get back to the chapter.
If all you can see, he asks the
question here.
At the beginning of the chapter it's an
interrogation.
And he's asking saints this question.
Just to point out that the law has
dominion over a man as long as he
lives.
And then he takes up the illustration that
the woman which hath a husband is bound
by the law to her husband so long
as he lives.
And they never even contemplate divorce.
Because he's on God's side here.
But if the husband be dead, she's loosed
from the law for husband.
So then if while her husband lives, she
be married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress.
But if her husband be dead, she's free
from that law so that she is no
adulteress though she be married to another man.
And after asking the question, the interrogation and
giving the illustration, then he makes the application.
Wherefore, wherefore, my brethren, and he's very careful
about it, we also are become dead to
the law by the body of Christ.
My, that's a tremendous statement, isn't it?
It's a wonderful thing.
He said, my beloved brethren, I want you
to get hold of it.
So you are dead to the law by
the body of Christ.
Another law is out now, but we'll get
that fixed up just in a moment.
You know, one of the greatest subjects in
the New Testament for you young believers is
the body of Christ.
Something to start off with, and you can
do a few.
I'll give you a hand just for a
moment, and then you tell him the rest.
You remember Hebrews chapter 10, and when the
Lord Jesus was coming into the world, he
said, A body hast thou prepared me.
Now, I want you to get that.
I want you to remember that somebody is
coming, is coming into the world.
And he's saying this, A body hast thou.
We'll keep the body over here for a
while.
A body hast thou prepared me.
That is a true statement, isn't it?
You see, friends, in the miraculous conception that
took place in the virgin's womb by the
power of the Holy Ghost, the Lord Jesus,
the eternal Son, took upon him the form
of a servant, and this body was prepared
by God.
Body hast thou prepared me.
A very precious body, you couldn't have perfectly
chosen it.
Then you see, that's the body in conception.
But we want to look again at the
body in crucifixion.
This was the body that the world crucified.
This was the body that the world punished.
This was the body that the world battered.
This was the body that the world piped
for the Roman government.
But I want you to get this, that
on the arms of the Lord Jesus, by
the offering of his body, it became a
sacrifice, you know.
When we take the bread on Sunday morning
out to table, we always remember the words
of the Lord Jesus as he took the
bread and bit it.
You hear it?
He said, this is my body which is
given.
This is the body that was offered in
sacrifice.
You see, this is the body that bore
my sins.
He his own self bore my sins in
his own body.
This is tremendous, isn't it?
This is the body in conception.
And then the body in crucifixion.
And then on the third day, this body,
and then he wrote to me, I think,
and I said, really harmonious.
This was brought back from the dead.
You know, the Lord Jesus said to them
in his day in John 2, destroy this
temple.
And he pointed to himself, and in three
days I will lift it up.
There's not a lot of light in the
country can teach the expert on this.
Because this body was brought back from the
dead.
Brought out from the tomb.
And this is called in the Bible, his
glorious body.
His glorious body.
When he comes back, you know, this body
will be made light on him.
His glorious body.
May you subject this.
Holy people in your fancy now.
That's the body in crucifixion, and the body
in conception, and the body in resurrection.
But you know, at the cross, in the
depths of the mighty cross and there are
so many sides to it.
You know, in the body of Christ, we
died, so every claim the Lord can make.
And the seven day adventures can't put us
under the law anymore.
We are dead.
At all.
By the body of Christ we are talking
here.
Dead.
He says, wherefore, my brethren.
That's what he said.
He says, wherefore, my brethren, ye also are
become dead to the law by the body
of Christ.
Now, wait a minute.
That's not the point of the subject, of
course.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead
to the law by the body of Christ.
Now, what does he say?
That ye shall be married to another if
the heaven was raised from the dead.
That's why I call this unification.
With Christ.
You know, it's the most thrilling thing.
You know, friends, I'd like all the saints
to get the thrill out of this.
You know, we are so young.
We don't get to be christened.
They'll get christened.
They're married.
And there'll be no divorce.
There'll be no divorce.
Are you lost again, boys?
I am lost to you again.
Talking of being lost again, it's a great
pity of you.
You don't know the first thing about what
happens at the cross, you know.
Not the first thing.
Man, you're walking your way to heaven.
It's a great pity of you.
I'm not going to heaven because of what
I do, you know.
I'm going to heaven because of what He
did to me.
My after cross.
Through the body.
I died to the law.
But I married to the risen Christ.
Ah, this is unification.
I'm joined with Him.
I'm united with Him.
I'm one with Him.
That's amazing.
Now, that's not the whole story yet.
We're only halfway there.
Don't jump the hurdles too quick.
Wait for me.
Now, watch it.
We're going to get there right now.
Watch this.
We'll read it over again.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also have become dead
to the law by the body of Christ,
that ye should be married to another, even
to him who is raised from the dead,
that ye should bring falsehood unto God.
Now, just hold that a minute and the
next verse.
I'm going to go to verse 6.
But now, we are delivered from the law.
You know, sometimes we sing this in this
meeting.
Free from the law.
Oh, happy condition.
And I won't allow any man to put
me under it either.
I won't be put under any law.
There's no man in the Baptist denomination, my
Lord, you know.
Not a one of them.
My dear friends, let's keep this.
We have only one Lord.
I'm united to Christ.
Delivered.
And I'm delivered.
Delivered is the word.
From the law.
Now, watch this.
Verse 6.
But now we are delivered from the law,
that being dead and we were held.
Now, here it is.
That we should serve in unison to Christ.
Now, that's what we would like to see.
You see, when you're going through these gateways,
you look back and you remember you were
identified.
And then you calculate, well, I'll die for
that thing now.
And then you yield your members to the
Lord your Lord.
And then you become sovereign.
You know, when a woman marries a man,
she doesn't just marry him, you know, just
to go around and tell the rest of
the girls she's married.
Because if you're getting married just to talk
about it, it'd be better to give him
up to you.
But you know, she starts to work for
him.
And she cleans the house like.
She washes the church.
Brushes her shoes.
Yes, she brushes her shoes.
She washes the church.
Brushes her shoes.
Yes, she brushes her shoes.
I'd like to tell you a whole lot
of other things she does.
But wait a minute, get this over to
you.
You know, you can get maids.
Ah, but the maid only cleans the house
and washes the shirts and does the shoes.
But the wee woman washes them because they're
his.
A little sprint altogether.
She does all these menial little tasks because
they're his.
You know, she really loves to do these
things for him.
Ah, that's where we are now, isn't it?
Ah, that's where we are now.
Yes, we look back.
We identify.
We calculate.
We present.
We're servants.
Ah, but we're more.
You know, we are really one with the
Lord.
And we do these things because we love
him.
That's newness of spirit.
You know, the maid only does it because
she's under the law.
She's got to get up at seven.
And if the mistress doesn't hear her knocking
about before seven, they'll be around.
Isn't it she loves to get out of
bed?
Oh, no.
She's under the law.
Ah, but the wee woman loves him.
That's different.
We are serving in units of spirit.
All this is unification with Christ.
Good to God we've really got this into
our bones tonight, that we've begun to love
him.
You know, friends, I'm positive of the issue
that the greatest thing in the world is
love.
And the greatest, greatest thing in your life
ever is to love him.
That's all.
There's nothing adventurous in that.
Now when you love somebody and they're on
your heart, you know, there is no labor
anymore.
You take up all the wee moments just
to pray.
And there are so many little things you're
prepared to do.
That's what we need again in our assemblies,
isn't it?
Just pure love for Christ.
And you know, that's exactly what Christ wants.
Do you remember writing to Vanessa to the
church of Ephesus?
She said, I know your works, I know
all about you, I know what you do,
I know how solid you are, I know
you're very particular about who preaches in this
church.
Nevertheless, I'm somewhat against it.
I must love you.
Don't love me the way you used to
do.
Oh, that the Lord would take us back
to real love.
Now, when Paul got all that off his
chest, he was facing another problem.
And this is what I've called Paul's explanation.
You see, we come to verse 7 now.
He says, what shall we say then?
Is the law sin?
You see, he was really afraid that people
would get this mixed up.
You see, when he talks about sin in
chapter 6, you remember that he said, verse
11, And now when he talks about being
dead to the law, he's afraid that some
smart aleck will put the two together and
say, well, is the law sin?
And he doesn't want you to get that
notion.
Because he faces the question here, and then
he says, God forbid.
Nay, I have not known sin, but by
the law.
So you can see what law he has
in his mind now.
While he started with the civil law as
an illustration, he's back on to the moral
law.
I have not known sin by the law,
for I have not known lust, except the
law hath said thou shalt not covet enough
the tenth commandment.
So he's up to moral law now, all
right.
But, you see, he said, this thing is
not sin.
Because I can remember when I didn't know
anything about this particular kind of thing.
And only when I faced the law, thou
shalt not covet, then I knew that there
was such a thing within my breast.
And the law was discovering sin in me
that I didn't know about.
So it's not sin.
And then he goes further than that.
He says, but sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of contuberance.
Now, it would be much easier if we
translated one word here.
We'll read from the middle of verse 7.
Nay, I have not known sin, but by
the law.
For I have not known covetousness, we'll put
that word.
It could be rendered that, you know.
Except the law hath said thou shalt not
covet.
But sin, taking occasion by that particular commandment,
wrought in me all manner of covetousness.
You see, once the authorities in our land
say, Thou shalt not proceed through a built
-up area over thirty miles an hour.
You know, before that came up, before we
saw necessity.
Why, some of us just tore along through
the streets and through the villages.
And it wasn't until they put it up
that you really felt there was an urge
in you to do it.
You know, you were tearing along before and
you didn't realize there was an urge to
do this thing.
Oh, nobody bothered me.
But once there's the thirty there, you know,
it works all manner of breaking the law.
You don't only break it in one manner,
you break it in five or six and
every round.
There's an urging you don't want to do,
you want to go on.
And it's the law that's discovering the urge,
because when it wasn't there you didn't discover
the urge.
And that's what it seems.
And then he said this, For without the
law, sin was dead.
At least it appears like that.
You didn't find it kicking the way it
does when it's up.
You know, if they say don't walk on
the grass somewhere, you can be sure some
wee fellow will get on to it.
He will.
And you know, I've known this from days
gone by.
When a smoker gets into a carriage, sitting
thinking about the football, and his eye lights
on the window and it says no smoking.
That's just when the poor man starts.
If it hadn't been there he'd be all
wretched now.
But you know, now he can't keep his
eye off it, and he can't keep his
hand out of his pocket either.
It's written law.
It's finding him out.
And if it wasn't there, well, he just
wouldn't find it out the same, that's all.
And so it appears to be dead, but
you know, it was very much alive.
Watch this.
Verse nine.
For I was alive without the law once.
Now I profess, that's the tightest phrase in
the chapter.
To expound.
I'll get any one of you a go
at it.
When Paul says, I was alive without the
law once.
What part of his life is he thinking
about?
Is it the Christian part?
Is it the Pharisee who passed when he
was a Pharisee?
Is it when he was a boy at
the feet of Gamaliel?
What part of his life is he talking
about?
Now I read about twenty expositors on this
thing, and they're every one different.
So you're safe no matter what you say.
You'll get somebody to back you up.
You can be sure of that.
This is a very difficult life.
I'll tell you what I believe, and you
don't need to swallow it.
I believe that in the Jewish community, even
to this day, a child is circumcised at
eight days.
And then he goes along and comes and
goes to the synagogue, and nobody pays very
much attention to him until he's twelve.
And then there's a special ceremony when he
becomes twelve.
You remember they took the Lord Jesus to
the temple when he was twelve.
That's when Mary and Joseph lost.
But today he becomes twelve.
He's brought into the synagogue or the temple,
as it may have been, and he takes
a note now that he'll keep the law.
And I believe this phrase is referring to
the days before he was twelve.
That's what I believe.
I have mine now.
Because I shall prove next week when we
come to that great part of the chapter
that he wasn't talking of the Pharisee, and
it wasn't the man that sat at the
feet of Gamaliel, and it certainly had nothing
to do with the spiritual life.
He wouldn't say once.
I believe it was those days when he
hadn't a care in the world, and he
can go way back and he can remember,
Oh, you know, I was doing pretty well.
I hadn't to obey the law.
I hadn't to even think about it.
I was alive without the law once.
Then there came the time, you know, when
responsibility came on his shoulder.
But when the commandment came, sin revived.
He became convicted now, and I died.
And the commandment, which was ordained to life,
you remember when God gave the law, He
said this, do and thus it is.
That's it.
The commandment which was ordained to life, I
found to be unto death.
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived
me.
You know, he found out that sin was
stronger within him than the commandment that was
before him.
And he was slain by the law.
Oh, yes.
We owe the Apostle the great teacher, you
know, if you take your time with him.
And then he concludes this bit like this,
Wherefore, the law is holy, and this particular
commandment is holy.
Exactly.
Good.
But don't you mix the laws enough.
There's nothing wrong with the law.
There's something wrong with me.
The law says those shall not covet, and
I can't do anything within me.
Bricks at every place.
And the man who takes upon himself to
live by the law, he's condemned already.
Condemned already.
You know, the whole truth is this, that
the Ten Commandments was just a kind of
a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
You see, you begin to see, I can't
love the Lord with all my heart, with
all my soul, with all my mind.
When the law says, Thou shalt not covet,
Oh, God, I'm broken a thousand million times.
And you just stand before God up in
the earth, meeting Him, and praise God.
There's a wonderful Savior.
A Savior!
If you put your arms around Him, make
Him your own precious, particular Savior, then you
can say, I died to that law in
Christ.
And then you have a risen Christ.
Oh, that's where we're getting to next week.
Then you have a risen Christ who can
live out His life in you.
Now, wait a minute before you run.
You know, when I was a young fellow,
I used to get up very early in
the morning to read God's words.
And you know, I'm sure that I must
have read these phrases several times.
Just short phrases like this.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks.
Rejoice evermore.
And you know, I can remember times at
half four in the morning and five o
'clock when I'm down on my knees in
the little back room and I'm facing these
things.
I'm only a young believer.
And you know, I'm reading this.
Rejoice evermore.
In every thing give thanks.
Pray without ceasing.
And I take these phrases and I make
them a law for my life.
And I just spread my shoulders and I'm
going out into the world and I'm going
to pray all day long and I'll rejoice
no matter what happens.
And Lord Jesus, I'll thank you whether it
rains or whether it doesn't or whether I'm
hungry or whether...
And I'm not two yards from the corner.
Because a whole lot of believers take God's
word and they make it up.
And you don't do it like this.
No, no, no.
Oh, the Lord was kind.
He looked down.
He said, there's a lot of people who
have gone the wrong way about this.
You see, I'm trying to do this thing
in my own time.
I know what I need to live every
day.
It's not I, you know.
It's not done that way.
It's not I that does everything.
It's the Lord lives in me.
You know, I just trust him to get
me through the doctor.
Oh, it's not that I haven't cut and
dried.
It's not that there's a sort of gramophone
record.
I could never do it before me again.
It's just that I come and I just
trust him.
And he helps me.
Helps me in the preparation.
And then he helps me in the exposition.
Then he helps me right on to the
conclusion.
Because without him, I can't do anything.
And without him, I can't do
anything.
The answer is the Resurrection.
Oh, the faith.
Trust your death in the Resurrection.
And trust your death in saving.
Because if you do, you'll live for God.
We have a great portion next week One
of the thrilling bits.
Romans 7.
You know, we want to know when Paul
says some of these things.
Have a look at them before you go.
You know, he says verse 15 For that
which I do I alone ought For what
I would, that do I not But what
I hit, that do I Then down the
chapter he says verse 19 For the good
that I would, I do not But the
evil which I would not, that I do
This is a horrible experience.
Think this bit out.
Is it Paul's experience as a believer?
Is it Paul's experience as a Pharisee?
Is it Paul's experience as a natural man?
Whose experience is this?
You think it through.
Have a good read out.
And come along, I'll expound it for you.
And we'll get through another gateway.
And it's a lovely one.
It's at the end of the chapter, but
you'll find it next week.
Let's bow together.
Blessed Lord, we thank thee for thy word.
We thank thee for this great letter.
We thank thee for how clear the great
apostle made things.
O God, we remember when we were condemned
with sin.
And we remember the very moment when we
were justified by faith.
And Lord, it seems that we're only learning
now how to walk.
But help us to go through these gateways.
That we might walk worthy of the vocation
with which we are called.
And dear Lord, help us to do things
for thee.
Just because we love thee.
Little, seemingly insignificant, mean things as the world
would think.
Let's do them for thee, Lord.
With real love in our hearts.
Bless the clouds.
Bless thy sheep, Lord.
Bless this cold, Lord.
Caught us in thy fear and with thy
touch.
For thy holy name's sake.
Amen.