Law is no help

This morning we're going to look at chapter 7, verses 7 and 8, but I want to take a couple steps back as we get going here this morning, kind of as a review from a few things that we need some notes by. a few things that we went over when we were going through Chapter 6. So just for review, I know we have some folks that have joined the class since we were in Chapter 6, and for that we're very thankful. So we'll just kind of do a little bit of a review here this morning as we get going. Okay. We want to look at the big picture of the whole book of Romans here as we start out.

The first part of the book, chapter 1, 18 through 3, 20, is directed to our unbelievers. Chapter 1, verse 1 through 1, 17, is the introduction. We know that. And so then when we come to chapter 3, the middle of chapter 3 here, verse 21, down through the end of chapter 8, it's written to believers and about believers, justification by faith, the two Adams.

We spent nine weeks looking at Romans chapter 6. And we're in our third week today looking at chapter 7. And then we'll be in chapter 8 in a couple more weeks down the road. 9 through 11 is going to be talking about Israel. And then we'll come back to 12. through 15, and that's going to be talking about the practical application of all that we've seen true so far. So, kind of the big picture of what's going on here in the Book of Romans. And you can see we've kind of laid it out. There are certain passages.

Are they positional passages, or are they conditional passages? Are they sections of Scripture that are talking about our position that we have with the Lord, meaning our relationship that we have with the Lord that is unchangeable, that is unalterable, that is fixed, it can never be changed. That's what we mean by a positional truth. Or is it a conditional truth, meaning our daily walk with the Lord? That's what we kind of mean there by positional or conditional truth.

As we look at it, at the Book of Romans as a whole, we see there that it was written in a sequence, just as any author would write any book. This chapter was written after this chapter, after this chapter, and so on and so forth. That's just the natural sequence that anybody writes a book.

So, we want to point out though that chapters 4 through 8, they are to be seen in parallel. Even though they were written in a natural sequence as anybody writes a book, we want to point out that these chapters 4 through 8 need to be seen in parallel, true from the time of salvation for each believer, and to believe and appropriate it all at the same time as a unit. It's not like we need to go through Chapter 4 and, in a sense, master the understanding of Chapter 4 before we come to Chapter 5, and master the understanding of Chapter 5 before we go to 6, and so forth to 7, and so forth to 8. We need to see them as a unit, and to believe in them, and to appropriate them all at the same time. I want to make that clear.

Chapter 6 is to be seen in light of 7 and 8. Chapter 7, as we're looking at here this morning, is to be seen in the light of 6 and 8, 4 and 5. And Chapter 8, which we're going to get to a couple more weeks down the road, is to be seen in the light of 4 through 7. So that kind of makes sense to you guys as we look into these.

Big picture. We want to always keep the big picture before us because we're doing a very detailed study of Romans. We're going to cover two verses this morning, but we don't want to lose sight of the forest for sake of paying attention to the detail of the trees. That's kind of what we want to look at.

Okay, this is something that we went over in chapter 6, just kind of a review again for those that are new to the class, and we're very happy that you guys are here. We saw the positional and the conditional aspect of Romans chapter 6. Some were positional, some were conditional. We just kind of pointed that out and want to bring that to the forefront of you all's minds again this morning.

So, Bob has done a great job of leading us through. chapter 7, verses 1-6, and they are positional. If we look at Romans chapter 7, verses 1-6, we'll read those in just a minute, those would be positional passages. And as we get into verse 7, which we're going to get into today, all the way through to the end, down through verse 25, those are going to be conditioned. It's going to be all about the struggle that Paul finds himself because he's trying to live the Christian life under the law through self-effort of his own. Positional 1-6, conditional 7-25 to the end. Let's look at this section of scripture this morning. Romans chapter 7. I'm just going to start with verse 1, just to kind of get this thing going in context for us. I'm going to read down through verse 11. So Romans chapter 7 and verse 1.

And do you not know, brethren, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

Verse 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ. that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. 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. Now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Let me make a comment. As we read through those verses there, 4 through 6, some of the verses are positional, some of it's conditional. So we always kind of keep in mind that it gets a little bit positional truth by our identification with Christ, being separated from the law, but also it does mention there the condition of the law arousing the sin nature in our lives. So I make that disclaimer based on what I said a couple of minutes ago. As you saw the graph, they're up and down, up and down. It gets kind of tricky when you really look at it in detail. So, verse 7. 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. But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law, sin is dead. And I was once alive apart from the law, but where the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died. And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me. For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me." We're going to start in verse 7. Some tricky stuff in there. What in the world is going on? We're going to try to make some sense of what's happening here with verse 7. As we get going, Some questions that we want to consider.

What questions or views is Paul responding to as he begins to make these comments here in 7.7 down through 8, 9, 10, 11? Who is the I referring to when Paul says, 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. What's going on there with this personal pronoun of I? He's speaking of himself.

Yeah, that's the same way I see it. So what is God's intent for Romans chapter 7? We also want to ask and answer that question. We're going to be answering that question over the next several weeks. What's God's intent for Romans chapter 7? One thing we need to point out is that culturally, the writing style of Romans for a number of chapters is known as a diatribe. Questions as if from an imaginary, skeptical, and an antagonistic heckler. So we need to keep that in mind as we look at what Paul's writing, why he's writing it, who he's writing it to, so we can get some background and a clear understanding of what's going on here. So, this imaginary heckler, what questions is he asking and how is Paul responding?

So, we've gone through chapter 6, but we saw in 6.1 The question was posed, what shall we say? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase or that grace might abound? And obviously Paul says in verse 2, may it never be. Same thing was raised back in chapter 6 and in verse 15. What then shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace?

Paul's immediate response? May it never be. So here we are this morning in chapter 7 and we're looking in verse 7. We have the same thing being said. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be. A repeat of what we saw in chapter 6 verse 1 and a repeat of what we saw in chapter 6 and verse 15. I think that's just the natural response. You know, I remember when my sister and I were having this animated, I put that in for interesting conversation, about just this.

I mean, if you're, you know, she's saying, because I'm telling her the freedom that we have in Christ under grace. Yeah. And she's going, but how can we not have all the rules? Because if we don't have the rules, then you're just, you just break the rules if you have no rules.

I think that's just human nature to want to put that law on it. Because it's easier in their own mind if you have a list. The flesh wants to go by a list. I think that's a natural response and Paul knows that. That's a natural human response. Lots of people find it easier. Easier that way. Yeah, they don't find it. Find the opposite. They'll see this morning in detail. All right. Okay. All right.

So this first pharisaical viewpoint, how do I say that, Rachel? Pharisaical viewpoint. Thank you. And then we have Paul. So, what the Pharisees would say, what the Jewish culture would say, is that you're under the law until freed from it by death. We saw that. Bob did a great job unpackaging that for us the past two weeks.

And what Paul came back and said, you've been freed from it through your death with Christ. So, Paul is answering these cultural questions, these cultural tensions here relating to what it is that God has done for us. So, you're under the law until freed from it by death. Boy, you're freed from it already through your death with Christ. That's what Paul is bringing up.

So, being that you're freed from the law of death, obey it while you can. Boy, make the most of your time right now and obey the law while you're alive. Because when you die, you don't have the opportunity to obey the law anymore. Obey it while you can, while you're still alive. Good morning. Here's some notes for you guys.

And so, what Paul comes back and says is, you can't obey it. They're saying, make the most of your time while you're alive, obey the law to its fullest. And Paul comes back and says, wait a minute guys, you can't obey the law. It's going to be impossible for you to do it.

So, the Pharisees and the Jewish culture there is going to say that the sin nature can be overcome by the law. That's what they're going to be promoting, that's what they're going to be teaching. And there's lots of that very same teaching that we have today in different circles of Christianity. that the sin nature can be overcome by the law. Well, what we're going to see this morning, and on into chapter 7, is that the law actually arouses the sin nature, and then the sin nature ends up taking over.

So it's exactly the opposite of what the Pharisees are trying to communicate. The Pharisees would say that the law is good. There's one point that Paul's not going to argue with them on. He's also going to say that the law is good, and Roger's going to get to that for us in a couple of weeks. Why is the law good? Because God gave the law. It's holy, and it came from God. There's no problem with the law. The problem is with us.

We're going to see that in a little while. The Pharisees also would say that the law is your life. Paul's going to show us that the law brings death, and that Christ Just kind of some insight there as to what's going on from the viewpoint of the Pharisees, and then Paul is coming in and trying to shed a better, clearer perspective as to what's going on. Any thoughts about that? Those that are new, we like to have interaction. Raise your hand, speak up.

Boy, that's a horrible point, or have you considered this, or whatever. Bob? Jim, you're going through this now with Henry, right? Whatever you do, don't do this. Yeah, that's right. There goes Henry. I'm not picking on you. No, no. It's a point on the slide in a little while, that whatever I tell him to do, you know what he wants to do? The very thing I just told them not to do. What do you do? The guy's not saved yet, he's three years old. Opportunity for Rachel, I trust the Lord.

We have to or else we're frustrated. In the room with this and all of you, most of your kids are grown. and moved out of the house. Alright, we're really going to see this personal pronoun of this I brought out over the next 5-6 weeks of Romans chapter 7. It's just going to come at us full bore. We went to the train museum yesterday. It's going to be like this locomotive coming at us, this personal pronoun I. So I want to get a little bit of an understanding. What's this personal pronoun talking about here? Because what we see is that until this point in Romans, Paul has used the plural pronoun we. We haven't seen the singular personal I used yet. Go back just to chapter 6 for just a minute. Just look at the first couple of verses of chapter 6. What shall we say, then? Are we to continue in sin, so that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who die to sin still live in it? So, we're seeing the plural here, use of the pronoun.

Go to chapter 7, verse 1. Chapter 7, verse 4, Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh as sinful passions which were aroused by the law, Verse 6, for now we have been released from the law. Okay, you get the point there.

There's this plural use here, but now in chapter 7, we're seeing that he switches to the singular use. Why does he make the switch, and what in the world is he talking about when he comes to this personal pronoun I here? Verses 7-13, if we take this, we can divide it into two different sections. 7-13 and then 14 down through verse 25.

Now, there are so many views about what this personal pronoun is talking about. And my only intention with listing all these things is to let you be aware of how many different views there are of this personal pronoun. We're not going to try to decipher all these. Could it be that the passage is strictly autobiographical?

Could it mean that Paul is using the first person singular to depict the experience of the typical Jewish individual? Is he speaking in the name of Adam? Is he presenting the experience of the Jewish people as a whole? Is he speaking in the name of mankind as a whole? Paul is using the first person singular in a generalizing way without intending a specific reference to any particular individual or clearly defined group? What's going on there? And there's more. I only picked a couple out of all the options here. And that's just verses 7 through 13. And then down through 14 through 25.

Is it autobiographical, the reference being to Paul's present experience as a Christian? Is it autobiographical the reference being to his past experience before conversion as seen by him at the time referred to? Is it autobiographical the reference being to his past conversion but seen by him now in light of his Christian faith?

Some say it presents the experience of the non-Christian Jew as seen by himself. Some say it presents the experience of the non-Christian Jew as seen through the Christian eyes. Some would say that it presents the experience of the Christian who is living at a level of the Christian life which can be left behind, who is still trying to fight the battle on his own strength. It presents the experience of the Christian generally, including their very best and the most mature.

Tons of views. Donna. How about just the thought that as soon as the law comes in, the focus goes inward? Yes. When we're walking under the law, we have to be walking in the flesh, and when we're walking in the flesh, the focus is clearly inward. We're not going to answer this question saying which one it is from the list. That's not what our intent is going to be here from the class. For this class, we're going to view Paul in verses 7 through 25 as a believer reflecting back on his life. So we're going to make that general.

As Bob continues to take some of the classes, and as Roger continues to take some of the classes as we work our way through chapter 7 here, we're going to be viewing Paul as a believer. He was saved, and he's reflecting back to his life. What happened when He walked under the law in his own effort and in his own strength and becomes self-focused, as Donna pointed out. Bob?

Yeah, that's right. Yes. Thanks. Can you guys hear other people's points over there? Okay, great. So, verses 7 through 8 are general truths about sin's relationship to the law. We're going to look at these in detail this morning. Hopefully, our intent is to get through verses 7 and 8, and next week we're going to get into 9, 10, and 11. Okay?

And then verse 9 onward, tell how these general truths affected Paul's life personally. So it's going to be a broad view of the relationship between the law and sin this morning. And then next week we're going to see how does this relationship between law and sin How did it impact and affect Paul's life in a very personal way? And therefore, how is it going to affect our life in a very personal way when we fall into the trap of walking under the law in our self-effort or through our own strength?

So, we're going to use this view and explain the verses, but this is not the focus. We don't want to focus on what view is it that we're taking. The bigger picture that we want to keep in mind for the next several weeks as we continue through Romans 7 is what is God, through his inspired word, wanting to communicate to us about the law, the sin, and living under it. I think that's the big picture of what's going on here for the next five, six weeks of spending time and looking at Romans 7. Okay, now I want to begin to take a look at at each verse in detail, starting in verse 7. So, God's intent for 7 through 25, we're saying here that the law is no help.

That's what we've titled it this morning. And we're going to see that very, very clearly, that the law absolutely is no help. The law cannot bring a person to justification. We saw that. And you know what? The law cannot bring a person to sanctification. Living life through our own strength, trying to live the Christian life through our own efforts is not going to be able to bring sanctification about in our lives. It's no way. It couldn't happen for Paul. It cannot happen for us.

Romans 7, 7-25 is describing a person who's trying to live the Christian life by the law through their own efforts and through their own strength. I think that's real clear. We're going to see that played out, showing that a man and us cannot live the Christian life by the law, showing the struggle and the frustration that a person goes through when trying to live the Christian life under the law or through one's own power or through one's own strength. That's not what God intended for the Christian life to be. He didn't intend it to be lived in our own strength or in our own power under the law. We're going to see that really made very clear in Romans 7, 7-25. So verse 7, what shall we say then? Where was this also used? speak out. Where was it also used? Yeah, that's right, we already alluded to that this morning, seeing some of the similarities between 6.1, 6.15, and 7.7, okay? Yeah, exact same Greek phrase there. So, what shall we say then, is the law sin? And clearly the idea here is in verses 1 through 6, it clearly shows how believers are dead to, as Bob taught, or separated from the law.

So the natural question to follow would be, is the law sin? If I had to be separated from this thing, if God intended for me to be separated from this, then boy, there must be a problem with this, right? And look back, I didn't make this note in the slide, look back in verse 5, For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were a work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death." Okay, so, the sinful passions were aroused by the law. Boy, so, one's thinking could very easily be, this, something is wrong with the law. Okay? If the law is arousing sinful passions and God worked it out so that I am separated from the law, what's the natural question going to be? Is the law a sin? Sure.

That's going to be the natural question of what these guys are thinking. Okay, and we want to define the law here. And Bob, again, he hit this last week. Guru just kind of reiterated what he said. The law referring to the mosaic law and other law principles. There's a specific Mosaic law, as God gave to Moses in the Old Testament. We're going to see it more clearly when coveting comes about later in this verse. But also, it has a broader scope here.

It also has general law principles, self-imposed laws, that we might put upon ourselves, saying, if we'll do this, we'll be more acceptable to God. And there's no room for that either in the Christian life. There's no room for the Mosaic Law, for any sort of standards that we put up for ourselves, that we have to measure up to in order to be acceptable to God. Make sense? Specific and broad.

If it was God's intent for believers to die to or to be separated from the Law, then the Law must be sin, right? We already kind of hit that a little while earlier. So, continuing on in the verse. 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.

Where do we see this same phrase used? We alluded to it earlier in our opening couple of slides too. May it never be, or God forbid. Chapter 6, Romans 6-2 and 6-15. So, the law is not sin. Is the law sin? No way. God forbid. May it never be. Very strong language here. The law isn't sin. In fact, in a couple of weeks, Roger is going to bring out the point to us that the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and righteous and just. We'll get to that in verse 12. Great. Great stuff. Talking about God's character coming out in the law. Okay.

So, is the law sin? May it never be. Or God forbid. But, or on the contrary, We have a strong contrast here as we begin to define the purpose of the law. That's what we're going to have defined for us here in 7.7, the purpose of the law. Is the law sin? No way. We've got the purpose starting to come out. So continuing on in 7.7, I would not have come to know sin except through the law.

So the purpose of the law is to show man their sin. Ultimately pointing people to Christ. Number one, whether it's for salvation, Number two, for sanctification. Both are in view there. The purpose of the law is to show us, all humanity, their sin, so that we can be saved, or we can see, boy, I can't live the Christian life in my own strength. I need the Lord.

Yeah, Art? I think it's important for us to realize that the purpose of the law was not for salvation, Because had it been, there would have been no purpose for God giving His only begotten Son upon the cross at Calvary for the remission of sin. That's right. Right on. Did you guys hear that? The purpose of the law wasn't for salvation. Yeah.

It's Galatians 2.21. Yes. Good point, Art. Thank you. Yes.

I think the law did show people their need of salvation, but it could not save them. Are we saying before Moses, Jim, that there was no covenant going on? There was covenant going on before Moses. We're going to get into that in a couple of minutes here in the slides. There was covenant going on, but they might not have known it as that exact thing because the spotlight of the law hadn't come in to show them that yet.

Any other thoughts or questions? I want to kind of walk through this. as slowly and simplistically as we can, because if we get arms around this beginning part, then I think the rest of 7 is going to make a lot of simple sense for us, which is pretty neat. No hands?

Okay. Even though the law is not sin, the law and sin have a definite relationship, and that is that the law brings the knowledge of sin. Let's think about that. The problem isn't the law. The law is fine. The problem is sin. But there is this relationship between the law and sin. And so what happens is when you put the law together with sin, the law brings about the knowledge of sin.

Make sense? Okay. Yes? Because you break the law, right? Because you break the law. Because you break the law, that's where the knowledge comes from. It's defining our sin. It's defining the shortcoming. Therefore, we see where we're breaking it. Yes. Yeah, right on. Good point.

If there was no sin, if Adam and Eve never sinned, there would be no law. There would be no need for law, because there's no knowledge of good and evil. Yeah, if Adam and Eve didn't sin, then all bets are off and everything is different. And now people think that this law is good, so they're not necessarily doing evil, but they're doing good in themselves, which is associated with sin as well, right? I didn't track that. Did anybody else track it? Help me out. It's the new way in Christ's life. It's not good.

Sure. Within ourselves. That's right. Sure. So the law comes in to expose that there's no good, nothing, as he says later on in Romans 7, no good thing dwells in me. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Yeah, because plenty of the world, who are not believers, they think they're doing good things all the time. They haven't murdered anybody, they pay their taxes on time, they maintain the law, so they think, in their flesh, they think that they're good people. Right, right. That's right. Not understanding that before God, in me, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. We'll get into that a little later on. Oops. Wowee. That was one big push of a button.

Okay, so remember the Pharisees said that you could overcome the sin of nature through the law. And so what we're seeing here is Paul is saying that the law brought about the knowledge of sin and the sin of nature takes over. When you put those two in relationship together, the law and sin, it makes sin known for what it really is. A no here Cares with it the idea of defining. The law defines sin for man, and once it is defined, sin is experienced in a greater way.

Kind of coming to what you were saying over there. I'm not sure of your name. Tom. That's kind of what this is. They're seeing the sin. because the law is pointing out. So the idea here of, I would not have known sin, sin wouldn't have been as defined or seen as clearly or experienced as deeply if the law hadn't come in. Yes. That's right. That's right. So, general principles here in verse 7 and 8 for believers and from believers. I think that was alluded to a little earlier. Interesting story here that I came across.

Suppose a man determined to drive his automobile to the very limit of its speed. If signs along the road would say no speed limit, who's driven on the Autobahn? I haven't. I've been in Europe, but I haven't driven on the Autobahn. A couple have. Okay, so no speed limit.

And so, you know, Bob and Margaret's thought, the man's only thought, would be to press his machine forward as fast as they possibly could go. But now suddenly... Too scary. Okay, so now suddenly the man encounters a road with frequent signs limiting speed to 30 miles an hour. So the man's will rebels and his rebellion is aroused still further by these different threats of the speed limit strictly enforced. So now the man drives on fiercely, conscious both of his desire to speed and of his rebellion against restraint. The speed limit signs did not create the wild desire to rush forward. That was there before. But the notices brought the man into conscious conflict with authority. So what was the problem here? Was it the signs? No, it was the guy's desire to drive very, very fast. So, an amazing concept. But this is what we're talking about. This meshing of the law, the relationship between law and sin, it points out, in talking with Bob and Roger, Roger says it puts a spotlight, and I really like that idea, it puts a spotlight on sin, showing it for what it really is.

Well, the other thing, Jim, is I think when we respond to legal principles, too, there are two things that happen. Number one is we make that decision because the consequences we don't want to incur necessarily. So that could be a good thing. And secondly, there's an atmosphere of self-righteousness. So there's consequences and self-righteousness. So there are two potential outcomes of that.

Okay, so continuing in verse 7, I would not have come to know about coveting if the law said you shall not covet. So the idea here of covet is a desire. Now what we have is a specific example coming to us from the Mosaic Law. I think it's a tenth of the Ten Commandments. You don't covet after something else.

Because of the law, sin is defined, and we come to know that coveting is prohibited by God. Somebody asked, was there coveting before the Ten Commandments? Sure there was coveting, but we didn't necessarily know that it was something that was prohibited by God. It didn't have a spotlight. on it, yet of the law exposing it for what it really is. So, it's interesting. What's going on here?

I would not have known about coveting if the law had said, don't covet. The law says don't covet, now I know. This is something that is prohibited by God. So the law comes in, and says, don't covet, then I realize that the desire in me to covet is something that God prohibits.

Let's move on to verse 8. But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment. So, but sin, enter the problem. Here comes the problem, the sin nature of mankind. As stated earlier, the problem is not the law, but the problem is sin. The sin nature sees the law, and wants to do what is prohibited, and does not want to do what is commanded. Make sense?

Look down to verse 15. For that which I am doing, I don't understand. For I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I'm doing the very thing that I hate. See, we're seeing why he ends up in verse 15. We're seeing it up here in verse 7 and 8 and 9. Let me say that this is really key. The sin nature sees what the law wants to seize the law and wants to do what is prohibited and doesn't want to do what is commanded. And it's because of this in nature. So what's the result?

The result is that the commandment produced in me a coveting of every kind. I think when he goes to the word here of commandment, he shifts from using the word law to using the word commandment. I think he's just being more specific. He's referring to the commandment of coveting. So, what happens is that people are made acutely aware of their sin. because of the law.

We see that explained for us in verse 13. Look at verse 13. Rather it was sin, and in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death. See? That sin would be seen to be exceedingly sinful. That's the point here. It's wanting to point it out. So, through the law, sin is defined, and we come to understand and recognize the real nature and power of sin. Just to put it Put it straight.

So, why in the world would we want to live under the law? Why in the world would we want to fall into the trap of living the Christian life in our own strength, when this is what's going to happen? Why would we want to fall into the trap of living the Christian life in our own efforts, when this is going to be the result? We don't want to, but we do from time to time. And the Lord's working in our lives to conform us to the image of Christ.

So what an opportunity when we have a chance to share with folks, you know, boy, you're not under the law, but you're under grace. Wow, what freedom that brings from the sin walking into nature. Sin becomes extremely great, but also the law would be excessively unattainable as well. Sure, that's right.

There's such a huge gap between the two that we can't reach. As Paul describes his experience that he's going through here in chapter 7, he is coming to the realization, man, this thing is killing me. This is setting a standard that is absolutely unattainable. There's no way. The same thing happens in our own lives. When we try to live the Christian life in our own strength, through self-effort, we find that what do we do? We fall short. We might be able to attain it for a little while, but it will be short-lived.

Good point, Craig. Thanks. End of verse 8. Apart from the law, sin is dead. Tricky statement. What in the world is going on with this? Apart from the law, sin is dead. Bob asked us a question a little while ago. We're going to get to it here. When there is no law to activate the sin nature, in that sense, sin is dead. That's just a general statement we're going to unpack here as we go through it.

Was sin present before the law? I got some affirmatives, yeah, sin was definitely present. Go back to chapter 5, and look at the first part there of chapter 5, verse 13. For until the law, sin was in the world. Prior to Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, Yeah, sin was in the world. It says here, it goes on, sin is not imputed where there is no law. So, was sin present before the law? Yes, absolutely, it was. The Israelites definitely sinned before God, before God gave them the Mosaic law. The scriptures repeatedly record that, of course, very clearly.

Prior to the law, sin was not being activated and aroused as it was after the giving of the law. I think we can clearly establish that from what we're seeing from the purpose of the law in Romans 7. So, in this sense, sin was dead in respect to its relationship to the law because, frankly, there wasn't any law yet. Let's take it a step further for this last phrase in chapter 8, or verse 8. Apart from the law, sin is dead. So, sin is dead. Dead here is the idea of powerless. Without the law, sin is powerless.

Sin has to partner with the law for it to be seen as powerful as it can be. Does that make sense? Sin was there, sin has always been there, but it has to partner It has to be joined up with the law for it to be seen for its ultimate destructiveness. Sin is not seen for its destructive force in nature without the law defining it and putting a spotlight on it. So apart from the law, sin is dead.

That's the measuring stick. You put those things together, it is seen to be as clear as it is for what it really is. So, Paul is wanting to communicate to us, I think here, hey guys, don't go Don't go towards the law. The law is not going to be of any help to you, as we entitled this lesson this morning. The law is going to be of no help. In fact, I've gone this direction. I think he's sharing his personal testimony.

Hey guys, I've been down that road. I've been there. I've done that. Don't go there. I think that's what we're seeing for a purpose here in Romans 7, as a warning, as a testimony. Hey guys, Wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you starting to go that way? Time out. Let me tell you what the purpose of the law is. Let me tell you what happened to me when I went that direction. You don't want to go there.

The Lord through the Holy Spirit is telling us the same thing today. Thoughts or questions? Okay, next week we'll go to 9-11 and he gets a lot more specific about him personally. Thanks for this morning, thanks for our time, and thanks for your word.

You say in John that your Holy Spirit will bring things to our remembrance, so we're just trusting in that. that your Holy Spirit will bring these truths to our remembrance, so when we fall under any type of illegal system, self-imposed law or whatever it might be, that we feel like we need to do this in order to be accepted more fully by you, that you'll remind us of these things.

And say, no, that's not what I have for you. You're not under a law, but you're under grace. And you can walk by faith in that, and you can rest in that, and abide in that. And then we can walk with you moment by moment, enjoying our life with you. Just we're trusting you to remind us of these things through this week. In your name we pray. Amen.