Book of Romans
4-11-2012 Vol. 6 Part 21
Psalms 66:1-7 NKJV A Song of Praise and Worship. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. Say to God, "How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name." Selah Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him. He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations; Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Father we praise you, we give you all the glory. We thank you for all that you bless us and our families with. We ask that you bless us with rain this growing season so that we may have a bountiful crop. In Jesus name we pray! Amen!
Romans 7:1 NKJV
In Chapter 7 Paul is analyzing the state of an unregenerate person who is under OT law and accepts its truth, yet is conscious of his or her inability to live a life that pleases God. He is describing a conflict between a person who struggles on his own or her own against the power of sin, demonstrating that we cannot attain justification or sanctification by our own attempts to resist sin and obey the law of God. The conflict of the Christian, on the other hand, is quite different: it is the conflict of a person in union with Christ and the Holy Spirit against the power of sin. In Chapter 8 Paul explains that the way to victory over sin is by the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ that sets us free from the law of sin and death”, which we will get to in future lessons.
Before we get started with the verses, it will be beneficial if we understand some basics about God’s law. Here are some verses that describe the objectives of the law:
| A. The Law’s Credibility |
| 1. Psalms 19:11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward. |
| 2. 1 Timothy 1:8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, |
| 3. Romans 7:12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. |
| B. The Law’s Unity |
| 1. James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. |
| 2. Galatians 5:3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. |
| 3. Matthew 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. |
| C. The Law’s Penalty |
| 1. Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM." |
| 2. Romans 4:15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. |
| 3. 2 Corinthians 3:7-9 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. |
| 4. Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. |
| D. The Law’s Possibility |
| 1. Leviticus 18:5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD. |
| 2. Matthew 19:17 So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." |
| 3. Romans 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "THE MAN WHO DOES THOSE THINGS SHALL LIVE BY THEM." |
| E. The Law’s Impossibility |
| 1. Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. |
| 2. Acts 13:39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. |
| 3. Galatians 3:11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." |
| 4. Galatians 2:16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. |
| 5. Galatians 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. |
| F. The Law’s Frailty |
| 1. Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, |
Romans 7:1
1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? Paul is speaking to his Jewish brothers and to us. He is stating the Law has dominion over a person that is attempting to live by the Law. Law meaning the Ten Commandments, Levitical laws, laws the Jewish people devised, manmade laws, and modern day religious laws. If a person isn’t living under Grace through faith in Jesus Christ and what He did at the Cross, then they are living by law which guarantees eternal failure. How are you living, by Faith or Law?
Did you know we even make up our own laws to live by? It’s true, and here is how it works. You have a daily routine and part of that routine is spending time reading the Bible or praying at a certain time and for a specified length of time. When something happens to your schedule and you miss this time or have to cut it short you become upset. Why did you get upset? Because you made a law out of your ritualistic routine. Breaking your routine is like breaking a Commandment. You get conviction of your failure to comply. This is exactly what law is suppose to do. I have heard of churches requiring their congregation to fast because of it being a certain time of the year or a special season coming up. This is living by law and not faith. If a person is living by faith the Holy Spirit will lay it on a believers heart to fast. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is perfectly OK to ask a congregation to pray about or for something, but to make it a custom every year and at the same time each year, it turns into law when God’s word doesn’t teach it.
The truth of the matter is that we all fall into the trap of the law. Many times we trust in our own laws and efforts instead of trusting in God. Our self sufficiency is our worst enemy which is embedded within our DNA when we came into this world. The Sin Nature! Many times we chide others for their actions while we do the same thing. We claim to be trusting in Jesus, but in reality we are leaning on our own flesh. It is all so subtle and religious it deceives many.
Satan loves it when we follow our fleshly laws. Why, because he knows there is no victory in living this way, this lifestyle will get progressively worse, and he will have you in his kingdom some day. He also loves it when we are religious, and even loves it more as we age and become very religious. He knows the longer we stay in the religious mode invariable we will not come out of it, because change is difficult. Our human nature is to oppose change, if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Satan knows there is no salvation in religion and as long as a person stays bound by religion he owns them. When a person truly believes in Jesus, what he did at the Cross, and has a spiritual birth the battle begins. Satan recruits and sends forth his army of Christian law keepers (Non-believers meaning they know who Jesus is as a part of history.) to ridicule, berate, and tell the believer they have gone crazy. Invariably this lifestyle change in the Born Again Christian will cause division between the believer and his family, friends, and people he works with. Believe me this is very true. This has happened to me by family, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, coworkers, etc. They tell me to stay under law of the religion I was raised in, but I can’t because I have the truth living within me and my faith is in Jesus Christ. I have given up on any religion for salvation, but not on Jesus, I love Jesus more now than I ever have. I belong to the one and only true church that Jesus started through the Acts of the Apostles, but attend a church while still here on earth to fellowship with other Born Again Christians in the task of spreading the Gospel. Jesus tells us as does the apostle John that when a person becomes a true believer there will be division.
Luke 12:51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.
John 7:43 So there was a division among the people because of Him.
John 9:16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them.
John 10:19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.
It sounds like to me that the Ten Commandments that God gave us, causes us to sin more, doesn’t it? Why didn’t God give us the capability to obey the Commandments? If the commandments cause us to sin more, then how can they be called good? God knows everything and knew we would respond the wrong way, so why?
| 1. The commandments are good they will lead us in the right direction to live our life, but it is our inherited sin nature that gets in the way. Our pride, not listening, not believing, do it my way, your wrong, my way is better, arrogance, greed, I’m better than you, this makes me happy, this pleases my flesh, the list goes on and on and on. |
| 2. The Ten Commandments are to draw us to God like Epsom salt draws infection out of a wound. Instead our flesh/sin nature being of the evil one sets up a detour and sends us down another path and we get lost in corruptness which leads to more corruptness and a spiral downward. |
| 3. The Ten Commandments purpose was to point out sin, show us our inadequacies, and they do if we heed them. |
| 4. The Ten Commandments is a guide for an ideal lifestyle. |
| 5. The Ten Commandments covers all the aspects of life economically, physically, socially, and spiritually. |
| 6. The Ten Commandments addresses our relationship with God (Exodus 20:3-11 "You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.) and our fellow humans (Exodus 20:12-17 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 13 "You shall not murder. 14 "You shall not commit adultery. 15 "You shall not steal. 16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."). |
So in conclusion of this verse it sounds like a person can be saved by obeying the Ten Commandments, but that is humanly impossible because of our flesh/sin nature. There was a remnant of OT patriarchs that recognized the purpose of the Ten Commandments, and if you study their life, you will see they placed their faith in God to see them through life.
This is why God sent his only begotten Son to atone for our sins so that we will have a way to salvation through Jesus Christ, which is the only way. This is what we celebrated last weekend, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Knowing this and putting our faith is this not law or religion will get us to Heaven. As I have stated before, our life here on earth is a test of our free will, and what we chose to do with it, determines where we will spend eternity.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Unless you are Born Again, you cannot enter into Heaven, the Kingdom of God."
Bill
Last Week’s Trivia: What is fruit in a person’s life?
Answer: When a person puts their faith in Jesus and what transpired at the Cross. A new nature is born within the individual and the result is good fruit. Galatians 5:19-23 NLT W hen you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 2 Corinthians 9:10; Ephesians 5:8-10; Philippians 1:9-11; Colossians 1:9-10; James 3:17-18.
This week’s Trivia: What does this phrase actually mean? He led captivity captive. Ephesians 4:8
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