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Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me, where else but to Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. And really, my hope is to be able to finish chapter 7. Then we'll break for the summer and jump back into Romans 8 as we come to the fall.
I would encourage you, as we're making our way through this part of Romans, especially that because for many people, while you may have heard parts of the concepts, you may not have ever fully understood what we're looking at, what we're talking about. And so, to that end, to listen to the message again, to go on the James River app. And the advantage of the app is you can get a copy of the notes even right now. You can go on the app, you can have the notes there, which will assist you in listening because you'll have it right in front of you. Review the notes, listen to the message. And really, my hope is this: that the content that I'm sharing with you would make its way from your head to your heart and would be life-changing. Because I believe Romans chapter 5, 6, 7, and all of Romans has the opportunity to do that. All of God's Word does, but especially this, because this is foundational in our understanding. This is a very essential, very important chapter. In fact, I would suggest to you that most of our troubles in the Christian life are due to a failure when it comes to our walk with God and processing God's work and a walk in grace by the power of the Spirit. Most of our troubles come as a result of a failure to grasp what we have here in Romans chapter 7.
In Romans chapter 7, we have written for us one of the most profound analyses of sin, the psychology of sin, how sin works, what sin does, that you find anywhere in Scripture. In fact, a lot of people have spent their time debating whether or not the person that Paul describes in Romans 7 is a Christian or not, which is to miss the point entirely of the chapter. And I would suggest that if people don't get a hold of Romans chapter 7, when we come to one of the greatest statements in Scripture in Romans chapter 8, people rejoice momentarily and move on because it's not real to them. The statement I'm talking about is Romans chapter 8, verse 1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And what happens is, because a lot of Christians have not grasped the reason why there is no condemnation, they read that, they rejoice, but then they look at their own life and experience and say, "Yeah, but I still felt condemned." And because they don't understand the "why," they're not ever able to put it together in their heart the reality and the celebration of what Paul is saying in Romans chapter 8 and verse 1.
Well, Romans chapter 7 provides us the most complete statement in Scripture on both the function of the law and the place of the law in the life of the believer. And this too is critical. And when we're talking about the law, and this is a chapter on the law, you're gonna see "law" mentioned over and over again. What we're talking about is not just the Ten Commandments. It certainly could include that. It's not just the principles of Scripture, though it certainly would include that. But when we're talking about law, we're talking about it in the most general sense of the term. We're talking about that sense of what is right and what is wrong that even if a person does not know the Bible, there is a law. We learned in Romans chapter 2 that is written on the human heart, so that all people are without excuse when it comes to the judgment of God.
As we saw Romans chapter 6, we saw these two verses: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we're not under law but under grace?" What does it mean to be under law? And we saw this: under law is keeping rules so you can be righteous in God's sight. A person is living under the law. And honestly, everybody outside of Christ, before you come to Christ, everybody is under the law. Everybody will be judged by the law on the final day, on the judgment. Revelation chapter 20, it says John says, "I saw the books opened and the dead were there." And everybody was judged. Who's not a Christian was judged based on what they had done, as was recorded in the books. The law then will judge everyone.
But when you come to Christ, you're now under grace. Here's the problem for a lot of Christians: they are under grace, but they live as if they're under the law. What does that mean? Keeping rules so you can be righteous in God's sight. In other words, when if you view God's law as a means of giving you right standing with God, then you are under the law. If you have this idea, "Well, if I do this, this, and this, then it's good between me and God," and and you begin to incorporate that into your thinking, into your living, then you, even though you are under grace, are living as though you're under the law.
And many Christians live there. To be under grace means that I understand all my righteousness comes as a gift from Christ. That I'm righteous, that I have right standing with God because of what Jesus did, not because of what I do. So, a lot of people are saved, they're justified, which means all their sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. Which means they are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. They are walking by faith. But then what happens is they are told by well-meaning people, and it's not bad to tell people this and to coach people, but they are told, "Here's some things that will help you grow in your walk with God." That's good. What happens though is as that instruction is given, it's like, you know, "If you do these certain things, and this is good." There's nothing wrong with that. I'm just simply emphasizing the danger in it. That we have to be careful how we hear it, and we have to be careful how we teach it. So that, so that what happens is you get saved and somebody says, "Okay, here's some things that will help you." "Pray, man, pray every day." "Start every day praying, or at night pray." That's a good thing to do, right? Everybody, if we all understand that's good. "Read your Bible." That's another good thing to do. "Read your Bible every day." That's a really good thing to do. Get the Word of God in you. "Go to church." That's a good thing to do. "Serve in a ministry." That's a good thing to do. And all the different things we might add to that list.
And then we might also encourage something, and there's some things you shouldn't do. There are some things that don't help you. There's some things that are not constructive. There's some things that don't honor Christ. Those then are what we might call the tools of discipleship. But if we're not careful, and if we don't understand thoroughly, clearly in our head, in our heart, what was accomplished for us at the moment of our salvation, what can happen is we can find ourselves drifting. We can find ourselves hearing teaching that inadvertently or subtly moves us from a place where the tools of discipleship become the rules of discipleship. Find ourselves saying, "Did you pray?" "Well, no." "Yeah, well, I overslept today." "You read your Bible?" "Well, I didn't have time." "Pray, how can I read my Bible?" "Well, how do you think God's gonna, how is God gonna hear from you, and how is God gonna help you if you never spent any time with him?" "Oh, yeah, you're right." "Yeah, I get that." And what happens is you begin to put yourself back under the law, where you view God's law, keeping his law, as a means of giving you right standing with God.
Here's a problem with putting yourself back under the law, or having a rules-oriented Christianity. And many people, not so much today, but many people grew up, "I got saved and then went to Bible College." Went to Bible College, learned a lot, but what happened is much of it became rules-oriented. "You do this, you don't do this." And, and it was very regimented. Round rules, which if you're a disciplined person, initially, really works to your strengths. "I'll keep the rules." But here's the problems that you come into. First of all, it creates a competitive spirit. "I can keep rules better than you can." "Are you keeping the rules?" "Well, yeah, I'm keeping the rules. I don't do this. Do you do that?" "I'm God, do you follow?" You begin to find yourself competing with other people. You're watching them, and you're saying, "Well, they're doing that." And there's this competition.
Second, if that facilitates a judgmental attitude toward others. So all of a sudden, what happens is now you're looking at something, you're saying, "They're not keeping the rules the way I'm keeping the rules. What's up with them?" And you find yourself saying, "You know what? They're not as good a Christian. They're not as devoted." Which translated, "They don't love Jesus as much as I do."
Third, it encourages people to do the minimum. Because if I reduce Christianity to a list of rules, and it's all about keeping rules, then people start asking this question, "Well, can I do that and still be saved?" "Yeah, is this allowed?" "Can I go here? Can I do this? Can I say that?" And we negotiate things down to the bare minimum. Life of serving Christ instead of being, "You have all of me, and I just want to love you with all that's within me." It's, "How much do I have to do to still be in a good place with you?"
Number four, it returns a person to a works-righteous mentality. Because all of a sudden now, now it's all about, "I do this, I do this." And if I do, what I feel good. And I can go to prayer meeting, and I can feel like God's going to hear me, and I can feel like, "Hey, it's all good with me and God." And I've got this peace. That is a pseudo peace because it's a peace based on what I've done, rather than a peace based on the presence of the Lord in my life. It's a fake peace.
Number five, it fosters feelings of personal condemnation. So that now, you know, because here's the deal, even if you're a very disciplined person, there are going to be places where you can't keep the rules. Then what? You broke the rule. You didn't keep through. You didn't keep the standard God. That's that's how you felt it was good between you and God. But now the sudden you feel condemned. You felt like, "Wow, I mean, I'm a failure." All of those feelings start.
Number six, it diminishes assurance of salvation. This is especially true if a person looks at their life and says, "Wow, I, I appear to be breaking rules all over the place. It doesn't seem like I can ever get it right. Is Christ really working in me at all?" And if he's not, then maybe it's because I'm not a Christian. Or somebody breaks what they consider a big rule, and then they conclude, "Well, I must have never been saved in the first place."
And finally, what it does, number seven, it robs a Christian of joy. And all of those reasons we just walked through are the very reason a person has no joy. And they find Christianity to be a burden. And there's some of you that checked out from the church because you're like, "You know, I just can't do it. And the rules are just too much. And I just, it's just, I just feel like a failure all the time. And I got tired of feeling that way."
Paul is going to show us something about our relationship to the law that because of what Jesus did, and because we're in Christ, we are in a new relationship. And we can't go back to the law. Now, as we look at this, I'm gonna give you just four points. It's, it's not super complicated, but you guys are gonna want to hang with me because this is, this is the foundation for the balance of the chapter. Four points.
The first one is the axiom. What is an axiom? An axiom is a self-evident truth. It's something that, that is just generally accepted as common knowledge. Look at it, Romans chapter 7, verse 1: "Or do you not know?" So Paul is saying, "Listen, everybody ought to know this. Surely you know this. We all know this." And as you hear it, you're gonna say, "Yeah, I get that. I know that." "I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives." Everybody there. You, when you're dead, you don't have to obey the speed limit. That's really good news for some of you. You'll be able to speed all over heaven. It's gonna be an awesome thing for you. In other words, everybody knows this, that the law only has jurisdiction over a person as long as they are alive. For example, if a person is driving while intoxicated, causes an auto accident, and is killed in that accident, tragic. The police officer does not write the dead person a ticket for DUI. The law only applies to those for life. That's the principle. Everybody on that.
Second point. Boy, we're making great progress. Look at this. Ten minutes into it, and I'm on point two. Can you believe it? Come on. The analogy. Now, Paul says, "Here's the principle. Now I'm going to give you an analogy." And Paul uses an analogy to explain the Christian's relationship to the law. The analogy is marriage. Let me say this: what we're going to read is not a teaching on marriage. It's not Paul's thoughts on adultery. It's not Paul's thoughts on divorce. This shouldn't be used for teaching about marriage. That's not what these verses are about. Paul is saying, "Here's a point: the law only applies to living people. Does not apply to dead people." Now, let me give you a metaphor for understanding the Christian's relationship to the law. Romans chapter 7, verse 2: "For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her." When a couple gets married, they are only married for as long as they both shall live, right? The vow takes, "Till death do us part." When one of the people in a marriage dies, the marriage is over. That's the principle. Verse 3: "So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law." So again, we're not talking marriage. We're not talking about marital teaching. This isn't a message on adultery, on divorce, on remarriage. That is not the point. It may be time for a message on that, but it's not today. "If her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries." Okay, here it is. So the husband passes away, she is a widow. Now she is free from the one marriage because he died, right? She is free to marry again. Ever. That's a very simple analogy.
Now, that leads us. Are you ready for this? This is the third point. In 12 minutes, I mean, come on. This one's going to take some time. The application. Okay, so we, we've had the axiom: law only applies to living people. We've had the analogy, an illustration, you know, if you want to illustrate that law only applies, marriage only applies to people while they're alive. When they're dead, the, the marriage is over, right? Here's how Paul applies it. Now, remember, and I want to set the stage. In chapter 6, what did Paul tell us over and over and over again? That when Christ died, we did what? We died with him. Look at it, Romans chapter 6, verse 5: "For if we've been united with him in a death like his, at the cross, when he died, it was as if we died, right? When we became a Christian." Verse 6: "We know that our old self was crucified with him." It's the basis of you being a brand new person. Your old self gone, dead, crucified, laid in the tomb. He said earlier in verse 4, verse 8: "Now if we have died with Christ." Christ died, and it was as if we died. We're dead. We died. The old man gone. The old man under the law gone. The old man subject to the law gone. Gone, dead, gone, buried, gone, not gonna be resurrected. The old man's not gonna be resurrected. It's the brand new you, no longer under the law.
Now look at it, verse 4, Romans 7: "So my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ." There was only one reason Jesus died on the cross. You say, "What was that reason?" He died because of the law. So, "unreasonably," died? So he died for my sins. Well, he died for your sins because of the law. Remember Galatians chapter 4, and we won't look at this in depth because we did a few weeks ago, but "when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son" (that's Jesus), "born of a woman" (that's Mary), "born under the law to redeem those who were under the law." So being under the law, remember we said, is a really bad thing. It's bad enough that you have to be redeemed from it. You have to be saved from it. But it wasn't a bad deal for Jesus. Why wasn't it a bad deal for Jesus to be born under the law? The reason why is because he could keep the law. Remember, when you're living under the law, the law, the keeping of the law, becomes the stuff, the the baseline for your standing with God. And so if you could keep the law perfectly, you'd have good standing with God, right? Jesus kept the law perfectly. He had perfect standing with God. You and I didn't. You and I couldn't. That's why being under the law was bad, because the law would judge you. He came to redeem those under the law. As we said, everybody who's not a Christian is under the law. They'll be judged by the law, by the law they knew, by the law written on their hearts.
But here's what you have to understand about the law. When it's, when we're saying that Jesus died because of the law of God, it's simply this: God's law cannot be ignored. God's law is immutable. It is unchanging. It is established. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but not one jot or tittle of the word of God will..." Jesus said, "Don't think I came to do away with the law." He came to do what? He came to fulfill the law. So the law is there. Paul's gonna say to us later, "The law is righteous and good." But the law is God's law. It is as just as God's law is, every action of God is just. It's holy. It's righteous. And here's, here's the issue for us relative to the law: the law demands punishment of sin. And from the beginning, God said to Adam, "The day you eat, the day you disobey, the day you eat of the tree, you'll die." And over and over again in Scripture, "The soul that sins will what? Die." Listen, here's what everybody needs to understand about the forgiveness of God. God does not wink at sin. God does not say, "Well, that's a little sin, no big deal." God is not casual about sin. He does not wink at sin. And he cannot just pretend we didn't sin. Although he's loved, he cannot say, "Oh, well, I know you didn't mean it, so just consider yourself forgiven. It's good between us." To do that is not just. To do that is ignoring the law. And God cannot, because of his justice and his holiness, ignore the law. And you don't want a God who's not a just God. The law demands punishment for sin, and that punishment is death. And that is why Jesus died on the cross. Because God took our sin and placed it on him. And all of us had sinned. Jesus then came into the world to deliver us from the condemnation of the law. And here's how he did it: He was born under the law. He kept the law. He honored the law in every detail of the law. He did it on our behalf. He did it as our representative. He did it as our older brother. And he did it perfectly. Then at the cross, he took our place. He died as our representative. He took the punishment the law said our sin deserved. And when he died, it's as if we died.
Now back to Romans chapter 7. "So my brothers, you also died to the law." When Jesus died, he died to the law. Now I want you to, I want you to catch this. It's the same thing as we saw relative to sin. We died to sin. Paul says in chapter 6, "How can we live in it any longer?" We died to sin. But sin did not die. The same is true with the law. We died to the law, but the law did not die. Jesus died. When he died, it's as if we died. Jesus, in dying, satisfied the demands of the law and was finished with the law. He was no longer under the law. Why? Because when you die, the law doesn't apply to you anymore. You're dead. If you're a believer in Christ, you died with Christ. The law no longer applies. In fact, in the eyes of the law, it's as if I'm dead as a Christian. I cannot be charged with a crime. I'm dead. I'm completely free of the jurisdiction of the law. Which means the law cannot accuse me, and the law cannot condemn me. Which is why there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. I mean, I died, but I'm free from the law. The law has no jurisdiction over me. Therefore, the law cannot condemn me.
Now, Romans chapter 7, verse 4: "So my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead." Now, remember the analogy that Paul is using is marriage. And in his analogy, what he is saying is, he's saying, "Before you came to Christ, it was as if you were married to the law." You and the law were married. You had that relationship. The law and you had a marriage. But let's just say it wasn't the best marriage we've ever seen. It was a contentious marriage. The law kept telling you, "Do this, do this, do this, do this, do this." And you're like, "I want to, because I'm married to you." "Better." And then the law would say, "But you didn't do this. And if you're gonna be married to me, I expect you to do that." "No elbowing your spouse." The law is saying, "You missed a spot on the window there." The law is saying, "You're a bit of a failure over here." The law is saying, "You know what? You don't look very beautiful this morning, or you're not very handsome. And I don't understand. You've let yourself go. What's the matter with you?" The law was very hard to get along with. And you were no bowl of cherries yourself. But now you died. You died. You're free from that marriage. That marriage is over. That marriage is gone. And now you're married to Christ. You have a new marriage. And the Scripture talks about this. Remember Ephesians chapter 5? Wish we had time, we'd just spend the rest of our time talking about our marriage relationship with Christ. Ephesians chapter 5, or Revelation chapter 19. I mean, this is when this is when you're having the big wedding party. I mean, this is Revelation chapter 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb. I mean, this is when it's gonna be like, awesome, awesome, awesome. So Scripture repeatedly compares our relationship to Christ as one of a marriage.
Now, what are the consequences of being married to Christ? What it, how does that play out? Let me just give you a few.
One: You must no longer live to please your old husband, the law. Now, a Christian who continues to feel the condemnation of the law, a Christian who continues to hear the voice of the law directing them, dictating to them, is like a wife who was widowed has now been remarried, but keeps hearing the voice of her first husband. I mean, can you be, can you imagine being married to a person like that? And maybe some of you are, and I highly recommend counseling. I mean, can you imagine their first spouse having died, but now you're married to a person, and they're dressing in the way their first spouse liked? "Oh, my first spouse, I wore this." "Sure, they're dead. They can't see you." "Oh, my first spouse loved, loved this meal. I like steak, not tofu." Come on, dear. I'm saying, can you imagine being in that kind of relationship where, where your spouse is constantly serving the spouse they were formerly married to? Listen, you must no longer live to please your old husband, the law. You died. You're in a new marriage. You got a, you got a new marriage. You're married to Christ. You can't be walking with Christ as if you're still under the law. You're under grace. It's a whole different game plan. It's a whole different way of looking at life. You've been so used to looking at life through the lens of being under the law that that's how you're walking with Christ. And Christ is saying, "Timeout. That's not good."
Second: You live to please Christ. Listen, you know anybody who's married understands that you live to please your mate. I'm a married to that. There are things I know she likes. There's things I know she doesn't like. I stay away from the things she doesn't like, try to do the things she does, and it makes my life really nice. Do you know what I'm saying? She does the same thing. It's how you roll in any marriage. If you don't have that dynamic, if you don't have a heart to please your mate, then your marriage isn't gonna work.
Number three: You celebrate your union with Christ. In a marriage, one of the two become one flesh, right? You're united. There's a, there's a unity, there's a oneness. So that like, the longer you're married, I mean, Debbie and I, we will, we will regularly find ourselves. One person says something, and the other one was already thinking it or thinking about it. Isn't that just like it's a, it's a part of your oneness? Your the togetherness. You're able to complete one another's sentences. You know what? Know one another's thinking. Know how one another feels. There's that oneness.
Number four: You rest in the fact it's a permanent relationship. It's a permanent relationship. And you are a part of the family. Me as part of the family, Debbie knows when she goes with me to see my mom, that from day one, if she wants to open the refrigerator, do it. You're part of the family. I mean, it's, do it. If I am over at her parents' house, and I want to go to the fridge area, I'm gonna, I'm a part of the family. I'm, I'm their son-in-law. It's permanent. It's not gonna change. It, it is, it is their.
Number five: You recognize that you'll rule and reign with Christ. You recognize that, you know what, this marriage is forever, and we're gonna reign together. And we're gonna, it'd be like this in a marriage. That when, when God established Adam and Eve in the garden, he gave them a co-regency. He was the king, she was the queen, and they were gonna govern the whole earth. Debbie and I, she's the queen of our home, I'm the king of our home, and we're both serving King Jesus, and we rule and reign together.
Number six: You bear fruit. Romans 7, verse 4, what says, "So my brothers, you also died." There's a lot, you're out of that marriage, you got a new one. "So that you may belong to another" (that's Jesus), "you're married to Jesus who's been raised from the dead." In order "that we might bear fruit to God." When we were married, and we're going to see this, when we were married to the law, the law was impotent. Here's what, here's what Paul will say. Do the, the problem in the marriage was the law had an inability to overcome the weakness of our flesh to produce fruit. And that's what you're going to see happening in Romans 7. The guy wants to do it, but he can't do it. "The things I want to do, I can't do. The things I don't want to do, those are the things that I do." That's what life under the law is like. The law was powerless to overcome our flesh. But now that you and I are married to Christ, one of the things when God published marriage, he said, "Multiply and fill the earth." Procreation is a part, in a general sense, not everybody's allowed that opportunity or that blessing, not every married couple for a variety of reasons. But as a general rule, a part of the purpose biblically of marriage is you produce fruit, that you create offspring. And what is the fruit that we produce? That Christ, he's so powerful in us that he's able to do what the law could never do. By the power of the Spirit, he's able to produce fruit. What kind of fruit does he produce? How about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience? How about that? How about you go back to Romans chapter 6, verse 22, and he helps us produce the one thing that, that salvation should produce, and that's holiness. That's sanctification. Sanctification. But now that you've been set free from sin and become slaves to God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification. How? I'm married to Christ, and they, and the offspring of that union to Christ is a lifestyle of holiness. I didn't try to do it. And I'm not saying there's not an effort. It's God is at work in you. Philippians chapter 2, "Now work out your salvation with fear and trembling." We'll get to that. I'm just simply saying that you couldn't work it out on your own, no matter what. But that you, it's impossible. But now that you're married to Christ, now that Christ is at work in you, now that his procreative power is at work in you, all of a sudden you're able to do what you could never do before. Do you get it? It's amazing.
Well, Romans chapter 7, verse 5: "When we were controlled by our old nature." So that's the old you. That's the you that was in Adam. "Sinful desires were at work within us." Let me just say this about the sinful desires, so you understand this. There are human desires that, prior to Adam's sinning, they're a part of our humanity. So the desire to, for safety, for security, sexual desire, they're there. Certain desires, appetites, hunger. And prior to sin entering the world, Adam was able to keep all of those in check and to beautifully control them in a balance that honored Christ and sustained life and brought life. And we're in working in tandem with God's purpose for Adam. But when sin entered the world, suddenly everything was inverted. And instead of Adam directing his passions, sin reigned. Sin ruled. And sin reigned where it reigned in the passions of Adam. That's what this is saying. "When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us. And the law aroused these evil desires." The, the law powerfully stimulated them, powerfully worked them, and produced the harvest of sinful deeds resulting in death. You say, "How did the law do that?" First of all, it, it defines sin. Verse that told us what sin was. And the problem is, once you know what sin is, all of a sudden you're like, "That's wrong. Sounds fun." John, I'm saying something about the pleasure of the forbidden in human nature. Something about being told something's wrong that suddenly makes you want to say, "Well, I think I'd like to do that. I've never thought of that." Sin seizes that opportunity and says, "No one can tell you. Hey, don't tell me I can't do that. You tell me I can't do that? I'm about, I'm gonna go show. I'll show you I can do it." That's the law. Sin now seizing the opportunity of the law saying that's wrong, since saying, "Hey, nobody should tell you what's wrong. You can do what you want. You're a dime. It doesn't matter. It's not gonna hurt anybody. Come on, have some fun. Loosen up. Don't be so tight."
That leaves us the third point. I want you to see it's called this: the advantage. Now, we're married to Christ. Let's look at verse 6. "But now we've been released from the law, for we died to it. We're no longer captive to its power." The law has no jurisdiction. It doesn't have any power over you. It can't incite that same kind of response in you that it did before you were a Christian. Because now you have the capacity not to sin. You're not controlled by sinful passions. Because now sin doesn't rule you. What does grace do? And it's no longer you trying to produce a righteousness that pleases God, but Christ has already produced that, and he is producing it simultaneously in you. Now we can serve God not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law. Here's the old way: "Do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this." "Did you miss that one phrase?" "Do this." "Oh, and make sure you keep it perfectly. Make sure you don't miss one little, one little detail, because if you miss a little detail, you're guilty of it all." Talk about tyranny. But we serve God in the new way of living in the Spirit. This is, this is amazing.
Let me give you just, we'll close here in just a moment, but let me give you some differences between the old way and the new way. The old way under the law, the old way before you came to Christ, the old way you could call it the Old Covenant. The old way versus the new way under grace. Let me give you seven things.
Number one: The old way was external. The new way is internal. The old way, everything was outside. It was, "Do this, do this, do this, do this." You established your righteousness by what you did on the outside, not by what you were on the inside. In the new, it's internal. Listen to this: "I will not, I will put Hebrews chapter 8, my laws in their minds and I'll write them on their hearts." And the Old Covenant, they were right, ten tablets of stone that were placed in the tent of meeting. Do you remember that? And their only access to, every now and then, and only by a few people, and once a year, read to everybody. And you were accountable to do it all. The new way, God says, "Huh, I'm gonna put it in you. I'm gonna write it in here. I'm gonna write it on there."
Number two: The old way was a veiled understanding. The new way is clearly understood. This is what Paul is talking about in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3. "Yes, even today when they read Moses' writing." So he's talking about people who have not come to Christ. "Their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." "For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom." You know, the man without the Spirit does not understand spiritual things. They are spiritually discerned. He cannot understand them. 1st Corinthians chapter 2. I mean, we can instantly. We understand things we haven't understood. When you come to Christ, you have an understanding.
Let me give you another one. Number three: The old way was concerned with the letter of the law. The new way is concerned with the spirit of law. This is what makes for a Pharisee. When people are more concerned about keeping the rule than they are the heart and the intent behind the rule. You see Jesus addressing this in the Sermon on the Mount. "Watch, you've heard it said, you've heard the commandment that says, 'You must not commit adultery.'" He says, "But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." So they were saying, "You know, listen, I'm not committing adultery." But their heart was filled with lust, and they were imagining, imagining sexual relations with all kinds of women. That Jesus says, "Listen, you thought it was all external, but it sits on the inside too. It's, it's not just the external, it's not just the letter of the law." This spirit is. But you wouldn't even have that in your heart. Back then, Romans chapter 13, Paul's gonna say, "If you love your neighbor, you'll fulfill the requirements of God's law." Very, very simple. Just love God, love your neighbor. Everything takes care of itself. And then he goes on and explains that.
Number four: The old way was motivated by fear. It's a very interesting. The new way is motivated by love. Watch as Hebrews chapter 12, the writer of Hebrews is saying, "You've not come to a physical mountain." He's talking about when the children of Israel were at Mount Sinai, and they got the Ten Commandments. He says, "You've not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai." Look at this. God comes down on the mountain, righteous, holy, awesome, just God. And the place burns with fire, and it shakes, and there's an earthquake, and there's dark clouds, and God speaks to them. And when he speaks to them, two million people are scared out of their mind. They're so scared. You can read about it in the Old Testament. They're so scared that they say to Moses, they say, "Listen, don't ever let that happen again. You go, you listen to him, and then you come back and tell us what he said. Because if we have God speak to us in audible form or voice again, we're dead." And God said, "What they're saying is good. They're probably right." "For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking to them." "The person who says, 'Roger, I could, I could have been there and I could have heard it.'" Think again. "Well, I don't think I'd have been scared." "Hey, you're not E. You're not all that stuff." They staggered back under God's command. "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death." And Moses himself was so frightened at the sight of that, he said, "I'm terrified and trembling." That's how it was. God was behind a curtain. God was distant. And if you came near him, you could die. The tighter a rope on to the high priest's foot, lest when he got into the holy of holies, once a year, after offering sacrifice, somehow he had sinned and was struck down, and they had to pull him out with rope. That's how it was in the old way. "No, you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the Living God, to New Jerusalem, and countless angels joyfully assembling, and God saying, 'Welcome home. Well done, good and faithful servant.'" That's a whole different way of approaching God. The old way under the law, number 5, was weak because of the flesh. The new way is powerful because of the Spirit. "For God has done what the law, weak because of the flesh, could not do by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." So now all of a sudden, we're walking according to the Spirit, and the righteous requirement of the law is automatically fulfilled. It's the offspring. It's the holiness. It's the fruit of righteousness. It's, you know what? You came to Christ, and all of a sudden you were a different person. So, "I really didn't happen to me then you're not saved." If you came to Christ and it didn't change you, then you're not changed. And if you're not changed, you're not saved. This is, I mean, it's that simple. "If anyone's in Christ, they're a new creation. The old is passed away." Dad, you died. It's a whole new you from the inside out. If that didn't happen, it's because you're not saved. That's it. And if you are saved, then anybody who's saved understands when you got saved, it changed things. I can remember when I gave my heart to Christ, and I can remember my friends asking me to do things, like things I wanted to do, things I planned to do, things I thought would be great fun to do. All of a sudden, I just didn't want to do it. It's the change.
Well, number six, I'm gonna have the musicians come. The old way brought death. The new way brings supernatural life. "He has made us competent ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Now, if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, I mean, how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be?
And number seven: The old mankind, the old way, mankind was a slave to fear. The new way brings the spirit of sonship. If you're afraid of God, you're living under the law. You're a Christian who's still under law. You're acting like you're married to some, you died. That marriage is over. Because when you have come to Christ, what happens is you're no longer a slave to fear, but you're a son or a daughter of God. Sonship is used there not because God is against women, it's used there because it's talking about inheritance. That's the issue. And in that day, in Roman times, if you, if you were not a son, you couldn't inherit. And so what he's saying is, he's saying, "You get the full inheritance." That's implied there. That's part of that terminology. But the whole issue is, you don't have to be afraid. You say, "Daddy." The God who was distant, the God who was separated, that God who, when he came down on Sinai, scared everybody to death, suddenly you're changed. And he approaches you. You approach him differently. The way has been made open by Jesus Christ. And he comes in beside you and he says, "Father, I want to introduce you to my brother. I want to introduce you to my sister." And the Father says, "I've, I've been waiting for this moment. I've been waiting for this moment. But I could love you as a son or a daughter, and you could know me as the Father." Maybe you never had it.
Listen, to be in Christ, this is the walk of grace. This is the joy. This is the freedom. As a Christian, you've been set free from the law. I can't condemn you. You aren't under the law. You're under love. You're married to Jesus, the one who took our place, died for us, that we might be free. And so we make it our aim to please him because we loved him so much, because he first loved us. It's a whole new way. It's the end of rules-dominated walking with God, and the beginning of grace-filled relationship with Christ.
I know there's some of you, and you struggle with what I'm saying because, like, "Are you encouraging people to sin? You're telling people to ignore the, the law and the rules. What's the matter with you? I mean, you're making it sound like the law was bad. Was the law sinful?" What's Paul gonna say in the very next verse? "No." And we're gonna get to all the rest of it and how all of that works. But I just simply want to say this: you need to understand your relationship to Christ and your relationship to the law, or you will experience the hopelessness unnecessarily of the rest of Romans 7. Read it, and you don't want to be there. Christ produces in us a life that is pleasing to God as we cooperate with him, as we're married to him, a more wonderful husband than the law ever could be.