Released From The Law (Romans 7:1-6)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.439 --> 00:00:05.160 If you're a will please remain standing and let's hear God's word. Now from 2 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:15.630 Romans Chapter Seven. Romans seven, the for just the first few verses, 3 00:00:18.070 --> 00:00:23.339 verses one through six. Roman seven one through six. Or do you not 4 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:26.940 know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, 5 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:31.500 that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives. 6 00:00:32.659 --> 00:00:36.130 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while she lives, 7 00:00:36.689 --> 00:00:41.530 but if her husband dies, she's released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, 8 00:00:41.729 --> 00:00:44.890 she will be called an adultress if she lives with another man while her 9 00:00:44.890 --> 00:00:49.729 husband is alive, but if her husband dies, she's free from that law, 10 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:55.359 and if she marries another man, she is not an adultress. Likewise, 11 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:59.200 my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of 12 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:03.880 Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been 13 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:07.109 raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God, 14 00:01:08.430 --> 00:01:12.989 for while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by 15 00:01:14.030 --> 00:01:18.349 the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 16 00:01:19.700 --> 00:01:23.140 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held 17 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:27.579 US captive, so that we may serve in the new way of the spirit 18 00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:34.049 and not in the old way of the written code. My God bless his 19 00:01:34.129 --> 00:01:45.689 word to us. Please be seated. When Paul begins this section of his 20 00:01:45.890 --> 00:01:51.879 letter, he brings up a concept that you may or may not have given 21 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:56.159 much thought to, and that's ignorance. It's something that came up in First 22 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:01.909 Peter. To First Peter as well. Ignorance. Remember what we just read 23 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:07.069 there in First Peter, Verse Fourteen, one hundred and fourteen. He says, 24 00:02:07.069 --> 00:02:12.550 do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Do not 25 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:17.300 be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. He says, conduct yourselves 26 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:23.300 with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you are ransomed from 27 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:27.659 the feudal ways you inherited from your Fath forefathers. And he goes on to 28 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:32.129 describe other things that we are to know. Now some things, whether you 29 00:02:32.210 --> 00:02:36.409 know them are not, don't really matter a lot. It's okay to be 30 00:02:36.490 --> 00:02:40.810 ignorant about some things. We can't know everything. It's impossible. There may 31 00:02:40.889 --> 00:02:46.000 be a small way in which certain things matter for a certain period of time 32 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:51.240 or do a certain group of people, but not everything is always in the 33 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:57.039 equally important to everyone. It's okay to let some things go, but there 34 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:01.229 are other things in life that are very dangerous to let go, very dangerous 35 00:03:01.870 --> 00:03:07.509 to not know. We live here in the desert, if we let our 36 00:03:07.750 --> 00:03:15.659 little children sort of run free and don't warn them about the dangers of snakes 37 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:21.780 and thorns and these kinds of things, it's a bad thing not to know 38 00:03:21.979 --> 00:03:24.180 that, and if you don't know it, you'll find it out quickly. 39 00:03:25.979 --> 00:03:30.770 You might think of other kinds of things, similar things, maybe weather related 40 00:03:30.889 --> 00:03:38.090 things. This is why early warning detection systems are so needed and so helpful 41 00:03:38.330 --> 00:03:44.319 for tsunamis and earthquakes, tornadoes. When you don't know that a tornado is 42 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.520 about to hit your house, it's a dangerous thing. If you know it, 43 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:51.560 however, it's a really great thing. You can prepare for it, 44 00:03:51.759 --> 00:04:00.229 you can get ready, or you could think of positive examples where ignorance could 45 00:04:00.229 --> 00:04:05.069 be a good bad thing. I rather I'm imagine quitting your job moments before 46 00:04:05.229 --> 00:04:09.349 your boss is about to give you the promotion that you've been waiting for. 47 00:04:09.990 --> 00:04:17.180 If only I'd known. Or imagine receiving a gift card from a from a 48 00:04:17.220 --> 00:04:21.180 friend for Christmas or something, and you think it's just five bucks or something 49 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:25.889 like that, it doesn't really matter, not knowing that there's five hundred dollars 50 00:04:25.970 --> 00:04:32.050 there for you to spend. Ignorance can be costly, it can hurt or 51 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:41.920 you can miss out on important things. Well, if that's true of these 52 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:49.199 earthly things of weather and money and landscape, how much more true of eternal 53 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:57.870 things, of knowing God? Listen, for example, to Paul's words and 54 00:04:57.949 --> 00:05:02.790 second Thessalonians, Chapter One, verses seven through eight. He speaks and he 55 00:05:02.829 --> 00:05:10.220 says and to grant relief, yes, I'm right here, and to grant 56 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:13.220 relief to those of you who are afflicted as well as to us. And 57 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:16.180 then he talks about some ignorance. He says, when the Lord Jesus is 58 00:05:16.379 --> 00:05:24.329 revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those 59 00:05:24.410 --> 00:05:30.050 who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of 60 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:33.170 our Lord Jesus. These people, Paul says, who do not know God, 61 00:05:33.329 --> 00:05:39.600 when the Lord Jesus comes again, they will suffer punishment of eternal destruction, 62 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:45.279 away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his M Paul 63 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:49.509 says, an effesions for a team that the gentiles are darkened in their understanding, 64 00:05:49.589 --> 00:05:57.629 alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance, the ignorance that 65 00:05:57.829 --> 00:06:02.149 is in them, due to their hardness of heart. So, to make 66 00:06:02.230 --> 00:06:06.420 the point again or to summarize, there are some things that it's okay to 67 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:11.899 be ignorant about. So Ky to look up how much air pressure goes in 68 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:14.459 your tires every time you need to fill them up. But it's not that 69 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:18.490 big of a deal. But when it comes to knowing God, when it 70 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:24.050 comes to knowing the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we do not 71 00:06:24.370 --> 00:06:29.089 know them, if you remain ignorant about them, if you don't know them 72 00:06:29.170 --> 00:06:34.879 and walk in them, then when the Lord Jesus comes, eternal destruction is 73 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:42.680 promised, flaming fire and as mighty angels. These are things you must know. 74 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:46.790 So when Paul says, going back to Roman seven, when he begins 75 00:06:46.910 --> 00:06:53.310 this passage and says, or do you not know, brothers, that the 76 00:06:53.389 --> 00:06:57.910 law is binding on a person only as long as he lives, and then 77 00:06:58.029 --> 00:07:01.259 reminds them of who they are as people who are not under the law but 78 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:08.019 under a state of grace, there is something very very important for you to 79 00:07:08.139 --> 00:07:15.019 know, for you to not be ignorant about. In this passage, God 80 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:20.569 announces that our salvation, or a salvation that is possible for you and Jesus 81 00:07:20.649 --> 00:07:27.329 Christ, is something that we can't be ignorant of. But the good news 82 00:07:27.370 --> 00:07:30.759 is that he teaches it to us here, so that if you are ignorant 83 00:07:30.839 --> 00:07:34.560 of these things, if you don't know what it means to be freed from 84 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:40.439 the law and under grace, to no longer be bound to the law but 85 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:46.629 to belong to Jesus Christ, then be glad you're here. Be Glad that 86 00:07:46.750 --> 00:07:49.990 the spirit speaks here. Be Glad because here he teaches us that we might 87 00:07:50.029 --> 00:07:56.230 learn. He shines a light into the darkness so that we may know. 88 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:05.300 So let's consider what he has to say. Paul here talks about a state 89 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:13.370 of being that everyone belongs to that does not know Jesus Christ as their savior, 90 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:22.329 everyone who's not been regenerated or reborn by the spirit through faith, everyone 91 00:08:22.410 --> 00:08:26.610 who is still in a state of sin and misery. This is who Paul 92 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:31.200 talks about. Any describes a being under the law. If you are not 93 00:08:31.320 --> 00:08:37.000 a Christian, this describes you. If you are a Christian, this describes 94 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:43.190 your former state. He talks about it throughout here, but especially in verses 95 00:08:43.629 --> 00:08:48.549 four through six. He describes this state of sin, state of being under 96 00:08:48.549 --> 00:08:52.950 the law. You notice it particularly in verse five. He says, while 97 00:08:54.190 --> 00:09:00.539 we were living in the flesh, are sinful passions aroused by the law were 98 00:09:00.580 --> 00:09:05.379 at work in our members to bear fruit for death. So let's take that 99 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:11.769 apart. The first thing he says is that we were those who let it. 100 00:09:11.929 --> 00:09:16.450 We're living in the flesh. What does this mean, to live in 101 00:09:16.570 --> 00:09:20.850 the flesh? The Bible uses the word flesh in both positive and negative ways, 102 00:09:20.970 --> 00:09:26.759 or maybe even neutral ways. For example, Jesus was born and took 103 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.879 on flesh. There's nothing negative about that. It means that he became incarnate, 104 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:37.000 he took on the form of a man, as Paul says in Philippians. 105 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:43.990 There's nothing evil about that, nothing nothing sinful about that. But here 106 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:48.389 Paul doesn't use it in that sense. He's not talking about flesh as in 107 00:09:48.149 --> 00:09:54.460 physical bodies, but he uses flesh and in a moral sense, and will 108 00:09:54.779 --> 00:09:58.100 in many ways throughout the rest of this letter. This is the first instance 109 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:01.820 of it here, I believe. So he talks about it in terms of 110 00:10:01.379 --> 00:10:07.129 living in a way that in you are completely given over to evil. He 111 00:10:09.049 --> 00:10:13.889 gives his own definition here. He says someone who is ruled by their sinful 112 00:10:13.929 --> 00:10:22.240 passions, passions inside, lusts and desires, not just any lusts and desires, 113 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:30.039 but evil ones, sinful ones, bad ones. This is what describes 114 00:10:30.039 --> 00:10:33.879 a person who's in a state of sin and misery. This describes a person 115 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:37.629 who isn't a Christian. They live in the flesh, they are given over 116 00:10:37.789 --> 00:10:45.509 to sin and to evil. They're ruled by their passions. This happens, 117 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:52.179 he says, because their sinful passions are aroused by the law. Now, 118 00:10:52.299 --> 00:10:54.620 the law is a good thing, he says. The Laws of course given 119 00:10:54.700 --> 00:11:01.899 to God or given by God to us for obedience. The law is a 120 00:11:01.980 --> 00:11:05.049 good thing, and he's going to talk about this more in the next passage. 121 00:11:05.610 --> 00:11:11.169 But he says, but sin, because of sinfulness, is aroused by 122 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:16.809 the law. He gives us his own example in the next passages, in 123 00:11:16.850 --> 00:11:22.639 the next passage. So take a look at verse seven. He says, 124 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:26.080 for I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had 125 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:33.309 said you shall not cove it. But sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment 126 00:11:33.669 --> 00:11:37.669 produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Again, going back to the parents 127 00:11:37.750 --> 00:11:41.070 and children example. I'm sorry if I use these too often. There's just 128 00:11:41.190 --> 00:11:46.379 so familiar to me, but it was parents. Sometimes you worry about telling 129 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:52.059 your kids not to do something, lest you suggest this thing that you know 130 00:11:52.179 --> 00:11:54.980 they're about to do. Now, I don't want you to take these cookies 131 00:11:56.059 --> 00:11:58.940 that are right here on this shelf. Okay, don't pay attention to them. 132 00:12:00.340 --> 00:12:03.009 And we what we worry about saying those kinds of things, because immediately, 133 00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:09.850 kids, what do you do? you think cookies. Ah, I 134 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:13.289 wasn't thinking about cookies before I had it, I didn't have it in my 135 00:12:13.409 --> 00:12:16.840 mind. But now, all of a sudden, even though mom said, 136 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:20.480 even though Dad said, I don't want cookies, I find myself wanting cookies 137 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:24.440 and maybe I could. And we start thinking about those things. And that's 138 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:30.309 exactly what Paul says, the Apostle Paul, this great holy man whom the 139 00:12:30.470 --> 00:12:33.269 spirit has been poured out on. What does he say? He says the 140 00:12:33.350 --> 00:12:41.909 law says, do not cove it, and immediately I starts coveting all kinds 141 00:12:41.950 --> 00:12:46.460 of covetousness. He says, not just one little kind but if this and 142 00:12:46.740 --> 00:12:50.299 it's not because of the law, as though the law were bad, he 143 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:56.059 says, but this happens because the law relates to my sinfulness. When I 144 00:12:56.340 --> 00:13:00.929 come up against the law, I don't say what a great law I think. 145 00:13:00.970 --> 00:13:03.769 I'll do it because of the sinfulness inside of us, because of our 146 00:13:05.169 --> 00:13:13.120 perversion, because of our bentness towards sin, we start going the wrong way. 147 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:22.480 Sinfulness is awakened, aroused by the law in our sinful passions start working. 148 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:30.909 So God giving his laws a good thing. And again, will consider 149 00:13:30.990 --> 00:13:33.950 this more in depth next time. But the fact that we're bound to the 150 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:39.230 law in combination that we have a sinful nature means that we are in a 151 00:13:39.549 --> 00:13:48.179 bad, bad situation. He says. We're bound to the law, not 152 00:13:48.379 --> 00:13:52.539 just in the sense of being obedient and requiring obedience, but he means we're 153 00:13:52.580 --> 00:14:00.690 under this particular covenant in which God promises good things for our obedience and promises 154 00:14:01.090 --> 00:14:07.570 curse for our disobedience. And as people who are naturally disobedient because of the 155 00:14:07.730 --> 00:14:13.600 fall and atom, we are servants of death. That's what he says. 156 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:18.039 He says again, going back to verse five, for while we were living 157 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:24.509 in the flesh, are sinful passions aroused by the law, we're at work 158 00:14:24.590 --> 00:14:33.389 in our members to bear fruit for death. Death he personifies here is kind 159 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:39.700 of this master which we are now serving. We do things in our sinful 160 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:45.379 nature, aroused by the law, that are fitting for death, in service 161 00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:52.460 to death. And perhaps you've read a story about this. This sometimes these 162 00:14:52.539 --> 00:14:58.169 characters appear, these kind of arch villains, totally evil, totally corrupt, 163 00:14:58.210 --> 00:15:03.490 terrible things, but then right next to them, their right hand man or 164 00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:09.000 woman, whatever the case is, is this sort of equally evil servant who 165 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:16.000 does everything they can to serve that master. The Servant is bound to give 166 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.120 them everything they can do and they're planning and plotting and helping in all kinds 167 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:26.350 of ways. But the personification of death here, it's this kind of thing. 168 00:15:26.549 --> 00:15:31.629 We are servants of death. We're bringing fort fruit in service of this 169 00:15:31.830 --> 00:15:39.899 kind of thing, fruit that leads to death, fruit that makes sense in 170 00:15:39.100 --> 00:15:48.820 death. And all this is explained because of our Um station, our status 171 00:15:48.980 --> 00:15:52.169 of being under the law, as long as we're under this covenant in which 172 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:58.090 God Demands Obedience, and we have already fallen in it in Adam. And 173 00:15:58.129 --> 00:16:06.519 yet and we continue to produce evil and Sin Death is the result, and 174 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:14.639 it is fittingly described as being in slavery and in Bondage. And so this 175 00:16:14.759 --> 00:16:18.110 is the state that Paul describes when he starts Chapter Seven and says, do 176 00:16:18.269 --> 00:16:22.110 you not know, brothers, for I'm speaking to those who know the law, 177 00:16:23.190 --> 00:16:29.789 that the law is binding on a person, but he says, only 178 00:16:29.830 --> 00:16:34.740 as long as he lives. So he gives this example. Now and he 179 00:16:34.820 --> 00:16:41.419 says there is this way out of this situation, this being under the law 180 00:16:41.539 --> 00:16:47.210 that every person is born into. There's a way out of it death, 181 00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:52.649 and he gives an example. Let's look at it in verse versus two and 182 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:56.490 three. He gives this example of marriage. He says, for a married 183 00:16:56.529 --> 00:17:00.720 woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her 184 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:07.279 husband dies, she was released from the law of marriage. He gives sort 185 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:12.920 of the perhaps somewhat obvious explanation of this in verse three. Accordingly, she'll 186 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:17.549 be called an adulterss if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, 187 00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:19.910 but if her husband dies, she set free from the law, and 188 00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:26.750 if she marries another man she is not an adultress. So uses this example 189 00:17:26.789 --> 00:17:32.619 of marriage to describe our relationship with the law as a whole. He says 190 00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:37.299 that a person who's married, if their spouse dies, they're no longer obligated 191 00:17:37.339 --> 00:17:42.779 to that spouse. They're free to marry another and they won't be uncalled an 192 00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:48.210 adulteress. They're free to to marry and that and that is a fine thing. 193 00:17:49.569 --> 00:17:53.490 So what could possibly free us from this bondage? Well, there's only 194 00:17:53.569 --> 00:18:00.559 one possibility. Death has to happen. But that creates something of a problem. 195 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:11.720 How are we going to die and yet be free? In other words, 196 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:15.630 in order for us to be out from under the law, the penalty 197 00:18:15.829 --> 00:18:19.950 for disobedience to the law needs to be paid. The wrath of God, 198 00:18:21.230 --> 00:18:26.750 the curse of God, needs to come against the disobedience. In addition to 199 00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:30.660 that, the righteous requirements of the law must be filled. So again, 200 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:36.779 in order to come out from under the law, the penalty for disobedience must 201 00:18:36.819 --> 00:18:42.410 be paid and the requirement for obedience must be fulfilled. This, and only 202 00:18:42.450 --> 00:18:47.250 that were this releases us from the debt of which we owe. But how 203 00:18:47.369 --> 00:18:51.930 is this possible? Because if we die the death that we deserve, well, 204 00:18:51.970 --> 00:18:57.359 then we're dead. If you are in hell and suffering eternal destruction, 205 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:04.599 well, I suppose you are released from the law, but all your feeling 206 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:10.390 now is the consequences of it. There's no getting out from that, there's 207 00:19:10.430 --> 00:19:14.990 no paying it off. The Bible does not speak of a kind of purgatory, 208 00:19:15.910 --> 00:19:22.750 an invented doctrine by men, only eternal destruction. As First Peter says, 209 00:19:23.339 --> 00:19:30.660 our death is the eternal end of us. And of course, if 210 00:19:30.700 --> 00:19:36.339 that's true, it leaves us no hope of giving exactly what's required. Not 211 00:19:36.539 --> 00:19:41.170 only can we not, not only will the penalty be always on us, 212 00:19:41.970 --> 00:19:47.569 not freeing US but eternally holding us in that, but we have no hope 213 00:19:47.650 --> 00:19:53.480 of actually paying the debt or fulfilling fulfilling the law. So how can we 214 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:59.319 be set free from under the law? Well, the answer Paul gives, 215 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:03.880 the answer which you must not be ignorant of, is that God does it 216 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:14.470 for us. God saves us by His grace. He does this without us 217 00:20:14.509 --> 00:20:18.430 deserving it, he does it without US paying the debt off, he does 218 00:20:18.549 --> 00:20:22.539 it without US fulfilling the law. By His grace he pays the debts that 219 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:30.740 DIS old, he pays the penalty for disobedience and he fulfills the righteous requirement 220 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:36.609 of the law. You see it in verse four, he says, my 221 00:20:36.849 --> 00:20:45.809 brothers, you also have died to the law. What you have died to 222 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:51.079 the law? You are no longer under the law because you have died. 223 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:59.359 How? He says, through the body of Christ, so that you may 224 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:03.279 belong to another. That goes he picks up on his marriage analogy. There 225 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:06.829 he says, you have died to the law so that you may belong to 226 00:21:06.910 --> 00:21:12.670 Christ. And we died to the law through Christ. My brothers, you 227 00:21:12.750 --> 00:21:15.950 also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you 228 00:21:17.029 --> 00:21:21.299 may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, 229 00:21:21.460 --> 00:21:26.539 in order that we may bear fruit, not for death but for God. 230 00:21:30.339 --> 00:21:42.009 God has saved us. God does this by sending his son. The father 231 00:21:42.329 --> 00:21:49.279 sends his son into the world. The son promises, and indeed offers obedience 232 00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:56.000 to the father as our mediator. He promises to fulfill that law on our 233 00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:00.549 behalf, and he does that perfectly. And he goes to the Cross and 234 00:22:00.670 --> 00:22:06.710 promises to pay the penalty for our death, and he does that perfectly. 235 00:22:07.109 --> 00:22:11.269 And not only does the father send the son, and not only does the 236 00:22:11.349 --> 00:22:17.779 son fulfill the obedience that require is required and pay the penalty that is owed, 237 00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:23.500 but he defeats death and then the spirit of God unites us to the 238 00:22:23.660 --> 00:22:30.089 son in this victorious death, so that he did, when he dies, 239 00:22:30.049 --> 00:22:34.089 we die. That's how he can say. It is because the spirit of 240 00:22:34.170 --> 00:22:38.769 God, through faith, has united us with Christ, so that when Jesus 241 00:22:38.930 --> 00:22:45.680 died on the cross, you died on the cross in him. The curse 242 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.799 that was owed was paid. Now, you and I could never pay for 243 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:53.960 this on our own, but Jesus, as the divine son of God, 244 00:22:55.319 --> 00:23:03.109 could good and did proof question Mark The resurrection. He rose from the dead, 245 00:23:03.230 --> 00:23:10.789 he says, Paul says here through we died to the law, through 246 00:23:10.829 --> 00:23:14.900 the body of Christ, so that we may belong to another, to him 247 00:23:14.900 --> 00:23:19.819 who has been raised from the dead. And this thing that God did in 248 00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:25.779 the world on the cross was not a simply a one time a kind of 249 00:23:25.859 --> 00:23:32.650 event. He is the eternal God who continues this Trinitarian Work of salvation even 250 00:23:33.049 --> 00:23:37.890 to today. This work continues in the life of the sun, as he 251 00:23:37.970 --> 00:23:42.519 continues to mediate on our behalf and serve the father. It continues as the 252 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:49.400 spirit is united to us and brings forth this fruit. Notice what he says 253 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:55.200 in for six now that we have been released from the law, having died 254 00:23:55.400 --> 00:24:00.430 to that which held US captive. We serve in the new way of the 255 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:07.269 spirit. You see, it wasn't just a one time event two thousand plus 256 00:24:07.390 --> 00:24:11.940 years ago. It's now, it's today. The spirit working in US, 257 00:24:11.019 --> 00:24:18.180 living in US, dwelling in us, to bring forth something new, resurrection, 258 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:26.769 New the world to come, a kind of new so we take all 259 00:24:26.849 --> 00:24:32.890 this together, and what do we have? We have the apostle paub by, 260 00:24:32.970 --> 00:24:36.970 the spirit of God, telling us something which we do not need to 261 00:24:37.009 --> 00:24:41.480 be ignorant of any longer, because I've just told it to you, that 262 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:47.960 before we were saved, we were bound in darkness, bound under the law, 263 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:55.910 incapable of fulfilling it and owing eternal owing to God, eternal, I'm 264 00:24:56.029 --> 00:25:03.910 deaf, God, owing to us our eternal destruction. But through the death 265 00:25:04.029 --> 00:25:11.740 and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you have been set free. You no longer 266 00:25:11.859 --> 00:25:15.700 are under that covenant, you are no longer under that law, but you 267 00:25:15.859 --> 00:25:21.890 belong to Jesus Christ, so that you are no longer bearing fruit for death. 268 00:25:22.890 --> 00:25:29.329 But when you hear the law now you serve in the new way of 269 00:25:29.450 --> 00:25:34.450 the spirit. We must not be ignorant of these things. Christians, you 270 00:25:34.569 --> 00:25:40.559 have been released from the law. We are required to understand what this all 271 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:44.480 means, to be in the spirit, to be united to Christ and under 272 00:25:44.559 --> 00:25:49.789 grace. If you deny these things, in other words, you deny the 273 00:25:49.910 --> 00:25:55.630 work of God, you deny the promise of God, the Word of God, 274 00:25:55.829 --> 00:26:00.789 the hope of salvation. Being ignorant of these things is to not know 275 00:26:02.109 --> 00:26:06.700 what he has done. It's to not believe his promise, and it leaves 276 00:26:06.740 --> 00:26:11.940 you stranded and bound and in danger. It's like being on a desert island 277 00:26:11.980 --> 00:26:18.529 and watching that ship just or not watching the ship float by. There it 278 00:26:18.650 --> 00:26:25.769 goes, but here God brings the ship and he docks it on the island 279 00:26:25.769 --> 00:26:32.289 and he says, come aboard, this salvation is for you. Believe and 280 00:26:32.450 --> 00:26:37.400 you will be saved. And as Christians, by definition, these things are 281 00:26:37.559 --> 00:26:44.480 things that you do know, you do understand and you do believe. When 282 00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:48.910 Paul speaks to these brothers, these Christian brothers and sisters, he speaks to 283 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:53.750 them as people who know these things, and he's reminding of, reminding them 284 00:26:55.430 --> 00:27:00.109 of these things, even as I do. I'm to you this morning. 285 00:27:00.539 --> 00:27:07.980 And so let us remember and believe and serve accordingly. Let us pray and 286 00:27:08.019 --> 00:27:11.859 ask that God would help us in these things,