The text we pray the Lord be pleased to speak to us from now is Romans chapter 7 verses 1 through 13 in this first session and then in the second session we'll deal with the last portion of the chapter verses 14 through 25. I entitled these two sessions the purpose and function of the law. Romans chapter 7 beginning with verse 1. Know ye not brethren for I speak to them that know the law. How but the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulterous, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who's raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motion of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin taken occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, for without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid, but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. We come to the chapter that has been the subject of perhaps the greatest controversy of biblical interpretation. I congratulate you who have endured to the end. Many have left us and the best chapter is yet to come. And the controversy revolves around who is the apostle Paul discussing, especially in verses 14 through 25. Is Paul being autobiographical? And more importantly, is he dealing with a man who is either converted or unconverted? I would not fear contradiction if I said that the majority of Reformed theologians and pastors believe the apostle is dealing with a saved man, struggling in his sanctification. That is the majority view. However, in the last few years, many Reformed leaning scholars have come to the view that Paul is not speaking of a struggling Christian. is interesting. Before we proceed further, we must refuse to let the controversy in any shape, form or fashion, color, prejudice, any meaning we derive from this chapter. If you approach this chapter through the prism of this question, who's Paul speaking about? A saved or an unsaved man? I assure you, you will miss the entire argument of Paul. I'm convinced that the purpose of chapter 7 does not resemble this long-standing debate. In fact, if the Apostle Paul were here today, he would help us to see that the man of Romans 7 is really incidental to the real reason for the chapter. As in chapter 6, Paul uses illustrations to help his readers grasp his meaning and his logic. The section containing verses 14 through 25 serves the same purpose. It's an illustration, gentlemen, It's an illustration to help the reader understand one thing, the purpose and the function of the law of God, period. End of purpose. This is the main purpose of chapter seven, to explain why God gave the law and how the law fulfills its task. Now, Side note perhaps to some of you, trivia to others, but I think it's important. The word law is found 23 times in chapter 7 and the word commandment 6 times, making the law mentioned 29 times, more than any other chapter in the New Testament. The second most Frequent word for law is found in chapter two of the same epistle. There it's found 19 times. So clearly chapter seven is an exposition on the work of the law in God's redemptive economy no more and no less. What is the purpose of the law? Well, I think the question really should be, what is not the purpose of the law? I really believe this is what Paul is ultimately showing us. The law was never given by God to Israel to be the means of salvation. Rather, its purpose is just the opposite. It's to prove the exceeding sinfulness of sin and our desperate and dire need for God's gift of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. That's what he's going to do here in this seventh chapter. I want to direct your attention to the audience of this chapter. As our brother faithfully dealt with the audience of this book, Paul specifies who he wants to direct his comments to. Chapter seven, verse one. No, ye not brethren, for I speak to them that know the law. how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. Now, I need not waste time on the hermeneutical importance of an audience. We all know that it's essential to a good interpretation that when you know the audience, you're going to be helped in understanding what the author is saying to that audience. When you know their issues, when you know their challenges, when you know their strengths and their weaknesses, you know it plays in somehow to the theme that the author has. In this case, the audience is the Jewish Christians in the church at Rome. I speak to those that know the law. He wouldn't say that to the Gentile brethren, because they didn't know the law. They didn't possess the law. But that Jewish element of that church, oh yes, they would have not only known the law, but they would have relished the law and taken a special pride in it. For in their minds, it made them much superior Christians than their Gentile brethren. They were special in their ethnicity because God had called them forth out of all the nations of the world. And even yes, Jewish Christians, even under the apostle Paul believe such. You have to read his other epistles. He's addressing this. He really spends a great deal of time in the Corinthian epistles about this very subject. Of course, you know all about Galatians. And so knowing this, this helps us to understand what he's trying to do here. Now, that does not mean that this chapter doesn't apply to we Gentiles. It doesn't mean it has no profit to us. No, not at all. He's not suggesting that when this chapter was read by whoever the leading elder was that read this to the congregation, that the Gentiles could take a nap or check out mentally for a few verses. No, not at all. But he's wanting to address these Jews because he knew it was the Jews, not the Gentiles, that would be having problems with things he's already said about the law. Which leads me to bring to your attention the true beginning of chapter 7. To arrive at a correct interpretation of Romans 7, you have to understand, you must see that Romans 7 does not start with verse 1. It really truly begins in chapter two, verse 13. There's the beginning of chapter seven. So if you will indulge me, let me work Paul's thread of the theme of the law through the chapter two to chapter seven. I think this will be very helpful. Romans 2.13, for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. And he's speaking here again to a more Jewish audience in chapter two. And he's stating something that is quite disturbing to the Jewish man. He thought because he possessed the law, that he knew, had information, knowledge of the law, that that was sufficient for him. And Paul comes up and says, no, no, not just hearing the law, but doing it, doing it. It all plays in his theme of righteousness. You want to be righteous before God? Here it is. Be just like God. Obey his commandments faithfully. You say, Paul would never say that. Well, he reads Romans 2. That's what it's all about. Then move to chapter 3. He says the same thing. There's only one way to God. You've got to be righteous like God if he's to enter into his presence. And the only way you can be righteous like God is that God gives you the righteousness of his dear son. But the standard is not removed. God still requires you to be righteous just like him. Paul begins to dismantle the Jewish confidence in the law of God as the means of salvation. Look at verse 17 of the second chapter. Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God. He's talking to people who simply rested, reclined, depended on one fact. They possessed the oracles of God. And that made them somehow special. He then proceeds to show the Jewish audience that their reliance on the law did not lead to obedience. Look at verse 23. Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonest thou God? You boast, you Jews. You even Christian Jews in this church, you boast, you brag, you glory, you rejoice that you've got the law. But aren't you dishonoring God when you don't obey it? Paul not only progresses in his argument that the Jews' boast in the law was a sham, but that the law condemned them. Look at what he says now in the third chapter, verses 19 and 20. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin, not salvation. But the knowledge of sin, and it's here Paul begins to show us the purpose of the law. In chapter four, it's there too. It's there too. You may have never seen this, but in chapter four, Paul shows that Abraham was justified long before the law was given to Moses. He brings that out. The promise of eternal life does not come through the law, but through promise. What is Abraham? What is he received by the flesh? That is by the works of his own natural power and ability. Nothing, nothing. But it's chapter five that Paul destroys all saving illusions about the law. He burst their bubble. Look at chapter five, begin with verse 13. For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin's not imputed where there's no law. In other words, before the law of Moses came, sin was in the world. But you can't have sin if there's no law. What's going on? The law of Moses didn't come till many centuries later. How could there be sin without the law? Evidently, there was law, was there not? He said in chapter two, yes, that the work of the law has been written in the hearts of every person. That is the conscience that speaks about the morality of God's nature as being compulsive, demanded of us. Nevertheless, verse 14, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression. Now, what does that mean? He means that everyone, death reigned. There it is again, this death reigns, spiritual death reigns. And even on those who didn't have the law of Moses, These people, they too sinned. He's not talking about their guilt in Adam's sin, but their own personal sin. But their sin was different from Adam's. How was it different? They didn't sin against a codified law. You see, Adam was given a specific law, a specific command. He had a verbal command codified something. It wasn't written, but it was codified. It was spoken. It was clear. It was delineated. This is your responsibility. These from Adam to Moses didn't have such commands spoken, verbalized, or written down, but yet they did sin. They sinned against what? This work of the law written on their hearts. In this time period, what do you have? Two great acts of God's judgment. The flood and Sodom and Gomorrah? Sin was in the world long before Moses' codified law. Now, Paul knows the Jewish mind and it would now think, okay, Paul, you've painted yourself into a corner. According to you, men sinned prior to the law. Why did God give the law if mankind had the work of the law written in their hearts? What could its purpose have been? The objection is saying this. If all you have said is true, then the law is not needed. But we know it is because God doesn't waste his efforts. He gave us the law because we are his very special people. And by the law, he's redeemed us. And so Paul has to deal with that. And that is the interesting thing that's not been discussed today. As you study in Romans, you're going to see that Paul always has this imaginary debater. This person, sometimes it's Jewish, sometimes it's Gentile. But he's got this person, it's literally an epistle, an epistletory diatribe, as one scholar said. It's a diatribe, it's a form of argumentation, and that's what the book is. And so he takes the role of the interlocutor. He takes the position of the objectioner. And you don't know because he doesn't say an objection might say, or someone might say, he just spurts it out. He takes on the role and you don't see quotation marks or anything. So you have to learn that this is what he's doing. And so Paul understands that this is how the Jewish mind works. Remember, he's a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He knows how a Jewish mind works. But it's in verse 20, Paul answers that question and objection. And in doing so, he said the most shocking and radical thing he could ever say to Jewish ears. Look at verse 20. You got to see this, brethren. This is key to verse chapter seven. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Can you imagine what that audience must have heard? You mean? God brought the law alongside, added it, which was really what the Greek says. Here they have worshipped the law, that made it supreme. And then Paul says it was an added thing. And it was added for one thing, to make sins increase. And finally, in the sixth chapter, Paul adds insult to injury to the man who put his entire trust in the law when he says, verse 14, For the sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace. What then shall we sin? Because we're not under the law, but under grace. God forbid. You mean we're not under the law? And you say the law was added in order for sins to increase, the offense might increase and abound? Paul, you mean God, holy God gave his holy commandment so that sin might be more rampant, increase and grow? Can you imagine what that must've sounded like to a good Jew, even a saved Jew? It would have sounded blasphemous. It would sound as an affront, an attack on the word of God. And it's now then we come to chapter seven. Do you see why I say chapter seven doesn't begin with verse one? Paul is going to explain what he meant in chapter 5 verse 20. How is it possible that a holy God could give a holy law for the distinct purpose of making sin increase? And secondly, he's going to answer and show why being under grace and not law is a wonderful fact. He will then finalize the argument in chapter 8. Some actually say that the chapter divisions perhaps began chapter seven or eight prematurely, that it's actually verses one through four. I'm not here to argue that. I don't have really an opinion one way or the other. However, I see the merit in that argument. Because chapter seven really doesn't, his argument about the law doesn't really stop with the 25th verse. What does he say there in chapter eight, verses one through four? There is therefore now no condemnation. Where does condemnation come from? The law, and violating the law. To them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit, for, he introduces this idea of a new law. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law, and he calls it an interesting term, the law of sin and death. I told you he would marry these terms, didn't I? For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sent in his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Well, verses 1 through 6 is the first subsection of this chapter. And here, once again, Paul discusses union with Christ. He doesn't change. He's still on the same thing, only he's now examining it, not through the lenses of being under sin, but through the lenses of being under the law. Union with Christ versus the law. Union with Christ severs our relationship with the law. Verses one through six. Union with Christ severs our relationship with the law. Remember chapter six? Union with Christ severs our relationship with sin. And it does so also with the law. Here's his thesis statement. Verse one. No, you're not brethren, for I speak to them that know the law. How that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives. That's the thesis. Okay, we're going to unpack this now. He's going to prove this. As long as a man is alive, he's under the jurisdiction of the law. If a man is given a life sentence in prison, back to the allegory I gave you earlier, then he's bound by the law to live his life in prison. However, the day he departs this life, the day he dies, he's fulfilled his duty to the law, and the law cannot demand anything of him further. It's done. And Paul illustrates this not with law as far as prison and prison sentences, but with marriage. He uses a marriage illustration, which is amazing because even better than forensic explanations of law and punishment, a marriage illustration so wonderfully, beautifully explains this. And he shows how you're no longer under the law. The law demands that a woman must remain married and faithful to her husband. How long? As long as her husband lives, verse two, for the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. She's under his name. She's under his authority. As long as that man lives, she's under his headship. And the law demands that she remain there as long as he's drawing breath. The moment he dies, the law can no longer demand her to remain committed to her deceased husband. Now, she may choose to do so, She may, out of love to his memory, choose to abstain from being remarried. But Paul says the law cannot make that demand of her. She's free to marry another. Look at the last part of verse two. But if the husband be dead, she is loose from the law of her husband. Do you see the word loose? I referred to it earlier. Remember in chapter six? This is that same word we saw in chapter six, verse six, that the body of sin might be destroyed, loosed. And he uses again, the same word, as I told you earlier in verse six of the seventh chapter there, it's translated delivered, but now we are delivered loose, same word. The woman is delivered or discharged from the authority of her husband when he dies. If the woman marries another man while her first husband is alive, she's guilty. She's guilty of adultery. And what says, what entity says she's guilty? The law. The law of God. If she does that while he's alive, she's guilty of adultery. Look at verse three. So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress, and rightly so. But if her husband be dead, she's free, free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. And so now Paul shows us that our union with Christ has made us dead to the law and alive in him. And now he begins the application of his illustration in verse four. Here's his application. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law. He's become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who's raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Paul is saying that just as we died to sin, we have died to the law through the death of Christ. Strength of sin is the law. If you die to one, you're dying to the other. This is a repeat of what he said in chapter 6. Can I warn you? I know it's afternoon. I know it's a challenge. And repetition doesn't help. But that's what Paul is doing. He's repeating the exact same arguments from chapter 6 here in chapter 7. So you're going to hear a lot of repetition. Romans 6, 4, therefore, we're buried with him by baptism to death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in what? Newness of life. He says in the 22nd verse of Romans 6, being now made free from sin, you became servants to God. You had your fruit unto holiness in the end, everlasting life. Our past relationship to the law is described here as a marriage. You were married to the law before you were saved. I don't care if you didn't go to church. I don't care if you were the worst lawbreaker there was in your county. You still were married to that. You were under the elementary elements of the world and bondage to it. That's what Paul calls it, the law in the book of Galatians. The elementary elements of the world. We were under its authority. We were under the name of the law. We could not be married to Christ and be under grace as long as we are married to the law. I think of I think of people who have been awakened to their sins and they seek Christ and they want him, but they're still married to the law. They haven't died yet. They can recognize this is a better husband than the law. This guy, he demands of me, he verbally abuses me, and he kicks me around and says, you better do. He grabs me by the hair of the head and says, do what I say or else. They look at the tender love of Jesus Christ and they say, oh, I want to be married to him. But they can't. Not according to the apostle here. The answer to our marriage to the law is union with Christ. Union with Christ is the answer here. If what is true about Christ is true about us, then in certain things, what is true about us was true about Christ prior to the cross and upon the cross. We made that a statement earlier. Jesus also was under the law. Jesus also had a relationship to the law. You can say he too was married to the law. This is Paul's point. Go back to Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter four. Paul describes the marriage relationship of the Son of God to God's law. Galatians four, verses one through four. Now I say, that the heir, as long as he's a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all. But as under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father, even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements, there it is, of the world, he's talking about the law, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. He came into the dominion of law, And friends, he had to obey the law like you had to obey the law. Galatians 4, 5. Why did he do that? Why did he establish this? He's the son of God. It's his law. The law given to Moses on Mount Sinai was given to Moses by Christ. He's there. It's his finger writing those commandments, blazing them in stone. Why would he be made subject to his own law and have to obey it? Here's why, verse 5, Galatians 4, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. So he comes under the same realm and dominion. But then Paul does something in his application in verse four. He doesn't follow the illustration perfectly. He makes a shift. According to the illustration, the law is the husband and the wife is married to the law. But in this case, it's not the husband that dies. In this case, it's not the law that dies. What does he say? Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. The law did not die. That means the law is still in effect. Your babies born, your grandchildren yet to be born will be born under the law. And they too will be obligated to keep the law of God as the standard of God's righteousness and holiness. The law cannot die friends. That's a moral impossibility because the law, as I've said repeatedly, is a reflection of God himself and his holy character. The law says Paul in verse 12 is holy, just, and good. Why put an end to that which is holy, just, and good? No, the law does not die, at least not now. And so the summary of the illustration and our reality in Christ is seen here in verse five. Verse five, now listen carefully. If you miss what I'm saying, you'll miss the rest of the chapter. Verse five becomes the critical text that the apostle will take the rest of the chapter to unpack and explain. That means we better understand five. This is going to be the thesis on which he is now going to spend the remainder of chapter seven trying to explain in different ways. For when we were in the flesh, the motion of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Verse six sets the stage for what he will further explain in chapter eight. But now, now we are delivered from the law that being dead, wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. That's verse six of Romans seven. You will see this again in chapter eight. So why is verse five so critical? Because verse five says, It is required of us to die to the law. We've got to die to it. And why is that a must if the law is good? Let's look at it again. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, our mind, and our body to bring forth fruit unto death. If we're not dead to the law, then we could not be dead to sin. That's why. Because sin is worked up and agitated by the law. Sin works in you by the power of the law. That is its way in. Now, this is important. What does he mean by the words, for when we were in the flesh? Rightly understanding this phrase is absolutely key to anything and everything he's going to say from this moment forth and on into the eighth chapter. In fact, Paul uses the exact same phrase. In Romans 8, 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Same phrase for when we were in the flesh. Verse 5, Romans 7, verse 8 of chapter 8. So then they that are in the flesh. My point is this, whatever he means in 7, 5 must mean the same thing in 8, 8, Romans 8, 8. So what does he mean by this word flesh? Are you with me? You stretch? I know I've got another 30 minutes, right? 15? No, we need a break. I need a break. What does he mean by the word flesh? The Bible speaks of flesh in both physical and non-physical ways. Paul uses this word, flesh, eight different ways in the book of Romans. So you've got to know which one of the eight he's talking about. And the only way to do that is by context. Can I give you the eight? Number one, the flesh can mean humanity. This is technical stuff, I know, but it's important for you. It means humanity. Look at Chapter 3, verse 20, Romans 3, 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh, that means human being, none of humanity, mankind, be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But it can also mean the soft tissue of the body, the flesh, as we would refer to it also. Romans 2, 28. For he's not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, in the soft tissue of the body. But it can also mean, and this is often the way Paul will use it, the natural abilities and power of a man. The natural abilities and power of a man. Romans 4.1. What should we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, according to his natural abilities and powers, what has he found? Romans 6, 19, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh, because of your natural inabilities intellectually to understand. And so I'm giving you these human illustrations to help your understanding, natural ability, natural power. Fourthly, It means earthly existence or natural life. Romans 1 3 1 Romans 1 3 concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh. In other words, according to natural existence, according to natural life, he's a descendant of David. It also is used of natural descent. Romans nine, eight, that is they, which are of the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise accounted for the seed. In other words, physical descendants of Jacob. No, no, no, no. Those aren't the real children of God. It's the children of promise, the children of the spirit. So he's using flesh here as natural descent, the descendants of Jacob. And then it can also speak of physical relationship. Romans 11 14. Romans 11 14. If by any means I may provoke you to emulation, that which are my flesh and my safe some, in other words, my kinsmen, my fellow Jews, men after my own ethnicity, physical relationship, ethnicity. And then, again, another frequent way it's used is the natural appetites and desires of the body and mind. We talked about that in the Q&A. Natural appetites, desires of the body and mind. He uses it this way in Romans 13, 14. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. That one's easy. Context really shows you that. But then, number eight. It is also used by Paul in this book, as well as other epistles, to speak of the unregenerate life dominated by the rule of sin. We also describe that as the old man. The unregenerate life. He does use the word flesh to mean old man. And that's why this is tricky. This is why people are so confused. on this subject, because they have a narrow definition of flesh, and that's the only one they have, and they use it and apply it every time the word is used. You can't do that. You have to let Paul tell you how to define the word flesh, because he doesn't use it the same way every time. How do I know that this is the way it's used? Go to Romans chapter 8, verses 5 through 9. Romans 8, 5 through 9. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit, what's he doing? He's contrasting who? Christians versus non-Christians. What terminology does he use to describe non-Christians? The flesh. Unsafe people, they're after the flesh and they think on the flesh. Verse six, for to be carnally minded, carnal. Again, the King James uses the term here, but it's the same Greek word, sax, flesh. It's the same identical word. You could easily say for to be fleshly minded. In fact, some of your translations do that. For to be carnally fleshly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh, there it is, in the flesh, cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh. But in the Spirit, if so, be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of his. Now, here's the confusion. Do Christians have flesh? We have soft tissue in the body. But do we have natural abilities and powers? Yes. Do we have naturally body, appetites of the mind and the body that work contrary to the Spirit? Yes. What do you think Romans, excuse me, Galatians 5, 16 and 17 are about? But here he's not using it about the natural appetites. Not here in the first part, when he says, when we were in the flesh, he's referring to our unregenerate state, our lostness. So that's what the answer is. Here's how he's using it. Because a Christian can be in the flesh. We can get in the flesh, walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If that's not true, then Paul should not have commanded that. Make no provision for the flesh, right into Christians. But here he doesn't use it that way. He means what he meant in Romans 6, 6, your old regenerate, you, you were in Adam. So what does he go back to verse five? Now that we know that he says, for when we were in the flesh, when we were in our unregenerate state in Adam, the motion of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members. What does this mean? It means the law itself aroused, aroused, agitated the sinful passions, which here, here he means the natural appetites and desires of the body and the mind. Back to the Q&A. Thus, sin enslaved us. Here's what I didn't finish in my answer because I knew I was going to deal with it now. Here's how sin captivates the sinner. He's naturally born in a state of spiritual death. He does not have the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, he does not belong to Christ. Therefore, he has nothing to counteract, counterbalance these natural appetites of the body and the mind. But sin captivates it. How? by appealing to those desires that do not naturally want to be governed by anyone. Before the fall, Adam governed every one of those appetites because the Spirit of God ruled him. God breathed into him his own spirit and became a living person. And the spirit was in him governing these appetites, never out of excess, never imbalanced, never perverted or grossly satisfied in any way other than the will of God. But the moment he fell, these appetites have been grossly and large perverted and they do not want to be submissive to anyone. And so Paul is saying that sin jabs those appetites, entices them, agitates them, stirs them up. You know the best way to keep people off of your new lawn is never to put up a sign, keep off the grass. If you don't want people to touch your wet paint, don't say, do not touch wet paint. Because invariably, there will be people who will see that, and they'll go over there and say, I wonder if that's really wet or not. Oh, yeah, it is. We are so constructed. This is the fallen human nature. We are so constructed that our bodily appetites don't want to be governed, not even by the Spirit of God. The flesh is opposed to anything called holiness, even when you are saved. The flesh is the flesh and it will remain. Now here we're not talking about unregenerate self. Here we're using another definition. He calls it being the members, but he means the bodily appetites, which is another way he defines flesh. So he's using two different definitions in one verse. Do you see that? Isn't there just something in you when your wife tells you to do something that just kind of feels like you want to kick against it? And she's right. Something about each and every one of us. We don't like to come under the authority of another. We want to be independent. The best of us. Isn't this the struggle of the Christian life? Bringing yourself under the lordship of Jesus in everything. And sin works. But Paul says, deliverance has come. Union with Christ has brought deliverance from the flesh, that is, the unregenerate self. And the old man, through the death of the law, we saw that in Romans 6, 6 and 7. Union with Christ has brought the power of the Holy Spirit into their life. Oh, I love that. That's what verse four said. Romans six, let's look at it one more time. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. And that's exactly what he says in verse six of Romans seven. Compliance to the letter of the law could not produce fruit under God. You can't do it, brothers. Duty alone will never do it. Sheer discipline will never get it done. It will for a while. How many of you have tried to exercise on a routine basis? I do great until I have a trip. Well, I have trips all the time. I eat healthy when I'm home, but when I come out here like this, what are you feeding me? Pizza. It's either that or starve. Sheer discipline is not enough. Compliance to the letter of the law could not produce freedom to God. Look at verse 6, Romans 7. But now, now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit. You see the word newness again? and not in the oldness of the letter. We had to die to the law in order to be joined to Christ, which to the apostle meant certain and guaranteed production of holy fruit and the end everlasting life. You see, Paul believed that if you've really been saved, you can't help but live a holy life. That's really contrary to most Baptist doctrine, modern Baptist. Somebody asked me, are you a Baptist? Well, I said, well, what do you mean? And after they tell me, then I'm like, let me explain, Baptist. And I take them back about 150 years. Yes, I'm that kind of Baptist. I'm after the lineage of Spurgeon and B.H. Carroll and Andrew Fuller. These are Baptists. What you've got running around here today, they're not Baptists. They're half Pelagian. We had to die to the law. so that certain and guaranteed production of holy fruit to the end everlasting life. That's what he said in Romans 6, 22. But now being made free from sin, you become servants to God. You have your fruit unto what? Holiness and the end everlasting life. Real quickly, Paul then moves in verses 7 through 13 to a defense of the law. Because what he's just said, is rubbing those Jewish readers like sandpaper on bare skin. And of course he knew that his readers would think that he was saying the law was a complicit culprit in our sin. He needs rescue the law from any such accusation. And doing so, prove God's purpose in giving the law. In short, this is the beginning of Paul's explanation of Romans 5.20. He's now going to start explaining Romans 5.20. Remember, what does 5.20 say? Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, that sin might increase. How has sin increased? Well, it increases by the very knowledge that the law brings. What we didn't call sin, we now call sin, because that's what the law calls it. But not only that, as he just said in verse 5, sin works through the fleshly appetites of the mind and body and agitates it, and we sin more. Not just more knowledge of sin, but an increase of actual sin taking place. So the question, is the law a complicit culprit? Romans 7, 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? And his answer, God forbid, nay, double negative. He just doesn't say God forbid as he has three or four times prior to. Now he has the word nay. I had not known sin but by the law. He wants us to know. that he cannot be guilty of such a charge. He puts that other negative there. No, not at all. No, no, no. Why? Because he was often misunderstood or accused of saying so. But what he does say is no, but the law teaches me what sin is. No, I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shall not covet. Now Paul gives us a little look inside of his own struggles, I believe, prior to his own conversion. And he tells us in verse eight that sin hitchhikes on the law. Sin hitchhikes on the law. Look at verse eight. But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. All that old fashioned word means is evil desires. For without the law, sin was dead. What is this phrase taking occasion? What does that mean? Well, it literally means to set up a base of operations. We've got some military men who have served on military bases. Some of you have actually served in military bases outside of this country, in foreign countries. And what is that for? What is the purpose of the United States military having military bases all over points in the world? Why? Because in the case of needed military action, we don't have to gather our forces and our equipment and go from here and all these long distances. We can respond much more quickly. And this is the idea of this word taking, okay? Sin has set up a base of operation within you, within me. Another way this word can be defined is a fulcrum. You know what a fulcrum is? You try to move a big rock, but you can't, it's too big, too heavy. So you get you a long pole, and then you get you on a smaller rock. And you put the pole over the smaller rock and wedge it up under the big rock and the smaller stone becomes a fulcrum. It's out, gives you leverage that you can now move the bigger rock. The law, sin uses the law like a fulcrum to move you towards sin. Human nature is susceptible to the commandment in that commandment appeals to the natural desires to not come under the jurisdiction of another. That law says, no, don't do this and resists and takes occasion. It sets up a military operational base and attacks and says, are you going to come under that? No, no, you're independent. You better than God knows what is good for you. You more than God can make that determination. And that's exactly what Satan said to Eve. For God knows the day that thou eatest the fruit of this tree. You should be like him, knowing the difference between good and evil. You don't need to trust this God to determine what's good, what's right, what's wrong. No, no. He's trying to cheat you. He's not being good to you. He's depriving you of something. You can have it right here. And that's exactly the way sin, using the law, works in us like a fulcrum pushing us over the edge. This is why sin is dead without the law. It's dead, it has no power. Here, Paul does not mean that without law there can be no sin. That's not what he means here. That's true. That's not really his meaning here. He's already said that. Here he's speaking experientially. Notice the verb was. Sin was dead. Paul's already proven that since Adam, there's never been a time when there was no law. Paul is saying sin was dead to him. And there we'll pick up after the break. Sin was dead to him. When was sin ever dead to any of us? If there was sin from Adam to Moses without the codified law, how could Paul ever say sin was dead to him? We'll discuss that in the final session. Father, we thank you for your help in this laborious but wonderful study Many of us are getting weary. Our minds are probably already overloaded. But we pray for this grace for this final session. Help us to persevere, to gird up the loins of our mind, and to think in Jesus' name. Amen.