06-01-14 Free From The Law!

We are about to embark

on what could be a treacherous journey,

across a mental mine-field.

The concept we will look at

during the next few minutes

is one that is crucial to the health

of every growing Christian.

Yet it is also a concept

that has the potential

of being easily misunderstood.

It is an area of truth

the human mind would never have come up with on its own,

a truth that goes directly against

every natural religious response within us,

a truth we could only come to understand

through the direct revelation of God to us.

We have been talking the past few weeks

about the way in which our Lord

seeks to bring freedom into the lives

of each of us who come to Him.

We spent several weeks talking about

what true freedom is.

It is not the pathetic legalization of bondage

being promoted as “freedom” within our society,

offering every person the “right”

to live out those forces within themselves

that they could not change if they wanted to.

When our Lord offers us freedom

He offers us the real thing -

not the “right” to do what we cannot stop,

but rather the power

and the insights

and the knowledge we need

to actually break free from our bondage.

And for the Christian

the foundation of that freeing process

involves our Lord setting us free

from the two forces that have the power to keep us in slavery.

He frees us from the Law,

and He frees us from sin.

This morning we are going to dive into the first of those two - freedom from the Law.

Our key passage is found in Romans chapter 7:4-6.

Let me read that passage before we get going

and then we’ll get into it in depth

in just a few minutes.

Rom. 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

Rom. 7:5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

Rom. 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

And we’re going to begin with a definition.

In this passage Paul is talking about us “dying to the Law”,

and he tells us that we have been “released from the Law”...

In context Paul is talking about

the moral law of God.

If you want to think of the 10 Commandments,

that’s a good starting place.

And before we go any farther here

I want to be sure you really did hear what I just said.

In this passage

Paul tells us that through Christ

we have been released from the moral law of God.

Does that statement trouble you?

Why would God release us

from the very same law

He gave us in the first place?

Wasn’t the purpose of that Law

to show us how to be good,

and to tell us how we can please God,

and to provide us with a moral road map back to our Creator?

I mean, really!

God Himself wrote the list.

Don’t lie.

Don’t commit adultery.

Don’t cheat.

Don’t steal.

Don’t covet.

Submit to human authority.

So why in the world

would Paul say here

that we have been released from the law?

To understand why Paul says what he says in this passage

we need to begin

by stepping back a few paces

so that we can gain

a broader perspective

on what has been happening between us and our Creator

since the time of Adam.

And I need to warn you

that what has been happening

is not what most of the world thinks has been happening.

Left to ourselves

I think most people’s natural assumption is that,

when man rebelled against God,

God responded to that rebellion

by reaching back to man

through His moral law,

offering us a sort of moral road map

through which we would be able

to find our way back to our Creator.

It certainly seems reasonable,

and it makes for wonderful religious systems

in all shapes and sizes,

but nothing could be farther from the truth.

So let me share with you

what our Creator says

about why the law was actually given.

And maybe the easiest way for me

to walk us through this

is by simply doing it in the form

of a series of numbered statements.

#1. We’ll start right from the beginning:

God created man.

#2. Soon after that creation, however,

man asserted the free will God had given him

by turning his back on his Creator.

In fact, Adam and Eve entered into a full-scale, willful rebellion against Him,

declaring themselves to be independent from Him,

and denouncing His Lordship in their lives.

#3. Once that rebellion took place

that same spirit of rebellion

was passed onto every human being

from that time forth.

Every one of us enters this world

believing we have both the right

and the ability to run our own lives.

#4. The remarkable thing, however,

is that even though we

collectively shook our little created fists

in the face of our God,

our God continued to love us

and to implement His plan

for the restoration

of His relationship with us.

God never tells us WHY He loves us.

He just tells us that He does.

And He tells us

that He loves each one of us personally, equally, and eternally.

Just recently I once again came across that remarkable statement

made by or Lord in John 10:3-4,

a statement in which He was explaining

the kind of relationship that would exist

between Himself and all of those who would come to Him

and entrust their lives into His care.

To try to communicate what He wants us to understand

He uses the analogy of a shepherd and a flock of sheep.

But listen to this!

As He’s explaining this remarkable relationship between us and Himself

He says, “... the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.”

The thing that hit me so powerfully

was that one phrase he calls his own sheep by name.

It isn’t just that He calls the crowd...the flock.

It’s that He calls each of us by name...our name...US.

Each individual, precious, wandering, helpless little sheep.

It’s so personal, always.

#5. OK, now here is the situation God faced:

the people He loves have a heart rebellion against Him.

It isn’t just that we

are not acting the way nice people ought to act.

It’s that we are immersed in our rebellion

at the deepest level of our being.

We have literally declared ourselves to be GOD,

with the absolute right to run our own life any way we choose to.

Just getting us to act a little better, and be a little more moral,

will never solve the problem.

What we need first of all

is to face honestly our root problem

of an independent heart in rebellion against God.

The first year Sandee and I were married

we were resident managers

at an apartment building in Kenai.

Several weeks after we took the job

I entered a vacant downstairs apartment

and discovered

that all of the bathroom sewage

from the upstairs unit

had been filling up the bath tub down below.

Something was blocking the drain

shared by those two units

in the crawl space down below,

so the upstairs sewage got diverted into the downstairs tub.

I was young and foolish at the time

and rather than calling a plumber

I assumed that it was my job

to fix everything in the world.

It was late afternoon,

and Sandee and I were going out to dinner together that evening.

But I figured it shouldn’t be any big deal

to locate and remove the blockage

before we left.

I got down into the crawl space,

found what looked like the right set of drains,

and figured I could undo them,

quickly place my hand over the side that led up to the tub full of sewage,

and then remove whatever was blocking the drain on the other side.

My plan worked great,

except that once I got the drains loose,

the side I quickly placed my hand over

was not the side that actually led up to the tub.

I got hit full in the face

with a 2” drain pipe leading up to a bathtub full of live sewage.

When I finally managed to get the drains back together

I was soaked with filth.

I had little bits of soggy toilet paper stuck in my beard.

Now imagine me going back to our apartment

and telling Sandee I would be right with her for our dinner out,

but that I just needed to slip into some dry clothes before we left.

Folks, dry clothes did not meet the need.

I needed to be scrubbed and disinfected from head to foot.

When we find ourselves thinking

that all we need

in order to move ourselves closer to God

is to work harder at obeying the Ten Commandments,

it’s the same thing as me suggesting

that all I need to do following my sewage bath

is to slip on some dry clothes.

If there was ever going to be any hope

of a restored relationship between us and our God,

God knew that it would take a total cleansing of us

at the deepest level of our being.

#6. But for that to take place,

first of all He would need to face us with the truth about our own condition -

He would have to force us to face

the reality of our own sinfulness.

#7. And this is where the Moral Law of God comes into God’s plan.

For, you see, God did not give us His moral law

in order to help us sin LESS,

He gave us His moral law in order to force us to sin MORE.

Romans chapter 5, verse 20 says this:

The Law came in so that the transgression would increase...

God gave the law to force us to sin more.

And then, in Romans 7:5,

Paul explains how the law does this.

For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

In that verse Paul tells us that when our sinful passions,

that is, when that rebellious nature within us encounters the moral law of God

it’s like holding a lighted match

over an open can of gasoline.

The law drives us to rebellion.

Many of you have heard one of my favorite illustrations before.

I have some urgent, critical instructions for you,

and it is imperative that listen

and obey what I am going to say to you.

Under no circumstances

do I want you to touch the chair in front of you.

I don’t want you to touch it with your finger.

I don’t want you to touch it with your toe.

I don’t want you to touch it with your knee.

I don’t even want you to THINK about touching it.

Now look at this!

Thirty seconds ago

the last thing in your mind

was the thought of touching that chair.

And yet now you find your finger just itching to touch it.

There is no reasonable, logical reason why you would want to touch it.

You just do,

because my little law

aroused your natural rebellious nature and gave you a desire

to reach out and touch that chair.

In fact, the law itself brought the action to mind.

...the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law...

And the Law came in so that the transgression would increase...

If God had never given His moral law

we would never have been driven to sin

and forced to face our own heart rebellion against our God.

But then what changes when we come to Christ?

Well, the easiest way for me to explain that

is to share with you an illustration

that Paul shares with us

in the first few verses of Romans 7.

We are not going to take the time to read the passage now,

but I will simply tell you that in that passage

Paul describes a woman who is married,

and whose first husband dies,

and who is then remarried to a very different type of man.

He tells us that every one of us enters this world married to the law,

and that when we come to Christ

it’s just as if our old husband has died

and now we are remarried to Christ.

But to better relate to this illustration

I’d like to restate it for you in my own words.

Picture a young lady who has been married only a few months.

She entered this marriage relationship with stars in her eyes

and great hopes for her future.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know her husband well when they married,

and she soon discovers this is no match made in heaven.

Her husband is a perfectionist with the highest possible standards.

He knows exactly how he wants his home to operate,

and he’ll settle for nothing less.

He begins by declaring

that his bride will have no career,

no work outside the home,

no identity apart from that of being his wife.

Her sole job is to meet his needs and make him happy.

Before he leaves for work each morning,

he hands his wife a list of duties he expects her to perform during the day.

The list includes exact details concerning how she should clean the house,

how she should handle each article of laundry,

when she should have dinner ready,

and what he wants on the menu.

When he returns home from work, the first thing he does

is to go over each detail on the list

to make certain she’s done it right.

He never offers a word of praise and,

when she falls short of his expectations,

he is quick to point out her shortcomings

and demands that she get it right the next time.

This nightmare marriage continues for several years.

The wife grows to despise and resent her husband

and she dreads each new day she’s forced to live under his authority.

She knows she can’t measure up and she can’t escape.

Then one day her husband dies suddenly

and soon after the young lady remarries.

But this time she marries a very different type of man.

Her new husband loves her deeply and rejoices in his bride.

His one goal in life is to provide the kind of leadership

that allows his wife to grow and develop in every way possible

so that she can know true fulfillment in life.

When they part in the morning he doesn’t give her a list of duties he expects her to fulfill.

He simply wraps his arms around her and gives her a big hug,

and he tells her he’ll miss her while they are apart and can't wait to see her again.

When some project she has attempted doesn’t turn out well,

and he suddenly sees the fear in her eyes as she anticipates his anger or condemnation,

he puts his arms around her and says, “My love, listen to me.

I didn’t marry you for what you could do.

I married you because I love you.

You are my greatest joy in life, and I couldn’t be more pleased with you as my mate.”

Gradually, as this frightened,

fear-filled young lady responds to her new husband's loving care and leadership,

she finds herself growing in her longing to please him

and be the best marriage partner she can be.

Before we come to Christ,

we’re just like the young lady in her first marriage.

We enter this world chained to a relationship with God's moral law.

It’s written in our hearts, always there,

telling us what’s required,

demanding obedience,

and condemning us when we fall short of the mark.

It’s not a happy union.

We fight to find some way,

both personally and as a society,

to get out from under the law's condemning authority.

We might try to perform really well,

but inside we know it is never good enough.

Or we play little mind games,

trying to convince ourselves there really are no moral absolutes,

when deep inside us we know it’s a lie.

We can’t please the law,

we cannot escape it,

and our spirit either fights against its authority over us or is crushed by it,

driving us to find some sort of escape from our inner guilt

through alcohol,

or drugs,

or social success, or hobbies, or travel, or 12 hours a day on the internet.

Then we come to Christ.

Paul says, “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).

The harsh, impersonal, unbending, demanding moral law of God

is replaced by the Person of Christ.

But just like the young bride,

we don’t know how to live in this new union.

We assume our new husband is very much like our old-a harsh and demanding judge

who required perfect performance

and brought strong condemnation when we fell short of the mark.

And so, learning to live in this strange new relationship with our Creator,

one based not on perfect performance,

but rather on Christ's death as payment for our sins,

and then our living daily in the presence of His love for us

is the first and most crucial calling for us as believers.

This is why, immediately after revealing God's majestic purpose for His church,

Paul says in Ephesians 3:14,17-18:

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Paul knows that if we are ever to fulfill God's purpose for us,

either personally or corporately,

we must begin by understanding the true nature and depth of the love of Christ,

to the point where we are able to respond to His love in a practical way.

Any attempt to successfully live the Christian life

based solely upon our fervent commitment to be obedient to the law of God

is destined to fail.

It’ll fail, not because moral obedience is unimportant,

but because it’s unattainable outside of a life lived

in a growing love relationship with the Person of Christ.

Did you notice that last phrase in Romans 7:4?

Paul tells us that we were made to die to the law

and we were joined to Christ so that “we might bear fruit for God.”

In the context of his marriage analogy,

Paul is telling us that our new husband, Christ,

is a fruitful husband,

a husband who has the ability

to allow us to produce righteousness “children” in our lives.

Unlike the law which could produce only pride

or resentment, guilt, and condemnation within us,

the Person of Christ can truly create righteousness deep within us.

It is a living righteousness that will give birth to a whole new approach to living.

But then what happens if we break the law as a Christian?

How does that affect our relationship with this new husband of ours?

To answer that I want to close with one more illustration

that I think will help you see the difference before and after coming to Christ.

Imagine, for a moment that you are an avid fisherman on a perfect summer afternoon.

The sun’s shining,

a gentle breeze is blowing,

and there’s not even a mosquito to mar the day.

You ‘ve your pole and tackle box in hand,

and you’re hiking down a little trail in the woods.

As you round a bend in the trail,

suddenly you run into a fence about three feet high.

On the fence is a sign that says, BEWARE! DON'T YOU DARE CROSS OVER THIS FENCE!

On the other side of the fence is a sandy beach

and the prettiest little lake you’ve ever seen.

Huge trout are jumping out of the water.

You stand there for a few minutes wondering what to do.

Finally, the pull is too much.

Obviously, whoever put up that sign

did it simply to deprive you of the best fishing lake in the world.

You toss your pole and tackle over the fence and then climb over yourself.

You start walking toward the lake,

but before you have taken a dozen steps,

the ground gives way and what looked like a solid path

turns into a mire of quicksand that begins to suck you down.

Frantically you fight for your life

and, after several minutes of clawing and grasping at bushes, branches, and weeds,

you finally drag yourself up onto solid ground.

Your hands are badly cut and bleeding,

you’ve lost all of your equipment, and you’re filthy and exhausted.

OK, that’s a picture of our battle with sin prior to coming to Christ.

Satan seeks to convince us

that God's commandments are really barriers

that wall us off from all of the best things in life.

We don't trust the commandments,

and we certainly don't trust the One who gave them.

Too late we discover that violating those commandments has highly destructive consequences.

But how does our situation change when we come to Christ?

First of all, when we walk down that trail as a Christian, we do not walk alone.

Our Lord Jesus Christ now walks with us.

He shares the afternoon with us,

and His presence gives us a heightened appreciation for the beauty surrounding us.

When we round that bend, the fence is still across the trail

and we can still see the fish jumping in the lake in the distance.

But now no sign hangs on the fence.

As we watch the fish jumping in the distance, our Lord says to us,

“My child, I want you to know that I was the One who built this fence.

I did it to protect you.

From here, I know that lake looks inviting, but all is not as it seems.

I want you to trust Me and stay on this side of the fence.”

Just being freed to approach moral obedience through the Person of Christ

rather than through the harsh, demanding written law

helps to free believers to make right choices,

choices that were impossible for us to make prior to our coming to Christ.

But what if we decide not to listen to the voice of our Lord?

What if we look at the lake, see those fish, and say to our Lord,

“I know You mean well, but I just have to give it a try.

I won't fish long. I'll be right back, OK?”

What happens if we hop over the fence and head for the lake?

Those times when we jump the fence

are always filled with a great deal of tension within us

because we know this is not what our Lord wanted.

Typically, we handle that tension by keeping our eyes fixed on the lake,

telling ourselves it’ll all work out.

In our mind we imagine our Lord standing on the other side of the fence,

His arms folded, a bit of a scowl on His face as He waits for us to come back to Him.

This just isn't so!

Our attention is so focused on the lake thatwe don’t realize

that when we crossed over the fence,

our Lord climbed over with us.

He’s still there, walking with us.

There is no scowl on His face.

If we could look into His eyes,

we would see only pain,

the kind of pain He always feels when someone He loves is about to be hurt.

His death on that cross has made it possible

for Him to never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5),

even at those times when we harden our will against Him.

Our sins can never again wall us off from our Creator.

We still fall into the pit, just as when we were nonbelievers.

But now our Lord stands by the edge, His arms outstretched.

When we finally stop thrashing around long enough

to realize He’s there and we reach out to Him for help, He takes our hand and pulls us out of the filth.

Then, as He cleans us up and bandages our wounds,

He says, “Now, my child, I want to talk with you once again about why I built that fence.”