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- In Romans 6, we read that we are no longer under the law, but under grace. In Romans 8, we read that the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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- So there is still a law that we are subject to when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text, a daily study of God's word, that we may be filled with the knowledge of his will.
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- Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Romans chapter eight again today. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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- That's as far as we got yesterday. We'll go a little bit further today. Here's verse two. Let's read through at least verse eight here.
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- For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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- For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
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- For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit.
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- For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.
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- For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.
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- Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you.
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- We'll probably pick up that section next week, starting in verse nine. So let's jump back here. We'll read verse one again.
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- There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Verse two, for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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- Now note that there's more than one kind of law. When you go back to Romans chapter three,
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- I'm thinking particularly verse 21. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.
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- And here in verse 21 of chapter three, you have law spoken about two different ways.
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- In your Bible, you will probably see that the first law is a lowercase L and the second law is an uppercase
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- L. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.
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- What kind of law are we talking about? Well, probably something like the Decalogue, which would be the 10 commandments. That might be that kind of law.
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- But then when you see a capital L and a capital P for law and prophets, you're talking about the entire
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- Mosaic law plus all of the prophets, basically the whole Old Testament, the way that it would be explained there.
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- How do we know what kind of law we're talking about? It has to do with the context. So there's more than one kind of law that is explained.
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- That's necessary for us to understand because a popular verse is Romans 6, 14.
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- For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but under grace.
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- And there are people that will use that verse to say, see, we're not under the law anymore. We're under the grace of God.
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- Well, it's a different kind of law. We are not under the law in the sense that we cannot obey the law to attain our righteousness and our salvation.
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- That is absolutely correct. But you have to understand the context in which the word law gets used.
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- For example, Romans 7, starting in verse 21. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
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- For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
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- Multiple different kinds of laws are being talked about there. It depends on the context as to the law that we are talking about.
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- And don't get this impression that there's no law for us to obey. 1 John 5, 3 says, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome.
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- Now that we have been set free from the law of sin and death, we are free to obey the commandments of God in a way that is done righteously and gives him glory and honor.
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- Whereas previously we could not obey the law in a way that was worshipful to God. It was not acceptable and pleasing to God because our hearts were far from God.
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- You take Amos 5, for example, when God is talking to Israel and saying, I hate your feasts and your festivals and your music is nothing but noise to me.
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- They were doing what the law required, but their hearts were far from God. And so he found what they were doing to be detestable.
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- But now that we've been set free from the law of sin and death, now that we are in Christ Jesus, we are able to keep the law in a way that brings glory to God.
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- So it's not that there is no law for us to obey. It's just that we don't have to obey the law to attain our salvation.
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- Our salvation is in Christ alone. We get to verse two, Romans 8, again, verse two, for the law of the spirit of life.
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- So we're not under the law of sin and death. We are under the law of the spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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- Got it? All right. So again, be careful about a passage like Romans 6, 14 and the way that we use that.
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- Don't use that verse to say that we're no longer any kind of law whatsoever. We've been set free from the law of sin and death and are under the law of the spirit of life.
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- Praise God for that. And again, under that law, now we are able to keep the commands of God in a way that brings pleasure to God.
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- Verse three, for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.
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- God did what the law could not do. He set us free from the law of sin and death. He gave us our salvation by his mercy, by his grace through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
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- Remember something that we read in Romans 3 verses 19 and 20.
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- There's a couple of things that are mentioned there as to how the law applies to us. In verse 19, it stops every mouth.
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- So we're not able to proclaim our own glory or our own righteousness. When we're presented with the perfect law of God, we see that we have not kept
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- God's commands and it stops us from proclaiming our own goodness. And then in verse 20, through the law comes knowledge of sin.
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- Remember something that Paul said in Romans 7, I did not know what it was like to covet until the law said, do not covet.
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- So the law shows us our sinful nature so that we become aware of our sin and can repent of our sin.
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- In James 1, starting in verse 22, he says this, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.
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- For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
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- For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
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- So if we were presenting the law of God and you heard it said in the law, do not lie.
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- Don't tell lies. Don't bear false witness against your neighbor. And then you went out, you went away from this program and you started telling lies, bearing false witness against your neighbor.
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- You would be like that person illustrated in James 1 who saw himself in a mirror and then walked away and instantly forgot what he looked like.
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- But according to the law of God, we've been shown our sin. We've been showed the perfect righteous nature of God so that we might repent of our sin and trust in him.
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- The law weakened by the flesh could not save us, but God, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
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- Now, what does it mean that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us?
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- Well, again, it means that the full penalty of the law, what we deserve for our sin, which was death,
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- Romans 6, 23, was paid for by Christ on the cross. And so now, because his righteousness has been imparted upon us, when we obey the law of God, we're able to do that in a righteous way, in a way that is good and pleasing to God.
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- And so there you go. That is the law of the spirit of life that has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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- Lord, I thank you for this that has been proclaimed through your apostle to this church in Rome, and may we continue to meditate on these things and understand what they mean.
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- I pray that when we hear the law spoken, we will understand the sins that we must repent of and seek the righteousness of Christ and live in a way that he set the example of, understanding that he's the one who has set us free, not our obedience to the law, but Christ sets us free.
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- And now we are free to worship God in a righteous way where previously we could not.
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- I pray that you receive our praises as we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
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