WWUTT 1251 The Law is Binding As Long As You Live? (Romans 7:1-3)

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The law is binding on a person only as long as they're alive. When you die and you go to heaven, the law doesn't apply to you anymore.

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So it should be the same for the person who is dead to sin and alive in Christ, when we understand the text.

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You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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And don't forget our website, www .tt .com. Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of Romans, and this week, we get into Chapter 7.

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If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there, I'm going to start out reading the first six verses here.

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This is Romans 7, Paul writing to the church in Rome. Or do you not know, brothers?

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For I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.

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For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives.

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But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.

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But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. And if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

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Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

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For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

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But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we may serve in the new way of the

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Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. Now Romans 7 has some controversy to it.

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I wouldn't call it the most controversial chapter in Romans, but really, can you really call any chapter in Romans the most controversial?

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They all have their controversies in their own respective ways. But the most controversial part of Romans 7, we probably won't get into until next week.

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That's really more the latter two -thirds of this particular chapter. Here it's almost like we're just flowing right from where we finished

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Romans chapter 6. We even start with a conjunction. It's Romans 7 .1.

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It says, or do you not know, brothers, for I'm speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.

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So we're still talking about being slaves to righteousness instead of slaves to lawlessness, which was the argument that Paul was making through Romans chapter 6.

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We had the statement that was in verse 14, Romans 6 .14, for sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace.

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And so it's kind of like picking up on that thought. Paul comes back to this again here and says that the law is only binding on a person as long as he lives.

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We finished Romans 6 with that famous verse there in that chapter, verse 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord. What do we get for our sin? We deserve death. But what do we receive instead by faith in Jesus Christ?

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We have eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Back to the statement in Romans 5 .1, we are justified by faith in our

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Lord Christ. So the argument again in Romans chapter 6 was that if we have been saved, if we've been saved out of the darkness of this fallen world and the sinful passions that had ensnared our body and our mind, which we were driven to follow along in being children of children of Adam, almost said children of Abraham, being children of Adam, we were born with a sin nature and we walked in the ways of Adam.

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But in Christ, we've been called out of that life. We've become a brand new person. So we are crucified with Christ and is no longer

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I who live, but Christ who lives within me. We've taken off the old self. We've put on the new.

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So a person who is brand new in Christ is no longer going to walk in that wretched sinfulness anymore. They will be pursuing the righteousness of God.

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How is one who has died to sin? How can they still live in it? The argument that Paul comes back to a couple of times in Romans chapter 6 is that the grace of God is not a license to sin.

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This is a common argument that was raised by the Judaizers against Paul, that he was actually preaching lawlessness.

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If you are saved by faith in Christ and not the law, then you can go breaking the law all you want.

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And as long as you have faith in Jesus, then, hey, you're going to be forgiven. And this was the Judaizers trying to say to others, particularly the

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Jews, that Paul was a heretic and he was blaspheming God and his law by telling people they could live in all this lawlessness as long as they have faith in Jesus.

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But Paul comes back, he rebuts that argument in Romans 6 to say, no, you're not even listening to what it is that I'm saying.

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If you are drawing that conclusion from my preaching, these men who would be talking about Paul in this way would be slandering

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Paul and the message of sound doctrine in Christ that Paul was proclaiming.

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If we are in Christ, we are no longer walking in the pattern of this world. So we are going to be patterning ourselves after Christ, desiring to live as Jesus lived.

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If the grace of God is upon us, if we've been forgiven our sins, then we are no longer walking in that sinfulness.

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That person's dead and gone. That person's crucified with Christ. So now we are a new person who is walking according to the spirit and not according to the written code.

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And that's the last verse we looked at here today, Romans 7, 6. So continuing with that thought out of chapter 6,

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Paul says, do you not know brothers? For I am speaking to those who know the law.

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This is not Paul addressing strictly Jews. Oftentimes when he speaks of those who have the law, he's referring to those persons who are

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Jews or the ones that that were the first to receive the oracles of God, the way that he puts it in in Romans chapter 3.

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But he's not talking strictly to Jews here. He's addressing everybody who knows the law. That would be

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Jews and Gentiles. When he says brothers, he's not just speaking of his kinsmen, which would be fellow

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Jews. These are brothers who are in the Lord, in the Lord Christ. So do you not know brothers?

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For I'm speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.

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Are you familiar with the law? Do you know what the law of God says? Then surely you know that the law is only binding on a person only as long as he lives.

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Now, I really wanted to say there, I really wanted to explain only as long as he lives as only as long as he's alive on this earth.

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But I think that would do a disservice to the point that Paul is actually making here, since he's not really just talking about a physical existence, but even our spiritual life.

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So anyway, I'll explain that coming up in a moment. But just keep the phrase as it is. The law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.

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They will explain that as we go on. So verse two, for a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives.

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But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So we know that a person is committed to their spouse for life, a husband to his wife, a wife to her husband till death do them part, right?

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Till death do us part. That's what we say in our marriage vows, the traditional marriage vows that are exchanged in most weddings.

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There are some who will take this particular passage here in Romans chapter seven, what Paul is talking about regarding marriage.

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And they will say that under no circumstance should anyone ever get divorced and get remarried if they get remarried while their previous spouse is still alive, then they will be committing adultery no matter what reasons led up to the divorce.

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If that person is still alive, if their previous spouse is still alive, then to get remarried would be to commit adultery.

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But here's the problem with that argument. Here's the problem with using Romans seven to make that argument.

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Paul is not doing a lesson here on marriage. He's using marriage as an illustration, talking about the bindingness of the law.

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So if he was talking about marriage, it would be more robust than what we have here.

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This is actually a very short illustration. So you can't take Romans seven in a vacuum and ignore other passages in what's talked about throughout the scriptures regarding marriage.

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Some of you know that I recently did a sermon on divorce and marriage and even remarriage.

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It was based on the teaching that Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five. That was my base text because we're going through the

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Sermon on the Mount right now. So you can go back. I don't even remember when this was. It was a few months back where we're going to be finishing up Matthew six in a couple of weeks.

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But anyway, so a few months back, two or three months ago, when I was in Romans five talking about divorce,

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I know it's also on my blog because I put the transcript from the sermon on my blog as well. You can go to Pastor Gabe Dotcom and you're looking for the transcript to a sermon entitled

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What did Jesus say about divorce, which I did back in April, April of twenty twenty. Just go back in the archives.

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You'll be able to find it there. Let's consider what Jesus said about divorce, but also marriage.

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Matthew chapter 19, starting in verse three, the Pharisees came to Jesus and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?

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And Jesus answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

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So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let man not separate.

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And the Pharisees said, why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?

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And Jesus said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives.

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But from the beginning, it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery.

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See that last part's really important. And whenever somebody will use Romans seven to say that no one should ever divorce for any reason.

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And if you do get divorced and get remarried, then you've committed adultery. Then they are ignoring what

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Jesus said in Matthew chapter 19. They're also really taking what Paul is saying in Romans seven out of context.

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Since what he's talking about here, the lesson that he's giving is not marriage. The lesson that he's giving is talking about being bound to the law.

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And he's just using marriage as an illustration, as an example, the law of marriage, as an example of how the law is binding on a person while they are alive.

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But that's the point. So it's not a robust teaching on marriage. I don't think it's a good idea when one is offering a biblical understanding of marriage and divorce to use

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Romans seven, one through three, since that was not Paul's point. And you would actually be taking him out of context if you would use

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Romans seven, one through three in that way. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 19, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery.

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So Jesus is saying here that if one gets a divorce because their spouse were was sexually immoral, unfaithful, that would actually be a lawful divorce in the eyes of God.

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Remember that Jesus own earthly father, Joseph was going to divorce

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Mary and the scripture speaks of him as being an honorable man. But the

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Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for what is conceived in her is from the

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Holy Spirit. In other words, assuring Joseph, she has not been unfaithful to you and your marriage vows.

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They had not yet consummated their marriage. But from everything that is said to us in the scriptures, Mary and Joseph were married.

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They were betrothed. They were promised to one another, but the marriage had not yet been consummated. So she was a virgin who was found with child.

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Joseph was going to divorce her, believing that she had been unfaithful until the Lord said what is what has been given to her is from the

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Holy Spirit. This child has been conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. So Joseph being one who was going to divorce

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Mary has actually spoken about a very positive way in the scriptures. And so even Jesus says here, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, since that's the reason

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Joseph thought he was going to get divorced. And then Mary's another commits adultery. Think back to the law.

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Think back to the law as it was given to Israel. What was the penalty for a person who committed adultery?

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What happened to a person caught in adultery? They were stoned to death. So the person who committed adultery and the one they had adultery with, they were brought out in public and they were stoned to death.

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So then what happens to the person who their spouse, who was the one who was offended against the one who was faithful?

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Does this make sense? I think it's better to use husband and wife so I don't get too confusing here.

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Anyway, so the husband commits adultery and he gets stoned to death. He's dead. What happens to the wife?

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Well, the wife obviously is free from that contract, the law of marriage, and she can get remarried and it would not be for her committing adultery if she were to find another husband because her first husband was put to death for committing adultery.

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So now consider that today. If a husband were to commit adultery today, according to the law, even as it is stated in Deuteronomy, what he deserves for that would be death, the death penalty for having committed adultery.

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So it's the same as if he has died and she is released from the law of marriage because of what he did.

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Hence, why Jesus says here that if anyone divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery.

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So the man commits adultery. It's the same as if he's died since he would have been put to death under the law, since death penalty is what is incurred for that particular offense.

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Now, the Westminster Confession of Faith actually does state this. If one's spouse has committed adultery, then the person who is offended against is freed from that contract of marriage and can get remarried.

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And it would not be considered adultery for them to get remarried because the one who committed adultery, it's the same as if they had died.

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They should be regarded as dead now and now when it comes to husbands and wives.

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If this has happened in a marriage, a husband and a wife, there's been unfaithfulness in that marriage. Let's say still following the same argument that the husband is the one that has committed adultery, but the wife chooses to forgive him.

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Is that OK? Yeah, that's great. That's wonderful. If the grace of God and their marriage can be exercised in such a way and they could reconcile and come back together, that's great.

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But if that if that's what they decide to do, the wife can't two or three years later decide, oh, well, my husband committed adultery.

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So now I'm going to leave. No, she's forgiven him. So now that offense is no longer being considered.

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It doesn't mean he's out of the doghouse, but they've decided to reconcile with one another.

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And the grace of God is demonstrated in that marriage. I believe that's wonderful if that can take place.

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But that's that's pretty rare. I mean, generally, when one spouse has been found unfaithful, that's more often than not going to be the end of the marriage.

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But whatever it is that we do, whatever it is, you decide. Let it be in honor of God.

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Don't look for the way out that benefits me. And I'm still in God's good graces.

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Whatever it is that you do, may it be to the glory of God. So anyway, you can go find that sermon that I did for a more detailed description of these things regarding a biblical divorce and remarriage.

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That's it. My blog back in April of 2020, what Jesus said about divorce. OK, so we're back to Romans chapter seven here.

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Let's look at the illustration that Paul is giving it in its proper context, not as a lesson on marriage and divorce, but as an understanding that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives for a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives.

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But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.

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But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. And if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

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So this is an illustration showing how the law is binding on a person as long as they're alive.

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So then he gets to this statement in verse four. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

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And this is how this argument here in Romans seven is is just a continuation of exactly what we had been studying last week in Romans chapter six.

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So being made alive in Christ, we are to walk in righteousness as Christ is righteous.

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And as we do those good works of faith to the glory and praise of God, our king, we demonstrate that we're no longer walking in sinful passions of our flesh, but we're desiring the righteousness of Christ that bears fruit for righteousness, that we may bear fruit for God.

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Same thing Paul said in Romans six, but he's just giving it in a new way here and tying in a certain illustration regarding the law to that.

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For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

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But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive so that we may serve in the new way of the spirit and not of the old way of the written code.

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Now that's a section we're going to come back to tomorrow. So tomorrow, Romans seven, verses four through six, as we detail that a little bit more, what it means to bear fruit for God, walk in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

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Because you know, you've heard me say previously, as we've been going through Romans here, I've said that we are supposed to be keepers of the law.

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So we keep the law to the praise of God. We don't abolish the law, rather we uphold the law, as Paul said in Romans chapter three.

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So if we're supposed to be following the law, how is it that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code?

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We'll talk about that tomorrow. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word and your goodness to us, revealing your will in what it is that we read.

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And may we know that the will of God is that we walk in righteousness. We're no longer bound to the sinful passions of our flesh, but we've been set free from those things and given a new life in Christ, that we may devote our whole selves to his righteousness.

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As it says in Psalm chapter 23, lead us in paths of righteousness. For your name's sake, and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

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Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.

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Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word when we understand the text.