Sunday Sermon: Love Fulfills the Law (Romans 13:9-10)

You're listening to the preaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Each Sunday, we are pleased to present our sermon series. Here is Pastor Gabe.

Love Fulfills the Law in Romans 13

Romans chapter 13, as we continue our series in Romans and have been looking lately at this command to love one another and even loving our neighbor as ourselves. It was Thomas Boston, the Puritan, who said the following,.

The love of our neighbor here is not to be taken separate from the love of God, but as included in it or flowing from it, even as the effect flows from the cause. God whom we see not will be loved in our neighbor whom we see.

He will have us manifest our love to him by loving our neighbor for his sake. As the Apostle Paul says here, love is the fulfilling of the law. And so we understand this command as we look further into this section of Romans chapter 13, verses 8 through 10.

To keep things in context, I'm going to read through verse 14. In honor of the word of the King, would you please stand? Romans chapter 13, beginning in verse 8. Hear the word of the Lord. Oh, no one anything except to love each other.

For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not covet. And any other commandment are summed up in this word.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.

For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to this passage again this week, we desire to be taught and to be fed by you. Such an easy and often repeated commandment to remember and then even a quote to somebody else.

You will love your neighbor as yourself. We, if we've grown up in church, have heard this for many, many years. It is the second of the great commandments. The first to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The second to love your neighbor as yourself. Easy to repeat, easy to want to impose upon somebody else, but much more difficult that our own hearts would be convicted and we would obey this and extend that same love and courtesy to our neighbor.

So often the tendency in our flesh is to look for excuses to not love our neighbor. Just as the lawyer did who stood up and challenged Jesus and said, so who is my neighbor? But Jesus, in giving the parable of the good Samaritan, illustrated that everyone is our neighbor, even those that your own culture may deem to be your enemies.

These are the neighbors that we must love. There is an understanding of the general or universal neighborhood of everybody. And we must love all who have been made in the image of God. For as we have heard, as Thomas Boston said in the quote that I had already referenced this morning, this is to obey God.

This is to extend love to God, even when we love our neighbor. So Lord, teach us more how we may do this. We know that we must. In what ways must our hearts be convicted that we may continue to show love to one another and to our neighbor?

Teach us to live as Christ and obey his commandments in the love of God. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray and all God's people said, Amen. Brother Allen had read for us this morning from Mark chapter 10, where a rich young ruler had come to Jesus and said, what must I do to gain eternal life?

And Jesus said to him, you know the commandments to honor your father and your mother, to not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery. And the young man said, all of these things I have kept from my youth.

Surely feeling quite proud of himself that I have done everything that you've said that I must do. I have to do these things in order to gain the kingdom of God. Then surely the kingdom of God is mine.

But then not letting the rich young ruler sit on that note, Jesus said to him, but I hold this against you to go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor. And then you will have treasure in heaven and then come and follow me.

And we read there in Mark 10 that the young man walked away broken, not convicted of his sin, but sad because he had many possessions. Mark tells us he had many things that he loved. He they elevated himself.

They made him feel good about himself. They made him feel good about his place in the world. And he didn't want to have to give up those things. And so walking away sad, he was in love with his possessions instead of in love with God and loving his neighbor.

Because surely that's what Jesus was telling him to do. Sell all that you have and give it to whom? The poor, your neighbor, the least of those that you should care for. And the rich young ruler was not willing to part with these things, even for the benefit of his neighbor.

And so what is it in our lives that we might cling to or hold fast to that we may need to give up so that we would more rightly be able to show love to our neighbor? That we would properly sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of someone else.

The Two Tables of the Law and Love for Our Neighbor

We want to consider those things, among others, as we come back into this passage today in Romans chapter 13 concerning this command to love one another. We read it again in verse 8. Oh, no one anything except to love each other for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

And we see that statement fulfilling the law come up twice. It kind of bookends the section. Paul says it in verse 8 and he says it again in verse 10. Love fulfills the law. And then in verse 10, love does no wrong to a neighbor.

Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. But as we're being told here to love our neighbor, it's not just simply a passive action. It's not don't do bad to your neighbor and therefore you're loving them.

But rather, there is a call to action here that we would even find ways that we could show kindness to one another and love our neighbor as ourselves. As we come back to this passage today, we had looked mainly at verse 8 last week.

Oh, no one anything except to love each other. We're going to come to those commandments that we have here in verse 9. Same commandments that Jesus gave to that rich young ruler. And we're going to visit him again as well when we come back to Mark 10.

But those commandments in verse 9, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not covet. Any other commandment are summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Let's look at each one of those as they are given to us and understand them even from the very catechism that we quote on Sunday morning because they help us to understand these commandments in a more active way.

Not just in the sense of not doing certain things, but what should we therefore do for our neighbor in fulfilling those commands that have been given. And then I also want to look at the golden rule. I had teased that out to you last week.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And seeing that in relation to what Paul says in verse 10, love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. But let's come back up to those commandments in verse 9.

For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. And you shall not covet. And any other commandment. So lest anybody say of Paul, you just gave us four there.

No, any other commandment are summed up in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, as I said to you last week, we have two tables of the law. And we have both of those tables given in Jesus' answer to that lawyer when he said, when he was asked, what is the greatest commandment?

And he said, you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second one is like it. You will love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. Now, what I think is so great about Jesus' answer, what's so brilliant about that response, is he's being asked, which is the great commandment?

What's the best one? What's the one that I have to follow in order to be a good guy or inherit the kingdom of heaven, just as the rich young ruler had asked? And Jesus' response is basically not, well, this is the best one.

All these other ones are lesser than, but this is the best. But rather, the greatest commandment is to love God. Oh, and there's a second one that's like it. It's to love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commands is all the law.

Jesus' response is basically, it's all important. There's none of it that you can cast away and say, well, I don't have to follow this part. All of it you have to do. But all of the law is intended to point to these two things.

That we would love God, and we would love others, who, of course, have been made in the image of God. And in loving others, we also serve God in loving Him. So when Paul says here, when he gives these commandments and he says, any other commandment is summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, he's not saying that all the commandments aren't necessarily summed up in just this word.

He's focusing on the second table of the law. The first table being about loving God, the second table being about loving others. But all of those commandments and how they pertain to the love and charity that we should show to each other are summed up in the word, you will love your neighbor as yourself.

These are all important. These all point to that. That is the basic truth of the second table of the law. And so each one of those commandments that we have, of course, you know that this is from the Ten Commandments.

You've heard each one of these in the Ten Commandments, in that second table. And when you get to that second table, of those next five commandments, well, six commandments, beginning with honor your father and your mother.

But after that, commandment number six is, you shall not murder. However, when Paul gives the commandments here, he doesn't put them in the order that we find them in the Ten Commandments. He actually starts with, you shall not commit adultery.

Now, why would he begin with adultery instead of just going through the order like we would have them in the Ten Commandments? Maybe Paul had a brain fart and he didn't remember what the order of the Ten Commandments were.

I worked brain fart in there just to catch your attention, make sure you're all still awake. Gotcha. Now, most likely, we see this a lot from Paul in all of his letters. Most likely, the reason why he puts you shall not commit adultery first is because often when Paul gives a list of vices, the first thing that he puts on that list is sexual immorality.

So we're talking about sins that are committed by those who hate God and go after the passions of the flesh time and time again. We've seen it in Romans already, back in chapter one. We've seen it also in places like Galatians chapter five, where you have the works of the flesh contrasted with the fruit of the spirit.

In First Corinthians chapter six, where Paul talks about those who will not inherit the kingdom of God, the first that he lists is sexual immorality. So it's pretty common among Paul's letters when he gives a vice list that he puts sexual immorality at the top of that list.

That is surely the outworking of the passion of the flesh to go after that which God has said should not be done with the body, that which is sexually immoral. So often Paul is putting that at the top because where you get to that in your flesh, you are sinning against yourself, even your own body.

Whereas every other sin Paul says in First Corinthians six is done outside the body, sexual immorality is done against your own body, which is the temple of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you.

So very likely the reason why he lists adultery first. You shall not commit adultery, then you shall not murder, which is harm that you would do to another. You shall not steal and you shall not covet having specifically to do with the things that would be in the possession of another person.

So it's as if we're looking at three respective categories here. Now in our Baptist catechism, which we do at the beginning of every service during announcements, we will have a question and an answer that is given.

What was it today? Question 44 or 45. That's about where we are, right? I'm going to jump way ahead to question 75. So we'll get to this in 30 weeks. But this is where we have a list of the Ten Commandments.

And furthermore, not just what the commandments are, but even what is required of those commandments. And the catechism is so good here to help direct us in an understanding of how we may fulfill these commandments and showing love to our neighbor.

The Seventh Commandment and Chastity

Now, I remember when the Young Restless and Reform Movement was kind of ramping up and getting big. This was kind of in the early 2000s and then getting into the 2010s. I remember one of the common conversation points that would be brought up periodically during the Young Restless and Reform Movement is, do we have to obey the Ten Commandments anymore?

I was just absolutely beside myself. I was like, what kind of question is that? That we as Christians don't have to obey the Ten Commandments anymore? Well, it was because during that Young Restless Reform Movement, there was such an emphasis that was being placed on grace.

And we know that verse in Romans 6, you are no longer under the law, but you are under grace. So since there was all this emphasis on grace, we exercise the grace of God. We're not going to be judged by the law.

So therefore, do we even have to keep the Ten Commandments at all? The answer to that question is yes, you do. Because if love God and love neighbor is a summation of all the law and the prophets, then even the Ten Commandments you must keep and you must do.

And so this, again, is where the catechism is helpful because it shows us, in what way do we therefore fulfill the Sixth Commandment or the Seventh Commandment with our neighbor? As long as we're not murdering them or we're not committing adultery with them, is that fulfilling the commandment?

Well, certainly that's fulfilling the commandment. But what is a more active way that we might do these things? Here's question 75 in Keech's catechism. I'm going to start with the catechism question concerning adultery since that's the one that Paul starts with first.

So question 75, which is the Seventh Commandment? The Seventh Commandment is you shall not commit adultery. Question 76, what is required in the Seventh Commandment? Answer, the Seventh Commandment requires the preservation of our own and our neighbor's chastity in heart, speech, and behavior.

So it's more than just don't go to bed with your neighbor's wife, right? What else would be directed by the Seventh Commandment in a way that we would also extend or show love with our neighbor? It would be the preservation of our own chastity, and this is where you will love your neighbor as yourself is important, right?

So for yourself, you should pursue holiness, and that is good for you, but you should also desire that for your neighbor. That you would desire your neighbor's chastity in heart and in speech. There's certain speech that we should not be extending to someone who is not our spouse, right?

One of the movements that tends to be under attack, especially among people my age today, is what was called purity culture. I grew up in a time in the 90s in which true love waits was a very common mantra among evangelical Christianity, and I did the very thing.

I signed the card pledging that I would remain a virgin until I was married, and you know what? I made it. I was a virgin when I married my wife, but that does not mean that I was pure. There were still plenty of wicked things that I did with my own body and even with girls that I dated that I should not have done and did not stay pure.

There were things that I did with my eyes that certainly brought impurity to my body. There were things, conversations that I had with my words, which should have been off limits with somebody who was not going to be my wife.

And so though I had pledged to keep my body until marriage, there were still many, many other things that I did that were impure that would have been a breaking of this commandment. And you know what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5, you have heard it said, you shall not commit adultery.

But I say to you that if you have even undressed a woman in your heart and lusted after her, you have committed adultery with her in your heart. And so there are ways that we break this commandment that may not be going to bed with a neighbor's wife, but we would still do things that in our hearts would be committing adultery.

In our speech would be committing adultery. We have to be careful even of the conversations that we have with people and what might be implied with our words. There was a young man in our church who was speaking with another woman.

This is not this church. This was the church I was pastoring in Kansas. But this man was speaking with another young woman whose husband was deployed. And we heard the way that he was talking with her and we knew there was something flirtatious or approaching in the words that he used with this woman who was somebody else's wife.

And we took him aside and we rebuked him for it and said, you have to be careful with the way that you speak even to somebody else who is not your spouse. And he was thankful. He really was thankful. He said, I thank you for listening to hearing me speak in such a way I may not have even been aware of.

But you've convicted my heart and I realize that I need to be pure even in my words. Even in the ways that we talk to somebody else. And in our very behavior. That we would be chaste. That we would be holy in our thinking.

In the ways that we talk. In the ways that we act toward other people. That our bodies would be lived in as temples of the Holy Spirit. We know that we would want to keep the very house of God clean. Just as you might walk into a church and you might get frustrated that nobody has taken out the trash this week.

Or how did somebody leave that spill there and not clean it up? Have you ever walked into a church building and that was your thought about the mess that had been left behind? Well if you would have that kind of passion for the building that we meet in and call that the house of God and it needs to be kept clean and I would agree with you that it does.

How much more should we be doing that with our own bodies? Looking at what we've left spilled and not cleaned up. What trash has not been taken out? What needs to be repented of and removed? That we in our bodies would be pure.

But in the way that we extend this to our neighbor that we would desire that even they would be holy and chaste in purity in all thought, word, and deed. And so question 77 says, What is forbidden in the 7th commandment?

The 7th commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions. Not just bedding your neighbor's wife but even being pure in thought and action and desiring that for your neighbor as well. Consider what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.

Finally then brothers we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus Christ as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God. There's a loving God right? Just as you ought to walk and please God just as you are doing that you will do so more and more.

For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality. That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor.

Not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. That no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter. Because the Lord is an avenger in all these as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

So as Paul says here it is not just a matter of keeping yourself pure although that is very very important. But that you would also not transgress or wrong your brother in this matter. That you would also seek your neighbor's purity as well as your own.

And this is how we keep the 7th commandment and keeping it in a way that we would love our neighbor as ourselves. Now I'm going to backtrack a little bit to question 72 because here's the question concerning murder.

The Sixth Commandment and Preserving Life

And that is the next commandment that Paul gives on this list you shall not murder. So question 72 what is the 6th commandment? The 6th commandment is you shall not murder. Question 73 what is required in the 6th commandment?

Answer the 6th commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others. So again the aspect of loving your neighbor as yourself built into the answer to this catechism question.

We must do all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life loving as ourselves. You wouldn't harm yourself so don't harm a neighbor and also the life of others. What is forbidden in the 6th commandment?

The 6th commandment absolutely forbids the taking away of our own life or the life of our neighbor unjustly. This was something that Chris brought out in Sunday school this morning as well. So we should not kill of course we should not murder but very specifically we don't take away the life of a neighbor unjustly or whatever tends there unto.

Lately the conversation in our culture has been leaning very heavily in the direction of capital punishment. We've had all kinds of high profile trials this year concerning murder and so what should be the consequence for a person who murders?

There's many trials that have been in the news regarding this but the one lately has been concerning the man Nadal Hassan who had murdered 14 people in the shooting at Fort Hood back in 2009. Now I'll be honest with you when it came about that it was announced that he was going to be executed by firing squad I was like I didn't know this guy was still alive.

This was 17 years ago. Why is it taken so long to execute the sentence upon this man who is most assuredly deserving of the death penalty? And not even just that he killed 14 people but also he is a traitor to his own nation.

It was an attack on the country and not just the individuals that were around him. As it says in Ecclesiastes 8 .11 that when justice is delayed evil is stirred up in men's hearts. Surely everybody had forgotten about Nadal Hassan until it was announced that he was going to be executed by firing squad.

And because it's also been said that his execution is going to be advertised publicly it's going to be live streamed. So then that's kind of extended the conversation. Okay I don't know where I stand on the death penalty but I sure don't agree with this.

You know that's where a lot of people's minds are going now regarding this. But as we had previously read in Romans chapter 13 verse 4 concerning the governing authorities. He is God's servant for your good.

If you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of God an Avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. As Chris had pointed out in his sermon the sword that the governing authority bears here is not a paddle to spank you.

It's a sword. It's a weapon for death. It is exercising the death penalty on those who deserve it. And most especially that would be those who take the life of another person. This was in the Noahic Covenant.

This is even built into nature itself as God has designed it back in Genesis 9 .6 where it says I will require the blood of man. That if you shed the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image.

God's stating there in Genesis 9 .6 that the death penalty is required even of a person who would take the life of another. Now the reason why I bring this up is because that is just taking of life. Again what do we read here in the Catechism question?

The Sixth Commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others. The Sixth Commandment absolutely forbids the taking away of our own life or the life of our neighbor unjustly.

That is a very important adverb. Because if a person has killed another and so their life must be taken as a consequence that is just. And that is not what the Sixth Commandment is speaking into. Capital Punishment.

That's not what the Sixth Commandment means. But rather that we should not take matters into our own hands and kill somebody else by our own hands therefore unjustly. But rather we as we live with our neighbors as we seek the prosperity of our neighbors that we would desire for them to be lifted up as we would want to be lifted up.

That we would seek to preserve their lives. The reason why we fight against abortion in this nation and why it seems that only Christians are the people who are standing for the unborn. Is because we understand that they've been made in the image of God and we love our neighbor.

We would desire for them to live. Even our unborn neighbors that they would live. And so it is to preserve our own life and we would also to preserve the lives of others. And in this we fulfill the command to not murder.

The Eighth Commandment and Seeking Our Neighbor’s Good

How about the next commandment? You shall not steal. Question number 78 in the Catechism. What is the Eighth Commandment? The Eighth Commandment is you shall not steal. Question 79. What is required in the Eighth Commandment?

The Eighth Commandment requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others. Not just that we would abstain from taking our neighbor's stuff. But even we would desire that our neighbor would prosper.

Remember in Jeremiah chapter 29. What Jeremiah 29 is most famous for is Jeremiah 29 11. For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. A plan to prosper and not harm you but to give you a hope and a future.

You could have quoted that when you probably have a coffee cup with that one on it, right? A t-shirt or a happy verse calendar or something like that. But it's also there in Jeremiah 29 where God is telling Israel that he is exiling them into Babylonian captivity.

And he says to them pray for the welfare of your captors. Because when they prosper, you will prosper. The Apostle Paul says something similar in 1 Timothy chapter 2. Where he says I desire then that prayers be made for all people.

For kings and all who are in high positions. That we may lead a peaceful and quiet life. Godly and dignified in every way. This is Paul taking that instruction in Jeremiah 29 and applying it to our current state.

That we would desire that our neighbors would be prosperous. Because where we see prosperity happen around us, that is for our benefit as well. So it's not a bad thing to want prosperity. The problem with the prosperity, health and wealth preachers is that they say God has guaranteed that for you.

And you just have to name it and claim it and it will be yours. There's nothing wrong with asking God that you would be prosperous in your job. And there's certainly nothing wrong with you asking God that the people around you would be prosperous as well.

That God would show goodness to them. For as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, he sends his rain to fall on the just and on the unjust. His sun to shine on the good and the bad. And we would desire even good for our neighbors.

So that's even built into this commandment. To love your neighbor as yourself. To not steal from our neighbors. We would not take from their goods to benefit us. That would therefore harm them but benefit us.

But we would rather want to see our neighbor benefit just as we might want to benefit. Which is forbidden? Question number 80. What is forbidden in the 8th commandment? The 8th commandment forbids whatsoever does or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbor's wealth or outward estate.

So we would not even want to do anything to our neighbor that would prevent them from benefiting or prospering in some way. And so this commandment is given even that we should desire that our neighbors would find good for themselves.

And this is the fulfilling of the law. Now we have one more here. And that is the fourth one. You shall not covet. Which is the 10th commandment. I was listening to R .C. Sproul teach on this section.

The Tenth Commandment and Contentment

And he said if you were to write out a set of laws for your nation. And you were supposed to narrow it down to 10 laws. 10 laws that would kind of be the bedrock laws for your entire nation. So you're writing out these 10 laws.

He said I can tell you one law that I would not think to put on that list. I would not think to put down you shall not covet. Like every other commandment kind of seems like an obvious if I do this then I'm going to harm somebody.

Murder, adultery, steal, any of these other things. Or bearing false witness, even lying about my neighbor. That does harm to my neighbor. But coveting? I mean what's so terrible about coveting? But as Sproul said about that the reason why God puts that in his law is because it even does harm to your neighbor.

That you would be dissatisfied with your stuff and you instead wish that you had their stuff. I wish I had your spouse. I wish I had your job. I wish I had your opportunities. I wish I had your income.

I wish I had your car. I wish my kids were as behaved as your kids. Because when we do harm to our neighbor it began with that thought didn't it? You don't deserve it. I do. And you would do harm to your neighbor to benefit yourself.

And so in the catechism which is the tenth commandment? The tenth commandment is you shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's.