Sermon Notes 4-12-2015

The Road to Romans!

Earl has to die!

·         Romans 7:1–6 (NLT)

¹Now, dear brothers and sisters—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living?

²For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her.

³So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.

⁴So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.

⁵When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.

⁶But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

Are you familiar with the law????

¹Now, dear brothers and sisters—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living?

So what law is Paul talking about??

·      Is he talking about the 613 laws of the old testament??

·      Is he talking about the 10 commandments?

o   They kind of go hand in hand

o   The 613 are based on the 10

o   And expanded list

o   And some aren’t Gods law but mans law to keep folks in line

o   Like our laws today

·      But lets face facts we cant keep the 10!

·      And what are the 10 anyway

Exodus 20:3–17 (NLT)

³“You must not have any other god but me.

⁴“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.

⁵You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.

⁶But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

⁷“You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

⁸“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

⁹You have six days each week for your ordinary work,

¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.

¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

¹²“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³“You must not murder.

¹⁴“You must not commit adultery.

¹⁵“You must not steal.

¹⁶“You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.

¹⁷“You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”

The law only applies while your alive!!!

²For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her.

³So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.

·      Like any law if you die, you are no longer bound by it??

·      I have never seen a dead man break the law

o   Go to court or get pulled over

For our sins to be paid someone had to die

·      The wage for sin is death

·      For us to be freed Jesus had to die

·      So Paul uses the “law” to point out why we must die to the law

·      When we first believed we became a widow to sin “the law” and remarried to Christ “the law of Grace”

This is where we talk about the old and new covenant with God

2 Corinthians 3:3 (NLT)

³Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.

·      God chose a different path

·      The law was given to show us our desperate need for a Savior

·      The law only magnifies our sin

·      Jesus ushered in a season of grace, where obedience is not mandated

o   The love shown by God, when written on our hearts through the death of Jesus only makes us want to follow

So lets look at our two marriages!!

First we were married to the “law”

VS 5 When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.

When you’re married to the law:

·      You live in a full carnal state of mind

·      Everything is always about you

·      Sin is like a drug you cant get enough of

·      No matter how good you think you are, Sin is always in the back round

·      Our desire was towards sin, as that of the wife towards her husband,

·      And in this carnal state sin ruled over us.

o   We embrace it, love it, devote all to it, converse daily with it, make it our Job to please it

And when the Law was made know, it just made us want it more and it could not fix us!

Examples:

·      A lame horse

o   We go out and see the wound

o   Diagnose it, we know why it happened

o   We even know what it takes to fix it and we just walk away

o   Because we don’t have the tools to do anything about it

o   We don’t have the help we need

o   It requires a VET and you aren’t one

You see the law is like that, we know why we sin, we know what sin is, but in our fallen state we cant fix it. So God Gave us a savior in JESUS. But before we could marry Jesus, our old spouse “the law” had to die!

1 Corinthians 15:56 (ESV)

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

Our second Marriage “Jesus” the law of Grace!

VS 4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.

·      When Jesus died on the cross the law died with him

·      We are no longer bound by the old covenant of the law

·      The law is not bad, but what it produced in us was

·      By his suffering

·      By His sacrifice

·      By the shedding of HIS blood

·      Our debt was paid

·      We are free from the bonds of SIN

Back to that Lame horse

·      Jesus is the vet

·      He knows the problem

·      And has the tools and meds and knowledge to fix the problem

·      I cant doctor anything without having the tolls and the power to fix it