back to index2016-09-18 Law and Marriage
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Do not know brothers for I am speaking to those who know the law that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives. 00:00:18.000 |
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 00:00:25.000 |
Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. 00:00:31.000 |
But if her husband dies she is free from the law and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 00:00:37.000 |
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another, 00:00:42.000 |
to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 00:00:46.000 |
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. 00:00:53.000 |
But now we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive so that we serve in a new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 00:01:04.000 |
Heavenly Father we dedicate this time to you asking Lord your Holy Spirit would cause your word to go forth and bear fruit. 00:01:12.000 |
We ask for your anointing this morning in Jesus name we pray. Amen. 00:01:16.000 |
In our culture, in our generation, the experts of the law we call lawyers. 00:01:22.000 |
California is known to be probably the hardest place to take the bar. 00:01:27.000 |
And I obviously have a younger brother who took the bar and we have many other brothers here who have taken the bar. 00:01:40.000 |
And the pass rate sometimes is 40%, sometimes it's 50% but it's not that high. 00:01:45.000 |
But imagine if dedicating that much time in studying the law, passing the test and obviously not anybody is going to just jump in. 00:01:53.000 |
Those are years and years of studying prior to passing that test. 00:01:57.000 |
And then after you pass it, years and years of perfecting and understanding the law so that you can practice it in court or whatever arena that you practice it. 00:02:06.000 |
Well at the time of Christ the experts of the law were called Pharisees. 00:02:12.000 |
Paul himself calls himself a Pharisee among Pharisees. 00:02:18.000 |
He dedicated his whole life to understand the law of God and to apply it. 00:02:24.000 |
If he was a Pharisee among Pharisees and if he sat possibly a member of the Sanhedrin, 00:02:29.000 |
if they had any questions of the law, he would have been one of the few people that even the Pharisees went to ask, 00:02:35.000 |
"What does this mean? What does God desire of this and how do you practice this?" 00:02:40.000 |
So imagine having dedicated your life to the law of the Old Testament, 00:02:45.000 |
having an encounter with Christ and all of a sudden instantaneously realizing you were wrong about everything. 00:02:54.000 |
Imagine, I know there's some lawyers here and I know some people who are very close to lawyers and you've seen what they have to go through to become a lawyer. 00:03:03.000 |
Just realizing that everything that you knew about the law was wrong. 00:03:07.000 |
It was applied wrong. All the answers that they told you, everything that you learned about school was wrong. 00:03:14.000 |
That's exactly what happened to Apostle Paul. 00:03:17.000 |
And that's what Paul is arguing in Chapter 7. 00:03:22.000 |
Chapter 7 is, if you look at it carefully, next time you go through Chapter 7 and you read it, 00:03:27.000 |
circle how many times he mentions the term law. 00:03:30.000 |
It's mentioned almost 30 times in Chapter 7 and parts of Chapter 8 together. 00:03:36.000 |
So there's a concentration of what Paul is trying to teach about this law because he begins by saying, 00:03:43.000 |
"You guys who are under the law, you guys need to know that we have been delivered from this law and it's no longer binding to us." 00:03:51.000 |
Imagine, humanly speaking, how impossible of a task that was for Paul to preach the gospel to these Jews. 00:03:58.000 |
That it wasn't just the side thing, it was their life. This is who they were. 00:04:02.000 |
This is how they met God. This is how they organized their families. 00:04:06.000 |
This is how they went to the temple and sacrificed. 00:04:10.000 |
Everything that they hoped for was founded upon the law. 00:04:23.000 |
If you're under the law, you are bound to sin. 00:04:35.000 |
It's just like, "You know what? We just need to make some tweaks." 00:04:40.000 |
It's kind of like if you're building an IKEA furniture and you've left certain things out. 00:04:44.000 |
It's like it just doesn't look perfectly right, but it's usable. 00:04:47.000 |
You know what I mean? We just tape some parts on, just screw some things in, and then just kind of use it the way it is. 00:04:54.000 |
He's not saying, "We need to make some tweaks as to your paradigm." 00:04:59.000 |
He's saying, "You're absolutely wrong. What you thought was going to bring life is actually bringing death." 00:05:04.000 |
"What you thought was freedom was actually causing you to be enslaved." 00:05:10.000 |
What Paul is trying to argue in chapter 7 is beyond human ability. 00:05:16.000 |
There is no way that Paul is going to convince them just from his words. 00:05:21.000 |
But we need to first and foremost understand that Paul is not speaking to non-Christians. 00:05:26.000 |
He's not talking to Jews who's not believing and say, "You know what? I'm trying to convince you through the law." 00:05:34.000 |
And the reason why he's going to expound about this doctrine of the law and where it fits before you were a Christian, 00:05:41.000 |
and then after you were a Christian, where does this fit? 00:05:43.000 |
So we're going to spend probably our next 5 to 6 weeks headed into this chapter and then parts of chapter 8 of what Paul has to say about this. 00:05:53.000 |
But the primary thing that he's trying to get them to do is on the bigger picture of why justification by grace and faith alone does not lead to licentious living. 00:06:09.000 |
And the fruit is the evidence that someone is genuinely justified. 00:06:12.000 |
So the concern that they had was, "Well, if the law was what we were holding on to, and if you abolish the law, what are we going to live by?" 00:06:20.000 |
Wouldn't every police officer, every lawyer be thinking the same thing? 00:06:27.000 |
If all the laws that we were commanded to obey, the speed limits, taxes, whatever you can possibly think of, 00:06:35.000 |
and say, "You know what? All the laws that we were bound to, all of that is gone." 00:06:39.000 |
Wouldn't there be a sense of discomfort, concern, anxiety? 00:06:46.000 |
What is our society going to look like without the law? 00:06:50.000 |
If we don't have the police officers enforcing the law, isn't that going to lead to utter chaos? 00:07:00.000 |
That's the question that Paul's been trying to answer in chapter 6. 00:07:07.000 |
He's been expounding justification in the first 5 chapters. 00:07:11.000 |
And in chapter 6 and chapter 7 and 8, he's going to be expounding the effects of justification on the life of a Christian. 00:07:20.000 |
The last twice, the two times, the two other illustrations that he used in chapter 6, 00:07:27.000 |
one, he gave the illustration of the baptism, how we've been united with Christ in His death and His resurrection. 00:07:34.000 |
And then the second illustration that he used was the illustration of slavery, 00:07:38.000 |
how we were once slaves to sin and now we're slaves to righteousness. 00:07:43.000 |
And then now he's going to, again, to make sure that there is a clear understanding that it does not lead to the sentience. 00:07:50.000 |
The third illustration, he's really driving home the same point, but he's giving three separate illustrations. 00:07:56.000 |
And the third illustration he's using is about marriage, 00:07:59.000 |
how we were once in marriage, married under the law, but because we have been crucified, 00:08:05.000 |
we are now no longer bound to that. Now we're able to marry a new husband. 00:08:10.000 |
But all of these things, he starts by saying, do you not know? 00:08:14.000 |
So if you look at chapter 7, he begins again by saying, do you not know? 00:08:19.000 |
In other words, he's talking about indicative. He's talking about how you ought to think. 00:08:25.000 |
Because until you recognize what has happened to you and who you are, you can't live up to the calling that God has given. 00:08:32.000 |
We're going to easily revert back to the way we used to think, how we used to behave, how we used to live. 00:08:39.000 |
And it's going to ultimately lead us back into bondage. 00:08:42.000 |
So Paul is saying, see, if you really understood what happened to you, it wouldn't lead to the sentient. 00:08:48.000 |
Rather, it's going to lead to greater freedom in life. 00:08:56.000 |
Do you not know in verse chapter six, verse three, that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 00:09:03.000 |
The reason why it doesn't lead to less anxiousness is because every Christian was crucified along with Christ. 00:09:09.000 |
See, every single one of us who heard the gospel and whether you raised your hand or whether you were on your knees and made the sinner's prayer, 00:09:18.000 |
or whether you were in a room by yourself, every person who has genuinely been justified by the blood of Christ, 00:09:27.000 |
we weren't just simple observers of the cross and say, hey, here's a presentation. 00:09:31.000 |
Here's this great story of the love of Christ. 00:09:33.000 |
And then somebody asked you, well, what do you think about it? 00:09:36.000 |
And then we said, well, you know what? I believe that. 00:09:40.000 |
We weren't passive observers and passive acknowledgers of what Jesus did on the cross. 00:09:46.000 |
The Bible says when he was crucified, we were crucified along with him. 00:10:02.000 |
So he's telling them, do not know that that's what happened. 00:10:05.000 |
That's why we can't apply this old way of thinking to this new life, because you're not the same. 00:10:16.000 |
Do you not know that if you present yourself to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey? 00:10:25.000 |
In other words, if you think that you're justified, you're just kind of living your life any way you want. 00:10:30.000 |
Do you not know that that's evidence that you're enslaved by the very things that you think are bringing you freedom? 00:10:37.000 |
So, again, Paul is not saying this is what you ought to do. 00:10:44.000 |
That you are no longer slaves of sin, but now you are slaves of righteousness. 00:10:50.000 |
So now the third illustration he gives is, do you not know? 00:10:54.000 |
I'm speaking to those who are who know the law, but the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives. 00:11:02.000 |
That's a married woman is bound by the law for her husband while he lives. 00:11:06.000 |
But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 00:11:09.000 |
So, again, the third illustration he uses is the illustration of marriage. 00:11:13.000 |
And obviously what he's saying is common knowledge of everybody. 00:11:17.000 |
He's not saying he's not using the illustration that they don't know. 00:11:20.000 |
And obviously it wouldn't be a good illustration if they didn't know. 00:11:24.000 |
Right. He's using something that everybody knew as common knowledge and using that to point to a truth of the gospel that was going to clarify for them. 00:11:34.000 |
Like every once in a while I will use an illustration of a movie that I watch or something and it's completely outdated. 00:11:39.000 |
Right. And those are useless, useless illustrations. 00:11:43.000 |
Because you have no idea what I'm talking about. 00:11:45.000 |
So I remember Esther one time years ago I mentioned Kojak. 00:11:49.000 |
So some of you guys who are a little bit older are already smirking. 00:11:54.000 |
Right. And the rest of you guys are like, OK. 00:11:59.000 |
Anyway, I'm not going to explain, but it's outdated. 00:12:02.000 |
And I use Kojak as an illustration and it just came out. 00:12:05.000 |
So Esther came on site. Kojak. Are you kidding me? 00:12:14.000 |
So obviously, if I'm going to give an illustration, I'm going to give an illustration that's going to be relevant to you so that you can look at it. 00:12:23.000 |
That actually made it more difficult that that illustration. 00:12:26.000 |
But Paul is taking something that is common knowledge of everybody about this marriage that you can't marry another person until you die. 00:12:35.000 |
The only way that you can release be released from that covenant is if the if you die, if the husband dies, then you can be released and to be married to the new. 00:12:43.000 |
The point that Paul is trying to make is that you have been released from the law. 00:12:50.000 |
And I know what I was saying, well, we were completely dependent on the law. 00:12:55.000 |
And how can you possibly say we're no longer bound to this when this is all we knew? 00:13:01.000 |
Paul saying that it may sound logical to you, but the reason why that's relevant is because you are no longer alive. 00:13:10.000 |
You we are not the same person. Jesus Christ was not added to our old life. 00:13:15.000 |
We didn't live this life and with all these goals and principles that we had in our lives and said, well, anybody want Jesus on top of that? 00:13:23.000 |
So we were pursuing the things that we were pursuing. And then Jesus came along and helped us in our life. 00:13:29.000 |
He said, no, that's not what happened. If that's how you receive Christ. 00:13:33.000 |
So you're still under the law because your old self is still alive. 00:13:38.000 |
The reason why we are no longer under the law is because the old self, there's nothing to apply to the old self because the old self is dead. 00:13:46.000 |
There is no new life until the old life is dead. 00:13:50.000 |
And that's the point that Paul is making. And he says, if you try to marry a new husband while the old husband is still alive, what do you call that? 00:13:58.000 |
He said, that's adultery. And that is not what God is calling us to be or to do. 00:14:05.000 |
First and foremost is to recognize the reason we are no longer under the law is because we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer us who live. 00:14:16.000 |
That's the first step of recognizing our identity in Christ. 00:14:21.000 |
It is no longer us. Whatever baggage that we had prior to meeting Christ is no longer relevant to us because it is no longer us. 00:14:30.000 |
And I know it may feel like us. We may smell the same. We may look the same. 00:14:35.000 |
But in God's eyes, we have been made new creation. 00:14:39.000 |
There is no crossing point between a child of God and child of the devil. 00:14:43.000 |
There is no place where the light and the darkness to kind of dwell together. 00:14:48.000 |
And that's how it's described. We are either children of God or children of the devil. 00:14:57.000 |
Let me give you an example why this is important for us to understand. 00:15:02.000 |
Years ago, I had a friend whose father was a missionary out in China and his work was pretty dangerous. 00:15:09.000 |
And part of his work was to help the North Korean refugees who were crossing over the boundary. 00:15:16.000 |
And then he would, from China's side, he would find a way for them to either get into Hong Kong and then eventually come to Canada, United States, or to South Korea. 00:15:25.000 |
So he was the middleman who received these people. 00:15:28.000 |
And so we were always asking, his friends were always asking, "Can you pray for my dad? He's being chased." 00:15:34.000 |
And they kind of found out about him, so he was in hiding. 00:15:38.000 |
So after we heard the news, months later, we asked him, "So what happened to your dad?" 00:15:44.000 |
And he said, "Oh, you know, he got caught. They caught up to him." 00:15:52.000 |
If he was a local, if he was a Chinese citizen, I mean, very harsh things would have happened. 00:15:57.000 |
But because he was a South Korean citizen, they basically banned him from China. 00:16:02.000 |
You're on the blacklist and you cannot come into China anymore. 00:16:06.000 |
So he was lost for a period. Now what is he going to do? 00:16:09.000 |
So we're all praying for him and we're thankful that he didn't get to prison, but we heard that he was out in South Korea. 00:16:15.000 |
So I didn't see him for months and months, maybe six to seven, eight months that I didn't see him. 00:16:20.000 |
So I went to him and I say, "So what's going on? What happened to your dad?" 00:16:26.000 |
"Oh, I thought he was on the blacklist." And he says, "Well, he was." 00:16:29.000 |
"So how did he get in?" He said, "He changed his name." 00:16:35.000 |
"So what happened?" He said, "Well, he went to Korea. He changed his name, legally, got a new passport, and went back in." 00:16:45.000 |
"So what's he doing?" He said, "He's doing the same thing. 00:16:51.000 |
"Is there any concern that if he gets caught, he's going to get into trouble?" 00:16:55.000 |
He said, "Yeah, we're probably going to ban him." 00:16:57.000 |
"Then when he gets banned, he's probably going to change his name." 00:17:01.000 |
So he was Mr. Lee, now he's Mr. Kim. He's going to be Mr. Park. 00:17:08.000 |
So the point of all of this is because if he goes into China with the same identity, with the same person, 00:17:14.000 |
at the border he's going to get caught and it says, "You are on the blacklist. You cannot come in." 00:17:19.000 |
See, but that no longer is relevant because the old person, as far as the Chinese government is concerned, no longer exists. 00:17:30.000 |
He's a new person. As far as the legal code is concerned, they don't know anything about him. 00:17:35.000 |
So all the legal stuff that he got in trouble with was no longer relevant to this new person. 00:17:41.000 |
See, that's what Paul is saying is that the law was binding to the old person, but when we were crucified with Christ, 00:17:47.000 |
the old principles of the law no longer applied. 00:17:51.000 |
See, the law, when we hear, when the Jew hears the word "law," it's two things. 00:17:57.000 |
It was either a source of blessing or a curse. 00:17:59.000 |
That's basically, in a nutshell, that's what the law was. 00:18:02.000 |
That if you obey it, you would get the shalom of God, and God would bless you, and you would be a great nation, great family. 00:18:08.000 |
But if you didn't obey it, there would be curses upon curses upon curses. 00:18:13.000 |
See, the scripture tells us that it is no longer binding to a Christian because the old self has been crucified. 00:18:20.000 |
See, the same question that Paul is trying to answer here was the same question that the Jews are trying to answer to ask Jesus. 00:18:28.000 |
That Jesus is going around trying to abolish the law because he's not falling in line under the rules that we've created. 00:18:36.000 |
So, Jesus responds to them saying, "I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law." 00:18:44.000 |
One, he fulfilled it by keeping it perfectly. 00:18:47.000 |
That everything that was commanded of him, he did it perfectly. 00:18:51.000 |
But the second way that he fulfilled it was he carried onto, carried onto completion what God intended the law to be in the first place. 00:19:02.000 |
Everything about the law ultimately was to prepare people for the coming of Christ, the ultimate Savior. 00:19:16.000 |
They thought that if they obeyed, if they kept it, that somehow they're going to find life. 00:19:24.000 |
So, first and foremost, what Paul is saying is the reason why the law is no longer binding to the Jews or anybody else is because we've been crucified. 00:19:34.000 |
We didn't just acknowledge him. We didn't just add him. 00:19:41.000 |
Well, how did that happen? Our affections changed. 00:19:43.000 |
We saw the glory of the gospel, whether it was in the preaching, however you may have heard it, 00:19:51.000 |
when we heard and seen and witnessed the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our affection changed. 00:20:02.000 |
If we wanted the world more than we wanted Jesus, you wouldn't have repented. 00:20:07.000 |
We repented because our affections changed and we became new creations. 00:20:12.000 |
And so, no longer the old principle of the law applies to us. 00:20:22.000 |
But now, as a Christian, the law does not have the power to condemn either. 00:20:29.000 |
And the reason why this is so important is not simply about the death. 00:20:33.000 |
He said the death happens. The point of his illustration isn't simply, "Hey, you're dead. Your husband is dead, so now you're free to be free." 00:20:42.000 |
So, that's not his point. He says, "You're free to do what?" 00:20:48.000 |
And until you are freed from the old husband, you can't marry the new husband, because it is with the new husband where there is life. 00:20:55.000 |
And the new husband, obviously, is talking about Christ. 00:20:58.000 |
There is no union with Christ until the old self has been crucified. 00:21:03.000 |
See, Romans 7, 4-6 says, "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, 00:21:09.000 |
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." 00:21:16.000 |
It's given down to verse 6, because verse 5 we're going to deal with next week. 00:21:20.000 |
"But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, 00:21:24.000 |
so that we serve not under the old written code, but in the new life of the Spirit." 00:21:29.000 |
So, we've been released from that in order that we may be united with Christ to do what? 00:21:39.000 |
You know, the odd thing about our generation is when we say we need to bear fruit. 00:21:45.000 |
And you may disagree with me, but the general feeling that I get, and the general response that I get is burden. 00:21:53.000 |
You know, "We've got to bear fruit. We've got to come to church. We've got to serve. 00:21:58.000 |
We've got to love these people I don't want to love. We've got to give." 00:22:02.000 |
And so bearing fruit has become a chore, it's become a task, it's become burdensome. 00:22:08.000 |
But that only applies in a strange way in Christianity. 00:22:15.000 |
In every other instance, when we talk about bearing fruit, it's a source of joy. 00:22:20.000 |
You tell a farmer, "Hey, you have a lot of fruit." 00:22:27.000 |
He's worked all year long to have fruit. So when you say he's been fruitful, 00:22:32.000 |
in every other instance, bearing fruit is a source of joy. 00:22:39.000 |
When we talk about it in Christianity, "Oh, bearing fruit." 00:22:42.000 |
It's like, "Oh, we've got to work harder. We've got to do more. We've got to sacrifice and pick up the cross." 00:22:48.000 |
Not to say that none of this is wrong, but you notice here in verse 6, is that we're bearing fruit, 00:22:57.000 |
You notice that? Not under the old written code, but in the new life of the Spirit. 00:23:03.000 |
If we're trying to bear fruit like we tried to bear fruit before the Holy Spirit, 00:23:11.000 |
If it's works-based righteousness, just like when we were under the law, 00:23:15.000 |
that if we work hard, we're going to be blessed. If we don't work hard, we're going to be condemned. 00:23:19.000 |
If we're working under the old code, yes, it's going to lead to greater burden. 00:23:26.000 |
You may be able to accomplish more with less fruit. 00:23:31.000 |
You may be able to do more and get more people to do more things, 00:23:36.000 |
but it's not transformation of the heart. It is not true worship. 00:23:46.000 |
If you trace it back, where does it all go back to? It goes back to creation. 00:23:54.000 |
The first relationship created in mankind is husband and wife. 00:23:57.000 |
It wasn't between father and son. It wasn't about grandparents and cousins. 00:24:02.000 |
Every human relationship started with husband and wife. It was a marriage contest. 00:24:08.000 |
And in that marriage, we see what God created marriage for. 00:24:14.000 |
What is it for? Don't say it. Just think about it. 00:24:23.000 |
It's not good for him to be alone. It's for companionship. 00:24:26.000 |
But ultimately, he made it and he had a creation mandate given to that marriage relationship, 00:24:37.000 |
So from the get-go, the purpose of marriage was to be fruitful and to multiply. 00:24:44.000 |
So Paul is using this imagery again, going back. 00:24:48.000 |
He said the reason why we are released from that and united with Christ and our new husband 00:24:56.000 |
Not by the old written code, but by the newness of the Holy Spirit. 00:25:01.000 |
And that's what he's been arguing this whole time. 00:25:05.000 |
That if you've been justified, you are a new creation and there is a new principle, 00:25:15.000 |
Not simply by applying ourselves, but by recognizing the Holy Spirit that's groaning. 00:25:21.000 |
And that's why he uses the word "yield" to present yourself. 00:25:26.000 |
See, if you yield to the flesh, it will produce death. 00:25:31.000 |
If you yield to the Spirit, it says it will produce life. 00:25:36.000 |
And let me give you an illustration of that, and I'm going to wrap up this morning. 00:25:40.000 |
If you yield to the flesh, even though we're no longer citizens, we're no longer married to this world. 00:25:46.000 |
We're no longer citizens of this world. We're not under the obligation, maybe, of the law. 00:25:51.000 |
But our address is here, and that's the flesh. 00:25:54.000 |
We still belong to this tent, and as long as we are in this tent, 00:25:58.000 |
and we have the ramification of the dominion of the law, still the principle is working, 00:26:03.000 |
because that's where we live. And that's what Paul talked about earlier in chapter 6. 00:26:08.000 |
So, the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is a Christian now has the Holy Spirit, a new law. 00:26:16.000 |
We have become new creation, and now the new wine has been put into the new skin. 00:26:21.000 |
And so the Holy Spirit inside of us is groaning for what? 00:26:25.000 |
To be adopted, ultimately to be fulfilled, to be in heaven with the Lord. 00:26:28.000 |
And so the Holy Spirit is constantly groaning, changing our affection, poking and nodding at us to work toward Christ. 00:26:40.000 |
Anything that we give full vent to in our flesh ultimately leads to destruction. 00:26:47.000 |
Food in and of itself is not wrong. Obviously, it's not wrong, it's good. 00:26:55.000 |
But if you give full vent, if you just yield to every desire you have of your flesh to eat, what happens? 00:27:07.000 |
If you just eat whatever you want, whenever you want, how much you want, and you do it all of your life, what happens? 00:27:22.000 |
Some people tick you off, you get angry, you give full vent, you yield to the flesh. 00:27:27.000 |
And you just give in. Every time somebody ticks you off, you carry it out, you yield to the flesh. 00:27:36.000 |
Maybe a little bit of exaggeration, but you die, right? 00:27:41.000 |
If every time somebody ticks you off, every time something happens, you yield to that, and you just kind of give yourself to that. 00:27:49.000 |
Every time you have a thought and you want to say something, and everything just comes out of your mouth. 00:27:54.000 |
I hate that person, I hate this, I hate that, you know, slander, and there's no control. 00:28:04.000 |
Exaggeration, but you're going to be destroyed. 00:28:06.000 |
Can you imagine what kind of marriage you're going to have? What kind of relationship? 00:28:14.000 |
If you just yield to your flesh, like, "Oh, I want to rest." 00:28:17.000 |
"Oh, I don't feel like it." Don't go to work when you don't feel like working. 00:28:21.000 |
Don't do anything if you don't feel like it. Just give in. 00:28:29.000 |
So Paul says, if you yield to the flesh, the fruit of that is destruction, is death. 00:28:35.000 |
And it leads you, what? Does it cause you to be free? 00:28:38.000 |
If you yield to every desire you have, do you feel free? 00:28:48.000 |
But as Christians now, we have been delivered from the old principles, old dominion of the law. 00:28:54.000 |
Now we are free to be married with Christ, that we may bear fruit the way God intended us to. 00:29:01.000 |
Because it is when we bear fruit, it's evidence of life. 00:29:06.000 |
Isn't that what you see if you plant something and you see fruits? 00:29:12.000 |
You planted a tree and then you have apples coming out. 00:29:18.000 |
In the same way as Christians, when we have been planted in the newness of life by the Holy Spirit, 00:29:23.000 |
and fruit comes out, that's where we find life. 00:29:28.000 |
And that's why we are encouraged not to yield to the flesh, but to yield to the Holy Spirit. 00:29:33.000 |
In Galatians 5, 16 and 18, but I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:29:40.000 |
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. 00:29:44.000 |
For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 00:29:49.000 |
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. 00:29:53.000 |
Let me summarize with the same point that we've been making in the last three to four weeks. 00:29:59.000 |
Christ came to give life and to give us life abundantly. 00:30:15.000 |
Why did he ask us to deny ourselves and said, if you find your life, you will lose it. 00:30:25.000 |
See, a Christian is an individual where his affection for the things of God have changed. 00:30:32.000 |
And where he is not forcing you, but drawing you to him. 00:30:39.000 |
So either you are distracted or entangled, and you've forgotten what brought you to Christ in the first place. 00:30:47.000 |
That your feet may be taking you toward the right direction, but your mind and your eyes are all over the place. 00:30:54.000 |
And the affection that Christ has put in you in the Holy Spirit has become dull. 00:31:00.000 |
And that's why this path has become drudgery and it's become difficult. 00:31:06.000 |
But what God intended was to invite you to the spring of water for you to drink of. 00:31:14.000 |
To experience life that was lost because of our sins. 00:31:18.000 |
To eat of his flesh, to drink of his blood, that we may have this newness of life. 00:31:23.000 |
And the reason why all this is important, because what God is looking for is not simple change of behavior. 00:31:31.000 |
And worship can happen if transformation doesn't happen. 00:31:36.000 |
So again, I want to invite, our praise seems to come up. 00:31:42.000 |
And again, we're going to take maybe about three to four weeks in this passage in Romans chapter 7. 00:31:46.000 |
And I know, you know, I don't want to just kind of skim through it because it's very important. 00:31:51.000 |
But again, I don't want you to lose a big picture either as we get into the details that ultimately he's making the same point. 00:31:58.000 |
The reason why justification does not lead to licentiousness is because true salvation leads to life. 00:32:08.000 |
And isn't that what we're ultimately seeking? 00:32:12.000 |
Let's take a few minutes to come before the Lord in prayer. 00:32:15.000 |
Meditating upon the word that was presented to you. 00:32:22.000 |
And take some time, again, how do I apply this? 00:32:24.000 |
Not just to be hearers, but to be appliers, doers of the word. 00:32:30.000 |
So let's take some time to meditate and to pray and ask the Lord to search us. 00:32:35.000 |
Not to simply change our behavior, but change of heart. 00:32:40.000 |
So again, as our worship team leads us, let's take some time to pray.