A Funeral and a Wedding Romans 7 1

“A Funeral and a Wedding” Romans 7: 1 -6 Romans Series #21 June 8, 2014

Remember that Salvation Includes Sanctification (and Glorification!) • Chapter 6 ▫ Sanctification the Right Way ▫ Union with Christ • Chapter 7 ▫ Sanctification the Wrong Way ▫ By Works of the Law • Chapter 8 ▫ Sanctification the Empowered Way ▫ The Energy of the Holy Spirit

Remember • • Know what God has done for us in Christ. Reckon it to be true for you. Yield yourself to God. (Or else you will find yourself involved in the spirit of chapter 7) ▫ Chapter 6 - “Sin shall not have dominion over you” (6: 14) �“sin” occurs 17 times in 6 �Dead in Christ to sin (6: 1 -6) ▫ Chapter 7 - “For you are not under LAW” �“law” occurs 18 times in 7 �Dead in Christ to the law (7: 1 -6) • There are 47 personal pronouns in 7: 7 -25 ▫ The defeated Christian- failed to reckon “I” to be dead and failed to live as Gal. 2: 20. ▫ The Christian who lives in the “I, me, myself” world will fail.

Chapter 7… • Chapter 7, in dealing with the law and myself, is critical in being able to recognize legalism. • Technically, legalism is relying on the Law or certain traditional principles for salvation. • A Christian can be a “legalist” by placing a primary emphasis on works, traditions, and standards to make himself think that by conformity to such man-made qualifications he is more pleasing to God.

Chapter 7 Offers 3 Looks at Legalism • The 1 st Look- The Fruit of the Law (vs. 1 -6) • The 2 nd Look – The Function of the Law (vs. 513) • The 3 rd Look- The Failure of the Law (vs. 14 -25) ▫ It Cannot Rehabilitate You- vs. 14 (Change) ▫ It Cannot Activate You- vs. 15 -21 (Enable) ▫ It Cannot Emancipate You- vs. 22 -25 (Free) (Adapted from Wiersbe)

“A Funeral and a Wedding” (“Widowed and Wedded”) • The Illustration - Verses 1 -3 ▫ Paul doesn’t bring this up to teach on marriage, divorce, and remarriage, BUT to make a point about salvation. �Marriage is a union of a man and a woman to be broken ONLY by death. �As long as they live they are under the authority of the Law of Marriage. �When death takes one partner, the other is free to marry again.

“A Funeral and a Wedding” (“Widowed and Wedded”) • The Application – Verses 4 -6 ▫ The wife is you or me – the “I” or “myself” of the passage. ▫ If the 1 st husband is “our old man, ” our unsaved self and we were under his authority. ▫ The death of the 1 st husband would be the crucifixion of the “old man” with Christ. ▫ The wife is set free from her 1 st husband who was crucified, and is now the remarried widow – married to Christ.

“A Funeral and a Wedding” (“Widowed and Wedded”) • We understand this illustration thru verse 3. • But there is a strange twist in verse 4! ▫ We are made to die (aorist passive verb) to the Law – through the death of Christ, we died. ▫ But we are raised in Christ to a new life. ▫ Our death freed us from the “husband of Law” and our resurrection in Christ allowed us to be married to Him.

Conclusion: Don’t miss these three practical life lessons. • #1 - Our Union With Christ! ▫ “Know Ye Not? ” Mentioned Three Times! � 6: 3 – The old life is impossible because of our union with Christ. � 6: 16 – The old service is impossible because of our union with Christ. � 7: 1 – The old union is impossible because of our union with Christ. ▫ A new bridegroom has claimed my heart and I am married to Him forever! ▫ Bring on the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!

Three practical life lessons… • #2 – Our Fruitfulness In Christ! ▫ As in Chapter 6: 21, 22 so here in 7: 4. ▫ Our union with Christ allows us to bring forth fruit unto God. ▫ Fruit is the expression of life and may indicate character rather than conduct. ▫ Character can always produce conduct, but conduct in itself can be deceptive. ▫ The Fruit of the Spirit is the 9 -fold description of the believer’s character thru the Spirit of God.

Three practical life lessons… • #3 – Our Service Thru Christ! ▫ ▫ ▫ Union and Fruitfulness can be visualized in service. We walk in newness of life 6: 4 We serve in newness of spirit 7: 6 We served as a slave in chapter 6 We serve as a wife with a husband in chapter 7 The theme of chapter 8 will be serving in newness of spirit 7: 6.

Saints at Grace Baptist… • You are united with Christ. • This is a fruitful relationship. ▫ You will produce bushels of “Character Fruit” • This is a relationship of loving service. ▫ You will find yourselves involved in selfless service in His local body – the church. • The person who is justified by faith through the faith of Jesus Christ is secure (R. 5), holy (R. 6), free, fruitful, and serving (R. 7). And the last 4 of these characteristics of the true believer are no more optional or conditional than the first. Although none of these divine marks of regeneration is ever perfect in its human manifestation, all of them are always present in a believer’s life. (J. Mac. Arthur p. 364)