Vindicated – Romans 7:7-14

 Judy forwarded an e-mail to me, which some of you have probably seen before. “The Hillbilly’s Ten Commandments:” Just one God. Honor yer Ma & Pa. No tellin’ tales or gossipin’. Git yourself to Sunday meetin’. Put nothin’ before God. No foolin’ around with another feller’s gal. No killin’. Watch yer mouth. Don’t take what ain’t yers. Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff.

Now turn to Exodus 20:1 to read the real thing – “And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” So here we have the Ten Commandments. We have the epitome of God’s Law; Ten simple things which if lived properly would make this entire world a virtual Paradise.

But which of these ten is the most important commandment? I suppose that my answer might be different on different days of the week. The theologian in me might say that Commandments 1 or 2 are the most important, or perhaps number 4. But then when I hear one of our children giving grief to his parents, I might say that the 5^th Commandment is especially important. I know some people who need to slapped in the face with number 7 or number 8. Certainly the 3^rd is constantly broken in this godless and sin-sick society of ours, even by Christians.

Perhaps on different days I would say that different commandments are the most needful. But as a general rule, in our day, the 10^th Commandment has to be one of the most practical. “Thou shalt not covet.” Isn’t much of modern society fueled by greed and covetousness? Look at the world of advertising. Some advertisements are more openly blatant than others, but they are all similar. “I want that item, even though I can’t afford it and don’t need it, but I want it right now.” “You deserve that particular thing, because you are definitely worth it.” The 10^th Commandment is more important today than it has ever been. But it has always had its place and importance. In fact, when Paul was summarizing the Law, that was the aspect that he chose to highlight.

Having taught us that Christians have been freed from the law to marry another – to Christ our Saviour, He realized that there might be some people who grew so disgusted with the Law that they took an ungodly attitude towards it. So Paul’s next paragraph is spent in vindicating the Law. Let’s throw aside the illustration that I’ve just given you and rethink the Law. It is not actually an evil husband, but a great blessing from God, if kept pure and confined to its original purpose.

The Law is not sin or sinful.“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.” Just because two things are related, or one produces or exposes another, that does not make them the same thing or give them the same nature. Jacob and Esau were brothers – twin brothers – but they were two very different people and totally unlike each other. I have some pine trees in my back yard and I have a maple tree in the front. If I studied that maple, I might learn quite a bit which could be applied to the Ponderosa in the back. But they are two very different kinds of trees.

What is the original source of sin? As far as practical, human sin is concerned, the first sin came out of the heart of Adam. But when God created Adam, He didn’t plant a sinful seed guaranteeing that it would sprout some day. Adam was completely innocent of sin and even of the hint of sin. His sin came completely of his own free will, and Jehovah was in no way responsible for it. But Adam’s was not the first sin. Prior to Adam’s was Eve’s sin which didn’t directly affect us, but which did affect Adam. And prior to Eve’s sin were the sins of Lucifer and those angels which followed him. But again, those sins came from their own souls, and were not commissioned or authorized by the Lord. You could say that the source, or father, of sin was not Jehovah.

But the Law on the other hand came directly from the heart and hand of God. “Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.” “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king…”

The Law is not sin; it is a revelation of sin.“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.” I said a few minutes ago, that of the Ten Commandments, Paul chose the 10^th to illustrate this part of his message. In verses 7 and 8, our translators used three different words to render the same Greek/Hebrew word. Let me read it again emphasizing that one Greek word – “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known COVETOUSNESS, except the law had said, Thou shalt not COVET. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of COVETOUSNESS. For without the law sin was dead.”

One of the things which is wrong with our world, and something which is at the root of our corruption is that man does not recognize covetousness and the sinfulness of covetousness. In a famous movie about Wall Street there is one line that is fully emphasized: “Greed is good.” God does not agree. Paul does not agree. In another place Paul mentions something which is firmly tied to this covetousness. “Having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” The reason that nations attack nations and some businesses try to destroy their competitors, is that so very few modern human beings recognize the sinfulness of sin – the sinfulness of covetousness for example. It’s the law of God which brings to light that hidden work of darkness.

We are finally seeing a little bit of the sun this past week. The sunshine does a great many things – some of which are very important. It causes some things to happen which weren’t occurring a few weeks ago, such as a rising temperature and making things grow. It causes other things which might be considered destructive – like the rising river and floods. It also exposes other things which it didn’t actually cause. It might reveal some of the damage that all the snow caused just a few weeks ago.

Unlike the sunshine, the Law doesn’t really cause or create anything new. But as Paul says, I might never have known what greed is, if the Lord hadn’t revealed it to me. And I might never have understood the hideousness of unwarranted hatred, until the Lord told me. There are a great many sins which appeal to the flesh, but they are wicked in the sight of God. The Law reveals the perspective of the Lord.

So God’s Law mentions a great many specific sins and exposes their ugly nature. Then it reveals the nature of sin and it’s original source. It describes the virulent nature and the punishment which is due to sin.

And also, in a sense it invigorates sin – but only in a sense.“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”

“When the commandment came, sin revived.” The word “revived” means to “make alive again.” Luke 15:24 – “This my son was dead, and IS ALIVE AGAIN; he was lost, and is found.” Romans 14:9 – “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and REVIVED, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” And negatively – Revelation 20:5 – “But the rest of the dead LIVED NOT AGAIN UNTIL the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”

I know fully well that babies come into this world as depraved little sinners. But they are sinners who haven’t learned all the nuances of sin, and how to use sin for their own benefit. There are a great many things that, over time, they will learn about sin, and forget about righteousness. What Paul is saying is that when the Lord invigorated the Law before his heart, the awfulness of sin was invigorated as well. It was not that he was not guilty or that the Law had somehow become ineffective, but as far as his heart was concerned it became a living entity once again.

But an invigorated Law is also a deadly Law.“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”

One of the things that our Lord Jesus tried to tell the Jews of His day was that He was their Messiah only if they really wanted a Messiah. He was their Physician, but first they had to realize that they needed some spiritual medication. He was the Living Water, but if they were filled with beer, soda pop and vodka, then they didn’t need water. “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Just because a person doesn’t feel like he’s under the law, that doesn’t mean that he isn’t. The state of Idaho a few years ago, decided that churches fall under the jurisdiction of the Worker’s Compensation Commission, and that they are required to pay into the state coffers. Our church doesn’t feel that the law is just and that it should be applied to churches. Thus far we have not given the state a dime and we are in a state of non-compliance. But one of these days we may somehow be forced into it. There are hundreds, if not thousands of state and federal laws which may seem to be unjust, and which some people don’t feel obligated to obey. But if they are caught, there could be serious consequences.

But those earthly consequences are nothing compared to the consequences of God’s Law. And just because sinners don’t feel obligated, or that God has any authority over them, what they feel is not important. It is vitally important that the Law become alive to them, so that they may realize how dead they are, in order that they may be made alive in Christ. “Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.”

Finally Paul comes to the simple and pure nature of the Law.“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” “For we know that the law is spiritual.” The Law is spiritual in that it came to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It reaches into the inner part of man, the spiritual part of man, and makes its most powerful demands there. And remember that the Law is not just about what our hands, eyes and feet might do to transgress the will of the Lord. More importantly than the outward things, it is what the heart of man of man does where the real sin lies. You might remember that a few years ago, we made a study of the Ten Commandments. What I tried to prove is that everyone of us have broken all of those Commandments in various spiritual ways. Murder is not confined to shedding another person’s blood, but Jesus tells us that it’s hatred too. Adultery is not just a physical thing it is an immoral covetousness which may never see the light of day, but which will be exposed by the omniscience of God. Sin is the rebellious act of the human heart, and it might not be enacted outwardly.

The law is spiritual, holy, just and good. It is holy because it comes from the heart of the holy God. It is just because, in complete accord with the righteousness of the Lord, it is applied to everyone equally. And it is good, because it is good. The Law of God is precisely what our society needs to function smoothly and properly. And one of these days, when the Lord sits upon the Throne of David, the world will see what a wonderful thing the Law can be when it is followed from the heart.

God’s Law is a very good thing, and every saint of God is greatly indebted to it.