Physical vs Spiritual Law

Oh, well hello, everyone! How wonderful it is to be here with all of you. My wife Jennifer and I are just so excited. We've had such a wonderful, warm welcome coming in here, so we certainly appreciate that. We're all the way from Dallas, Texas. And I met someone that had boots just when I first came in, and I wasn't wearing any. So, yeah, he says, what's going on here? Oh, well, it is good to be here.

And we are a people of a vision, a people of a vision of a time, an era, that will come when Jesus Christ will usher in a new time, a time when the world then will begin to take on His attributes. And it will be a wonderful time. Isaiah speaks about this time, and when he says, many people will come and say, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, where He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths. And then he says, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

So, Isaiah describes a society that is completely different than the one we have today, because it will be a time in which people will seek to learn and to live by God's holy law. And as a result of them turning to this, there will be just an entirely new orientation. In fact, the very nature of man will change due to this law being poured out upon them. And what's interesting is Isaiah goes on to describe a role that you and I are playing today and training for, a role that describes teachers that will take that instruction and say, this is the way.

Walk in it. And it's an incredible future responsibility that we will have as we will be directing the very steps of those who will be looking to obtain life eternal. And so we today, us as first fruits must learn to then live by that instruction, live by that law, love it, internalize it. Oh, I'll love thy, thy law. It is ever with me. I won't sing the song, but the reason I bring that up is in that song, it says, I have more understanding because I dwell upon it. So we're going to do that today.

We're going to dwell upon the law in doing so, hopefully come away through Scripture with a deeper understanding and they will lead to us fulfilling that future role. We're also going to see that our very salvation rests upon our attitude and treatment and understanding of this holy law. So let's get started. Let's go back to the very beginning. Turn with me to Romans 5 and verse 12 through 14. This is the perfect place to start in beginning the fullness and understanding of the law and the revelation to mankind.

Romans 5 verses 12 through 13. It says, What a set of Scriptures! Within these few set of Scriptures, Paul is able to explain why the law was revealed to man. What does it say here? It says, well before we even knew it, we needed to be saved. We didn't even realize it. Death had spread to all men and sin had done this. We were in this fatal condition and it says, through one man sin entered and brought with it what?

Death. And death had spread to all men. Adam, from that point centuries ago, decided to reject the commands of God. He and Eve decided for themselves that they could decide what was right or wrong. They could decide what was in or out, enact their own instruction, decide for themselves.

What they were doing was relying upon themselves in a law of the flesh, if you will, instead of the spiritual commands of God. Therefore, living outside of God's spiritual law then, that's called sin. And sin brought with it death from Adam and Eve to all mankind's sins. And so, one of the first and foremost things that God had to do in beginning to give us mankind the fullness of this understanding was to allow men to see the condition they were in.

And the means by which God would reveal this to mankind that we were in this fatal condition was through the revelation of His spiritual law. And as verse 13 points out, it says, For until the law sin was in the world. In other words, for even before the law was given, prior to, up to, until the law sin was in the world.

So even before the law had been written on those tablets and given to mankind by Moses, sin was in the world. And this is a clear statement that flies in the face of those who believe that the law only existed after it was given by Moses to the Israelites.

But what this is making clear is that the law was also before, since the beginning. How do we know? Because the charge had already been made. Sin had already made its charge. Death was charged to all people. If death hadn't made its charge, if there wasn't a spiritual law in place, then death wouldn't have made its charge, as we see here. But as it clearly says, death made its charge. And it would spread for one man who wanted to live outside of God's spiritual law to all mankind.

Death reigned. And as it says in verse 14, even if you hadn't sinned in like manner of Adam, it doesn't matter. Death still reigned over you. But again, mankind wouldn't innately know this eternal death condition. God had to show us that sin existed and its damage had been done. And that alone, what we've just talked about in those two scriptures, it's foundational. It is a foundational truth that we must internalize. Because make no doubt, we will be challenged on these matters.

So, let no man think that there was no sin prior to the written law was given to forbid it. The same simple acts that were forbidden after the written law was given were the same simple acts before. God wanted us to be aware and have a complete understanding that the wages of sin is death. And we have all earned death eternal. And so God says, well, here's the law. Now you know. And this is what Paul is speaking about here. And this is the reason why you and I dearly love it. Because without it, we wouldn't know.

You've heard that the law is a mirror, of course. And that's a good analogy because it was a mirror that was held up that revealed that we were dead without hope, goners. And so we sing about it. We thank God for it because now I see the condition I'm in. In a sense, we were the Grateful Dead, not the band. But we sing about it. And this leads us to this next question.

We say, thank you, Father, for showing us this through your law. But I hope that the story doesn't end there. Let me ask, is there anything then that can be done about this condition that I'm in? Well, to quote the great Martin Luther King Jr. Only in the darkness can you see the stars.

So no loving father would allow his children to stay in darkness, to stay in death, did I have a remedy, a solution to this condition. And here at the end of verse 14, we see just the smallest mention, just the smallest mention of what holds the best news that you and I could ever hear. Here verse 14, it says, "'Nevertheless, you're dead. Every death reign from Adam to Moses.' But Adam, though, is a type of someone who is to come." It says, Adam is a type of him who is to come.

Ah, well, what is this? Who is this? This capital H here, this hymn. Well, it would turn out to be the cure. He would turn out to be the answer, the remedy, the solution, the resolution, the response to this condition that we have found ourselves in. He, the hymn here, the great Savior, would come. And he would be the one that would pull us out of the grips of death and would give us life once again.

But I'll stop talking and let the Scripture tell us perfectly here what this one Jesus Christ would come and do for us. Look at, seen here in Romans 5, look at verses 6 through 11. Verses 6 through 11, it says, "'For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps a good man someone might even dare to die. But God demonstrates His love towards us, in that while we are still sinners, Christ died for us, even before we knew we were dead, even before we knew." Verse 9, "'Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him, saved from death through Him.

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.' And not only that, but we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we now have received the reconciliation." We have been delivered, reconciled, from death. We grasp this. We are the future teachers. By the time that law was held up to you and I, and we were able to see the wretched condition we were in, a solution had already been provided. We see here a Savior by the name of Jesus Christ had already come and saved us, ironically, through His death first and then through His life as He was risen up.

Let's read more about this rescue here. Stay in Romans 5, verses 18 through 21. "'Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men,' that's Adam's offense, resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one's man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in the justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous." Let's stop there for a moment. Through one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Obedience to what? Christ's obedience to God's spiritual law was the catalyst to bring many to life, to bring many to made righteous.

Let's continue here. Verse 20. Verse 20 says, "'Moreover, the law entered, it was revealed to us, that the offense may abound, that we may see it clearly. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. So that as sin reigned to death, even so grace might reign, through righteousness to eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'" So these are eternal life matters that we are speaking about today.

So again, as that mirror was held up to us as that law, it revealed that this sin abounded in us, this offense, a gift had already been made to be in place, a gift of grace. And this gift of grace by Jesus Christ, from Jesus Christ, would be applied to us.

And as a result, we would have access to eternal life. His death and His rising up again, that would be the act that would make this gift available to us, this gift of grace, which would result in the justification for man to be brought back to life. It was now justified for the Father to make life eternal made available to men and women. It could be justified now. And so grace, as it said, far outmatched sin. It was no match.

Grace and life would have bounded us much more than death and sin ever could. Grace is this undeserved favor we receive from God the Father. And it comes with this gift of forgiveness, and it was made possible through the death of Jesus Christ in His blood. And then He would rise up and in His life then would have the power to extend life to all men and all women. This is why the Father sent the sign. He brought with Him the solution to mankind's condition.

And so the law and grace together are just both wonderful gifts from God. The law showed us our wretchedness caused by us living outside of God's spiritual law. And then grace, this favor then, is applied to rescue us from that condition. We're able to see all of that amazing stuff in just chapter 5.

It's awesome. And so sin, in its condemning us to death, no longer remains. Life has over-conquered death. Life made possible through Jesus Christ. There is now no more condemnation to death. But wait, wait. We're going to continue to read here, and we're about to see that there is something that comes along with having this condemnation lifted from us. We're about to see, with regards to the lifting of this condemnation, that there is a requirement from the One who gives this gift.

There is a requirement from the One who has lifted this condemnation from us. Verse 18 says it is a free gift, resulting in the justification back to life. So Christ has this gift to give, this justification back to life, this gift of grace. So the big question is, how do we receive this gift from Jesus Christ? What we're about to see, the key is profoundly simple and plain to see. It's not hidden from you and I. Romans 8, verse 1 speaks of this. So how do we receive this gift of grace, this gift of no condemnation?

Romans 8, verse 1. There is therefore no condemnation, no condemnation to death, to those who are in Christ, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Stop there. Those two scriptures, they are not being directed to the world. This is speaking to the future teachers, those that are in Christ, the true Christian. If you are not in Christ, these words mean nothing to you.

You'll read them and they'll have no effect on you. Ah, but if you are, these words mean everything. The condemnation to death is only lifted from those who walk a certain way. The gift of no condemnation comes with a gift, a condition. The gift of no condemnation, the gift of grace, where you have favor shown to you, only comes to you by one means.

It comes and is given to those who are in Christ. And you are in Christ only when you walk a certain way. And that is the way of the Spirit and not the way of the flesh. Adam chose the law of the flesh, which is the law of sin and death. He said that's the law that I'm going to walk according to.

You know, some of the world's pulpits in this world teach about a belief in Jesus Christ. But they had no idea, no idea what it truly means to be in Christ. If they did, they wouldn't preach what they preach, which is that God's spiritual law has been done away with. But what is the fullness? What is the fullness of what we're reading here? It says, Therefore, there is no condemnation to who? To those who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

God's spiritual law revealed who we were. The law revealed that we had been living outside of that law. And that lawlessness then brought us death. And so Christ came and rescued us from this death. And what we've read so far, therefore, to receive this gift of no condemnation, we are not to walk according to the way we used to. We now are to walk according to God's spiritual law, which began this whole understanding. Go back to Romans 8, verse 2 here. Again, it says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

This is such an interesting Scripture. You know, many people look at Paul's writings and it can be convoluted, understandably so, but these two verses really solidify what Paul is trying to get across here. Paul speaks of two laws and how we can be free from one of them. He says, verse 2 again, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

What is he speaking about here? Exactly as he talking about these, as he refers to these two laws. We'll keep your finger here, but let's turn over to Galatians 5, verse 16 through 18. We're going to see that Paul clarifies and brings more understanding as he speaks to the Galatians here. As we see him speaking about this, the law of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and this other law of sin and death. Galatians 5, in verse 16 through 18, it says, I say then, walk in the Spirit, and if you do so, then you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against flesh.

And they're contrary to one another. So that you do not do the things you wish, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. What law? You know, Romans 8, verse 2 said, we are freed from the law. And here, what law are we not under? When we walk according to the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ, what law are we not under? When we walk according to the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ, what law are we freed from?

We are freed from, and not under, the law of sin and death. We are freed from the power of sin and its consequence of death. This is the understanding that Paul is trying to get across here, and it is so important. As Romans 8, verse 1 through 2 said, there's no condemnation to death to those who are in Christ if you don't walk according to the flesh, but if you walk according to the Spirit.

And then he mentions these two laws, the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death. And just as we read here in Galatians 5, verse 18, if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. What law is Paul referring to that we're not under if we walk according to the Spirit?

Is it the law Moses gave, those commandments? Is that the law we're not under? Don't believe it. What are we reading here? Paul speaks of not being under the law, and he speaks about not being under the law of sin and death. We are no longer under that law that pulls at us, at our flesh. No longer under the bondage of sin, no longer under the control of sin.

That law, the law of the flesh, has no power over us. Why? Because we are under a far greater law. The law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ, everything that embodies Him, those commandments that are written on our fleshly heart. That law has made me free from this law of sin and death. Sin and death no longer rule over us. That law of sin and death, it's no longer a curse.

Through Jesus Christ, the true believer can be freed from sin's power and its consequence of death. Are you ready? Are you ready to change the course of history? That's what we've been asked to do. The course that Adam and Eve have set us upon. That is not your course. God chose you to a new course, or a new course, to forge.

A course led by the Spirit and not by the flesh to change history. We'll go back up to Romans 6, verse 5. This is so fascinating here what we're about to read. Romans 6, verse 5. We're going to read more about how and why we can be free from sin's power and its death that it tries to put on us. With Christ we're no longer slaves to sin.

Romans 6, verse 5 through 7. It says, For if we've been united in the likeness of his death, certainly we should also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin, our old self is buried. Continuing, verse 18 through 14.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him, knowing that Christ has been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For death that he died, he died to sin once for all. For the life he lives, he lives to God likewise. Likewise, you also reckon yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, that you should obey its lust. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What law? What law are we not under? What law no longer has dominion over me?

What law no longer has dominion over you? We don't obey that law. That law of the flesh leading to sin and death. We don't let that law reign in us. That law that Adam chose. We have a different law reigning in us.

That's the spirit of life in Jesus Christ. That's what reigns in me. That law that's been found since the beginning of time. That law that was then and later to be written down on those tablets, given to all generations, to be passed down to all of mankind. That's the law that has dominion over me. Did you see this understanding here? Romans 6, verse 11, it says, "...you also reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin." This is the position that you are now in. The method by which Christ solved the condition of us being slaves to sin and the death that it brings on to us.

That law of the flesh is to bring us into the death with Him. As verse 5 said, "...united in the likeness of His death." And so that old man, that old woman, is gone. Reckon who you used to be, He's gone. And she is gone, crucified with Jesus Christ. Look upon yourself today as dead to the appeal and power of sin.

Today is a new day. With the law of the spirit of life, Jesus Christ living in you, sin can never be your master. You are no longer under that law of sin leading to death. Your old self has come to an end. When sin strikes, it has no effect. It's as if it's striking a dead man. We're unresponsive. And so the working of the law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ has made me free from the downward pool of the flesh.

We have Jesus Christ's spirit living in us. And so we fight. We fight every day, every minute of the day to fight this law of the flesh to the bitter end. And Paul described this battle perfectly between these two laws. Look at Romans 7, verse 21 through 25.

Romans 7, verse 21 through 25. For I find a law that is evil and is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man, than I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Well, I thank God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with my mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

And so Paul is speaking about the law of sin and death, and he speaks about the flesh and how it makes it want to walk according to the flesh. But we know if we walk that way, we won't receive this gift, this gift of no condemnation from Jesus Christ. Ah, but if we fight, if we fight every day to live according to the law of the spirit of life and Jesus Christ, then there is no condemnation.

Go back to Romans 8, verse 3 here. We're going to continue to see this relationship between the flesh, imperfect flesh, and God's perfect spiritual law. Let's start at Romans 8, verse 2. For the law of the spirit of life and Jesus Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death, but what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God did. By sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. So what is verse 3 saying here? The law is not weak.

It was made weak because and through the flesh. Paul is expressing the depths of understanding and he's wanting it to get out that once the law was held up to Him and exposed, he was not who he should be, who God wanted him to be. He saw a wretched man who needed a savior and there was only one that could save him. He's in this battle then and his mind wants to follow this law that is flesh, this law.

The spiritual law revealed who he was. It brought to light all the lawlessness that he had been living in. The law in and of itself could not bring him back to life. And so therefore, just a simple thank you he gave to God for his Son, Jesus Christ.

And even though the law could not save him, he wanted to be crystal clear that there is power. There is power in the law and that it's able to define and reflect the sin that abounds in us. It says, this is the way. Walk in it. We can't determine ourselves that. It's the first mistake that man made. We don't have the discernment to decide between good and evil. We don't eat from that tree. We reject that tree. We turn to God for that understanding through his spiritual law. But oh, when we come against God's law, again, as we just read, the flesh weakens it because the holy law is written on this imperfect flesh and it actually stirs up in us and it provokes us.

Did you know that? Did you know that the law actually stirs up in us and creates a battle? As the abundance of our sin is brought forth into light, a tremendous battle begins. Let's see this. Romans 7, 5-6. Romans 7, 5-6, it says, When we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. And now we've been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not the oldness of the letter.

Let's stop there. So the spiritual law of God actually stirred up in our members to bear fruit to death. What does that mean? When the spiritual law was held up to us innately, our flesh wants to go in the opposite direction, do just the opposite of what the instructions are telling us to do. So the revealing of God's law actually stirs up to bear fruit to death. And that battle only intensified when Christ came.

That inner battle only intensified because He expanded the oldness of the letter as we just read, because now the oldness of the letter was amplified. Not just murder, not just hate. Christ said, I'm not done yet. You have to love. You have to love your enemy. And He amplified and magnified every one of the Ten Commandments. And so that law then exposed and it provoked and it stirred up in me, Paul says. And I don't know. I don't know. We could ask, is that a good thing? Is somehow that a bad thing for it to do, to stir up this sin in me?

We're continuing here. Chapter 7 through 12. We'll read verses 7 through 12. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary. I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, You shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire, the fleshly desire to go against it. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

I was alive once without the law. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring me life, I found, actually brought me death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and it killed me. But therefore the law is holy. God's law. Commandments are holy. Just and good. Stop there. Our flesh has a desire to live outside of God's law. We know this. An innate desire to be transgressors against that way we're to walk in. So what's happening here?

Sin is taking advantage of the holy law through our flesh. Sin, which is, I mean, the law which is holy, it's just, it's good. Then sin takes that law and through our flesh, it twists it. Serves its own purpose. Serves the purpose of the flesh. Sin says you decide what's right or wrong. Eat from that tree. So the problem is, not the holy and just and good law from God, the problem is it falls on the flesh. That's the problem. But what the law was powerless to do, not because it was unholy, not because it was unrighteous, but because it was weakened by my sinful flesh, what the law was powerless to do, God did.

God did through sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to us. Again, verse 3, for with the law, Chapter 8, verse 3, for with the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. Perfect God, perfect law, in perfect flesh. God made Jesus in the likeness of sinful man, in the likeness of sinful man in every aspect, except He wouldn't be tarnished. Same flesh as you and I, but He conquered. He conquered it. And because our sinless Savior died and rose again, God is able to look upon Him and then show favor to me. Incredible. Just incredible. What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. God did for us. He sent us His perfect Son. As we conclude, it gets even better. Something incredible happens in this process. Something in this process that God has allowed you and I to participate in when we walk according to the law of the Spirit of life and Jesus Christ, He gives us an incredible privilege. It's found in this next verse, Romans 8 verse 4. Let's see what we're allowed to participate in. Romans 8 verse 4. He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. He condemned sin in sinful man in order that... Did you see this? Did we realize this? Get this. In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who are walking according to the Spirit. Awesome. You see, every day that we overcome the law of sin and death, every day that we remove ourselves from being under it, every day that we demonstrate that we are free from it, every day that we have victory, the righteous requirement of the law is being fulfilled in me. The righteous requirement of the law is being fulfilled in you. Can you believe it? So the world then is able to see the perfect Savior. They're able to see the perfect Savior through us. Let's conclude here. Because of all that we've studied, all the knowledge that we have in this understanding, we live a life and we're so grateful and we are just so indebted to the love that God has shown us first. Romans 8, verse 12 through 14. In conclusion, Romans 8 verse 12 through 14, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.