Gospel and Spiritual Growth Series by Pastor David K. Spurbeck, Sr.

 

Message #49 – 4-21-2002 – Synopsis and Outline

 

LAW, LUST AND THE SIN NATURE

 

As you will notice, the outline covers Romans 7:6-11.  I managed to get through verse eight.  Tomorrow I will be preaching beginning at 7:9 and have structured a different outline so I am passing on the published outline from last Sunday.  The sin nature continues to be the central subject.  The Mosaic Law (and any law principle) had one major effect.  It showed that the sin nature was exceedingly sinful.  Without law, man would have had very little information concerning the natural bent to evil that resulted from the fall.  Without the law the sin nature is dead and incapable of functioning.  When the law is applied to the person, the sin nature comes to the front to conform to the elements that are designed to control and curb it or it reacts against its prohibitions.  It always raises its head when the law is present and applied.  Without the law, it is possible for the Christian to reckon oneself to be dead to the sin nature (Rom. 6:11).  When one is living by law principles, it is impossible to reckon oneself dead to the sin nature.  The law simply applied expects a standard of conformity that fills a part of the appetite and lusts of the sin nature.  Christians who insist on keeping the Law or a law for any reason nullify God's provisions for grace Christian living and thwart the divine provisions for present tense salvation.

 

Romans 7:6 says that we have been removed from the power or authority of law.  When a person believes the gospel concerning Jesus Christ, he or she dies to the law in Christ and now has the potential freedom to serve God in a new way.  As a woman was discharged from the law of the husband by his death in verse two, so also is the Christian set free from the influence of the law for it has been rendered ineffective (This word is found in the Greek in 6:6; 7:2 and here).  At the point of Christ's cross work, we were set free from the law by Him and His work (1st aor. passive).  In Christ we died to the Law.   The law continually held Jewish believers (imperfect passive) [definitions of "held" are: to hold down; restrain; hold in a firm grip; to have full and secure possession of, Green, p. 98].  The purpose for the application of the work of Christ to the believer is that the believer should serve as a slave in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.  This newness involves the human spirit, the center of one's rationale.  This is new in kind or quality and not the Greek term for recent or new in time.  In Rom. 6:4 the same word is used of "newness of life."  Most often there is something to which this quality is compared as is evident in references to the new creation, new man, new covenant, new heavens and new earth, new commandment, new song and New Jerusalem.  The focus of the believer is no longer upon the soul but rather on the spirit that can use the new quality of mind.  This newness is contrasted to the oldness or obsolescence of the letter of the law.  A spiritual believer functions with the human spirit rather than with the soul (the center of emotions) as he does when he is carnal or before he was saved.

 

Paul confronts a potential problem in 7:7.  When one understands the law for what it is in relation to the sin nature, it is easy to say that it has a quality of sin.  The sin nature has that quality not the law that regulates it.  Paul uses one of his "may it never be so" statements (God isn't found in the Greek text) to emphasize the fact that the law is not sinful.  Paul could not have experientially known the sin nature without law.  He could not have known that certain lusts were evil and opposed to God.  He says that he could not have continually intuitively known (pluperfect active) lust except by the statement of the Mosaic Law.  He cites the tenth commandment (cf. Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21).  The literal translation in 7:7 is "you will not lust."  Where does this translation come from?  In both Old Testament passages the identical form is found in the Septuagint (LXX) which is a Greek translation in common use during the Apostolic Era.  While the translation isn't entirely accurate or reliable, the Holy Spirit and Paul use it as a translation of the Hebrew word chahmad (noted in the outline).  The Hebrew term is similar to the word lust in that it has both a good side and an evil side.  The examples list under F. 2. d. are selected passages in which the Hebrew word is found.  In the context there are good and evil connotations.  In Exodus 34:24 Israel was ordered to go to the place where Jehovah placed His name for the pilgrimage festivals.  The promise of the verse is that when they go and do their duty to Jehovah no one will desire or covet their land because God will prevent such.  Deuteronomy 7:24, 25 tells Israel to destroy idols and not to covet the silver or gold that compose the idols.  Solomon tells his son not to lust after the evil or strange woman in Proverbs 6:25.  Isaiah 53:2 prophesied that there would be no beauty in the Root out of Dry Ground that we should desire Him.  Psalm 68:16 speaks of God's positive desire to dwell in the mountain i. e. the center of His government on earth. 

 

7:8 finds Paul reacting from his sin nature to the law working every lust.  The word "lust" is found three times in verses seven and eight.  The King James Version conceals them by translating them three ways:  lust, covet and concupiscence.  Sin is given opportunity by the law.  The word "occasion" means "from a starting point; means to accomplish an objective; opportunity."  The commandment gives the sin nature license to thoroughly work out every lust in a believer.  Paul ends the verse reminding us that without the law the sin nature was dead.  It had no stimulus and had no standard for righteousness.  In other words, there was nothing to give the sin nature reason to cause a person to think that he or she could do it.  The stimulus or challenge is gone.  Israel had no idea what they would get when they were gathered at Sinai in Exodus 19.  They were absolutely confident that they could do anything that God would ask of them.  They only had sin natures.  With their presumption when they said "All that Jehovah says we will do (Ex. 19:8)," they voluntarily sought to bring their sin natures to life and to expose the lusts that were so characteristic.  They had been idolaters for several centuries in Egypt and had no idea that they were so full of evil – so lacking in character.  It took the Law and things only got worse.  The Christian who chooses to live under the Mosaic Law or any other law principle brings his or her sin nature to the front and must appropriate the provisions of grace for present tense salvation by reckoning (Rom. 6:11).  Tomorrow we address the biblical concept of revival and the human traditions around the term from verse nine and then we will see how far we get down the text.

 

Inlawed in Christ and highly graced in the Beloved One,

 

DKS

 

 

 

 

 

#49 -- Gospel and Spiritual Growth

Valley – April 21, 2002 p.m.

 

LAW, LUST AND THE SIN NATURE

Romans 7:6-11

 

Proposition:   To analyze the necessity of the law to teach the existence of the sin nature and the freedom from the sin nature that is outside of the law. 

 

        Introduction

              A.  Without Law the Sin Nature Is Dead

              B.   With Law the Sin Nature Is Living

              C.  Without Law the Believer Can Reckon Himself Dead

              D.  The Results of Death and the Law

 

TRANS:   Paul has used the law of the husband to illustrate the fact that the believer is freed from the law.  If the husband dies, the wife is free to remarry.  Since the believer has died in Christ to the sin nature, the law is dead with its control of the sin nature.  The believer has the responsibility to personally take advantage of this.

 

  I.   WE HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE POWER OR AUTHORITY OF LAW – A DEATH THAT PROVIDED A FREEDOM TO SERVE GOD IN A NEW WAY – GOD’S PROVISION OF A NEW SPHERE IN WHICH TO SERVE -- Romans 7:6

        A.  The Double Cancellation of the Law in the Context

              1.  Removal of a Woman from the Law of the Husband by His Death – 7:2

                  a.   A State Resulting from Death – perfect tense

                  b.   By Another Agent in Realty – passive indicative

              2.  Removal of Grace Believers from the Law of Moses by Our Death in Christ – 7:6

a.       At a Point in Time – In Christ’s Cross Work – aorist

                  b.   By Christ’s Cross Work – passive indicative

        B.   The Personal Participation in Christ’s Cross Work

              1.  "Having Died" – At the Same Time as the Removal – aorist participle

              2.  "Having Died" – Counted Active Participants – active plural.

        C.  The Past Incarceration by the Law

              1.  In Which Law

              2.  We Continually Were Restrained or Held Down – imperfect active indicative

        D.  The Divine Intention for Our Removal = Purpose

1.      To Be Serving as Slaves – present active infinitive

2.      We = Grace Believers [believers from the cross to the rapture of the Church]

3.      The Focus on the Spirit

a.  A New Location

                    b.  A New Kind or Quality of Service

                    c.  A New Focus = Spirit = Rationale

              4.   The Previous Focus on Law Through the Soul = Emotions

                    a.  Not the Oldness, Obsolesce of the Letter of the Law

                    b.  Not Using the Rationale for an Emotional Response      

 

TRANS:     Some believers have seen the Mosaic Law or any law as being so negative that they consider the law itself to be sin.  Paul refutes this position identifying its purpose and its revelation concerning the sin nature and its lusts.

 

 II.   WE ARE NOT TO REDUCE THE LAW TO A QUALITY OF SIN – A DEVICE TO CAUSE ONE TO EXPERIENTIALLY KNOW THE SIN NATURE – THE PROPENSITY TO LUST IDENTIFIED BY THE NINTH COMMANDMENT --Romans 7:7

        A.       A Potential for a Verbal Reaction – "Therefore what will we say?"

B.     A Possibility for the Reduction of Law to a Quality of Sin

        C.   A Prohibition for the Rashness of the Idea

        D.   A Provision of a Proof of the Reality of the Sin Nature

              1.   I Know (ginw,skw) – Experientially Knowing Him by Law

              2.   Except Through the Law

        E.       A Problem with Realizing What Lust Was Without Law

              1.  A State of Complete Lack of Intuitive Knowledge in Past times Without Law -- Pluperfect act. Ind.

              2. Lust = Strong Desires – Context:  Lusts from the Sin Nature

        F.      The Pronouncement of the Law in the Ninth Commandment

        1  Except the Law Continually Said

        2. You Will Not Lust

                   a.  "Thou Shalt Not Covet . . . ." – dm;x' (chahmad)

                   b.  Tenth Commandment – Exodus 20:17

                   c         Commandment – Deuteronomy 5:21

                   d.  Examples:  Ex. 34:24; Deut. 7:25; Prov. 6:25 [cf. Isa. 53:2; Psa. 68:16]

 

TRANS:     Paul sees the law as giving the sin nature a standard against which it can function.  The law defines those things that the sin nature desires to do and affirms that the sin nature is challenged to do them.

 

III.  PAUL REACTS FROM HIS SIN NATURE TO THE LAW WORKING EVERY LUST – AN INWARD DETERMINATION TO HAVE STRONG DESIRES BY THE LAW – THE PRESSURE FROM THE LAW TO EVERY LUST – Romans 7:8

        A.  The Sin Nature Is Given Opportunity by the Law 

        B.   The Sin Nature Sees the Commandment

        C.  The Sin Nature Thoroughly Works in the Lust

1.   Works Thoroughly = Intensive Word Form

2.   Works Thoroughly for Itself = 1sr aorist mid. ind.

3.   In Me = Paul

              4.  Every Lust

        D.  The Sin Nature Has No Standard Without Law

1.  Limits the Ability to React

              2.  Limits Knowledge for Action

              3.  Result:  A Quality of Dead

 

TRANS:   There is a flip flop between realms of spiritual life and death in relationship to the sin nature. The law has a direct link to this in the life of the believer.

 

IV.  PAUL REALIZES THAT HE LIVES BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH CONCERNING HIS SIN NATURE – THE DEATH AND LIFE DILEMMA THAT FACES THE CHRISTIAN – THE PROBLEM WITH THE SPHERES OF SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE FOR THE CHRISTIAN – Romans 7:9-11

        A.  Living Without Law

1.   The Commandment Came – 2nd aor. act. part.

2.   The Sin Nature Came to Life Again – 1st aor. act. ind.

              3.  I Died – Romans 6:11

        B.   A Law Designed to Bring Life – Vs. 10

1.   Physical Life in Time = No Death Penalty

              2.  I Found to Be Dead = Under Grace

C.     A Lesson in the Deception of the Sin Nature – Vs. 17

1.  The Sin Nature Seizes the Opportunity by the Commandment

2.  The Sin Nature Deceived Me

3.  Through the Commandment It Put Me to Death

 

TRANS:   When law is brought into the picture, the sin nature has opportunity to try its wings since it had no real standard before law.  As a result, the believer who is living in the sin nature will always be pressured by law and never be set free by the law.  Death to the sin nature brings a quality of life towards God.

 

      Conclusion

              A.

              B.

              C.

              D.

 

© by David K. Spurbeck

Valley Baptist Church

P. O. Box 99, Gaston, OR 97119