The Law for the Lawless

And verse six says, from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling. That noise, that babble we talked about last Sunday night. Then verse seven, desiring to be teachers of the law. Notice that, the mention of the law. Understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. You know, I as I read that, you know what I think of? I think of seminary professors. I think of I think of pastors of churches and rectors and priests who stand before, you know, in front of a lectern, before people, and who who talk about the Bible and yet have no idea what they’re talking about.

I mean, it is everywhere. Is it not? It is everywhere. It seems to be extremely public here recently with all the, you know, there’s there seems to be kind of a a vein of like kind of pseudo religious people that are running for office and they’re really throwing that up a lot lately. You know, I’m, you know, I’m this and I’m that. You know, I’m ordained this and ordained that. You know, and and so, you but you see that all the time but the same thing was true here. These people were teachers desired to be teachers of the law but they didn’t have any idea what they were talking about. The very things that they were reading in the Bible that they wanted to teach others about, they themselves did not understand.

And yet they were they were teaching others about it. And I just thought, man, what a what a fitting thing for today. Because that is everywhere. That is everywhere. You know, a lot of people think that the that the theme of the Bible is be a good person. They read the whole Bible and they come away with this idea. Be a good person.

They understand neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. Well, you want god, you god wants us to be a bad person? It doesn’t really matter what god wants us to be. That is what we are. We are bad persons. That is the theme of that is one of the major themes of the Bible and that’s exactly what we’re talking about this morning. So, when we’re talking about the law, verse seven, verse eight says, but we know that the law is good.

If a man use it lawfully. Knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man but for the the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons. And if there be any other doctrine that is contrary, any other thing rather that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. Let’s pray together.

Our Father, we come to you now in Jesus name. First, we just wanna say we need your help. We ask for your help, Lord. As we read and study your your word this morning, I pray that you would apply it to each and every person’s heart according to what each and every need is, Lord. You know where we stand with you. I pray that you would use your law for good because that’s why you’ve given it and it has good use. It has good purpose. Help us to understand this morning as we look at the scripture both the right and wrong use of the law.

And Lord, I pray you would guide our study, guide me as I try to help your people understand, help me understand, help me to speak and control what I say. Lord, help your people and their hearts to be tender and open to the truth and that your word would enable them to grow. For we ask in Jesus name, amen. So in verse seven, we see the mention of the law, verse five, we have the end of the commandment.

We talked a little bit about that last Sunday night, but so in the context of these verses, we’re talking about the law of God. And when we say the law, what are we referring to? It’s it’s it’s very simple, but we gotta nail this down as we go forward. The law of God is what we find written in our Bible as specifically in the book of Exodus.

Starting with chapter round about verse number chapter 20 and going all the way through the end of Exodus. It is it’s also mentioned in a second reading in in the book of Deuteronomy. It’s also part of it is mentioned in the book of Leviticus and there’s a little bit in numbers as well. The law of god is that portion of scripture, that revelation that god gave to the children of Israel on Mount Sinai and it started with the revelation of the 10 commandments. So, let me say this from the start.

The 10 commandments was not the very first law of god that ever existed. The law of god is all so long as god has existed. There has been there has been a law. Remember, Adam and Eve, the one law, they didn’t have the 10 commandments. Of course, that was long before the 10 commandments and yet, god gave them a law. He said, that that all of the trees of the garden, thou mayest freely eat but the tree that is in the midst of the garden, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. You know what that is? That is a law. That was a law of God that dealt with with their disobedience.

And attached to that law was a punishment. And so law often includes both of those. Now, when you fast forward a little bit and you go to you see Cain and Abel. As far as we know, there wasn’t a law against murder. Yet, Cain was punished by God for murdering his brother Abel. Although, we don’t know of a written law that said that and so, what I’m trying to get you to see is there was there was law that existed prior to the 10 commandments and the the law as I mentioned in in previous services as we’ve gotten into first Timothy, the law of god is something that that comes out of and is reflective of god’s very character. God gives laws that show his opinion about things. That make sense? In other words, god says, god forbids murder because god hates murder.

God forbids idolatry because god hates idolatry and and god’s god forbids the worship of other gods because there is but one god. That’s part of His nature, of His character, and so His law comes out of that.

And that’s important for us to understand. Before God came to Moses with the law, there was already a law. And when you got to the book of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and that part of scripture, what the Lord did is He took that that truth and He embedded it inside the law of Moses. And he surrounded it because the law of Moses dealt with his law, all of those laws we’re talking about but it also dealt with a bunch of other things like redemption.

What is that is that not in the law of Moses? Yes, things about sacrifice and the temple and the holidays. All of those things. What do they point to? All of those things without exception. What do they point to? They point to the lord Jesus Christ. So, all of those things that surround that that core, that that law that god gave to Moses regarding his will, the expression of his will. All of those things were designed to point you to the lord Jesus Christ and so when we say the law of god, we’re talking about that which god gave Moses.

Now, why does this matter? Now, in this context, what you have to understand is that in the first century, the... Just just look at what we know in the book of Acts. We know that the the early church was primarily Jewish, right? Until the time that that they started spreading the gospel into places where there weren’t as many Jews. But even even after that, even in the times of Paul, when he went to to what is now Turkey and he started preaching the gospel in the various cities. He went to the Jew first. He went to the synagogue and there were some, you read the book of Acts, you’ll see, there were some people that that believed and some that didn’t believe and in the synagogue now and so, once they believed in Christ, these Jews would be the kind of the the the formative core of the church and then there would be later you you read in the book of Acts that there would be other Gentiles. Maybe some of these some of these proselytes or some of these god fearers we talked about when we study the book of Acts who would come and join and and they would have a little core group of Jew and Gentile together but but the core of that was Jewish.

The the scriptures they use were Jewish and over time, there started to be this this question about the law. Do the Gentiles have to keep the law? That was the question. I I if I was a Gentile and I wasn’t a Jew, now if a Jew is is a moot question. They had already been circumcised. They kept the law. They kept the dietary laws and the holidays and all of that. As Jewish people because that law was given to them. That was their identity.

But what about these new people who have come to believe in Christ who weren’t Jewish? Who did not who did not practice the right of circumcision? Who did not practice the holidays and who didn’t have the dietary laws. They were just just basically like us. What about those? Are they required, now that they have believed, are they required to now start keeping the law of Moses? That was a major question, and that question was settled in Acts 15.

It was settled once and for all and the and the settlement to that question was, no. They are not required to keep the law of Moses. In fact, the Bible says that they are no longer under the law of Moses. But that question then raises other questions which is what we’re gonna talk about this morning.

But one of these questions is this, if I’m not under the Law, what role does it have to me as a believer? Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, what role does it have in my life? What does it mean to me? And it’s... Well yeah, there’s obviously that and that’s what we’re gonna talk about today. What I want you to see though is look at look at what verse eight says, but we know that the law is good.

If a man use it lawfully, If a man use it lawfully and that tells us something, that tells us that you can take the law and can you you can use it rightly and you can use it wrongly. It could be used properly and it can be misused and so going back to our kind of history lesson through the book of Acts when you had these Jewish people and this these questions about circumcision and the Sabbath and the holidays and all of these things, these were natural questions in that world that we don’t really deal with a lot so much. We view it kind of in a Christian a Christian form in some cases like you worship on Sunday or Saturday and that kind of thing. But really the Jewish question was major back then because there were so many Jews that were the key members of the church And there there arose people who started actually follow Paul around and go behind him and teach all his converts that oh no, you’re not saved unless you keep the the the law of Moses. They actually came behind him and that’s what the whole book of Galatians is about. Whole book of Galatians is Paul saying essentially in the first chapter, him saying, listen, I wish these people were dead.

Which trouble you? That’s not a very that’s not a very popular thing to say but that’s exactly what Paul says because they were troubling the people of god. He he says, I would, they were cut off which trouble you. You know what they were doing? They were misusing the law. They were using it unlawfully. They were using it unlawfully. Now, what I want you to see in verse number eight is this, but we know that the law is good. So whatever we say about the law, whatever whatever verses we come across in the New Testament that we’ll see in just a minute, that talk about the law and and what it does and doesn’t do and those kinds of things. Let it never be misunderstood that that the book of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy are useless to us. That is not true.

They are not useless. They are valuable. They’re an essential part of god’s word. And just because and we have to remember as well that just because people misuse the scripture doesn’t mean that there is not a proper use of the scripture. You know, there’s sometimes that we avoid certain passages of scripture because they’ve been misused so many times. Right? Acts two thirty eight is a is a common one. Believe, repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And because of that, the people have taught that baptism saves you and forgives your sin based upon that one verse, we avoid that verse.

And we we could go to James chapter two verse 20, that faith without work is dead. That’s like the Billy Club of the cults. You know, the moment you say, oh yeah, you believe in Christ, they take that and they club you upside the head. Say, no, you gotta do what we tell you to do too. See, faith without works is dead. But that’s a good verse. Just because someone misuses it, doesn’t mean we should abandon it because someone misuses it. You know, you think about the knives in your house. Knives are used all the time to commit crimes but we don’t get rid of them.

They have a proper use and they have an improper use and so it is with the scripture as well. We should not be afraid of any portion of scripture because some use it wrong... Wrongly. Now notice verse number eight once again. But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Verse nine. Now what does he mean by lawfully? What is he referring to?

Knowing this, verse nine, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind. Let’s pause there a second. There are people that try to tell us that all of that, and this is a good case study, there are people that try to tell us that all of that stuff about homosexuality in the Old Testament, that’s just Old Testament. You’ll not find you’ll not find this this this prohibition against homosexuality in the New Testament.

Well, it’s right here. Right. In verse 10, abusers of themselves with mankind. That’s homosexuality. It’s also in Romans chapter one. Now, why is that important? You know what it is? It’s misusing the law of god. This is a a good case study, good example. In in defense of what is an abomination in the sight of god. What is unnatural corruption, right? That’s what this activity is. In defense of that, people say, well, well, that was the Old Testament Or some will say, well, in the New Testament, Paul the apostle did not envision a loving same sex relationship.

That that’s that’s kind of the the catchphrase. No, he didn’t have to envision it. No. What Paul said here and in Romans chapter one was built upon, listen now, was built upon the rightful use of the Old Testament in which the lord expressed his view on those kinds of wicked activities. They’re one and the same, do you see? They’re not divided and that’s the key. You notice when someone says, well, that’s the Old Testament and in the New Testament, Paul didn’t understand all that.

Well, what they’re doing is they’re dividing the two. You can’t do that. You see God’s will about that activity is expressed in the law. And then it’s carried over, that that moral truth is carried over into the New Testament and affirmed, you see. And we see this many many times in scripture.

You know, I don’t know I don’t know why I’m still on this point here. You notice how much our world has become accustomed with homosexuality? We went to a theme park yesterday and I noticed it myself. Like in in myself, there was a person who was who was a man, he had a beard, and he was dressed, he was dressed as a girl with heels, complete with heels and everything. Earings, makeup, the whole nine yards.

I don’t really care how the man identifies. But what I noticed in my what I noticed in myself is how accustomed I have become to that which is unnatural and abominable in God’s sight.

As our society has moved. Now let me pause here and say this, does this mean when we meet people who are involved in these kinds of sins that we mistreat them? God forbid. But it does reveal, first of all, it reveals god’s law has already passed judgement as to his opinion on these things, on these moral questions. They have all, that’s that’s deep rooted in god’s own character and the distinctions god made between man and woman from creation. Amen.

And he codified it in the in the Old Testament law And so it’s perfectly valid to appeal to that and say, look, this is what God thinks on this thing. But we’ve got we’ve gotten so accustomed to it. What I want you to see is we even though that’s, you know, some of that we can’t help because listen, we live in this world and it’s constantly changing and getting worse and more degraded, God forbid that our understanding of scripture changes because the world around us changes.

We gotta be brought back to God’s holy standard, which is actually what’s being described in verses nine and ten. It says, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. So in verse nine, Paul tells us, what is the right use of law? And I’ll get into this a little bit more, but notice this, he says, the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless.

So this tells us part of the purpose of God’s law. Why did God give all of those commandments about homosexuality, about murder, about dishonoring one’s parents, about taking the name of God in vain, about idolatry, about theft and dishonesty and covetousness and mistreatment of others and on and on and on. Why did God give all of those commandments? Well, here here we’re we’ll come back to this but notice he says, it wasn’t made for a righteous man. It was made for the lawless.

So, the the law’s true purpose is in other words, the law is aimed at the ungodly. The law breaker. Now, that might come as a little bit of a surprise if this is a if it this is new to you because we, listen, religion, just like I said, you read the whole Bible and and all all of these people that read the Bible, they come away with with this idea that god wants us to be good people and it’s like, have you, did you read the same Bible I read or what?

Because that is not the theme of the Bible at all. It’s kinda like that with the law. A lot of people look at the law of God and God’s commandments, which are reflective of His character, and they come away with the idea that I’m a pretty good person.

It is a gross misuse of the law. You see, God has given us the law and He has aimed it at a sinner. And that’s what I wanna aim it at right now.

Take a minute and look at Romans chapter three. Romans three verse number 19. It says this, now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Did you know before you can come to Christ aright, you have to understand and know that you’re guilty? Amen.

That’s what that verse is telling us. It says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law’s knowledge of sin. So people who read the Old Testament commandments and they read those things and they come away saying, well, I’m a pretty good person. You have misread it entirely.

Because it’s design is not to make you think that you’re righteous. It is to prove that you are not righteous. And if someone reads the Old Testament’s law and they come away thinking, hey, I’m a good person, it shows that they have not been honest in their reading of the Old Testament scripture. Because God gave the Old Testament scripture. God gave the Old Testament law to reveal your sinfulness and my sinfulness, your guilt, and my guilt so that we might come to the conclusion of verse 23 of Romans three which is, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god. The the law of god was given to you and to me, it was given to strip every single particle and atom of self righteousness out of us and to make us understand that we stand before god helpless, hopeless, guilty, and condemned because we have broken his law.

You see. That’s the conclusion that we should come to after reading Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. Not that we are good people and we’re on the right path, but we are... We have not obeyed God’s law. Look back if you would look back if you would at at our text in first Timothy chapter chapter one.

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient. Let me ask you a question. How many times in your life have you disobeyed god?

Listen, we need to take the law whether you’re a believer, whether you’re not a believer. Listen, I’m going somewhere with this but hang with me. Take that law and aim it at yourself. How many times have you disobeyed God? How many times have I disobeyed God? It says, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane. Notice, murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers. You say, I’ve never murdered murdered anyone but don’t forget, our lord told us that to hate someone is murder.

It’s murder inwardly, which remember God sees not only the outward deed but the inward motivation. For whoremongers. Listen now. Desire to be with women who you’re not lawfully married to, looking at pornography on the internet.

That’s what this is talking about. Looking at dirty trash and ungodliness, committing adultery, giving yourself to commit adultery with another. Listen, the the law is aimed at that person.

The Lord doesn’t want... Listen, the Lord doesn’t want any adulterer to read his law where he says, thou shalt not commit adultery. And all these things about whoredom and fornication and evil in in this in the sexual realm. He doesn’t want any person to read that and come away thinking, you know, I’m a pretty good person. He does not want that. Listen, that is... There are people... There there are churches that are filled with people who are whoremongers, and fornicators, and adulterers, and they sit on the church pew and they think, I’m a pretty good person.

You say, well doesn’t God forgive? We’re not even there yet. We’re not even there yet. Because they haven’t even been brought to a place of true guilt. Where they come before God and they say, God, look at my life. Although I try, I do not keep your word at all. Look, I’ve done this and I’ve done that. I have many many marks and transgressions against your law on my account.

Verse 10 says, for them that defile themselves with mankind, which I covered, for men stealers, kidnapping, you can include slavery in this. For liars, my goodness, perjured persons, perjury, that’s lying.

You see, it’s awfully quiet in here. You see, this serves not only for not only for someone who is lost but also for somebody who’s saved because the lord, first of all, for for a person who’s for a person who does not know the lord Jesus Christ or teeters right in that realm where I hope I’m saved, maybe I’m saved, you know, that kind of thing. Listen, god wants you guilty.

He wants you to look at yourself at his at compared to his law and he wants you to see not what you need to do. He wants you to see that you haven’t done. You have not kept his word. You are condemned. The wrath of god is is is brooding over you. You’re in danger. And rightfully so because you have broken his law. You are not fit for the kingdom of god. You are not fit for his holy heaven. You’re not going.

That’s where the lord wants every person that every mouth may be stopped but lord, but lord, I did this. I did close your mouth and accept the guilty condemnation that you have earned.

This is what the law is supposed to do to us. But so many people look at the law and say, why? I do keep it sometimes and that self righteous pride keeps them from coming to the same conclusion that the law tells them they should come to. Lord, I am guilty and my righteousness can never take away my guilt.

It says liars and perjured persons, big lies and little lies. You know there are people that still believe that telling little lies is okay? Whatever that means. Eating a little piece of fruit in the Garden Of Eden was a little a little thing too, but it caused great harm upon a man and his wife and the rest of humanity to follow, did it not? Yeah, it did.

And yet people lie like they drink water, like they breathe air. And then they sit and they say, I’m a good person. And God says you’re not. You’re not a good person. And all these things we read, you say I don’t like this, it’s all this law stuff. Why don’t you tell me something encouraging? Because that’s not what the law is supposed to do. If there’s anything God’s law is designed to do, it’s not encourage you.

It’s designed to make your sin and my sin as black and as ugly and as wicked as it truly is. To shut our mouths of any claim of self righteousness and to bring us before God guilty and helpless. Not not guilty 9010% of good that I offer God, but guilty 100%.

Now for the believer, We should have already been past that point, right? If you’re a believer and you... Listen, you have been transformed by the gospel of Christ, the only reason that has happened is because you came to God guilty. That’s what that says.

But even now, God forbid that any one of us should come to God with an attitude of, Lord, I’m a good person. All the Lord has to do is just let you go, let me go just a minute.

And He will, His Word, His law will reveal once again that we are not good people. Paul said in Romans seven, he said, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. You know, that’s a Christian attitude toward yourself in the sight of God. God, there is no good in me. What’s the testimony? The testimony is God’s law.

Now, so I want to ask you, maybe there’s somebody in here I want to be careful here but I have to be honest with you. Maybe there’s somebody in here who has asked Jesus in their heart but has never been guilty.

You’ve never seen yourself as truly under condemnation and felt the fear of the Lord and been conscious of God’s displeasure at your sin and been conscious that you have no goodness at all to offer God, nothing but sin.

This is exactly what the Lord wants you to see. This whole ask Jesus into your heart, whatever that means, which is a euphemism supposedly for calling upon the name of the Lord, but that can’t happen until every mouth is stopped and all the world becomes guilty before God. Have you seen yourself like that? Have you really come to the point where as we read in Romans three verse 20, or verse 19, that every mouth... Have you ever stood before God and said, God, have nothing.

I have only one plea and that is Jesus on that cross. Outside of that, nothing. Nothing but sin, nothing but evil. Because that’s what the law is designed to do for us.

With the knowledge of our guilt before God comes the fact of God’s judgment upon our guilt. Romans six twenty three, you know this, for the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. When when a person stands before God guilty, then the the conclusion is, God, I’m in big trouble.

But yet there are multitudes that mishandle the law and think that because they quote the law or because they hold God’s law as their moral standard, you know, there’s plenty of people who say, Oh yeah, we all have the 10 commandments in the schools, who will be condemned by those 10 commandments? Now hear me.

This is serious business. It is not holding that standard that makes a person righteous, but doing that standard. Well, I’ve tried, that’s not the standard either. The standard is not attempt. The standard is, did you and I keep the law of God or not?

And if the answer is no, then we are guilty. I’d like you to turn to Romans chapter seven. Because the Bible says in our text, it says, if a man must use the law lawfully, as a believer, I have seen myself guilty. The law has proven that I’m guilty. The law has shown me that I have no hope. And that’s the reason I came to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I came to the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledged that I was worthy of the death that I had earned. Romans seven verse four, look what it says, Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, That you should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Notice verse five, this is interesting. For when we were in the flesh, this is before we knew the Lord Jesus Christ, The motions of sins, that’s the passion. That’s that the power, that wicked lust after evil that’s in our flesh, right? That longing for sin, that the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death, but now, we are delivered from the law.

That’s, notice what it says, being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. So here’s the truth. I came to God guilty. You know why? Because the wages of sin is death and I... Listen, the law killed me. Every believer, the law has killed us. What do what do I mean by that? What I mean is, we violated the law. The judgment was death and we got it. God slammed the gavel down and we got it. The only reason that we’re not suffering in hellfire for our sin right now is because the savior stood in our place as our representative.

Amen. Amen. We were judged guilty, you see. And right at the moment when we should have been cast into the lake of fire, the lord stepped between us and that judgment and he bore it all in our place. Amen. As our representative and so we are dead. The law killed us. God’s righteous law judged us guilty, worthy of death, and legally, we are dead. That’s what it says. Being dead. Verse six, wherein we were held.

We haven’t been made better people, we have been judged guilty. That we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Verse seven, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? This goes back to what we were reading earlier. God forbid, the law is not sin, the law is awesome. The law is great. The law is good. The law is law is holy. God forbid, nay, I had not known sin but by the law.

For I had not known lust except the lord said, thou shalt not covet. We say, oh god has a wonderful plan for your life. Not thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness. We say, oh no, God God thinks you’re great. You’re great. You’re great. You’re not great. The scripture says, you’re not great.

It informs us of our sin, it brings the knowledge of our iniquity before God and then it kills us. Look at Galatians three. Galatians chapter three. 19. Galatians three nineteen, Wherefore then serveth the law? What function does the law have? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand... Am I in the right verse here?

Let’s keep reading. Sorry. The siege had come to whom the promise was made and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now the mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law which could have life, verily, righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Verse 24, Wherefore the law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith, but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Look back in chapter two. Galatians two verse number 19. For I, through the law, am dead to the law that I might live unto God. See that? I, through the law, am dead to the law. What are we talking about here? It means that the law of God condemned me because I had not kept it.

And the just punishment of the law was death, my death. Christ took my place, He was my representative. He died, I died. And now I am dead to the law. That’s what it says, verse 19. I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. Now that’s the last thing I wanna show you, I might live unto God. Verse chapter chapter two verse 20. This is one of the greatest verses in the New Testament. I am crucified with Christ. Why am I crucified with Christ? You know why? Because Christ was my representative on that on that cross.

He as my legal representative died the death that I had earned. I died with him. Yet not nevertheless, I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Now go back to first Timothy and then I wanna take you to one other place. First Timothy chapter one.

Verse nine. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man. So we’ve already seen I died, the law killed me. We’ve already seen the purpose of the law was to make me see I’m a sinner and I’m guilty and I’m worthy of God’s judgment.

But now, as a result of coming to God guilty and putting my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has justified me. He has declared me and counted me righteous in His sight by faith.

Verse nine, the law is not made for a righteous man. That’s me. That’s you if your faith is in Christ. You are a righteous person. Why? Not because you’ve done good. We’ve already covered that. It’s because you have been counted righteous and so you know what that means? The law is not for you. The law is not made for a righteous man.

Now that I am righteous in god’s sight by faith, the law is not pointed at me because it’s pointed at at those who are unrighteous and lawless. That they might be may they might understand that they’re guilty. So where does this bring us? Number one, we see that the law of God as written in the Old Testament is very, is vital because it is the expression of God’s will that’s not just started at the time of Moses but existed from from from god’s from from god’s own nature, from all eternity and then it’s we come to Moses and it’s put into a written form with punishments and all these other things that go along with it.

But now, I’m a righteous man. That law is not pointed at me anymore like it was. I’m dead to the law. It killed me, right? But yet I live.

We read in, we read earlier that we should not, that we should not serve in the oldest of the or in in that we might serve in newness of spirit.

So, what is the law’s relationship to a New Testament Christian? Look if you would at Romans chapter 13. If the law is not for me, because it says the law is not for a righteous man, if the law is not for me, what relationship does it have with me? What does God expect? You know, some people say, well, I’m not under the law, and that’s true. That is a true statement according to scripture. We’re not under the Old Testament law. We’re not bound by the Old Testament law. So the natural question is, if that’s the case, then is it okay to murder?

Is it okay to lie? Is it okay to worship idols? All of which are forbidden by God’s law. If the law is not if the law is not for me, does that... What does that mean?

Romans 13, look at what it says. This is a profound truth that we should all put our... Get our heads around. Verse eight, Owe no man anything, but to love one another. For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. Where are those all found? 10 commandments. Yeah.

And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. So here’s the thing. As a New Testament believer, we understand that the law of God is an expression of God’s will and of God’s holiness and God’s righteousness and God’s view, right?

But as a New Testament believer, we don’t need to be under the law. You see, if we, by love toward another, if we love one another, we don’t have to worry about the law. We will do by nature what the law tells us to do even if we’ve never heard of Moses. Now go to Galatians chapter five. How do we love our neighbor?

Galatians five. Verse number 13. For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Now liberty, you know what that’s referring to? That we’re not under the law. We’re not under the law. That’s the liberty being referred to in Galatians. Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love, what does it say? Serve one another. So, you listen, if I out of love for sister Karen serves sister Karen, do I need to worry about the last the last six commandments of the law?

No. I’m not going to steal from her. I’m not going to covet what she owns. I’m not gonna treat... In fact, not only am I going to keep the 10 commandments towards sister Karen, I’m also going to keep the spirit of the 10 commandments inwardly in addition to the outward as well. You know what? That love is some that this this kind of operation of God in our life, to get us to love one another, to love God and to love one another is something that that the law preaching to us from the outside, the Bible calls it the letter could never do.

Keep reading. But if ye divide... Bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Look at verse... And then it goes on verse 16, talking about walking in the spirit, Then it talks about verse number 19, or verse number 18 rather, But if ye be led of the spirit, ye are not under the law. What does that mean? If ye be led of the spirit, are not under the law. It’s very simple.

We don’t serve God, listen, we don’t need the law to bind us, to force us to not kill each other and not hate each other and not steal from one another. If we have the Spirit of God and the life in Christ, he will direct us to do those and more than that toward our brothers and sisters in Christ. So, we come down to the we come down to the landing.

Why do we find ourselves so often on the wrong side of God’s standard as described in the law? Why do we find ourselves lying? As believers now, stealing and doing other things that God’s commandments condemn. You know why? Because we’re not walking in the spirit and we’re not walking in the spirit, the flesh is absolutely throwing itself at all of those things that God is displeased at.

But when we walk in the Spirit, we will fulfill that same law by default even if we’ve never heard of the 10 commandments because it is the Spirit of God who leads us and teaches us to love our brother, teaches us to love God and to put others before ourselves and bear one another’s burdens. He teaches us these things and he leads us to do these things. Husband, you know, do you want to have a right relationship with your wife? You know the way to do that? It’s not by constantly reminding yourself of the commandments of god. It’s about walking with Jesus.

If I just try really hard to do this and I make a big checklist and I put things around, put reminders around my finger, a little ribbon around my finger and I put a reminder on my phone and I, yeah, and and I, you know, you you try to do everything right. Listen, it won’t work. It it will fail.

But by simply saying, Lord, yielding to the operation of God and the life of God in you by the spirit of God, I’m telling you, you will fulfill the law of God.

You will do all of those things, you don’t have to even know what they are, you’ll do them. The reason why we have trouble with this, listen, as a believer, the reason why we have trouble with God’s law is because we’re not walking with God. It’s not rules and regulations, it’s relationship.

It’s relationship. But if you’re wise, you’ll look at all of the failures that you might have in your relationship, all the sins and violations of the 10 commandments that you could see in your life toward others, you’ll look at those as a symptom.

Not I need to talk nicer, I need to stop lying. Rather, you can look at that and say, the lying is demonstrating that I am not right with Jesus. If I was right with Jesus, I wouldn’t have to worry about the law because if I’m led of the spirit, I’m not under the law, but yet I’m doing it, you see. So how’s your relationship with the Lord Jesus?

How’s your relationship with Him? Let’s pray together.