May 24, 20144 min read

The Octagon - Law and Sin [Sermon]

Liberty, Missouri, USA

May 2014

Romans 8 (NASB95)

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

A. Law vs Sin

1. The Law Shows Sin

Romans 3.20 for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

2. The Law Stimulates Sin

Romans 7.5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

Romans 7.7 I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.

3. The Law cannot Stop Sin

Rom 8:3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,

There is nothing indulgent about the Moral Law. It is as hard as nails. It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do. CS Lewis, Mere Christianity.

B. Christ vs Law/Sin

1. Law

Matthew 5.17 Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. Wins against Law by keeping every last command. He fulfilled the Law.

Hebrews 4.15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

His life was perfectly holy. He never looked with lust; he never uttered a hasty, unkind, untrue or frivolous word; and he never entertained an impure thought. He was never accused by conscience, never inflamed by wrongful passion, never out of step with the will of God. His time was never wasted, his talents never debased for selfish ends, his influence never bad, his judgment never wrong. He never had to apologize for anything he did or retract a single word he said. He was never too late or too soon; never upset; never insipid, shallow or afraid. He lived on earth approximately 12000 days and every one of them was a marvel of holiness. From the summit of the mount of transfiguration he could have stepped straight into glory. He had absolute victory from the moment he first drew breath in that Bethlehem barn until the moment he closed his eyes in death on the Cross of Calvary. John Philips, Exploring Romans.

Mark 14.55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any.

2. Sin

Romans 8:3 sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.

2 Corinthians 5.21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

C. Us vs Law/Sin

1. Law

Romans 8.4. He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

1 Cor 12.13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

2. Sin

Romans 8.5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Romans 7.22-23 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.