Loren Larson - Are You Under Law or Under Grace? (Romans 7 Intro - 6:14-18, 7:1)

Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked. That you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine. which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. Now jump down to chapter seven and verse one.

Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. In Romans chapter 6, the Apostle Paul lays out what many have said are the base mechanics of Christianity, showing us that What Christ did for us at Calvary is sufficient to break, number one, the power of sin in our lives and to remove, number two, the penalty of sin in our lives.

Let me say that again and maybe do it in the order in which you've learned it. Number one, Christ and his sacrifice at the cross. Has removed the penalty for our sin. We are no longer accountable, if you will, for our sin, because the Lamb of God has taken them away. Hallelujah. But Paul goes on to teach us in Romans chapter 6 that the sin nature, the bent towards evil that's within the framework and the heart of every single individual.

Is really the cause of evil in the heart and life of a believer because or in the heart and life of an individual because the sin nature is that nature we get when we're born. We're born with that as a result of the fall. And it's that. that push, that impetus, that something within us, the sin nature, that drives us towards sin. And it's one thing to be forgiven for sin, but it's another thing to shut the sin factory down.

And what Romans chapter 6 tells us is that Jesus not only paid the penalty for our sin, but he shut down the sin factory on the inside of man if we understand and walk in what he has accomplished. And that's what Romans 6 teaches us. In Romans 6 verse 7, the Bible says that he that is dead is freed from sin. And you and I, according to the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 6, have been crucified with Christ.

Hallelujah. Thereby coming to a point of death. We've been baptized into him, baptized into his death, baptized with him in burial and raised into newness of life. Hallelujah. And so not only has the sin debt been paid, according to Romans chapter 6. But as well, the power of the sin nature has been broken.

And Paul lays it out clearly that it is a process of faith. We are to believe something, and as we believe something, the power of the Lord becomes available to us and transforms us into what God wants us to become. That's the basis of Romans chapter six. And again, I don't have the time to teach it or reteach it because we're headed towards Romans seven.

But the problem with Romans 7, especially in scholarly efforts, is that Many people believe that Romans 7 was chronologically out of order, that for some reason Paul began to talk about what had happened in his path. Previous to redemption and previous to salvation. And so that's one of the key arguments about the content of Romans 7. But I believe that the Bible written by the Holy Spirit through the apostles and through the different writers over the years.

Lays out exactly what we need to know just exactly as we need to know it. So it's our job to go into the scripture and understand what and why the Holy Spirit has written what he has written.

And what I want you to see today as we establish this is that Paul introduces The idea to the believer who understands that he's been set free from the penalty of sin and set free from the power of the sin nature, that that Believer has an adversary, has an opponent, has something that exists that could toss him or move him away off the path.

That God has established for believers to live a victorious life. And so he begins telling us about that subject in Romans chapter 6, and really in verse 14 and in verse 15. statements are transitional, moving us towards Romans chapter seven. And if we understand why Paul wrote what he wrote, then we don't look at Romans seven as an parenthetical insert, something that was just added uh for uh a historical measure, but we see it as the continuation of thought that the Holy Spirit gave to Paul.

Are you with me this morning, or is that too much to cook on the on the burner right off? So the reason I'm starting a study in Romans 7 here is to prove context. I know that in three days time, if I can figure or if I can move through uh the the second paragraph in Romans chapter seven, I'll be very, very happy. But at the same point in time, we need to understand that Romans seven is in context.

That it is in fact joined intrinsically to Romans chapter six, that one flows into the other. And without the knowledge of Romans six, Romans seven can't truly be understood. It moves from one thought into illustration of that thought. And here's the thought. We see it in Romans chapter six and verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you. And when Paul writes that, he's d referring to the sin nature.

The sin nature in Romans chapter 6. The only time that the word sin is actually a verb indicating acts of sin. Is in Romans chapter 6 and verse 15. What? Shall we continue in sin or shall we continue to sin, committing an act of sin? That's the only time that the verb is used the rest of the time in Romans chapter six and in verses previous, for instance in chapter five and verses twenty and twenty-one. The word sin is a noun indicating the presence of sin or the sin nature or the sin principle.

So the essence and the thrust of Romans 6 is to teach believers not just that we've been freed from the penalty of sin, but to understand that the power of the sin nature was broken by the cross. Hallelujah. So I can be delivered from every sin and every wicked bent by placing my faith in Christ and Him crucified. I can be released from every evil bent.

Every evil bent. God's solution is not a part-way solution. It's not a half-way solution. He has designed that we be free from every single act of sin and bent towards sin within our framework. And every one of us is different with different bents of sin. I don't need to know yours and you don't need to know mine. Somebody shout hallelujah. But all I need to understand about my issue and my problem is number one, it's a sin issue.

And that what Jesus Christ has done for us at Calvary produces this statement by the Apostle Paul, for the sin nature shall not have. Dominion over you. You can live free from the power of sin. I said you can live free from the power of sin. You can live free from the influence of sin right now. Right now, today, you can set your course to be free and be free and maintain that freedom.

But Paul sends a qualifier along with this great uh emancipation proclamation. And the qualifier is this. For you are not under the law But under grace, I think. You're not under the law, but under grace. And I fear that we don't understand that statement. Paul introduces The wrench in the machinery right here that can stop the Christian from experiencing the freedom from the power of sin. He says, You have freedom from the power of sin because you're not under the law.

But you're under grace. And if we don't understand What law is and what grace is Then we may become confused and off track. and find ourselves dominated by sin. And that's the subject matter that Paul introduces here and maintains as he travels through Romans chapter seven. He doesn't shift his eyes from that thought. And so this morning as we begin,

We're going to look at today this one question you need to ask yourself and make sure you know the answer. Are you under law or are you under grace? Or are you under grace? The difference is freedom from sin's dominion or a lack. of freedom from sin's dominion. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning and Lord, we pray that you would help us, help us, Father, to understand

What it is that you're you've laid out through the Apostle Paul. I'm asking that the preacher would come, that the teacher would come to help me to give to your people the words that are needful. That they might better understand the great covenant and the great procedures and the great principles of relationship with you, that they would leave here strengthened. Father, give them revelation understanding, both those here in the sanctuary.

And as well, those under the sound of our voice over Sun Life Radio, we'd ask it this morning in Jesus' name, and everybody said, Amen and Amen. We're going to define this morning what it means to be under law. Many people think, well, I live in a dispensation of grace. I live in a time frame when grace is offered. So I can't be under the law. I don't live in the dispensation of law. I live in the dispensation of grace.

Well, that is certainly true. You do live in a time frame in which God has chosen to operate and reveal Himself through what dispensationists would call the dispensation of grace. But just because we may be in a dispensation entitled the dispensation of grace, that doesn't mean that all men are under grace. Being under grace is a specific location and a specific government. Being under grace is a specific location under the control and the rules and the formats of a specific government.

And we have to willingly subject ourselves to the government of grace. And if we're not, as believers, subjecting ourselves to the government of grace, We are by default placing ourselves under the government of law because there's only two places you can exist. Under the government of law or under the government of grace. And the problem is that believers who have been born again.

In most cases, place themselves under the government of law. They present themselves to law. And when they do, they violate the terms of the new covenant. They rebel against what God has laid out, whether they know it or not. And they diffuse and take away the power source that's available to live holy, to live righteous, because they place themselves under law.

Now let me define law for a moment. A law is any set of rules or pattern of works that man embraces In an attempt to arrive at a state of righteousness, salvation, or sanctification. Let me say that again so you're getting it. Are you okay this morning? Are you all right? Okay. You're listening, right? Any set of rules or patterns of work. That man embraces in an attempt to arrive at a state of righteousness, salvation, or sanctification.

Well, the question has to be asked then, first of all, who is under the law? Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's where we all start. Every man who's ever been born has been born under the law. You are born responsible to the law of God, whether you realize it or not. Even men who never hear the word of God and never hear about Jesus, when they stand before God, they will be judged by the law of God.

This word that God has given us certainly contains his laws, his statutes, its precepts and commandments. And the law was given for the purpose of showing us God's moral code, who he was and how he wants to have relationship with men. But all men are born, I need you to understand this, are born under the law. They are born accountable to the law of God, and they will be judged by it. The law.

And when we say the law, oftentimes we think about the first five books of the Bible, and that certainly is true. The first five books of the Bible known as the law, the Pentateuch. Where Moses was given the understanding of how to have a relationship with God when God first birthed the nation. By raising up one man, Abraham, and incubating that nation in in Egypt, and then freeing them from the bonds of Pharaoh.

And brought them into the desert and taught them about themselves. For one year and one month they camped at Sinai and they found out who God was and what he was like. He taught them how to worship. Leviticus is a book of worship. It's a book that tells God's people how to have a relationship with Him. And God would give again the great Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments give us the overview. Of God's moral code in simplistic form in ten great wonderful statements.

But the rest of the law also included how to maintain relationship with God. Israel starts off their relationship with God with a blood on the doorpost. At Passover. God says if you want to come out of Egypt, you need to trust in the blood. You've got to apply the blood of a lamb on the doorpost. And when the death angel comes, he'll pass over you. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. I will pass over you. And so those who believed what God said applied the door, the blood to the door.

And as the death angel passed through that evening in Egypt, killing the firstborn of man and animal, And death reigned supreme in the land. God's people who trusted in the blood were saved. Can I say this to you? God's people who trust in the blood are still safe. If they trust in the blood, they're still safe. If they trust in the blood, which represented a sacrifice, God's relationship with man always depended upon faith in a sacrifice.

In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve first fell, and God comes and literally has to bring a curse upon mankind. He also gives a great promise. And he says, Eve from you. From your seed will come a redeemer. And as he kicks them out of the garden, they have the promise of a redeemer ringing in their ears. And he clothes them with a sacrifice. He covers them with the skins of a sacrifice. Indicating the only covering that man needs comes from God. Man isn't God enough to cover a man.

I said, man isn't God enough to cover a man. The only thing that qualifies me before God is not another man. It's in fact the blood. It's the blood of the sacrifice. And so from the very beginning. God introduces relationship with man and he introduces how that relationship is going to take place after the fall. There has to be a redeemer and there has to be a sacrifice.

There has to be a redeemer and there has to be a sacrifice. There has to be a redeemer and there has to be a sacrifice. And if you'll place your faith in what I have provided, I'll have a relationship with you.

And as the time proceeds, God continues with the sacrifice and the redeemer. But as the children of Israel camp around Sinai, God brings the law. And he explains what holiness is and what righteousness is, and he creates a standard that no man can live up to. But yet he demands that we keep it. He says, you must obey. But he knows that men can't obey, that man is incapable of obedience. And so in the midst of the law, he gives us the five sacrifices.

That indicates he knows they can't keep it. But he still wants to have relationship with man. And so he keeps the idea of sacrifice. And redeemer in the view of the Israelite. He says, I'm gonna give you the law, but I know you can't keep it. And in order for you to stay in relationship with me, you're gonna have to stay in faith in a redeemer and a sacrifice. In a redeemer and a sacrament. I'll give the law, but I know you can't keep it.

You're incapable of yielding spiritual obedience to the righteous demands of the law. And God's law was perfect. It was complete. It brought about every aspect of life that we would ever know, every rule and every government. In the world today has some semblance of God's law, whether they admit it or not. Because it's right.

It's holy, it's perfect, but the problem is man can't keep the law. Man can't abide by the law. No matter how much man wants to, man doesn't have it within him to keep the law of God. It's an impossibility. But all of us are born under the law, under God's righteous requirement. And Israel of that day, though they were given the law, were not made righteous by the law. They were made righteous by faith in a sacrifice that represented a redeemer that would come.

A promise redeemer. Daniel said, Whose life would be cut off. Isaiah prophesied and said, He would bear our iniquities and bear our sins. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, but the Lord, prophetically speaking, will lay on him the iniquity of us all. So along with the law and God's holiness and the declaration of what is right and what is wrong. God said, I know you can't keep it. I know it's impossible for you to maintain in and of yourself.

The righteous attributes I demand of you. And so even with the giving of the law, I give you the only way for you to have a relationship with me, faith in a sacrifice, and faith in a redeemer that would come. Even in the law, it should have been understood. But Israel, losing sight of faith in the sacrifice and faith in the Redeemer, said, We'll keep the law.

We can keep it. We're able. And in an effort over the years, they developed above and beyond the 600 and 615 laws that you can find literally in the law of Moses. They developed in their traditions another 614 laws, giving you almost 1,200 laws you had to keep. When you woke up every morning, you had to think about keeping 1,200 laws and fence laws. My, wasn't that wonderful?

But when Jesus appears on the scene. He said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. You're trying to keep the law. You're trying to keep the fence laws. And it ain't working. So come unto me. Come unto me. Come unto me. And John said, Behold the Lamb. Behold the lamb! which taketh away the sin of the world. And so the promised Redeemer, the promised coming sacrifice is made flesh and dwells among us. And we beheld his glory, hallelujah, in grace and truth.

And he dies on the cross of Calvary after being the only man To totally fulfill and walk in God's righteous attributes, the law, the only one. No one else ever could. No one else ever can. And so righteousness. Could never be attained to by the keeping or the attempt of keeping law. Even the righteous law of God, which was perfect and holy, you would think if it could produce righteousness, then It would have.

But the Bible teaches us plainly that even the law of Moses, the law of God, cannot in and of itself, with rules and regulations, produce righteousness. So law is not the road to righteousness. Law can never be the road to righteousness. Neither can law be the road to sanctification. If you couldn't save yourself, what do you think?

Our problem is after being born again, we don't want to admit what pitiful shape we're in. And I don't mean to demean. The power and the wonder of regeneration, or the baptism with the Holy Spirit, even. I don't mean to say that that's not important. Please don't misunderstand me. You have to be born again, changed and regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit to have access to heaven. You need the power of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

to have that relationship with the Spirit of God that God wants you to have. You have a parakletos, a helper. You need to get to know him as best you can. You need to be saved. You need to be filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But your salvation and even the powerful, wonderful baptism in the Holy Ghost will not equip you to keep a law because of you. Because of me. And when we say as a believer that I am greater than.

The things that oppose me, and I'm greater than the things that are in me. And I can now bring about righteousness in my own self and in my own heart. We rebel against God's plan for redemption. And we say, I will change myself, and instead of accepting the grace of God on a continued measure, on a daily measure, we attempt to set out to keep our law. Any person, any man or woman that's a preacher that gives you a set of rules.

And places you on a regimen of activity and says to you that that's how righteousness is attained. Is causing you to become a spiritual fornicator. A strong word. We'll qualify it as we travel through these passages.

Because the only way to get saved and the only way to be changed. is not under law, but it's under grace. Sin shall not have dominion over you, because you're not under law. But are you? Are you? As a believer, are you operating by faith and grace, faith in Christ and Him crucified, and receiving the grace that you need to live your daily life? Or are you attempting to keep a regimen? Do you have a routine that you trust in?

Is it your Bible reading and your church attendance that makes you righteous? Is it your confession? Have you made it today 41? Have you entered in to a government of twelve, or a government of fifteen, or a government of thirty? Or any other rules and regulations that are to bring about holiness and righteousness. If so, you have rebelled against God's redemption plan.

Because you can't hold to grace and hold to law. You can't believe holistically that Jesus paid it all and then set out to do it yourself. You can't do both. It's one or the other. What are you under? Where are you at? Where are you standing? Are you under grace or are you under law? If you're a believer, just because it's the dispensation of grace, you're not under grace. There has to be a specific object of faith.

To bring you under the auspices of the government of grace. And if you're trusting in anything, Other than Christ and Him crucified, you have subjected yourself willingly to law. And just the opposite of Romans chapter 6 and 14 is true. Sin will have dominion over you. In fact, the act of rebellion, of leaving faith in Christ and Him crucified, and embracing activities and laws and saying, I can do it, that is a sin. It's a sin.

It's a sin. The highest act of rebellion is for you to snub the Redeemer who saved you and say, now I can change myself. God did everything He's gonna do. Now I've got to do my part. That's blasphemy. I got good news for you and bad news for you. You still can't change yourself. So you're gonna have to depend upon him. Law can't make you righteous. The rules that you establish can't make you righteous. You can cut your hair, grow it long, cut it off. It won't make you righteous.

You can wear long pants, short pants. It won't make you righteous. Facial hair, no facial hair, it won't make you righteous. I mean, how could all that outward extremities do anything to the inward bent of the heart? Come on, folk. Well, I don't have any rules. Oh, we've got all kinds of foolishness. Every morning I get up, I put on the armor. When did you take it off? Well if I was the devil and I was a good devil, the minute I saw you naked I'd hit ya. When did you take it off?

You see people in a panic pulling over their car in the morning doing this. You've just placed yourself under a law. You said, I'm not protected if I don't do something. I'm not protected if I don't do this. I know salvation is great, and I know Christ is strong and mighty, and there's nothing when he's my strength and he's my tower, but I've got to do this to be right. Ding ding ding ding ding. What's wrong with that picture? You've created a law. And it's not even as high as the law of Moses.

It's not as perfect and wonderful as the law of Moses, but we have our law. I've got to pray for 30 minutes before I leave for work, or I'm not ready. I encourage prayer. I think that when you're under the government of grace and the processes of grace, prayer is something that'll come. Bible study is something that'll come. But when you place your faith in the religious acts that you are doing and say that's what qualifies me as a Christian and that's alone what will change me, you are

rebelling against the plan of God. I know I'm making some folk mad, but I need you to identify the law that you ain't been calling a law. I need you to think about it. Are you under law or are you under grace? You can scream grace all day long, but when you really believe in your activity more than what Jesus did for you at Calvary, the object is of your faith is you, not him.

And you can't get from God what you need as a Christian. You can't survive in this world as a Christian with that in your heart and that in your mind. Most Christians and most preachers tell you what you need to do. You need to do this. You need to do that. You need to follow this and that. And this. You need to quote this and confess that. And quote this and confess that.

And maybe if you do it good enough, you do it long enough, and your faith is large enough, maybe one day you'll attain to where I am. Well, you'll just join them, those that preach that, in the same bed and ministry as Jezebel. That's the ministry of Jezebel, alive and well. Teaching God's people to fornicate. And you'll be cast into the bed with them. The ministry of Jezebel. We'll talk about that tomorrow. This is serious. We easily move. From where God has placed us.

To embracing law. Now, I've said some pretty strong statements. Let me go through some scripture. You said, Brother Larson, that every man is born under law. Let me prove it to you. Go to Galatians chapter 4 and verse 4. Are you all okay? This is kind of serious this morning. I like to be funny, but I'm not a joker, I'm a preacher. Galatians chapter four, verse four. But when the fullness of the time was come, oh I still hear the turning of the leaves. I want you to see what I'm saying.

Galatians chapter four, verse four. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made what? Under the law, when Jesus was born, he was brought under the auspices of the law of God, and the law of God had to be kept by him for him to be righteous. Thank God he did it. But when Jesus came, he came made of a woman. He was made under the law.

Why? Look at verse five. To redeem them that were under the law. Who did Jesus come to redeem? Just a few? Just the Jew? He came to redeem all, didn't he? So again, if he's made under the law, And he's come to redeem only those who are under the law. Everyone's under the law. Simple thought process, everyone will be held accountable to God's law. Everyone is born under the law. The law of God judges every man. All right, go back to Galatians chapter three and verse twenty three.

But before faith came. We were kept where? Where were we kept? Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. All men are born under the law. But when somebody stands up and says, you're a sinner, separated from God. But the good news is there's a redeemer.

Who completed a sacrifice? And if you believe in him, God will accept you. And those under the law, all of a sudden, through the preaching of the word of God, have faith because they hear the message. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word. And faith comes. To those burdened under the condemnation of the law. And God says, I put you under the condemnation of the law.

So that you would know you were a sinner, and that's the purpose of the law. But now that you understand it, I've got a remedy. To bring you out from under the curse of the law. I can bring you into relationship with Jesus. My son, who has kept the law, and when you accept him, I will impute into your account the righteous keeping of the law. And by accepting him, I come out from under the law and have fulfilled the law in Christ. Jesus I'm no longer under the law.

But instead, I'm under grace. I'm translated, I moved, I'll speak of that in a minute. Again, the law cannot save. Go back to verse nineteen of Galatians three. Wherefore then serveth the law? What's the purpose of the law? Paul said it was added because of transgressions. The law came to make it clear to humanity that we were sinful.

And even when we saw black and white, we didn't want to accept it. The world still doesn't want to accept that homosexuality is wrong, even though it's written in God's word, black and white. We don't want to believe that drunkenness is sin. We want to call it a disease. But God calls it sin. Black and white. And the law came to in one of its purposes to prove to us we were sinners.

Till thank God the word till exists in verse nineteen. Till the seed, the seed, what seed? The seed of Abraham, the seed of the woman should come. to whom the promise was made. Verse 21. Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given, You need to underline this. If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

If God wasn't great enough to give a law that could bring you to righteousness, who do you think man is to come up with a routine that will derive you at righteousness? Why do you think that forty days or ten days or twelve days of purpose will bring you to righteousness and discipleship? If God wasn't great enough to produce a law that could produce righteousness, why do you serve law? Why do you pursue law? Well my preacher said I had to do this and I have to do that and I have to do this.

We don't serve law. The law is a ministry and a ministration of condemnation. It shows us that we're incapable of yielding spiritual obedience. And once we know that, the law has served its purpose. Quick, quick, quick, go to First Timothy chapter one and verse eight. I want you to be offended by law, but most of that I want you to recognize law. We don't recognize law.

We eat it up like candy, and it pulls us away from what God has given to us. We don't recognize it. Do this and fill out a report, and you'll be holy. Do this and fill out a sheet, and you'll be tell me who you prayed for. Show me who you prayed. Report how many times you prayed. Be here, do this, do that.

All of it may be righteous things in and of itself, but if it's a routine, a system of works, a pattern of operation that someone tells you is the way to arrive at righteousness, you're under law. First Timothy chapter one, verse eight. But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. The law is not wrong. The law is holy and righteous and good. It just can't produce righteousness in a human being. Verse nine, knowing this That the law is not made for a righteous man.

How about 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, for men stealers, for liars. The law exposes sinners as sinners. But the law cannot save. That's why Paul would write in Romans chapter 3 and verse 20.

Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin, laws, rules, regulations. In the book of the Bible or in any other book. That says you follow these rules, these laws, these regimens, and you'll arrive at holiness is law. And all it will do is condemn you because you can't even keep 40 days.

Ten days. Two days. You had to lie about it. The law not only can't save, the law is also obsolete. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 13 says this. A new covenant he hath made, the first old. God's given us a new covenant. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 13. He has made the first old, he's made the first obsolete. The law is obsolete in the sense of how God's people operate.

It still works for the unrighteous, leading them to the knowledge that they need a savior. And it will forever do that. The law will forever condemn. So if you put yourself under law, get ready for condemnation. Because you won't be able to keep up to your regimen and your routine. I don't care how easy it is. You stay under law and you'll get frustrated. And after a while, you'll come up with stupid stuff like, well, let's just make the church seeker sensitive. And make it really easy.

Just come to church and you're good. Do a few bake sales and you're good. Cook Jambalaya for a few weddings and you're good. And you'll become Christian by osmosis. Just blend it into the community. If you're brought to Christ by community, you're in relationship with man. But if you're brought to Christ by conviction, you're in relationship with Jesus. But we don't understand the law, so instead of allowing it to convict, we just eliminate it. That's what the seeker sensitive movement has done.

But most of the churches that exist have placed their people under law. Given them rules, quoted activities that should be kept as Christians as the guidelines for righteousness. Well, you've got to read to be righteous. I don't read to be righteous. I read because I am righteous. And I know from whence my righteousness comes. I gotta hurry. My time's gone here.

One more verse. Romans, no, not one more, but another one. This is Bible teaching, so just stick with me. I'm on the hard side, and I got about eight minutes to make you glad, so I'm moving. Romans chapter And verse three for what the law could not do. And that it was weak through the flash. See the problem with law is that you and me We can't do it. We can't perform it. We can't fulfill it. We can't do it.

So before you can get help from God, you're gonna have to admit you can't do it. When Job finally saw he couldn't do everything that he needed to do to be right with God, he said, I recognize that I'm a vile man. And Paul the Apostle in Romans chapter seven would say, Oh wretched man that I am. That wasn't admission of defeat. That was the groundwork for victory.

When you understand that in and of yourself you're nothing but a wretched individual, incapable of yielding spiritual obedience, even after you're saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, boy, does that rustle some religious feathers. Then you'll say, like Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank Jesus. He wasn't. Questioning, he knew what Jesus could do and he understood what he couldn't do. So, oh wretched man that I am is not a bad statement.

It signifies Paul had come to the end of his own strength and end of his own self and had to look beyond. Beyond what? Being an apostle. Being spirit-filled, being saved in a miraculous measure. And all those things he realized, as wonderful and powerful and as of God as they were, couldn't cause him to bring about, to walk in righteousness. He still needed help. He still needed grace.

For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemns sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. Now go back to six and fifteen. I'm not boring you, am I? Are you okay?

If we understand what law is, then I've got about seven minutes to tell you what grace is. My fear as a minister is that you don't understand yet what law is. You don't have your antennae up to locate it when it tries to make its way into your life. And when you embrace law, you open up the door for sin. Verse fifteen.

Of Romans 6, what then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law? Do you realize that most Christians and most preachers don't believe that you can live holy by grace alone? They don't believe. We had a young man here in the Bible college several years ago that was so excited about the message of cross, so excited about the message of grace and faith, and he went out and he talked to a preacher in town here.

And he went through the processes of the message of the cross and said it's grace and faith. It's grace and faith. And he went through the theological scriptures and and and pointed out this and the preacher says, yes, you're exactly right. But if you preach that, people will go crazy. They'll sin without impunity. So you gotta put just a little law on them. See, preachers and Christians don't believe you can live holy by grace.

They don't understand grace. When most Christians talk about grace, they think about what I refer to as umbrella grace. Picture the world underneath an umbrella. An umbrella grace is simply God's willingness not to destroy the world. Well, honey, that won't let you live right, even though it is one aspect of God's grace. Just that God chose not to wipe out the world today, Ray, is not meaning that I'm receiving grace.

Uh to live my Christian life. It means that God has chosen to be merciful to all of mankind. But that doesn't help me in my Christian walk, other than let me live another day. If I was to ask most of you in the room to give me a definition of grace, You would quickly give me the quip, unmerited favor, and that's right. And that's certainly true. But what does that mean? Can you explain that? Unmerited favor. I'm not under law. I'm under unmerited favor.

What does that mean? Brother Swagert describes grace as God's goodness given to undeserving people. And that certainly is a good definition. God's goodness. Given to undeserving people. But I'm probably most partial to Webster's definition. Unmerited. Divine assistance in one's regeneration and sanctification. That's good. Unmerited. That means you can't, whatever you get from God, you can't work for it. You don't deserve it, and you can't earn it.

So if you're under grace, you've got to approach God in a way where you realize whatever you get, you can't work for. Whatever you get, you don't deserve. Whatever you get from God, you didn't earn it. Grace says, I didn't earn it. I didn't work for it, and I certainly didn't deserve it, but I got it. Unmerited. Means it comes from God. The source of what I need comes from God. What I didn't earn, what I didn't work for, what I didn't deserve, God gives me divine, comes from a source of God.

Unmerited divine assistance. I like this one. What's that? Help. You can work for it all you want. I'll get up in the morning and I'll say Help I need some help down here. Help? Help! Man, you need to stop confessing and just look at God and say, help! In the name of Jesus, help! In the name of Jesus, help, and you'll get more than law could ever give you. HELP! Help! Help! If you just learned to say that four-letter word, you'd probably stop saying some other four-letter words. Help!

Help! Unmerited, unearned, undeserved, not worked for, divine, coming from God alone. In my regeneration, my salvation, and my sanctification, my growth, how I'm formed into the character of Christ is not through life.

God's government is this. Oh, I gotta hurry. I didn't even got the guys to set all this up and I hadn't even used it. A few years ago studying this verse and I'll close with this and I have just a minute and we'll pick up with this tomorrow. Has this been okay? I want you to identify what law is because we think, well, it's just the law of Moses. No, it's any set of rules, any regimen, any system or pattern of works that you say by doing it will cause me to arrive at righteousness.

When you're under the government of law, your focus is on the works that you do, the law that you created. Doesn't matter what law it is, that law will arrive you at righteousness. The object of your faith becomes faith in your performance. Did you do it? Like you said you would. Were you true to the regimen? Did you keep the law? And if you did, you're all right.

But if you didn't, and you never will, completely, you're condemned. Power source is yourself, because God won't help you keep the law. The law will forever be a condemnation, a ministration of condemnation. So any law you put yourself under, you will fail in. Because self is not sufficient. You need some help. The end result of under law is failure and inconsistency. You may be able to do it good for a time or two, a day or two, a week or three.

But week four is coming, and being weak in the flesh, you'll fall down, incapable of continuing the law that you've created. But under the government of grace, your focus is on Christ. And him crucified. I'm gonna pick up with this tomorrow because if you'll get your eyes on Christ, who he is. And Christ, what he's done, you'll stop looking anywhere else.

If you really understand that he's deserving to be the preeminent one, that he's the Son of God, that he has all power, that he created all things. All things are in him. All things consist by him. All power is given to him. You won't look for another sword. And when you see and understand what he did for you at Calvary, the all powerful one. What he paid for you at Calvary, ye won't make you try to pay for, cause you can.

And when you study the Bible, it should lead you to an understanding of who he is and what he's done. And when you see who he is and what he's done, that's your focus. The object of your faith will not be your work, it'll be his finished work. Lord, I see what you did at Calvary. When you said it is finished, it was done. And when my faith is in what he's done at Calvary, the grace of God, unmerited, divine help.

Unmerited. Divine. Help. Begins to flow from the person of the Holy Spirit. And my power source is not me, but it's the newness of the Spirit, the power of God Himself living in me, equipping me. Equipping me to live righteousness. Not because of law! But because of faith and grace. I'm under the government of grace because of what I believe. And the result is sin shall not.

Have victory and dominion and power over you. When you look to Christ and Him crucified, and you place your faith exclusively in that, you are under grace. And now the effectual working of the Holy Spirit will change you. Righteousness is kept. Because number one, you have accepted the righteous one, and his righteous life is imputed to you. That's your standing, that's your position. And now the Holy Ghost comes. to change your condition

And he works in you. And the next thing you know, because he's working in you. It is God which works in you, both the will and to do of his good pleasure. It's the effectual working of God in you that produces Christianity, not your labor under law. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Now I will give you rest.

So when I embrace the government of grace I say Christ and Him crucified, paid it all. Today as a Christian, I need unmerited divine assistance. To grow, to change. To remove out of my wicked heart things that are wrong. And I stay under the government of grace. And he that hath begun a good work in me will continue to perform it. Will continue to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. I'm four minutes over. Would you stand, please? Heavenly Father.

We pray today that you will have helped us better understand law and better understand what grace is. Father, open our eyes to any law we've placed ourselves under. And cause us to repent and turn from law and look to grace. Grace will empower me to be a Christian. Grace will empower me to become what God wants me to become. And God will give you the praise for it, thanking you for your grace. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. God love you. Tomorrow morning