Loren Larson - The Believer is Dead to the Law (Romans 7:1-6)

find its emphasis and then teach that paragraph to you as a single thought. Or and and combined, of course, with all the other thoughts in the paragraph, we find uh different things that support the key issue, the key thought. And in today our paragraph will be Romans chapter seven, verses one through six. And the Bible says this. 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 and watch that clause right there, that little phrase, as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress, but if her husband be dead she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. that ye should be married to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, The motions of sins, which were by the law, and you might want to underline that clause, 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 good news.

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit. And not in the oldness of the letter. Today I want to concentrate on this thought. The believer is dead to the law. The believer, the believer, the believer is dead to the law. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning, and God we're asking for the preacher to come, the teacher to come.

That one who makes teaching and explanation easy. Lord, I'm asking you to give me insight and revelation, understanding, as we minister this morning. And God, give me the words to say that your people might be edified both here in the sanctuary and under the sound of our voice over Sun Life Radio.

God, we believe that this message, this teaching is so vital to the growth and work of the of your spirit in the life of a believer that we're asking for a distinct moving and operation of your spirit this morning. And Lord, I'm asking that every single person would receive understanding and revelation in regard to where they are and what you desire and what you can do in their hearts and their lives as we travel through these passages.

And God I'll give you the praise and I'll give you the glory. Everyone's saying Amen and Amen.

As we study the Book of Romans, and if you are a Bible student and you attempt to study the Book of Romans, what you'll find is a conflict of information. Many in the in the uh arena of scholarship have decided that Romans seven is a historical interlude, that it is actually an interjection declaring that this described Paul's past, in fact, a time frame in which Paul was not saved.

But what we tried to begin bring out yesterday, and I'll review just a few minutes again today so that we can make headway, is that Romans chapter six, seven, and eight are a perfect outline of the Christian experience.

as one moves through them. They are chronologically and explanatorily in order. They do what they need to do as the way they are set up. God gave us through the Apostle Paul, the understanding of redemption, the power of God's plan revealed the mechanics of the Holy Spirit, and then started to warn us as to what could cause his plan, his work.

to go awry. And so Romans seven is really uh the warning of God, if you will, not to get off track. And I don't want to get too far off base here, but I want to take a quick run at the book of Romans. And again, this will be hard for you to see. I understand that in some cases. But just again to show you, boutras for a moment, the idea that.

Romans is a progressive thought that it never reverts and doesn't need a parenthetical insert or a historical insert to make sense to us. In fact, it makes far better sense if we just go forward from the way God laid it out. through the Apostle Paul. In the book of Romans, again, Romans is the greatest single treatise.

on the Christian faith. If you want to find out what Christianity is all about, you should read the book of Romans. In fact, the discipleship process that you have in your church should be, number one, choosing one of the gospels, perhaps Mark, because it tells us quickly and efficiently who Jesus is and what he has done in his lifetime and in his ministry and in his life here on this earth.

But Romans, far more than any other book, tells us what his death accomplished for us and what we are to walk in. And you need to teach new converts. who Jesus is from the gospels and what Jesus has done through Romans. And if you don't do that, you're really not discipling them correctly. If you don't teach them what Romans teaches us about Christianity, they won't be able to come to the fullness

Of the stature of Christ that God wants them to come to. And in the first three chapters of Romans, again, we see the progression of the Christian experience here. We find out that all men are guilty before God, both Jews and Gentiles. Quickly saying this, you can't get saved if you don't know that you need a savior.

And so Paul says, before you can get saved, you need to understand that you're separated from God. Once you understand that, then the beauty of that is that God opens up his plan of redemption to you. And that's what we see in chapters four and five.

Really, it starts around chapter three and verse twenty-one and travels through about five and nineteen. But chapters four and five, again, an overview of it. It deals with the wonderful subject of justification. And on Wednesday night, Brother Swagert preached on justification. He told us about justification. We have to operate in Christendom with this mindset.

I am not saved because of what I do, and I'm not kept because of what I do or don't do. I'm saved because of what I believe, and I'm kept by what I believe. Well that's a little weak this morning. We're not saved by what we do. It's not by works, but by Now, when we get into the process of Christian growth, what we have to understand then is that I'm right with God because of what I believe.

The moment I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, the Bible teaches us plainly and concisely that there is a blood covering placed over me. And even as the mercy seat acted as the place where God applied the blood, underneath the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, which was held in the temple and later uh first the tabernacle, later the temple.

Not because of what I do, but because of what I believe. Belief brings faith brings the justification that I need. That declaration of God that is a legal declaration that says, not guilty. Hallelujah. You can get out of bed condemned and trying to earn your relationship if you want to. But the first two things going through my mind when I step out of bed and throw these size twelves over the side is that I'm not guilty.

And I'm right with God. I understand that, and I understand it's not because of what I've done, but it's because of what I believe. Hallelujah. And God Himself comes and dwells within me, not because of what I've done, but because of what I've believed. Justification. I could stay here for hours, but I don't have the time. Chapters four and five teach us justification. And then with the basis and the foundation of justification, which must never change.

We must always understand that we're acceptable to God only because of what we believe. Not because of our works, not because of our righteousness. And the good news about that is if we're not right because of our righteousness, we won't get kicked out when we're unrighteous.

Well, brother, are you saying that we can just sin? No, that's what we talked about yesterday. That's what we were trying to lay the foundation for. That's what we said most Christians really struggle with. You mean that I can just do anything that I want to, and it doesn't matter about my redemption. No, that's not the way God set it up. God set it up so that we being right with him, it's the only way we could be right with him.

You can't get right any other way, and the Holy Spirit can't live in you and dwell in you any other way but by faith in Christ and Him crucified. That's the only thing you have that'll get you to heaven. And so let me just say this. I don't believe in unconditional, eternal security. That's not what I'm teaching and preaching, but I'm telling you this.

that I'm gonna make it to heaven not because of what I do, but because of what I believe. As long as I still keep my faith in Christ and Him crucified, I'll make it through the doors of heaven. But as I grow in Christ and Him crucified, in the knowledge of God and in the power of God, because I'm walking on the basis of justification, I as a believer won't find myself desiring to remain stagnant. and apathetic. Instead I'll have the grace of God flowing through me and there'll be a pursuit mode.

I'll be pursuing something. I'm pressing for the prize. Hallelujah. I'm not content to stay where I was yesterday, last week, last month, last year. I desire to move forward in God. I don't want to stay the same. There's something in me that says, ah, I've got to get to where he wants me to be. And faith in grace is the power source and the impetus that moves the believer forward. And law, ladies and gentlemen, is the agent that will shut you down.

I'll do this. And God has to respond. What an idiotic thought. What a silly statement. I'll do this, and God will have to do that. How arrogant! How proud! How boastful! That's not God's plan. His plan is to place the covering of the blood over you and to place his spirit within you. And as his spirit moves and frees you from glory to glory, he conforms you into the image of Jesus. And you're not the same from day to day because of his grace and because your faith is where it needs to be.

And so God's process of justification is given. Sanctification moves forward, but in chapter six, Paul says, You need to understand That you have a problem, men and women, and that's that you have a sin nature. And in our redemption, the sin nature is not eradicated, it's not eliminated. But its power is broken. I'm going to say that sentence again, so make sure you get it. When we're redeemed, the sin nature is.

Is not eradicated, it's not eliminated, it's not moved out, in fact, it's impossible to move the sin nature out of us until the point in which we are glorified. But the sin nature remains, but it is not to have an impact on it. The sin nature is that bent towards evil that every man has. Put two babies in a crib, throw a rubber ducky in the middle, and watch the war come in.

The big I, I'm number one, I gotta get my way. I'll have it, it's mine. It's what comes to the surface, not oh here brother, go ahead, play with it a while, and when you're done, give it to me. Okay, I don't have any parents in here, evidently. But you don't get that willingness to share. You get that bent towards I, that bent towards me, the big I, the focus on give me what I want, give me what I need. That's the evidence of the sinful bent.

Of the sin nature. When man fell, he lost God consciousness and embraced I consciousness, self-consciousness. And so that sinful bent in every way which manner and form leads us towards uh acts of evil and bends towards evil, all to satisfy self. And Jesus said that when he would come. Hallelujah. He would break the power. I said he would not just pay the penalty for sin, but he would break the power of the sin nature. And I can't teach Romans 6.

here this morning. But Romans 6 teaches us that we have a sin nature, but that the our union with Christ, our being baptized into Christ, being baptized into his death. Being made one with him at Calvary, in the mind of God, has put us in this state that we are now dead to the sin nature. Romans chapter six. We're dead to the sin nature. Now, if we're gonna we need to understand the terminology dead.

Notice that it doesn't say that I'm dead, and it doesn't say that the sin nature is dead. It says I'm dead to the sin nature. And anytime we see the idea of dead to something in the Bible, it indicates That there is been, get this, this is very important, a change in relationship. If you have an old partner, maybe you had a high school sweetheart.

And you went out with them for the first few years of high school, and maybe the first year of college, and then you drifted apart, and then you found that wonderful being that is now your spouse. And it's different than the first. That other person that you once had a relationship with, they could still be alive. So let's assume that's so, and you're still alive, so the possibility of a relationship there still exists. However, that's not to be normal.

Because you have a new relationship. You're married to your spouse. And even though you're alive and that person that you formerly were in relationship with is still alive, your relationship has changed, and now you're dead to that relationship. Are you getting that? So the Bible teaches us that the normal Christian experience is that you and I, as a believer, live dead to the sin nature. I'm not to be influenced, impacted,

Empowered or led astray by the sin nature, Jesus not only paid the penalty for my sin, but he broke the power of the sin nature. He that is dead is Freed from the sin nature. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And I died when I became one with Jesus. At the cross of Calvary. I became one with him. Romans chapter 6, 3 and 4 talks about this. Don't you know that those of us, that as many of us have been baptized into Christ?

have been baptized into his death. And this little overhead here kind of shows the process. Me as a believing sinner, I place my trust in Christ. I'm baptized into him. The big one's him, the little one's you, if you're confused in the overhead. I'm baptized into him. I become one with him. When I become one with him, his past is my past. His present is my present. And his future is my future. I'm one with him.

I'm one with him. And so in the mind of God, it is absolutely positively to correct to say that I was in him when he was crucified, because his past is my past. All right. Paul said it this way in Galatians 2 and 20: I am crucified with Christ.

Wait a minute. Paul didn't even believe in Jesus when he was crucified. How can he say, I am crucified with Christ? Because when you say yes to Jesus by faith, God the Holy Ghost baptizes you, immerses you into the person of Jesus, and now you're made one with Him and His path.

is your past. My son is sitting here this morning in the red shirt right there. Stand up, Joseph. This is my son. I use him for illustrations all the time. He's eleven years old, thinks he's fifteen, and I just blew it for all the girls he was trying to get this weekend. I'm teasing him. But he was in the days that I was running as a drunk. And the days that I was a drug addict and a drug dealer, like it or not, he was in me. He was in me. In a negative sense, then, my past is his past.

But thank God.

I am dead, and my life is hid with Christ in God. Colossians chapter three and three. And Joseph, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you there, buddy. But the process is again that I'm baptized into Christ. I'm baptized into his death. I'm buried. And then. Early Sunday morning. When he came out of the tomb. I was in him. I was in him. I was in him to walk in newness of life.

And the whole idea of newness of life is not just to change the way I live, rather it indicates, especially in the Greek language, this, that I have a new power source of life.

I have something I didn't have before, the person of the Holy Spirit. I've been regenerated. I've been changed, not perfected, changed. When I'm born again, I'm saved. But there's still a whole lot of me yet needs to be changed. Now I know not you, but me. He that hath begun a good work in me will continue to perform it. Until the day of Christ. That means I'll need it until the day of Christ.

So, in my relationship with Christ, because I've been baptized into him, baptized into his death, buried with him, I've now risen to walk In newness of life. Hence I cannot be a resurrection man unless I'm a crucified man. You can't be walking in resurrection if you're not daily embracing the crucifixion. Well, I'm just a resurrection man. You can't be a resurrection man unless you're a crucified man.

Because of crucifi crucifixion and your faith in this union is what allows the person of the Holy Spirit the access to work in you and bring about the byproducts of being a resurrection man. You've not just been whoop equipped in one fell swoop. And now you're just living out there doing what you're supposed to do on your own? That's stupidity. Grace says, as we talked about yesterday, that every single moment of every single day, I need the help.

Of Almighty God to walk through this thing. I'm not on my own. I'm dependent upon him as a power source to change me from the inside out daily. And as I embrace him, I walk in newness of life, and this is where I am. Incidentally, stop crying to him like he's a million miles away. You need to see yourself as an infant in the womb of a mother.

Tied by grace and faith to the umbilical cord that feeds you. And each and every day you're being transformed. Hallelujah. You're being formed into what he wants you to become. And when the trump sounds, that's birthing day. But I said that's birthing day. I said that's birthing day. Hallelujah. That's birthing day. And listen, when it comes to birthing day, he'll have the strength to bring us all out at once. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

But how ignorant would it be, as me as a child in my mother's womb, to reach up and with a pair of scissors cut off the umbilical cord saying, I don't need this anymore. I'm a resurrection man. And yet spiritually that's exactly what we're doing. And Romans teaches us then, Romans 6, and I'm spending too much time here, but I needed to spend the time, teaches us then that we're dead to the sin nature because of our union. Now this is an outline of Romans 6.

Paul says there is a sin nature. He then declares in Romans 6 and 2, we're dead to the sin nature. Then he tells us how we became dead to the sin nature, and that's what we just covered. After that, he says, based on the truth of six three through six eleven, stop letting the sin nature reign, which tells us that the sin nature still has the capacity and the capability. the capability of influencing us if we don't walk correctly.

Remember, normal Christian experience is you living free from the impact and the influence of the sin nature. That's normal. That's what God set up. But we still have to be sure to stay true to God's redemption plan. Because if we don't, we'll find ourselves outside of the secret place, outside of abiding in him, outside of the wings of the Almighty that covers us. And we'll find ourselves being impacted.

And implanted by powers of darkness, and inwardly we'll find out that the sin nature will be motivating us towards acts of sin. And that's where we're headed.

Paul said, then to present or yield yourself to grace and not to law. And that's where we took up yesterday. That's where we went through the half hour, 45 minutes of teaching yesterday, and I asked you, have you placed yourself under grace or are you under law? Most of the church is under law.

That means that instead of living their Christian experience by grace and faith, and I have to give you this quick illustration, some of you know this, that's good. That means that you'll be able to go out and teach it. Repetition is good. But this is the simple processes of God. This is how He works, grace and faith. God reveals to you that you're a sinner separated from him. He reveals to you then his redemption plan, which is faith in Christ and Him crucified.

When you place your faith in Christ and Him crucified, the reciprocal moving of God is to send you His grace, the effectual working of the Holy Spirit. So if I want to be have the Spirit moving in my life. I've got to trust solely and distinctly, singularly and holistically in Christ and Him crucified, and as I do. What God does is send me the moving and operation and the eternal flow, the living water of the Holy Spirit, and it's God then working in me, conforming me into the image of Christ.

I believe something and God works in me. I trust in something humbly like a little child Day after day after day. And then he sends the power and the power is resident. It's always there. Working in me. Even when I'm sleeping, the grace of God can be transforming me. And I wake up with a song. I wake up with something in my heart. I wake up in joy. I wake up in the power of the Holy Ghost.

I didn't even have to pray to get there. I didn't have to read or quote scripture to get there. I went to bed there and I woke up there because I'm in him. I can say, Lord, I thank you that you love me. And I know you're in me and working in me always. Because my eyes have not been diverted. From faith in Christ and Him crucified in that alone. And that brings me the grace of God, which I need each and every day to live out my Christian experience.

If I'm struggling with a bent towards sin in my being, I don't go to a psychologist. I don't go on to uh try to go through fifteen steps or ten steps. are eight steps because grace and faith is sufficient. Oh Lord, there's something in me I can't change. But I believe that Christ died for me at Calvary. And I believe that what he's done is sufficient to break every bent. Of sin in my being. And I trust in that. And as you do, the grace of God will eliminate that thing from the inside of you.

He'll change you. He'll move ya. And one day you'll turn around and you'll say, ah, where'd it go? It was here yesterday, but I can't find it. I don't know where that desire went. Cocaine was my drug of choice. If you laid out a mirror and put lines of cocaine on it. And handed me a rolled up hundred dollar bill, I'd stick it in my nose and whoop up everything on the mirror.

And uh I used to, in the days that it was popular, watch the movie Scarface, where the guy put his nose down into a pile of cocaine. And the minute I saw that, I said, oh, I'm gonna go get me some because it was an inward ban. But when I meant Jesus, I placed my faith in Christ and Him crucified. And the power of the Holy Spirit took the desire for cocaine out. Addiction gone. Bondage gone. There's no bondage he can't break.

By doing this, I will be acceptable to God. By doing this I will defeat all powers of darkness. I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is you'll never defeat any powers of darkness. The good news is he already has triumphed over them openly, making a show of them. And his cross and the death of Calvary. You can't take a generational curse through being baptized into Christ. If you did, it'd be a generational blessing by the time it got through the blood.

So I'm not looking for five steps to be set free from a generational curse, and I'm not looking for ten step programs. I'm not looking for the forty first day. I'm looking for Christ and Him crucified. Therein I live and breathe and have my being. He moves by the power of his spirit when we exhibit faith. And no man needs an extra book to get this. This is free. This is free. This is free. You don't need a weekend encounter to get this. This is free. This is free.

And all the foolishness that man invents. You're either under the jurisdiction of grace Which is faith in Christ crucified and the power of God's grace, you're either under grace, submitting yourself to grace, or you're submitting yourself to law.

We said yesterday and showed everybody yesterday that we're all born under law. God's word was there to condemn us as guilty of not keeping his word. But when we're baptized into Christ, the Bible tells us that we are dead to the law. Not just the Mosaic Law, any law. What does that mean? That means that I'm not to have a relationship with law in any way, shape, fashion, or form.

I don't go through regimens to make myself righteous, saved, or holy in any capacity. To do so means that I have violated the tenets. of relationship as God has displa has displayed it in His Word. It means to do anything other than to accept simply and by faith. Christ and him crucified, I am adhering myself, joining myself, making myself one with law. That's the greatest hindrance to your Christian experience.

And as we said yesterday, quoting Romans six and fifteen, most preachers don't believe that if I can just understand faith and grace that you can be free from sin, they will put you under law. Tell you how to dress, tell you where to go, tell you what you can't listen to and what you can.

I believe that when the Holy Spirit is living in you, you won't wanna listen to the wrong thing. And if you do, he'll be on you like white on rice, because that's what he's for. He's the power of the spirit of truth. And when you go wrong, he'll show ya. Why don't we have any discernment in the body of Christ? Because we're under law and our eyes are blinded. We can't see because we frustrated the grace of God.

We've cut ourselves off from the flow of the Holy Spirit because we've moved from faith in Christ and Him crucified to our measly, stupid law. If I read three chapters a day, God will move. Ah, I failed. I'll read five. He still ain't doing it, is he? Well, how many do you read to make him move? Well, if you can make him move, then we're not in grace, are we? If you're doing what you're doing and God has to move, then God operates from a process of debt and he doesn't owe us nothing.

God is not libered, he's not manipulated, and he's not forced. He moves freely when we as a little child. Humbly believe in his Son, Christ, and Him crucified. And the power of the grace of Almighty God comes in and transforms us. But Paul would say in Romans seven that the greatest hindrance to your Christian growth is law because we want to as believers freed from the power of the sin nature. We are ha have something in us that wants to move us

Towards law. Let me tell you what it is. It's flat. Now, there's a difference, and you might want to write this down and think about it. We're going to really talk about it tomorrow. There is a difference between flesh and the sin nature. Some translations that aren't as good as they need to be translate flesh in places as sin nature, and sin nature is flesh. They are very close because one leads to the other. Watch this.

I'm dead to the sin nature. That means that when I'm joined with Christ and Him crucified, I am dead to the sin nature. However, the one thing that the Bible tells me at all times that I'm operating in is this fleshly form. You're not in a glorified state, thus you're in a fleshly state. That means that there's things in you that doesn't want to trust in Christ and Him crucified.

You don't want to submit to that. And the minute some egghead, I'm sorry, preacher comes along and says, follow my rules, there's something in you that says, aha, if I follow the rules, I can get the glory. I'll get the award. I'll get the reward. I'll get the pat on the back. I'll look good. And after I keep my rules long enough, I'll write my book, Four Steps to Victory. And I can usher every other idi I mean Christian.

into the same process that I was in that we say works that doesn't really work. But since we bought the lie, we're told that if it's not working for you, your faith isn't good enough, or you're not big enough, or you didn't do the right thing. And it's all a lie. Because there's only one thing that'll release you from the powers of darkness, the powers of sin, the power of the world, and the power of the flesh, the pull of the flesh. And that's faith in Christ and him crucified.

Flesh exists in me and will. Thus Paul's told us that the flesh lusts against the spirit. That's normal Christian battling. There's something in you that's fleshly, dependence upon self that wants to pull towards law. In fact, The law, any kind of rules and regimens, appeals to the flesh. The Holy Spirit is trying to pull you towards faith in Christ and Him crucified. But the flesh, that part in us that we haven't submitted to God, wants to react to a law that somebody gives us.

And if we're not warned not to follow law, we'll find ourselves submitting to law. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a sin.

Paul writes in Romans chapter seven, you say, are you ever getting to your text? I've been laying the groundwork for it, and we're going to move through some of these thoughts quite quickly. Romans chapter 7 and verse 1 says, Know you not, brethren, speaking to believers, for I speak to them that know the law. Now the word know here is gonoskin, which is interesting because it indicates this.

Not that he's speaking to people who understand the Mosaic law, but rather he's speaking to people, which we all do, that understands the principles of law. You understand how law works. You do this and you'll get something. So he's telling us all, every single person, both Jew and Gentile. He says, I'm talking to you because you were born under the law and you understand the principles of the law.

You understand that if you're under law, law will have dominion or jurisdiction over you until the day you die. In order to be freed from the law, there has to be a death. Now I'm gonna jump ahead and go in in Romans 7 verse 4, the Bible says, Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead by the law or to the law by the body of Christ. The same process that brought you to be freed from the sin nature. Remember that being dead to someone means or being dead to something means what?

Change in what? Relationship. So we become dead to the law. We have a different relationship with the law. Why? Because we've been joined to Christ. We go back to the union, becoming one with him. I'm dead to the law, my relationship to the law changes. The law still exists, and for sinful folk, as we covered yesterday, it still serves a purpose. It convicts them of the truth that they're a sinner. But the law is not for a righteous man.

I'm dead to the law. I'm freed from the attempt at being righteous or saved through what I do, whether it's attempting to keep the law of Moses or any other law that men might contrive. Any religious activity. I'm dead to faith in the law, and I'm alive to Christ by faith in Christ and Him crucified. And the moment that I was joined as a believer to Christ, this illustration again, the same thing that made me dead to sin, the sin nature, brought about my death to my relationship with the law.

Are you following this? I need a nod of affirmation from you if you're still awake. You're not sleeping back there in the dark, are you? Wave at me. Okay, I got ya. You're alive to God because you've been joined to Christ. In fact, let me give you this quickly, and I can't stay here to teach it. I'm just going to show it to you. The Bible proclaims that because of this union, there's several relationships that change.

That means none of these have power over me anymore. Number one, I'm dead to the sin. Romans six, two. Romans 6 11. I'm dead to the law. Romans 7.1, 7 and 4. I'm dead by the cross of Christ to the world. Galatians 6 and 14. 1 John 5 and 4. I'm dead to self. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I who am.

And I'm dead to the devil. Even the powers of darkness can't influence me the way that it used to be. When I'm joined to Christ, I'm dead to sin. I'm dead to the law. I'm dead to the world. I'm dead to the sin. to the self and I'm dead to the devil. My relationship with all of those entities has changed because I've been immersed into Jesus and now I leave the way that I used to live. Even though I used to understand the principles of law, I knew how law worked.

work good and get a reward. I leave that and I say instead of doing something now, I'm going to believe something. And God will do something in me that I can never do for myself and by myself. Welcome to Christianity. People that are being formed into the image of Christ, not by patterns and rules and regimens and ruts of religion. But because they understand I'm dead to law, I no longer have a relationship with law.

I'm alive to Christ. Now, I skipped over Romans 7, 2, and 3 because it is an illustration that most people just Try to make more out of than they should. And it says this. Paul says we're dead to the law, and he says in seven and four, we're dead to the law by the body of Christ. He then goes into Romans 7, 2 and 3, which is not a dissertation on marriage and family. He goes in to show how our relationship with the law has changed. And he does this.

For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. so long as he liveth. Can I use your Kim? All right, this is Kim. But uh she's gonna be over here. Let's stand here right. Kim and Ray are some of the most wonderful Christians that I know. Uh but today, um, let's see, who you're gonna be? How can I do this? Okay, today you're gonna be Jesus. And and and and and Ray, you're the law. Just stand over there. Okay, stand over there. You're the law.

All right, you're the law. All right. And I just need of all four of you folk right here. Just just stand up in a line right here. Would you please? If it's not too if you if you can't physically do it, then don't. I'll keep you standing here for a minute. But I just want one, two, three, four. Now. Here's what he says for the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth.

Now, before I give you all the illustrations, let's just use their natural relationship here, and before you remember that she's Jesus and he's the law, let's forget that for a moment. Let's remember this. They're husband and wife, which they are. And the law tells us that when a husband and wife are brought together, they're to remain together till death do they part. That's the law of God. That's what that God desires. Now, uh if the husband be dead, fall down, Ray.

If the husband is dead Then the woman is free. Now, what that means is three words, because this is what the illustration is all about, death changes relationship. This is all Paul's illustration is trying to say. Death changes relationship, right? Stand up, brother. If Ray dies, then Kim is free to pursue another relationship.

That's simple, isn't it? That's all it's saying. Now look at look at here. But if the husband be dead, she is loose from the law of her husband. Verse three. So then if while her husband liveth, all right, in verse two, he dies. Don't fall. In verse two, he dies. One illustration. So in verse three, we have a brand new illustration because he's not dead, the husband's alive.

So, what's going on here? She's still bound to her husband, isn't she? All right. Brother, stand up right there, would you please? But if.

Are you fall are you guys still okay over there? I'm getting to you in just a minute. This is a no-no, and Paul is saying this can't happen. Death changes relationships. If he dies, guess what? She would be free to pursue another relationship. But if he's alive and they're joined together as one, then it is adultery for her to say, he can only meet a part of my need, and this one over here will meet the other part.

That's all Paul is trying to say. If we're joined to one, then that's where we have all of our needs met. We don't join ourselves to one and while this one still exists, join ourselves to another because that's adultery. All right, now let's go back. Thank you, J uh over here. Kim, now you're over there. Maya now, let's go back to the analogy. Watch this. All Paul was trying to show here in 7, 2, and 3 is that death changes relationship.

I'm a believer, and at first I'm under the jurisdiction joined to the law. Here's the law. Now, when I am born again, I become dead to the law by the body of Christ. That means that when I am joined to Christ, Even though the law still remains because it has a job to do in convicting people, unsaved people of sin. I no longer have a relationship with him because I've died. I've been joined together with Christ and now instead of having a relationship with him, I'm dead to this relationship.

I'm dead to law. I'm dead to rules, trying to be righteous on my own. I'm dead to self-effort and I'm joined to Christ. How do you like being Jesus? I'm dead to law. And now in Christ, in Jesus, all my needs are to be met. Right here. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Right here. I'm I'm alive. To Christ, and I'm dead to the law by virtue of being joined together with him, baptized into him, baptized into his death, and raised up into newness of life.

Now I'm dead to the law. So when uh Jim, I'm going to use you again. Jim, stand up, Jim, I gotta if you're preacher. Jim is a preacher. And he comes to me and he says, That spouse you got there, she's good looking. She's wonderful, but uh she doesn't have everything that you need. And so the preacher, come on over here. Preacher takes me over to somebody else. Take me to someone else. Come over here, brother. Let me introduce you to forty days.

How do you do 40 days? It's good to meet you, 40 days. Uh I can't get all my needs met by just being joined to Christ and living by grace and faith. I need to be joined to 40 days. And then the preacher says, well, you know, that didn't work. That's what they're finding out. Church after church after church, going through forty days, what happened? Well, that didn't work.

Well that didn't work. That didn't do much for me. Well, what do you need now? Well you need another book. Let's go to the next book. Let's go to the government of twelve. Hi, government of twelve. How you doing? Good cell group measure here. We got to get you all in cell groups. and regurgitate on each other and jump up and down and put all that stuff in a yellow basket.

And when you quote enough scripture and we cast devils out of you, you'll be okay. Because the preacher said my relationship here with Jesus wasn't good enough in and of itself. The grace and faith was not sufficient to cause me to be joined to Christ and live a holy life. So the preacher has moved me over to this adulterous relationship and this adulterationship. And now we're really gonna get funky here. I gotta stand on my head and and I don't know what to call you. Mr. Mysticism, right here.

But here's mysticism. Let's try this. And that didn't work because this one won't work, and that one won't work, and that one won't work. And he'll work. She says, I'll work. How you doing? The preacher now introduces me to this one. And this is what we got going on in the body of Christ.

Now I'm introduced to confession. Now I'm introduced to mysticism. Here I'm introduced into the government of twelve. Here I'm introduced into the powers of 40 days, whatever that is. All of them say because you have to do that. That this is not enough. I'm here to tell ya, this is enough.

These things say the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto the flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass, I know thy works in charity and service and faith, and thy patience in thy works in the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest or allowest that woman Jezebel. Which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and to do seduce my servants to commit fornication.

Every single minister that fails to point you to your relationship with Christ is operating in the ministry of Jezebel. Because Jezebel says to Israel, Jehovah is not sufficient. And so you need to you can keep Jehovah, that's fine, but you need to come over here to Baal. And you need to come over here to Ashter.

Every single preacher who's not pointing you to simple faith in Christ and Him crucified is pointing you to an adulterous relationship. And when one idiotic plan fails, they point you to another idiotic plan. One one act of uh yeah leaving the home I understand is sometimes referred to as adultery, but having multiple partners and having a lifestyle A fornication makes you a fornicator and not just an adulterer. And preachers, preachers, preachers.

are operating in the ministry of Jezebel and leading us to fornicate. And Jesus warned us in the last days, spiritually speaking, And he's saying this, I believe it. I said it last night, and I'll say it again. Anybody not preaching Christ and him crucified is operating in the ministry of Jezebel. And God is giving you a season. Let me talk to you. God is giving you a season to repent.

He's given you a season to remove yourself from false doctrine and to stop leading his people astray and away from Christ and him crucified. And if you're in the ministry of Jezebel, you need to repent. If you're putting people in processes other than faith in Christ and him crucified, you're in the ministry of Jezebel and you need to repent.

God's given you a season. He's dealing with your heart now. The grace of God is pulling you and pulling you out of that thing, out of that word of faith, out of that government of 12, out of that purpose-driven mess. out of every solution and substitution that you have created for something other than Christ and Him crucified. God is giving you a moment in time to repent and leave that issue. And if you do not, then what he told the church at thy adder will be your reward.

I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. The Bible tells us that in the last days deceivers will grow more and more and grow worse and worse. You need to begin to recognize the difference between law and grace.

You need to know that it's grace, faith in Christ and Him crucified, and that alone that will produce in you what you really want as a believer. Freedom from sin, holiness, righteousness, pursuing the preciousness. Of the value of Christ and the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. But you must also begin to recognize the ministry of Jezebel. And turn your back on it. Most will flock. Elijah 1, Ministry of Jezebel 850. Elijah one.

Ministry of Jezebel 850. Don't like the odds? Go back to 1 Kings 18. Read the book. Repair the altar, Elijah. Repair the altar. Let the God that answers by fire. Let him be God. And the ministers of Jezebel were eliminated. I wish I could say that in our lifetime that was going to happen. Until the coming of the Lord, it won't. It'll become worse and worse.

But you have to determine, will I be a disciple of Jezebel? Will I be linked to Jezebel's ministry? Or will I be linked to an Elijah ministry that repairs the altar of the Lord? Your spiritual welfare. Hangs in the balance. Your future with God, your relationship with God hangs in the balance. And so what I have to say today, I don't say gladly.

But I do as a warning and as an encouragement to those of you that are struggling. Well nobody else believes me. Remember Elijah one, Ministry of Jezebel, eight hundred and fifty. Oh, the majority doesn't know where to go. I know that. But stand up. Be counted. Repair the altar. Let the fire fall. We're seeing it all over the land. And after the altar is repaired and the fire falls, look for the rain.

The rain is all about harvest. Bringing in the last day harvest. Look for the rain. If you'll stand the test, repair the altar. Refute the ministry of Jezebel. God will send the fire. And after the fire, look for the rain that ends the drought, that brings the harvest in one last great move of God. Before the return of our Savior. Hallelujah. Would you stand with me, please? Bob, would you come take the sir? Praise the Lord.