Obeying in the Spirit

So, let us go to Romans chapter 6. As I said, today we're going to be asking that question of do you obey or do you serve in the newness of the spirit? Or do you obey in self-righteousness or in the flesh? There's a comparison that the apostle gives us in verse six of serving or obeying or being a master or better a slave in the spirit to Christ or to obey in the oldness of the letter in the oldness of the flesh. That is what I want us to consider.

In a sense, that is biblical obedience, spiritual obedience. Let us read together from Romans chapter six. verse 15 all the way through chapter 7 verse 6 that is going to give us the context of what we want to address this afternoon. May the Lord help us as we read the scriptures. Let us read together the word of the Lord.

Verse 15 of chapter 6. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to righteousness.

But thanks be to God, that you, who were once slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I'm speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regards to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed.

For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Chapter 7, verse 1. Or do you not know, brothers or brethren, For I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he, that is the person, lives.

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, the law of marriage. And if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress.

Likewise, My brethren, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now, We are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. Amen. This is the reading of God's Word.

Shall we come before the Lord and pray together, brethren, that He will help us as we address this topic of obedience. Father, We come before you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, and I give you thanks for your presence among us, Lord. You have told us that your Holy Spirit is in us and among us, and for that we give you thanks, O Lord. As we come before your presence, we ask that you will speak to us your truth. We desire to know more of your ways, and we desire to know more of your will.

We know that faith comes from abiding here in the Word of the Lord, so we ask, O Lord, please, that you will speak to us through your Holy Spirit and your Word, so that our faith will be strengthened, that we will see the greatness of the finished and completed work of Jesus Christ that has set us free from sin, that has set us free from the bondage to the law that was accusing us of our inequities and our fleshliness. And now we are in Jesus Christ. I pray, O Lord, that you will grant us understanding walk according to Your will and to understand Your commandments according to Your will. I pray, O Lord, that You will bless these brothers and sisters. And if there's anyone here that is not in Christ, I pray, O Lord, that even as we just read and consider what is written in Your Word, I pray, O Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will bring conviction of sin and point them to Christ Jesus and the finished and completed work of the cross.

Bless us, Lord, I pray, as we consider these glorious truths that we have here. It is in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Very good. Let me just simply please put the timer here, otherwise it will not be good.

As I said, we are going to be addressing verses 1 through 6, I hope. And the question that I want us to ask ourselves is in relation to obedience. Do you obey in the newness of the Spirit, or do you obey in the old way of the written code, as what the Apostle contrasts those two Ways there in in verse six and obedience is of course one of those very important topics of the christian life I will submit to you that perhaps we could reduce down the christian life to faith And obedience you have the beautiful song that says trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus than to trust and obey. There is a sense in which the Christian life can be reduced down to that. That we are to believe, that we are to trust the Lord, and the result of trusting is going to be that we are going to obey the Lord.

We have faith on one side and we have obedience on the other side. With faith, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and by believing that He's the Son of God who died upon the cross for our sins, we are forgiven of our sins. That's what the Apostle tells us there in Romans Chapter 4, that we are forgiven by the faith that we have. Not only we are forgiven by faith, but we are also made righteous by the Lord. We are justified by faith.

Romans chapter 5 verse 1 says that we have been justified by faith. Not only forgiveness and justification, but also by faith we become become the children of God. That's what the Apostle Paul says in Galatians chapter 3, I think verse 26 through 28. He says that we are the children of God by faith. And of course, we know that genuine faith that forgives us, that makes us righteous before the Lord and that makes us the children of God is a faith that is living and faith without works is dead.

So a genuine saving faith is a faith that is going to produce works, these works of obedience. We know that if these works are not present, then that means that this faith is not alive. It's not living. It's not that we are justified by works of the flesh or righteousness, but rather we're justified by faith. And this produces these works of obedience.

Even the Apostle tells us that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We are to believe in And we are also to have obedience. We are to trust in the Lord, and we are to have obedience. And because these two virtues are so important in the Christian life, we could very well ask two important questions. The first one in relation to faith, and that is, do you believe?

Do you actually believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to this world 2,000 years ago to die upon the cross so that you can be forgiven and one day you can be present before God, not in your own righteousness, but in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that has been given to you? Do you believe? And not only a question about faith and about believing, but also we could ask the question about obedience. And that is, do you obey? Not only you say that you believe the commandments of the Lord, or you say that you believe the word of the Lord, but do you obey?

Do you follow the commandments of the Lord? Do you follow the voice of God? Because Apostle John says in 1 John chapter 2 from verses 1 through 6 that we are to walk as Jesus Christ walked. And the person who says that knows Him and does not keep the commandments of God, that person is a liar. So we could actually ask the question of do you obey?

But there's actually a deeper question when it comes to obedience that helps us examine our heart and our position before the Lord. And that question is not only the question of do you obey, but the question of why do you obey? Why do you obey the commandments of the Lord? What is the intention that you have in trying to follow the commandments of the Lord? Why do you read the Bible when you wake up perhaps in the morning or in the evening?

Why do you pray? Why do you do these Christian things? One thing is to ask the question, do you do it? Do you obey? But I think a deeper question, it is the question of why?

What is your intention? What is your motivation in your heart when you're obeying the commandments of the Lord? Why do you have fellowship with brothers and sisters? Why do you evangelize? Why do you preach the gospel?

Why do you aim to follow the commandments of the Lord? Because when we ask ourselves that question, we're not only asking the questions about you do it or not, or you're ticking the box of doing it or not, but actually we're asking a question of the motivation of your heart. What is your spirit behind the works that you aim to do. Do you do it perhaps because you want to satisfy your own standard of righteousness? And perhaps you may want to feel okay and good with yourself so that you can sleep at peace at night and be satisfied with what you want to do.

So perhaps you may have developed this standard of what you want to be. And because you have this standard, then you fulfill those requirements and then you are at peace with yourself. There may be perhaps a case that the reason why we obey is to be satisfied with our own version of ourselves. Or perhaps the pressure of people around you that seem to look and be a particular way and they call themselves to be Christians and they operate and they behave in a certain way have put certain pressure on you. But now the reason perhaps why you obey and do certain things is just to conform yourself to this environment in which you are.

Or perhaps you are just simply obeying, perhaps because you want to follow a set of traditions and precepts and things that are there that you want to adjust yourself to that. What is the reason behind our obedience? The answer to that question is so important, my dear brother and sister, because the way that we answer that question generally differentiates false religion from true religion. If a person is obeying something that seems to be good out of selfish ambition or desire for themselves or someone else that is not Christ Jesus and the glory of God, we are told in Romans chapter 14 that that which does not proceed from faith, genuine saving faith, is something that is considered to be a sin. And actually, we realize that in the Scriptures, there's going to be people that will come on that day to the Lord to say, we did all of these things.

And God will say to them, or the Lord will say to them, depart from me, you workers of inequity, I never knew you. Because even though you did all of these external things, the substance and the spirit of the works that you were doing was not according to the will of the Father. So why do we obey? That is the question that I want us to consider this afternoon because I think that this is the question that the apostle is putting here before Romans chapter eight. And that is what is the spirit that is behind the obedience that we have to the commandments of the Lord.

Why do we obey? We can train ourselves to do certain things, brethren. It only takes five or ten years for us to design a certain way of behavior in which we easily fall into, and then we're comfortable just repeating and repeating. But the Christian life is not about the external behavior. The Christian life is about the principle that is meant to drive that behavior in conformity to Jesus Christ.

And I want us to examine that from this passage that we have here. In order to do so, I want us to have two questions that perhaps are going to help us. Not only the practicality of the question of why do you obey, but also, more importantly, the basis and the truth of this passage. The first question that I want us to consider is what is the relationship of the Gentiles and the Jews to the law? Because as you're going to see there, if you pay attention to chapter 7 verse 1, the apostle very clearly tells us that he's writing at least this part of this letter to those who know the law.

It's just in verse 1. Or do you not know, brethren, brothers and sisters, for I'm speaking to those who know the law. Here, the apostle implicitly is going to be referring to the Jews. The Jews are those who know the law. And as you know, the commandments of God are a key element in obedience.

We're told in 1 John 2 that we are to obey the commandments of the Lord. Obedience, in a sense, can be summarized in the following of the commandments of the Lord. So if I want to understand in the Spirit of Christ why do I obey, I need to understand my relationship to the commandments of the Lord. So I want us to consider, by God's grace I hope and with time, the relationship of the Jews and the relationship of the Gentiles to the commandments of God and how that is connected with biblical obedience that is meant to be from the heart and not from an external thing in a religious way. The first thing is the relationship of Jews and Gentiles to the law, to the commandments of the Lord.

Once we have understood that, that is going to take perhaps 60% of our time, then we are going to address something very important. What is the meaning then of being released from the law? Because the Apostle tells us there in verse 1, that, Or do you not know, brothers, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? And then he tells us in verse 6, that we have been released from the law, and that the law kept us captive. It says in verse 6, but we are now, verse 6, now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, the that referring to the law.

He says that we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive. First, we need to understand the relationship of the Jews and the Gentiles to the law. And then second, once we understand that from Romans, we're going to be able to understand what is the meaning of being released from the law. And I hope that by answering those two things, we will be able to ask ourselves the question, Are we obeying God in the Spirit of Christ and in freedom, or are we obeying Christ in the Spirit of our flesh, or better, in the flesh and in the way of, contrary to what the Spirit of the Lord actually requires? Let us do that.

Let us go with the first question. And that is the relationship of the Jews and the Gentiles to the law. As you can see here in verse one, there's going to be an implicit distinction that the apostle makes throughout this letter. Now, brethren, this may sound a little bit teachy and a little bit of a lecture here, but you need to be with me as we go through some of the passages here in Romans. So please bear with me.

The apostle makes an implicit distinction between these Jews and the Gentiles. In verse one, he says that he's speaking to the brethren who know the law, and this is an expression that Paul uses to speak of the Jews. differentiating them from the Gentiles. The first time that he used this distinction was in chapter 1. If you come to chapter 1, we're going to be checking some scriptures together.

In Romans chapter 1, in verse 16, you have the famous verse that speaks about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that Paul is not ashamed of it. And that is when Paul is going to make this distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles. So it says in verse 16 of Romans chapter 1. Is it a little bit warm or is it just me? Is it a little bit warm?

Now I feel good. Okay, just me then. Verse 16. So Roman chapter 1 verse 16. It says in verse 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Here we have this distinction that is made by the apostle, the Jews and also the Greeks or the Gentiles. And I know that most of you will know what that distinction is about, but we do have some brethren here who have been saved only for one year, a couple of years, and they may not know. So allow me just two or three minutes to briefly and generally explain the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. So the Jews, brothers and sisters and children who may not know the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, are going to be all of these people that belong to the religious system that was given to Moses by God. You remember the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses on Mount Sinai?

This created a religious system that is Judaism, if you want. Judaism was not only a religious system, but it was also a national cultural system. And that is that everyone who was born in that system is considered to be a person that is a Jew. Now, you were not only born into that, but you could convert into that system also. So, you can have people in Rome, or you can have people in Galatia, or you can have people, foreigners, who convert to be Jews or to belong to this system.

Everyone else that is not a Jew that has not been born or belongs to this system of the mosaic law or that God gave to Moses is a Gentile. So if we're going to consider the Egyptians, they are Gentiles. If we're going to consider the Greeks, they are Gentiles. If we're going to consider the Babylonians, they were Gentiles. So the Moabites or the Ammonites, they are all Gentiles.

The Jews were the people of God under the Old Testament. in a simple way, and everyone else was a Gentile. Paul is going to make that distinction throughout this book. He tells us that only here in verse 16 that there is the Jews and also the Gentiles. This distinction is going to go throughout this book.

When he arrives into Romans chapter 10, and you come with me please there, or better, Romans chapter 9, He's going to point something very important. That is the first thing that we need to note The distinction that exists between the jews and the gentiles in the mind of paul is going to be a fleshly Distinction and that is that this distinction is in the level of the flesh that is that culturally speaking and fleshly speaking We have this group of people that are the jews and fleshly and culturally speaking We have this group of people that are the gentiles the puzzle makes that clear in roman chapter 9 and in ephesians chapter 2 but let us go to roman chapter 9. Pay attention to Romans chapter 9. It says in verse 1, I am speaking the truth in Christ. This is Paul.

I am not lying. I am not lying. My conscience births me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." They are Israelites, so they are kinsmen, they are his people, but according to the flesh.

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, Very likely Exodus chapter 4, Israel is called the Son of God. The glory, very likely the presence of the glory of God in the tabernacle, Exodus chapter 40. The covenants, the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic covenant. The giving of the law, Sinai. The worship, that is also the tabernacle and the temple.

And the promises, which Paul calls the covenants of the promise, very likely going back to Genesis 3.15. And the promise is given to Abraham and then to the patriarchs. That's why he says in verse 5, to them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to their flesh is the Christ who is God overall and blessed forever. Amen.

What do we have? First, we have a distinction in the fleshly level that the apostle differentiates between the Jews. That is, the people of God under the old covenant in the flesh and also the Gentiles. Paul says that he's a brother of the Jews in the flesh. If you go to the book of Philippians, he will say that he's one with the spiritual body of Jesus Christ.

That is the church. This is the people of God, the Gentiles, including there. It's very important that we make this distinction in the spiritual level or better in the fleshly level. Because when it comes to the spiritual level, Paul has placed together the Jews and the Gentiles in the same place. Spiritually speaking, both Jews and Gentiles are spiritually dead and under sin.

If you come to Romans chapter 3 verse 9, This is a very important topic, brethren, and I know that this is a lot, but it's very important for us to build sound understanding of the Christian faith. So Romans chapter 3 verse 9. Paul, now in the spiritual level, even though there's this distinction and a fleshly level between the Jews and the Greeks or the Gentiles, he's going to put them in the same place spiritually speaking. He says in Romans chapter 3 verse 9. What then are we Jews any better off?

Did I say 3.9? 3.9 Romans chapter 3 verse 9. 3.

9 What then are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all Both Jews and Greeks are under sin. And then he continues. So here we have that there is a distinction, a fleshly distinction, that exists between the Jews and the Greeks or the Gentiles.

That is, they're different when it comes to the flesh. But when it comes to the spiritual aspect, they are in the same category. They are under sin. They are spiritually dead. Why?

If they are not in Christ, it doesn't matter that you're a Jew, it doesn't matter that you're a Gentile, you're spiritually dead. And this spiritual deathness that they share, it is also transformed by faith in Christ Jesus, and they will share their spiritual condition before the Lord. That is, that even if a Jew that is spiritually dead has faith in Christ Jesus, this Jew that is different to the Gentile will become the same, spiritually speaking, in Christ Jesus. I explained that terribly, but Paul does it better in Ephesians chapter 2. Come with me to Ephesians chapter 2.

In Ephesians chapter 2, the apostle is going to tell us that Greeks or Gentiles and Jews, if they have faith in Christ Jesus, they become the spiritual body of God in Christ Jesus. We are told in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11. Pay attention to 2.11. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11.

We are told there about the Jews and the Gentiles. Remember, there is a fleshly distinction. Those are Gentiles according to the flesh, and these are Jews according to the flesh. There's a distinction in the fleshly level. Spiritually speaking, they are the same.

They are dead in their sins and their trespasses. When the grace of God comes to the Jews or the Gentiles, they are also sharing this spiritual life in Christ Jesus. It does not matter that they are Jews or they are Gentiles in the fleshly level. It says in verse 11 of chapter 2. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.

So the apostle acknowledges that there's a distinction of those who are Gentiles in the flesh and those who are the circumcision in the flesh. Now he's going to say that even though this distinction exists between the Jews and the Gentiles, they are made one, spiritually speaking, by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. This is in verse 12. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. That is Romans chapter 9, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in the flesh the divining wall of hostility. By abolishing the law of commandments, expressing ordinances that he may create in himself, one new man in place of the two. What is the two? The Jews, according to the flesh, and the Gentiles, according to the flesh.

So Christ Jesus is creating a new body. This new body is no longer in the flesh. It is a spiritual body of these Jews in the flesh and these Gentiles in the flesh. It is not about a nationality that you have in the fleshly level, but rather a spiritual condition that you have in Christ Jesus by faith. So even though the distinction exists between the fleshly level of the Jews and the fleshly level of the Gentiles, spiritually speaking, they have become one in the person of Jesus Christ.

Verse 14. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments, and expressing ordinances, that He, that is Christ, might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God." Reconcile us both to God. If those two are in need of reconciliation to God, it means that before these, they were enemies of God. That is that Jews and Gentiles, they were enemies of God.

Why? Because they were spiritually dead. So by grace through faith, now they are reconciled to God through the person of Jesus Christ, and they become the spiritual body of God. It says in verse 17, And He came and preached peace to you who were far off, that is, the Gentiles, and peace to those who were near, that is, the Jews, according to the flesh. Verse 18, For through Him we both, Jews and Gentiles, have access in one spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself, being the cornerstone in whom the holy structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him, you also are being built together. together in a dwelling place for God by this period. So that is, that if a Jew has faith in Christ Jesus, then this person now is part of the spiritual body of God. And that if a Gentile has faith in Christ Jesus, then this person is united to the spiritual body of God.

It doesn't matter that he's a Jew, it doesn't matter that he's a Gentile, both of them in their fleshly distinction are spiritually dead, are under sin, and their solution is not their fleshly distinction being a Jew or being a Gentile. The solution is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is very important because when the Jews and the Gentiles have no faith in Christ Jesus, they become the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. But their distinctions continue and remain. The Jews, they were the people of God under the Old Covenant, especially in the 1st century, they had to deal with the question, what do we do with all the ordinances and all the things that we had received from the Old Testament?

What do we do with that? And the Gentiles that did not have any of those ordinances or those commandments, what do we do? And the problems that took place in the early church was that the Jews were trying just to bring those commandments to the Gentiles. And the Gentiles were telling the Jews that they were not supposed to follow that. In order to understand what is the reconciliation of this conflict that has been in the church from day one, and I'm not going to solve it certainly, but at least just to try just to come with Paul and try to give some light into it, it's just by submitting to what is written.

So if we come to Romans chapter 2, we are going to find here the plain. just teaching of what the apostle says of the relationships of the Jews and the Gentiles to the commandments of the Old Testament, that is, the law. And I could go into more detail about what the law is, but I'm just simply, for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to say the Old Testament. What is the relationship of the Jews to the Old Testament and the Gentiles to the Old Testament? In Romans chapter 2, verse 12, and I know that this is a lot, so please forgive me for that, but we're trying just to understand this.

Romans chapter 2, verse 12, The apostle is going to tell us very clearly what is the relationship of the Jews and the Gentiles to the commandments of God. We're told in Romans chapter 2 verse 12, it says in verse 12, For all, let us just read from verse 9 so that we get the context that Paul is speaking about Jews and Gentiles. Verse 9, there will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek. That is the distinction according to the flesh. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.

the Jew first, and the Greek, for God shows no partiality." In other words, it doesn't matter if you're a Jew, it doesn't matter if you're a Gentile, fleshly speaking, what matters is the spiritual condition before God. So God is going to bring judgment upon the Jews or the Gentiles independently of their condition, because what matters is actually faith in Christ Jesus. Then he says in verse 12, For all who have sinned without the law, that is the Gentiles, will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

So we're told here that the Jews who have the law will be judged by the law, and the Gentiles who did not have the law, as we're going to read it, they are also going to perish. Let us continue and read all of this, and then just we'll make simple observations. I hope the Lord helps with this. Verse 13. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Pay attention to verse 14. For when Gentiles, or Gentiles better, who pay attention to this do not have the law verse 14 for when the gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires they are a law to themselves even though they not have the law so if we were going to ask i just simple question i let's say like a catechism question to a kid and we just get a person to review verse 14 and we ask the question do gentiles have the law the answer from verse 14 will be no it says in verse 14 for when gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law but now someone may say well Because the Gentiles do not have the Law, then that means that they don't sin, and they can do whatever they want, because they don't have the Law. In the Law is where we have the commandments, and the Lord, or better, the Lord through the Apostle, pre-empting that this may be the thought, He gives us clarity in verse 15. So He says, they show that the work of the Law is written on their hearts. while their conscience also bear witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus."

What are the simple observations that we can make from the text? And please bear with me. I know that this may be a little bit too much, but this is going to be helpful when we understand our obedience before the Lord. And that is that the Old Testament was given to the people of Israel. God gave the Old Testament, as I said in a simplified way, to the people of Israel.

So when God took the people of Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness into Sinai, He gave the commandments to the people of Israel. He did not give the commandments to the Babylonians. He did not give the commandments to the Moabites. He did not give the commandments to the Egyptians, certainly not to the Egyptians. He did not give the commandments certainly to the Canaanites.

He gave the commandments to the people of Israel. The commandments were given to them. We are told very clearly that the commandments were not given to the Gentiles. Now, this does not mean that the Gentiles now have permission to do whatever they want. Why?

Because we are told that the Gentiles, even though they do not have the law that was given to Israel, they have the work of the law that is written in their hearts. If you pay attention there to Romans chapter 2 verse 15, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse them or even excuse them. What is the work of the law? Well, if we think about the law, The law that was given to the people of Israel was with the purpose of pointing them to the things that they were supposed to do and the things and the penalties of the things when they broke the commandments of the Lord. You shall not bear false witness.

So the law tells us what is the what are you not to do? So the law points to the righteousness of God. The Gentiles were told that they have the work of this law in their conscience. That is that the Gentiles, even though they did not receive the commandments like the Israelites, they have the work of the law in their conscience. that even accused them or excuses them of the things that they do in their conscience.

God has given this natural conscience in the Gentiles mind for them to know that the commandments of the Lord are to be followed. Why? Because the Gentiles, when they follow their conscience, they're following the transcendent character of God that is revealed in his law. So the reason why we ought to, or the reason why we are not supposed to lie, it is not because the written letter, but it's because God is true. And because God is true, He has revealed to His people that people are not to lie, the people of Israel.

But everyone is is under the transcendent character of God that requires that we will live in obedience to this God who created us. So the reason why the Gentile will be accused of their lies, it is because God is true and there's no lies in Him. That means, my dear brothers and sisters, that both Jews and Gentiles even though they are in the spiritual or better fleshly distinction. This is the people of God that receiving the Old Testament, the law and the Gentiles are under the work of the law. Spiritually speaking, they are under sin and seeing now it is going to judge the Jews through the written law that was given to them unseen.

And God is going to judge the Gentiles through the work of the law that has been naturally given to them in their conscience and in the revelation of God in creation. Everyone that is not in Christ Jesus will be object of the judgment of God. Whether this is the Jews that have the written law that was given to them, or this is the Gentiles that have the work of the law in their conscience that testifies of the things that they have done. They do not have escape. That's why Paul concludes in Romans chapter 3 verse 9 that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin.

This is the way that I picture it that I don't know if he helps but sin is here the master of humanity and you have the Jews and you have the Gentiles they are under sin and the way that this sin is enhance and can be aroused, it is by this law that has been given to them. The law says to the Jew, do not lie or do all of these things, and the Jew without Christ, without the circumcision of the heart, cannot actually fulfill the requirements of the Lord. So this law that is meant to be good now for the Jew becomes a way by which they are going to be judged. Romans chapter 2, they will be judged with the law. But the Gentiles, even though they may not have the written code, they do have the work of the Lord that is written in their hearts.

So they are also under sin, and God is going to bring judgment upon them because they have been breakers of the righteousness of God that has been revealed to them. Now, this is very important for us to understand for two important reasons. All of that, 32 minutes, I'm really sorry, just to point you to this. First, it's important for us to have clarity about that. There's actually two reasons.

The first one is not very important. It's important, but not as important as the second one. So if you're going to pay attention to only one, pay attention to the second one. But the first one is because we want to have theological precision. And that is that we want to speak the way that the scriptures speak, and just to say the things that the scriptures speak.

And that is what Paul says in those verses. But second, and very important, is that when Paul He's trying to address an important issue of the heart. Sometimes he will seem to be speaking to the Jews, but he's speaking to a human principle, and that is the human principle of hypocritical self-righteousness. And I think that is what he's doing in Romans chapter 7 and also in Romans chapter 2. Can we meet in Romans chapter 2 before I present what I'm going to try to say?

In Romans chapter 2, the apostle seems to be addressing only the Jews in verse 17 of Romans chapter 2. But I think what the apostle addresses is something deeper, a principle that is a human principle, and that is the principle of self-righteousness, of trusting in ourselves in our keeping of commandments. When he says in 2.17, but if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God, and know his will, and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law. And if you are sure, and you yourself are a guide to the blind, and light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of the knowledge and truth, you then teach others, do you not teach yourself?

While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, Do you commit adultery? You who are poor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law? For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

Of course, the apostle is addressing there particularly the Jews, but the underlying principle that he is addressing is self-denial. righteousness. And that is that these people were trusting in the fact that they had received the commandments from God and in the fact that they had the commandments of the Lord, they were resting in the commandment and they were not resting in the giver of the commandment. And even though we do not live in the same times of the early church in which there were this conflict between the Jews and the Gentiles, certainly most of the church these days is Gentile in nature. We do have the same principle within ourselves.

And that is that we tend, because of our flesh, to find peace and satisfaction in doing things just for the sake of doing things. And that is how the combination that Paul brings to the Jews through the law or to the Gentiles through the work of the law applies to us today. And that is that we are not to trust in the keeping of the Lord. The commandment didn't have itself to be right before God, but rather we are to have the principle of obedience and that principle of obedience. Let me submit to you, my dear brother and sister is this word from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

The heart of genuine obedience was always love to God. If there is genuine love to God, then there's a genuine spiritual transformation in the person. And this love to God is what is actually going to move me to hear the commandments of the Lord and to apply the commandments of the Lord by the spirit now that is in me and not my fleshly ability to fulfill that commandment. If you come to Deuteronomy chapter 6, there we have this glorious connection that then the Lord Jesus Christ will use in the Gospels. Deuteronomy chapter 6, that is the best way that I can pronounce Deuteronomy, verse 6, chapter 6, Deuteronomy, chapter 6, Deuteronomy chapter 6.

Here we have this glorious connection between obedience and also what the Lord requires of those who obey. If you go to Deuteronomy chapter 6, in verse 4, it says, Here, O Israel, this is the people of Israel, this fleshly distinction of the Jews under the Old Covenant. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Remember that?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words that I commend you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall buy them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as As frontlets between your eyes, you shall write them on your doorposts, and on your house, and on your gates. Pay attention to verse 5.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. In these words, that I commend you today shall be on your heart. And if you can go through the Book of Deuteronomy, and then you can realize that the requirement of Moses to the people of Israel was not an external keeping of the commandment, was a circumcision of the heart. If you go to Psalm chapter 4, you will see that this is a psalm that was used for the, you know, the morning sacrifices. And it says something like, Put your trust in the Lord and offer the sacrifices of righteousness."

Something like this. I forgot how it goes. But it goes, "...offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord." What was required of the people of God was not an external obedience to the letter.

What was required to the people of God under the Old Testament was a genuine circumcision of the heart, a transformation of the person, so that then the commandment will be pleasing unto the Lord, not because of the keeping of the commandment, but because of the empowerment of the Spirit in those who obeyed that commandment. And then the commandment will find its purpose by being kept by the Holy Spirit. But the Jews place their eyes either on external matters and not on God themselves. And that's why they were deviated in the flesh, not only to break the commandments of the Lord, but when they obeyed them, they obeyed them in the flesh. That's why you may remember in Isaiah chapter one, you remember how God speaks of the sacrifices and the Sabbath and the feast of the Jews that they were someone else.

abomination, it says, that they were an abomination for him. Why? Because even though they were observing all of those things, the reason why they were doing that, it was not from the heart. What God has required from the very beginning is that we trust and obey. What he required in the garden, it was that Adam will trust the word of God and obey.

What God required of Eve there in the garden was that we will trust the Lord, that we would have faith in God and that we will obey. He never intended that obedience in and of itself will be the means for us to please the Lord, because we can't. What he intended is that there will be in us faith, genuine faith that drives us through love to keep the commandment. That's why the Lord Jesus says in John chapter 14. Let us read together.

Please a few verses if you allow me in John chapter 14. I'm not going to be able to finish this. So we will do next week, but John chapter 14. If you come to John chapter 14, the Lord Jesus says these words in verse 15. Let us read together, brethren, like a Bible study together, just the words of Christ.

It says in John chapter 14, verse 15. Pay attention to what he says in verse 15. If you love me, we have 14, 15, brethren, John 14, 15. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Pay attention to 21 in 14, 14, 21.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father." And this is just a crazy thing what he says next, "...and I will love him and manifest myself to him." He says there in 15.8, pay attention to 15.

8, chapter 15, verse 8, "...by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love." If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

These things I have spoken to you that your joy or my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. If you love me, You will keep my commandments. If you keep my commandments, you love me, you abide in my love. And if you abide in my love, you keep my commandments. Why?

Because external obedience is meant to be sourced, begotten, initiated in something more powerful than fleshly obedience. And that is in the heart of the person. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ says, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you Come and take my yoke upon you because my burden is light. My yoke is easy. The burden of Jesus Christ is easy when it's carried in the Spirit.

But when it's carried in the flesh, the commandments of God become burdensome. Not because of the weight of the commandment, but because we don't have the empowerment of the Spirit to carry it. Help us carry the commandments of the Lord first John chapter 5 verse 3 come with me Please there to what John says about these relationship of love and the keeping of commandments first John chapter 5 verse 2 and 3 first John chapter 5 verse 2 and 3 the apostle says in first John chapter 5 verse 2 and 3 by these we know that we love the children of God where we love and obey when we love God and obey His commandments but pay attention to verse 3 for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burden some. The commandments of the Lord are not burdensome. Why are the commandments of the Lord not a burden to the person?

Not because the person is strong. Not because the person can carry a yoke of responsibility. Not because the person is experienced and has learned so much throughout the years that now it's just so easy to tell the truth and to love one another or to read the scriptures. Not because the person has developed the ability in and of themselves to observe the commandment But rather, there's a deeper, stronger principle that is now driving this person to keep the commandments of the Lord. And that is, Lord, You loved me.

Send Your Son to die upon the cross for my sins. I was dead in my sins and my trespasses. I deserve Your wrath upon me. And I was going to die in my sins. And You will have every charge.

to bring against me because of the life that I've lived. But You loved me and sent Your only begotten Son to die upon the cross. And when I see the cross, I do not only see the death of Your Son, but I also see the display of Your love for my soul. Because this is love, 1 John chapter 4. 7 through 11.

And this is not that we love him first, but that he loved us and that he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. And because he sent his son to be the propitiation of our sins, then is that we are to love God and to love one another. The deeper principle of obedience is not authority. The deeper principle is the love of God in Christ Jesus that has been bestowed upon us. And only then The commandments of the Lord are going to be sweet to the heart of the person.

Only then the person is going to want to go and keep the commandments of the Lord. Only then the person is going to be driven to want to be like Christ and to explore, not asking, which are the commandments that I don't want to keep, but Lord, tell me what I need to do. Tell me, Lord, how I can glorify you. Tell me what I need to do. How am I going to glorify the one who loved me and gave himself for me upon the cross?

" So what Paul is saying there in Romans chapter 7, we failed completely to address the text. We will do this next week. But what Paul is saying there in Romans chapter 7, it is that this principle that the Jew was under, to want to please God by the keeping and trusting of the law. So then God is saying through Paul to especially the Jews, You have died to the law when it comes to the requirement that the law had upon you. The righteousness requirement of the law has been fulfilled in us who have faith in Christ Jesus.

Christ Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness. Not now that you are going to come and break the commandments that God has given you, But the righteous requirement that was required of you, Jew, has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. And that is the good news of the gospel. That if it was not because of the completed and finished work of Jesus Christ, every one of you, brethren, every one of you will be presented before God. And there will be a book that is open with many claims against you.

The things that you've thought, the things that you have said, the things that you have not done, the things that you were supposed to do yet you didn't do, there will be a book, perhaps longer than the book that I have in my hands, with claims and accusations against each one of you and me. But the greatness of the gospel is that even though that book is very extensive, this book is very long and has many pages against me, Jesus Christ died upon the cross for my sins and for your sins. And when he died upon that cross, brethren, there's no amount of sin that the grace of Jesus Christ cannot cover. So then when he says, how are you going to obey me? Obey Me because of what I've done for you, so that you can hear My commandments and My words, and My words can be sweet and honey to your heart, so that you can treasure up My Word in your hearts, that you may not sin against God."

It is treasuring up the Word, not because of the Word itself, but because it's His Word. treasuring up his word in my heart, that I might not seem against the Lord." Not because of the written aspect of what is written, but because of the one who gives that word to his people, both in the Old and the New Testament. So then all the glories for Christ, who died and he gives his spirit to his people. So that feeble people like you and me, broken people that deviates and goes up and down, and today they're strong, and tomorrow they're weak, and today they smile, and tomorrow they're crying, and today they're okay, and tomorrow they're not.

People like us can trust in Christ Jesus and be taken by the grace of Jesus, knowing that the work that He has started, He will bring it to completion. And now, even though I am in Christ Jesus, I can keep His commandments for the goodness of what He has done for me. Dead to sin and dead to the condemning power of the law. And now I'm alive to Jesus Christ. Before, I was married to the dominating power of sin and the law that was meant to be good.

was accusing me of my unrighteousness. But now I have been divorced from the dominating power of sin and divorced from the power of the law that was accusing me. And I have been married to Jesus Christ. And in Jesus Christ, now I found the power that is needed to serve in spirit and in truth. We're going to address, once again, Romans chapter 7 next week.

But the same question that I asked in the beginning, I ask you once again. Why do you obey? Why do you obey Jesus? Why do you obey the Lord? What is the motivation in your heart when you wake up and you read the scriptures, when you pray, when you come to church, when you have fellowship with the brothers and sisters, or when you evangelize?

Why do you want to be a good father or a good mother, a good husband, a good wife? Why do you want to do so? What is the driver? What is the power within you that is Taking you to do all of these things because let me submit to you brethren that the only way that we can find the fullness of the power that is needed for us to please the Lord is at the feet of Jesus Christ and through his word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of the Lord is at the feet of Jesus Christ that we are strengthened to do what he has commanded us to do.

It is at the feet of Jesus, brethren, that we find what is needed for us to overcome our fears, and our sins, and our temptations. It is at the feet of Jesus, brethren, that we find what is needed for us to remove the fears and their sanctities about the future. It's at the feet of Jesus. So run away from that which is not Christ, and come to the feet of Jesus, to the better portion, the better place, because it's only there that we can have the power that is needed for us to worship Him. And as we said on Wednesday night here in the Bible study, There is pleasures forevermore at the right hand of God.

When we think that this world is going to offer to us pleasures of whatever it is, those are temporal. But there's pleasures forevermore at the right hand of God. And when the mind of a person is given to meditate on the things that he has done for us, there is freedom and there is rest and there is peace and there is joy. We have this glorious revelation of God given to us by Jesus. You know, brethren, that there are hundreds of millions of people that even though they've heard the name of Jesus, they are completely darkened in their eyes and their hearts to the name of Jesus.

But He has had the mercy to give us the revelation of His Son. So let us take advantage of this glorious truth that has been given to us to abide in Jesus. so that we can understand the day-to-day, the conflict, the difficulty, the storm, the problem, and everything that comes our way in light of the one who loved us and gave himself for us. May the Lord help us to have the grace that is needed for us to serve and to obey in the spirit, in the newness of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and not in the old way of the letter. Amen?

Amen. Let us pray. Father, as we come before You in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Lord, I give You thanks. And I pray, Lord, that You will minister to these brothers and these sisters by the power of Your Word and the truth, Lord, of what is contained in the Word of God. I pray, O Lord, that You will teach us to desire the deep things of Christ and to consider the glorious things that You have done for us upon the cross.

I pray, O Lord, that if there's anyone here that is not in Jesus, that is not in Christ, that you will use, Lord, the truths of the Word and the truths of the cross to bring that person close to Jesus, Lord. I pray, O Lord, for my brothers and sisters and for every one of us. How many times, Lord, we are tempted to simply go through the motions and do things because we've been called to do things, Lord. I pray that every time, whether we eat or drink, we will do it for the glory of God. That as we come and approach the Scriptures, Lord, that we will do it in the love and in the grace of God.

That we will know that in Christ Jesus circumcision and circumcision avails for nothing but only faith that works through love. So I pray, O Lord, that You will grant us the light and the revelation that is needed for us to understand your words, and not only to be hearers of the word, but to be doers of your word. I do pray, O Lord, that you will sanctify us, that you will purify us, that your commandments will be so clear in our path as we follow you, desiring to be like Jesus Christ. I pray, O Lord, please, that you will grant us a genuine, profound desire to please God for what He has done for us, and that we will be driven by the power of your Holy Spirit to live according to the great calling that You have given us. We praise You and we give You thanks because You have given us the Word of God.

We have it in our hands, O Lord, and we're so thankful when there are so many people who do not have access to the things of God and we have them in our hands. So we praise You for that. I do pray, O Lord, that You will help us, Lord, not only to love You, but also to love one another, that as we consider the greatness of the love of God that has been displayed upon the cross, that we will be driven, that we will be moved, that we will be impacted by the greatness of that love, and also that we will learn to love one another. Help us, Lord, to be keepers of Your commandments, as You've called us to do. Help us, Lord, to be coherent with the light of God, that we will not be found to be hypocrites, in saying that we are in the light when we walk in darkness.

Help us, Lord, to hear the voice of your Holy Spirit when we are convicted of our sins and not to be self-righteous in saying that we have no sin, but rather, Lord, being humble before your presence, knowing that you're just and faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our righteousness. Bless us, Lord. Bless the brothers and the sisters, their children, their families. Keep them, Lord, in your ways and help us, Lord, to glorify in all things that we do now. As we come to this table, Lord, I pray that You will grant us this glorious revelation of what it is to be one with You.

You will grant us, Lord, a deeper understanding of our belonging to the body of Jesus Christ. And as we take these elements, You will help us, Lord, to do it for Your glory. I pray that You will do this in Jesus' name. Amen.