What Keeping the Ten Commandments Does for You
Romans 7:7-25
Intro:
1. Have you ever witnessed to people who respond with, “Well, I keep the 10 Commandments & live by the Golden Rule”?
2. Next time, try asking:
a. Can you recite the 10 Commandments? If they don’t know the Lord, they have broken the first two!
b. Do you know where the 10 Commandments are found? Do you even know where Exodus 20 is?
3. The question: What does keeping the 10 Commandments have to do with establishing a personal relationship with God?
4. Answer: Absolutely nothing!
5. Why? Because the 10 Commandments are a summery of the Law of Moses (the OT) which became obsolete as far as establishing a relationship with God when Jesus went to the cross (Col 2:13-14).
6. So - what can the Law of Moses do for you & what can it not do?
I. v7-13 - What Could the Law Do for You?
A. v7-8 - It could show you what sin is.
1. The 2 words for know in the New Testament.
a. οἰ̂δα = know by observation.
b. γινώσκω = know by personal experience. This is how you know sin through the Law!
2. Example: You shall not covet - Ex 20:17.
a. If you didn’t have the Law you would have an excuse whenever you coveted. You could say, “I didn’t know any better!”
b. But since the Law commands you not to covet, when you covet you commit sin knowingly & willingly. You are held responsible & declared guilty.
B. v9 - It could have brought you life - but instead, it brought you death.
1. When you didn’t know what sin was, you were justified by your ignorance.
a. So you were “alive” - you didn’t feel guilty.
b. But, although you were justified by your ignorance, you couldn’t be righteous (have a right relationship with God) because God cannot fellowship with sin.
c. Is 59:1-2 - Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
d. What you need is not just justification, you need righteousness. Your relationship with God is where your salvation comes from!
2. When the Law shows you that what you are doing is sin, then when you sin, you do so knowingly & willingly!
a. The Law could have brought life to you by exposing the sin if you avoided the sin!
b. By showing you what sin is, the Law makes you accountable when you do it.
C. v10-11 - How does the Law deceive you & kill you by simply exposing what sin is?
1. The Jewish leaders satisfied the legal demands - but not the ethical implications.
2. Lk 11:42 - Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
3. Only Lord Jesus satisfied both the legal & the ethical implications of the Law. That’s why He was sinless!
D. v12-13 - Why was indwelling sin in the Apostle Paul - working out death in him?
1. Because before he knew the Lord, Paul was under the Law of Moses.
2. Jam 2:10 - For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
3. The Law could point out what sin was - but provided no remedy for sinning!
4. Once the Law was broken, there was no way to restore the sinner!
II. v14-25 - What Could the Law Not Do for You?
A. v14-23 - It could not help you overcome sin.
1. v14 - The Apostle Paul was “sold under sin”.
a. Who sold him?
b. Sold (πεπραμένος) is a perfect participle of πιπράσκω, which could mean 1 of 2 things.
c. In the passive voice = “sold under sin”. Most translators & commentators believe that’s right.
d. In the middle voice = “sold myself under sin”. I believe this is the right translation.
e. Paul sold himself - he was the responsible one - the one who was accountable!
2. How did he sell himself under sin?
a. He yielded himself in obedience to it! Rom 6:16 - Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
b. v17 & 20 - Sin, then, worked out evil in him.
3. v18 - Although the Law’s purpose was to do good, it was designed to go no further than the intellect.
a. v15-16 - It was able to convince Paul that he was doing wrong.
b. v21-22 - Both the Law of God & the law of sin were present in Paul.
c. v19 & 23 - His weakness for sin overpowered his desire for good.
d. Here’s the key! The Law could expose sin, but it couldn’t help him overcome it! He had to rely on his own efforts!
e. However - when Paul became a Christian, he received the Holy Spirit to empower him to live victoriously.
B. v24-25 - It could not rescue you from sin by providing forgiveness!
1. The universal question throughout the ages has been, Who will rescue me from this body of death?
- v24
2. The Law of Moses was incapable of doing this!
3. v25 - The overwhelming answer to this question - God has provided the remedy for sin by His grace through His Son Jesus Christ!
You can’t be good enough to get to heaven by obeying the 10 Commandments! You obey the 10 Commandments because you are saved as an expression of appreciation, not in order to get that way!
http://biblelifemessages.org/