Dead to the Law, Married to Christ — What Romans 7 Really Means

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back with us again. And we just want you to, again, for those that are watching on television, just be part of the class. We trust you'll take your Bible and take some notes and study these things even after we go off the air. And as someone shared with me the other night, he said, I used to be a good student, I read a lot, but all I ever read was what my denomination put out, and I found out they had blinded me. And this is what we want to do. We want to bring people out of that being blinded by just one line of view and search the Scriptures. I don't claim to know all the answers, but I trust that we can get people to come into the book and just see what the book says, and that's all I try to explain. Okay, now I think we're going to buy up the time in this half hour, and we're going to go right into chapter 7 without any further announcements. And you remember in our last program we left off with chapter 6, verse 23, and remember that Paul has just been constantly hammering home our having to deal with old Adam, that sin nature with which we are born, and where the multitudes of the human race are existing, under the control of that old Adamic nature, which is prone to rebellion, which is prone to do that, which has conjured the will of God, because it is under the control, of course, of God's greatest adversary, and that is Satan. I just happen to think I mentioned a verse in one of my past programs, and I'd forgotten what it was at the time, and we never did get back to it, and I'm going to use it right now. It goes right in line with what I've just said, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, because this says it better than I could ever hope to. And here's where the human race is in such a dilemma, and those of us who are trying our best to awaken them to their need, it's our dilemma, because this is what we're up against. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and drop in at verse 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3, but if our gospel be hid, and it is, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not. Who's blinded them? The God of this world, Satan, see? Whom the God of this world has blinded those who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Now, that's a dilemma. I mean, that is something that mankind is constantly laboring under, that Satan has totally blinded their eyes to the truth of the Word of God. Now in that same light, let's use another verse that we use so often, at least in my classes during the week. Come back all the way to Acts chapter 16. I share it so often, in fact I did again in my class last night, that this is what you and I as believers have to understand, and we have to pray to this end, there's not a thing that we can do until God takes away this satanically inspired blindness. Acts 16, and come on down to verse 13. And here we have Paul and, I think it's still Barnabas, up in the city of Philippi, northern Greece, and they've gone out to a little riverside park. Evidently there was no synagogue in Philippi. And there he found a few Jewish women in a devotional time. They couldn't have full synagogue services, of course. So on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women who resorted thither. We don't know how many, whether it was three, four, five, six, it doesn't matter. Now verse 14, and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, so no doubt she was a distinguished lady. She was a business lady. She wasn't some deadbeat or anything like that. But she was a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, back of course in Asia Minor, who worshipped God. So she was religious. And she heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, so that she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul. Do you see how plain that is? Here was a lady of probably the upper crust of her day. I think in order to be a seller of purple she had to be rather well -to-do. She was Jewish. She had a certain amount of religion. She had a certain amount of the knowledge of God, but lost, just as lost as the ones we just read about in 2 Corinthians 4. Her eyes were just as blinded by Satan as anybody else's. But when Paul came on the scene, the Lord opened her spiritual understanding. The Lord opened her heart, but that in itself didn't do it. She had to attend to the things that were spoken by Paul. And see, that's where you and I are as believers. There's nothing we can do to win a lost person until the Lord opens their heart. And then, of course, we have to be there with the truth of Scripture, absolutely. And as I've taught over the years, you know, God has seen fit to leave His Word in the hands of human beings, not angels. You know, why didn't He appoint angels to do His evangelization? Well, He just didn't do it that way. He has left it in the hands of believers to share these things. And as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, that we're ambassadors for Christ. And you know what an ambassador is? He is someone who is serving his home government, but in a foreign environment. And as that ambassador then, we are to bring people to a reconciliation with God. That's the word he uses back there in Corinthians. All right, so now then in Romans chapter 6, we have been sealing this dealing with the old Adam, that we cannot do anything in ourselves. It has to be a work of God to place old Adam on the cross. He has to be crucified. He has to be put to death. Now, Theo over here came up with a good question at break time to clarify our use of the word death. Now, there are several areas of death that we have to consider. Number one, as a result of Adam's fall, physical death. This old body is going to die if the Lord doesn't come. It's something that every human being is going to experience. No one, except Christ Himself, no one is going to escape physical death. That's part of the curse. But if you remember the circles I put on the board several weeks ago, inside this body of flesh, God has placed that invisible part of us, the personality, the I, the id, the ego, whatever you want to call it. And that is centered, of course, in the mind, the will, and the emotion. Now, that mind, will, and emotion that we're born with then comprises the old Adam. Now, even though old Adam is living in this body of flesh, which is going to die, we also have to appropriate a death to that old Adam, to that spirit side of us. And that, of course, is where Paul is dealing the most. That when we talk about old Adam having to die, that means that that old sin nature that we're born with has to die spiritually, either in this life by being appropriating the work of the cross and having Him reckoned as dead in Christ, or old Adam is going to experience the death knell of the great white throne, and as we saw in our last program, consigned to the lake of fire forever and ever. That's the second death. Now, that's in the area of the spirit. Everybody's going to die a physical death if the Lord doesn't come. But the physical or the spiritual aspect, we either put Him to death by faith and the gospel on the cross, and old Adam is put to death, or he's going to experience the second death by virtue of the great white throne and the eternal doom. Now then, let's go into chapter 7. Now I don't claim to be a theologian, no stretch of the imagination, but yet here's a chapter that the theologians can discuss and argue over and never come to any conclusions. I personally can't see it's that difficult. Chapter 7 is a thrilling chapter, and of course, Paul is dealing again with this same thing that we've been talking about. How are we going to deal with old Adam as over against the new divine nature that Christ places in us at salvation? Now remember that when Adam is crucified, there had to be something to immediately replace him or we would be an empty entity. But God does replace old Adam with the new nature, the divine nature that comes from God by a creative work. Now that's what we're going to deal with now in chapter 7. Verse 1, "...know ye not, brethren," see, he's still talking to believers, "...know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them who know the law, how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he," what? "...lives." Now, he's not just talking about the Mosaic law here, he's talking about law as it governs society. Now, you and I live under the government of the United States and under the Constitution, and that constitutional law is going to be over us, it's going to control us, how long? Till we die. But the moment we die, the American government loses all control. They can't tax you, they can't do anything to a dead person, see? All right, now that's what Paul is driving at. The only way you can sever some things is by death. The only way you can stop the bank from foreclosing on a mortgage is you die, and then they can't do anything. And I gave the example a week or two ago in our program. If the court has a man in there for murder, and they're just about ready to wind up the case, he's as guilty as he can be, the jury has already made up their mind, but before they are sent out and come to their verdict, he dies a natural death of a heart attack. Well, what's the jury going to do? Go home. It's all over, because death has ended the whole thing. All right, now here Paul is using this same analogy that now we're going to come into a marriage relationship under the civil law of the land, whether it's Israel or whether it's in America makes no difference. For the woman, now he's just simply using a marriage relationship, for the woman who hath a husband is bound by the law. Now he's not talking about the Mosaic law here, he's talking about the law of the land. And like I said, whether it's in Israel or America makes no difference. In other words, when a husband and wife are legally married, that law is part and parcel of that marriage until it's either dissolved by divorce or death. You can't escape it. And of course that's what I guess gives rise to so many horrible divorce elements, is because you see the law is going to come into the picture when a husband and wife are legally married, and no matter what they try to do with their community property, the law is going to tell them what they can and cannot do. All right, now Paul is just using this as an illustration. So the woman is bound by the law to the husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. Now not the husband's ... what shall I say? Not the husband's dominion over her as such, but the law of the land under which they were married is going to determine how they treat their community property and how they do all these other things under the law of the land. But when the husband dies, now what? The woman is as free as a bird. She is no longer under any of the previous demands of that husband. Why? He's dead. Death settles it. All right? Now then, he comes into verse 3, "...so then if while the husband liveth she be married to another, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead," if he's died, she is free from that law that kept those two people together. You see that? That's the law he's talking about, the law of the land that made them husband and wife. "...so that if the husband be dead, she is free from that civil law. And now then," oh, let's see, where was I? "...so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." And then verse 4 is the key to the whole concept. Wherefore? In other words, I'm just laying an illustration that since the law of the land has kept husband and wife together, and it lays out how they're going to handle their property and their wealth and all that, whether we like it or not, there are laws stipulating how this is going to be done. But, or wherefore, I'm sorry, verse 4, "...wherefore, my brethren," so he's talking to the believers "...you are become dead to the law," now we're talking about the law of Moses, see? "...now, brethren, you are become dead to the law of Moses," the Mosaic system, how? By the body of Christ. Now not the invisible body we talked about a week or two ago, not that invisible consortium or organism of believers baptized into Christ. This body is speaking of His body of flesh with which He was crucified. Be sure you determine what we're talking about. So, wherefore, you also are become dead to the law," the Mosaic system, "...by that body of Christ that was crucified, that you should be," what, "...married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth," oh, what's the next word? "...fruit unto God." All right, now let's sort this all out. Paul says that just the same as a husband and a wife are by the law held together, they cannot operate, they cannot function without the law of the land being part and parcel. Well, just for example, you take income tax. That income tax is set up for husband and wives. You either file jointly or you file separately, it doesn't make a bit of difference. Uncle Sam looks over the shoulder of you as husband and wife as long as you live. As far as I can see, it always will. But, as soon as one of those partners dies, he's out of the picture, the other partner is now free from the law that held them together. And now he's drawing the analogy, so also the lost person is under the demands of the Mosaic law, the Ten Commandments. The lost person, whether he wants to admit it or not, is under the very anathema of God when they commit adultery, when they steal, when they kill, or any of the things that are contrary to the law. You see that? I don't care how irreligious a person can be, I don't care if he's an atheist, those commandments of God are still hanging over him. He can't escape them. And when one day he comes before the great white throne, he's going to be judged according to that law. Don't ever lose sight of that. The law, the Ten Commandments, are perfect, they're righteous, they're holy, and they're eternal. We can't just write them off and say, oh well, that was just Old Testament stuff. No, no. It's the eternal mind of God that's been revealed to mankind. All right? Now then, if we are going to come out from under that demand of those Ten Commandments hanging over our head, there's only one way we can do. We've got to die. Hear that? We have to die. Oh, not physically, but in that old Adam. And so here we go again, same old story. Old Adam has to be crucified, and the minute Adam is crucified and is dead in the eyes of God, the Ten Commandments no longer hang over him. He's dead. But we don't leave it there. We pick up another relationship. It's just like the widow who has lost her husband, somewhere down the road. What is she free to do? Marry another. Absolutely. There's nothing in Scripture against that. And now she can be giving her allegiance to the second husband, only in this case we're not dealing with humanity, we're not dealing with the physical, we're dealing with the spiritual. So as soon as old Adam is crucified and he's reckoned as dead, immediately God reckons now that we are married, we have a new relationship, not under the Mosaic law, but under the love and the grace and the mercy of Christ Himself. And so we're married to Christ. Do you see that? And we become married to Christ. Now I suppose I've got somebody, I don't know, they never put their name on it, and consequently I will not answer or respond, but I can tell from the stuff they write on the outside of the envelope that they don't know what I'm talking about, because when I spoke with the bride of Christ one time, the envelope came all marked, I never opened it, so in case they're listening, I want them to know that I never opened it. They said, Bride of Christ, sir? You see what they're driving at? They thought I was referring to the bride of Christ and you and I as believers as female in gender. Well, this is merely a relationship. This is a position, as we see when we study Ephesians, that when we're married to Christ in the analogy of Paul's writings, it's that union between us and Christ like a husband and wife. And, of course, Paul uses that in Ephesians again, chapter 5, that like as Christ loved the church, husbands, what? Love your wives. That's a constant analogy that Paul brings up. And here it is again, crucify old Adam, put him to death so that he is broken from the demands of the Ten Commandments, and be married to Christ. All right, now let's see if I can find the verse. I think it's over in ... oh, maybe I shouldn't even try it, because I can't just put my finger right on it. But I thought, yeah, it is. It's in chapter 7. I'm sorry. Just go ahead a little bit in chapter 7, verse 6, and then I'll come back up to verse 4 and 5. But here in chapter 7, verse 6, but now, now that we're married to Christ, old Adam is crucified. He has been broken from the demands of the Mosaic law. But now, see, we are delivered from the law. Most people don't know that's in here. But here it is, as plain as day. Now that we're married to Christ as a result of old Adam being crucified, now we are delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we were held, that we should serve in what newness of spirit. Now what's the spirit here? Well, the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit that comes in and indwells us becomes our law. See, we don't become lawless because we're not under the Ten Commandments, because something far better takes its place—the indwelling Spirit. See, and the Holy Spirit, contrary to some nuts that are probably in institutions who say, well, God told me to kill him, God never tells anybody to kill someone. God never tells anyone to go out and break up a family and a home by committing adultery. God never does that. But see, that's what they try to say, oh, well, God told me to do it. No, He doesn't. God the Spirit never, never goes contrary to the basic laws, again, of God. The Holy Spirit will never instruct a believer to go and steal from somebody. The Holy Spirit will never instruct someone to destroy a man's character by gossiping. No, you know better than that. All right, so now look what it says. So now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held—in other words, crucified in the person of old Adam on the cross—that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Well, what's the letter? The law, the Ten Commandments. See how plain this is? All right, now then let's go back up to verse 4 for just a second. So we're going to become dead to the law by the body of Christ—in other words, by His crucifixion—that we're to be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth what? Fruit. Now, you remember I said in the last program, fruit is that productive result of whatever it may be. In other words, you plant an apple tree. I don't think you're going to plant an apple tree just for shade, do you? I sure don't. If I want a shade tree, I'm going to plant a shade tree. But when I plant an apple tree, I hope someday in the future to receive the rewards of that tree. And what is it? Fruit, whether it's apples or whatever. Now the same way when husbands and wives, or the groom and the bride, come together in the marriage relationship, all things being normal—now I know we're living in the twentieth century and sometimes this doesn't become part of it—but under ordinary circumstances, when a young man and a young lady come together, what is their dream? Family! Children! Isn't that right? Okay. What are those children? They're fruit. See? They're fruit of that union. Now then, it's the same way in the believer. When we come into this marriage relationship with Christ, what does God now look for? Fruit. And what's the fruit of a believer married to Christ? Other believers. That's where soul winning comes in. That's where our witness comes in, that we can win other lost people for Christ, and it becomes fruit. Now, as I mentioned in one of the previous programs, I do not ascribe to any kind of a Christianity that just takes people by the nap of the neck or whatever and tries to push this down their throat. We don't work that way. But we certainly have a concern for the spiritual needs of these lost people. It just tears my heart out when I look at the masses of humanity and realize that most of them are going to a devil's hell. I don't know who they are. I can't judge. You can't either. But I just know from Scripture that most of them are, because God has always only had a small remnant, and it's certainly no different today. Now, I grant you, we probably have a higher percentage of believers in America, what with all the preaching and the Bible teaching we've had here. But you take the world population as a whole, what percentage of them are going to be in God's heaven? Well, precious few. But those few are God's fruit as a result of His relationship with human beings. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.