Sin Condemned and Righteousness Fulfilled

Next Part Sin Condemned and Righteousness Fulfilled 2

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh– that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:3, 4

What a wondrous change both of views and feelings is produced in the soul when divine light and life first enter it from above! It is indeed a revolution, a mighty revolution, for it is effected by no power short of his who says, "Behold, I create all things new." The Scriptures, therefore, when they make mention of this mighty change, always speak of it as being effected by the power of God. Sometimes, for instance, it is spoken of as an "opening of the eyes," and a turning of sinners "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." (Acts 26:18.) Sometimes it is spoken of as a deliverance from the power of darkness, and a translation into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Col. 1:13.) At other times it is compared to a birth, a new birth, as in those words of the Lord, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3.) At other times to a resurrection from the dead– "You has he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ." (Eph. 2:1, 4, 5.) Sometimes to a creation, as in the words, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (or, as in the margin, "a new creation;") "old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." (2 Cor. 5:17.) All these expressions imply a change by a power not our own.

A. Now one of the first fruits and effects of this heavenly change, this mighty revolution, is the different views and feelings that the regenerated soul entertains concerning the law of God. Before it is quickened into divine life, the law exerts no commanding power, no supreme and domineering authority over it. In word, perhaps, in name, we yield to it an unwilling allegiance; but the law as yet has not asserted its right nor spoken to us as with the voice of God. Thus the apostle speaks of himself– and we cannot find a more vivid or more experimental description of what the soul feels before and after the law has come with power than his relation of his own experience– "I was alive without the law once;" that is, not alive unto God in the best sense of the word; nor alive spiritually by regenerating grace, or by living a life of faith on the Son of God; but alive in this sense, that he had not then been killed by the sentence of the condemning law in his conscience. In this sense the soul is alive before it is dead; for never having felt the killing power of a condemning law, it is at ease in Zion, alive to a round of duties, easily satisfied with a multiplicity of forms from which it is expecting life and salvation, but utterly dead to a knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

But when God, by the operation of his word upon the heart, which is as a hammer to break the rock in pieces (Jer. 23:29), batters down the walls of Pharisaic pride and self-righteousness, then the law enters through the breach with a whole army of terrors. Before the law is made known to the conscience by the power of God, the soul is like such a city as Laish, of which we read that "the people therein dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure." (Judges 18:7.) But when the children of Dan fell upon Laish and made a breach in the walls, then as an invading army they entered through the breach, and smote the citizens with the edge of the sword. (Judges 18:27.) So as long as the soul is alive without the law, like Laish, it is easy and quiet after the manner of the luxurious Zidonians, who engaged in trade and traffic, and having the sea for their rampart, lived without external war or internal strife.

But when the word of God is applied with quickening power to make a breach in the walls of Pharisaism– for in this sense "the rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own conceit," (Prov. 18:11,)– then through this breach enters the law as an invading army; and as an army let loose upon a city, sacks, plunders, massacres, and lays waste in all directions, so does the law attack and slay a guilty conscience. Thus the apostle, speaking of his own experience, Romans 7:9, says, "when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Sin was quiet before. But when the law came, it stirred sin up; it put new life into it; it revived sin out of its slumber in which it had been lying like a viper under a hedge in winter, or a dog sleeping at night in its kennel. The hot ray of the sun does not give the viper its poison fang; nor does the passing step of the traveler set the strong tooth in the jaw of the mastiff.

So the law does not create sin, though it calls it up; is not the author of it, though it revives it. The apostle therefore says, "For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead." (Rom. 7:5, 8.) Thus the law as reviving every secret lust and putting strength into every corruption, is armed as it were with a double power– a power to condemn the transgressor, and a power to stir up the transgression; for such is the hideous nature of sin, that "it works death in us by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful."

Thus Paul says of himself, "For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin." (Rom. 7:13, 14.) He thus felt that the law was holy, but he unholy; the law just, but he a criminal; the law good, but he vile. Taking him, then, as an exemplar of one who felt in no common measure the operation and the condemnation of the law in his conscience, we see how a poor sinner is brought in guilty before God; for the law being opposed to sin, and he being in himself nothing but a mass of sin; the law condemning every sinful thought, and he being full of sinful thoughts; the law condemning every vile imagination, and he prone to indulge in every vile imagination; the law condemning every foolish word, and his tongue ever dropping foolish words; the law condemning every indecent look, and he not able to keep his eyes from wandering after evil; the law requiring a perfect obedience, in which no allowance is made for any deviation, and he continually unable to render that obedience; the law thundering in his ears, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength," and he not having a grain of that love; the law bidding him love his neighbor as himself, when his heart, by nature is full of enmity against that neighbor– this minister of death entering into his conscience, like an invading army through the breach into a besieged town, kills, condemns, and brings them in guilty before God.

B. But, still to pursue Paul's experience, if when he is sunk under this condemning sentence, and is without help, or hope in himself, God is pleased to reveal to his soul salvationthrough the blood of the Lamb, then we see that the same man who cried out, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" when he gets a view by faith of the atoning blood, justifying obedience, and finished work of the Son of God, bursts forth in a moment, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He has found a ransom; a deliverer has come to the rescue; atoning blood is revealed to his conscience; the love of God shed abroad in his heart; and under the sweet influence of God's grace, he can raise a joyful song of praise, that through Jesus Christ his Lord he is saved from death and hell.

C. Having thus laid the foundation deep and broad from his own experience, the apostle goes on to tell us in the next chapter, which is but a continuation of the preceding, the happy state of all who are savingly interested in this great salvation. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." He could see the eternal security of those who had a saving interest in the Person and work and blood of the Lamb. He could see that there was no condemnation for them; that let the law utter its loudest thunders and flash before their eyes its most forked lightnings, yet being in Christ they were secure in him; and therefore for them there was no condemnation.

D. But lest any man might mistake the people to whom these blessings belonged, he adds, "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;" for if a man is still walking after the flesh, he has no evidence of being in Christ Jesus. He has no testimony that he is savingly interested in his blood and righteousness, and as such is free from condemnation; for as still walking after the flesh, he lies in all the filth and under all the condemnation of the flesh.

He then goes on, in the verse preceding our text, to show how "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," meaning thereby the grace of God in the heart, the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the soul, which was to him a law, had made him free from the law of sin and death under which he had groaned. And then he proceeds, in the words which I have read, and from which I hope to speak this morning, to show how this was effected, by God "sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh."

In opening up our text, I shall, as the Lord may enable,

I. First, show what the law cannot do, and the reason– because it is "weak through the flesh."

II. Secondly, what God has done by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, that is, "condemned sin in the flesh."

III. Thirdly, the fruit and effect of God sending his own Son, and thus condemning sin in the flesh, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us."

IV. And lastly, the characters in whom this righteousness is fulfilled– those "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

I. What the law CANNOT do, and the reason– because it is "weak through the flesh." Now does it not surprise your mind that after the description which the Holy Spirit has given of the strength of the law, the apostle should say that it was weak? How can the law be weak if it can kill, accuse, condemn, and bring the whole world in guilty before God? You must understand, then, that the law is not weak in itself– nothing can be more strong except the Gospel. But the law is weak through the flesh. This, therefore, with God's blessing, I shall endeavor to explain– and in so doing, shall show, first, how the law is strong, and then how the law is weak. Nor can I take a better way of illustrating this than by referring to human laws, for by looking at the law of man we may gather up some spiritual idea of the holy law of God.

A. What makes the law, as a human institution, STRONG?

1. The AUTHORITY of the law giver.In our country, law is strong. Why so? Because no law can be passed except by the three estates of the realm meeting together in Parliament. To that collective authority all bow. Every class in society, with every individual from the noble to the peasant, and in fact all except the lawless outcasts, the mere waifs and strays of society, bow to the law on account of the authority whereby it is promulgated. But suppose that a number of people were to meet together, say in Edinburgh or Dublin, call themselves a Parliament and make laws– who would feel bound to obey them? It would be a treasonable act and their pretended laws could not be put in execution. But our laws, being passed in Parliament, by an authority which all recognize, are thus made strong.

2. But there is another thing needed, which is, sufficient POWER to carry the law into execution.The 'legislative' power may be strong, but the 'executive' weak. It is so in the United States, and in some measure so in Ireland. But in our country we have a whole array of judges, magistrates, and police, and these backed not only by an army of a hundred thousand men, but by the universal voice of the country to carry the law into execution. In England therefore the law is strong, but not so in other countries. Whether from weakness of the legislative or from weakness of the executive, in many countries the law is weak. In America, a man may whip his slave to death; in Ireland, one may shoot his landlord from behind a hedge; and both criminals escape being hanged. Not because each crime is not murder, but because the leniency of the jury in the one country, and the unwillingness of the people to give evidence in the other, favor the escape of the criminal.

We see then that in order to be strong, a law must have not only a trumpet voice but an iron hand. Now carry these two ideas into spiritual things, and see whether they do not both meet in the law of God. Look at its Legislator. Who gave the law? The great and glorious "I am," the ever-living Jehovah, the Judge of heaven and earth, the Almighty Creator of all things, before whom all the hosts of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth are less than nothing and vanity. Must not that law be strong which emanated from the great God of heaven and earth? And look at the power which that great and glorious Judge can wield. Is anyone beyond his reach? Can any heart escape his piercing glance? Can any hide himself in secret places where the hand of God cannot find him? Thus whether we look at the authority of the Lawgiver, or the power that he can display in executing his commands, we see how strong the law of God is.

3. But as an additional proof of the majesty and power of God in his holy law, observethe accompanying circumstanceswhich marked its first promulgation. Go to mount Sinai where that law was given and see how it was attended by the ministration of angels, that holy mount being surrounded by legions of bright angelic beings, every one of them swift to execute God's commands, any one able to smite an army like that of Sennacherib with instant death. See also how it was given in lightning and thunder, in darkness and tempest; see how the very mountain quaked, the earth rocked, and so terrible was the sight that Moses himself, that man of God, said, 'I exceedingly fear and quake.'

4. Then, again, look at the authority of the law over men generally– how it can and will accuse every man and bring him in guilty before God for positive sins, for actual transgressions. See, too, how it condemns every unclean thought and every foolish word. View how it thus seizes the whole human race, brings them before God's tribunal, and condemns them there as guilty before a heart-searching Jehovah. Hear, too, how the law curses all who are disobedient to it with an everlasting curse, declaring as in tones of thunder, "Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Then see how the law as its last judicial act upon earth, takes every impenitent, unbelieving sinner in death and binds him as with adamantine chains, to await the judgment of the great day.

5. Having thus seen its authority over sinners, next look at its effect upon the consciences of SAINTS. How it slays their self-righteousness, cuts them off from all schemes of pleasing God by any obedience of the flesh, and strips them naked and bare of all creature help or hope.

Thus when we look at the law under these five aspects, the authority of the Lawgiver, his power to execute its penalties, the way in which it was revealed from Mount Sinai, its dominion over sinners, and its effect upon saints, can we think it is weak? Must we not rather say, "O how strong!"

B. Yet the apostle declares that the law was WEAK, and that in consequence of this weakness there was that which it could not do. What, then, could the law NOT do? There were two things which the law could not do, and yet unless they were done, not a single soul could be saved, and the whole human race must have perished under the wrath of God.

1. The law cannot SAVE. This the law could not do. It can curse, but it cannot bless; it can send to hell, but it cannot take to heaven; it can bring bondage, wrath, guilt, fear and terror into men's consciences, but it cannot communicate to them pardon, deliverance and peace. And why? Because it merely says, "Do this and live." It makes no provision for disobedience; it does not breathe a syllable of mercy for a transgressor; it holds out no pardon to the sinner. If we could keep it we might be justified by it; but not being able to obey, we must fall under its condemnation as disobedient.

2. The law cannot SANCTIFY. There is no provision in it to communicate holiness to the soul– that holiness without which no man can see the Lord. Being a ministration of death it cannot communicate life; not being the ministration of the Spirit, it has no power to make the soul fit for the inheritance of the saints in light. It is true that many try to make themselves holy by the law, but there being no provision in it to supply real sanctification, to bestow grace, to communicate a spiritual conformity to the image of God's dear Son, it leaves the heart still carnal; and as those "who are in the flesh cannot please God," they cannot rise into the enjoyment of his eternal presence.

C. But the apostle says the law was "weak through the flesh;"here it is that we gather up the real cause of the law being weak. It is not weak in itself, for it is armed with all the strength of God; but the flesh, that is, human nature in its fallen condition, is unable to obey it, and thus the law fails, not from any lack of power in God to command, but from lack of power in man to obey. Let us seek an illustration of this from human laws.

Suppose that Parliament were to pass a law that not a single drop of beer or wine, or any spirituous drink, should be sold on the Lord's day in London. It might be an excellent provision, and if I am not mistaken it is to a certain extent effected by municipal regulation in Scotland. But could that law be carried out in the metropolis? Say that an attempt were made to carry it out with a view to suppress or check intoxication, would it stop drunkenness in secret? Has it stopped it in Glasgow? would it stop it in London? The law might be good– an excellent law, if men would obey it; but you cannot make drunkards temperate by act of Parliament. Therefore the law might be good, yet it would be weak, because of the weakness of the flesh.

So it is with the law of God. The law of God commands men to obey on the penalty of eternal damnation if they obey not. The law bids them love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, but they cannot do it; and therefore as it cannot part with, or lower its demands because man has lost its power to obey, it visits their disobedience with a most solemn curse. The sinner being unable to render that love, to yield that obedience, the law is weak, for as a human law requires obedience and punishes for disobedience, yet gives no power to obey it, so it is with the law of God. This may seem hard doctrine; but how can it be otherwise? The law cannot give life; as the Apostle says, "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." (Gal. 3:21.)

Look, then, at the whole human race, and see what a state they are in. See how they are transgressors, condemned by the law; brought in guilty before God; without any salvation, without any sanctification; without strength to obey what God commands, and yet as disobedient justly amenable to God's eternal justice. O what a state! O what an end!

Now how justly God might have left all mankind to reap the fruit of their disobedience! He left the fallen angels to the consequences of their transgression; he made no provision for their recovery. No Savior, no Redeemer, interposed between them and eternal wrath. They sinned, and were left to suffer the consequences; they transgressed, and must forever endure the penalty. It might have been so, and that with the strictest justice, with the whole human race. There was no more call upon God to redeem man than there was to redeem the fallen angels. But he was pleased to do so. In his own sovereign grace; in his infinite compassion and boundless mercy, he was pleased to provide a way whereby sinners could be saved– a way so peculiarly his own, that while his justice should sustain no tarnish, his grace might shine forth with everlasting luster.

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