Bill Acton :: Romans 7:1-13 - The Relationship of the Law to the Believer

Sermon Outline for Romans 7:1-13

1. The Relationship of the Law to the Believer
   1. The marriage illustration
      1. The binding character of the marriage law
      2. The duration of the bond
      3. The dissolution of the bond
   2. The doctrinal truth
      1. The first husband is the law
      2. When Christ died the Law died with Him – Col 2:13-17
      3. The believer is married to a new husband – Christ
   3. The principles applied
      1. Death experienced – Rom 7:4a
      2. Relationship established – Rom 7:4b
      3. New life begun – Rom 7:4c
      4. New freedom experienced – Rom 7:6
         1. Negative – not by the old letter
         2. Positive – but by the new spirit
2. The Law and Sin
   1. Law reveals the fact of sin – Rom 7:7
      1. The Law makes it apparent
      2. The Law did not create sin
      3. The Law exposes sin
      4. The exposure to Paul
      5. The evil desires revealed, 10th Commandment – Exo 20:17
   2. The Law reveals the awareness of sin
      1. It affects the conscience
      2. It increases the sense of sin
      3. It provokes sin
   3. The Law condemns sin – Rom 7:8b
      1. The judgment of the Law
      2. The fact of spiritual death
   4. The Law reveals the power of sin – Rom 7:9
      1. The Law has legal power to convict
      2. The Law has no life-power to deliver
      3. Sin over-powers us and holds us helpless
      4. We must die to self-reliance
   5. The Law reveals the effect of sin – Rom 7:10
      1. Sin brings death
      2. Law legalizes
      3. Paul’s discovery of indwelling sin came after conversion
   6. The Law reveals the deception of sin – Rom 7:11
      1. It deceives us into thinking wrongly about God – that He will condone sin
      2. It deceives us into thinking wrongly about ourselves – that we are not really responsible
         1. By making us think that we can stand in our own strength
         2. By producing the illusion that we can meet any situation
   7. The Law reveals the sinfulness of sin – Rom 7:12-13
      1. The Law imposes penalty upon the Law-breaker
      2. The Law proves the sinfulness of human nature
         1. Sin as leprosy
         2. Sin as leaven
         3. There is no defect in the Law
         4. The defect is in us
   8. “Under grace” means we are not “under Law”
      1. We have been discharged from the Law
      2. We have been cleared and will never face trial by the Law
         1. The Law must be out of the way for the Lord Jesus Christ to live by faith in our hearts