This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

But take your Bible and let’s look in the book of Romans chapter 7, chapter 7 where you’ve kind of been imposing along through here, just kind of a light stroll, not in a hurry, not running, racing through, not crawling, but just a little stroll through the scriptures here. And chapter 7 is interesting because you remember what will help you if you understand the difference between the old man and the new man. The old man is the one that was born of the flesh and the new man is the one that was born of the Spirit.

So you’ve been born twice so you have a old man and you have a new man and some of you say okay is that why I’m too faced? The double-minded and some people are double-minded and so you can have a mind for the Lord and you can have a mind for the things of the world. So when God’s talking to you as a Christian, he’ll always be reminding you of the old man. And the old man had an old sinful nature.

And so that old sinful nature is in your flesh, it’s in your physical body. And one of these days he’s going to change that body. And it might be by death, or it could be that he just comes in the air in your change in the moment, the twinkling of an eye. But remember you have an old man. So this is really what chapter 6 is talking about. And since you have been given a new birth and you’re now a new man, walk as a new man.

Don’t put yourself back under the old man, the old man, flesh. Don’t let the flesh control you. Don’t let the put yourself back under the law, because the law condemns. And the law makes you miserable. It just doesn’t work. It doesn’t satisfy it. So before we get started here in the book of Romans in chapter seven, there’s certain words that are mentioned 47 times in 19 verses in chapter seven. And you know the word I, my, myself, those are mentioned because that’s really a reference to this this old man that we have because whenever you want to do right that you wind up doing wrong you’re messing up and so it’s a wonderful study and there’s an illustration that’s given here but it’s given to those who are understand the law so that’s why he says in verse 1 no ye not brethren for I speak to them that

know the law not not everybody knew the law not everybody knows the law now the Jewish people knew the law because the law was given to the nation of Israel. So they knew things that the Gentiles did not know, though they were a law unto themselves in the sense that they had a conscience and they knew some things about right and wrong, but they didn’t have a law against some of those things. So some things, God just kind of winked at and moved on.

But sins still rained from Adam until Moses and death ringed upon all men because all have sinned. So when you come here to the book of Romans and he talks about those that know the law. Now let me just mention this to you. Just in the study of the book of Romans you have there in just look at this here. Look in chapter two of the book of Romans chapter two and you’ll notice in verse 17 where he says, Behold thou art called a Jew and and here’s those words resteth in the law.

They’re trusting the law. Believing that just because they are Jews and so there’s a lot of Pharisees, lawkeepers, these legalistic Judaism, they think that, hey, they’re good to go. Because after all, look who we are. We’re Jews. And therefore, they rested in the fact that the law was given to them. But there was a problem. What was the problem? They didn’t keep the law. but they didn’t see how bad they were, so they were trusting and resting in the law.

Now look in chapter 3 and verse 19. Chapter 3 and verse 19, you’ll see that they were condemned by the very law that they rested in. And verse 19, now we know that what things, however the law says, it’s safe to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, then all the world may be guilty before God. So the law condemned everyone. Now you say, well, was it referring to those that were just Jews or everybody?

Well, if it wasn’t referring to other than the Jews, then he would not have said all the world becomes guilty before God. So even though God didn’t give the law to every individual and everybody didn’t know the law, have you ever heard of a statement called ignorance of the law is no excuse and there’s a lot of people who just don’t know the law and so he says by the law is the knowledge of sin. So if you look there in verse 20 sin equals the knowledge of the law.

So in verse 20 therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So the law lets you know hey you didn’t sin. You see, you didn’t know that until you knew what the law said. Now I’m hella really responsible. So I have the law and I’ve broken the law. I’m condemned by the law. So don’t rest or trust in the law. So this is why a Christian once he has been delivered from the curse of the law, why would you place yourself back under the law?

So how do you place yourself back under the law? by placing yourself back in the old man. The old man, the flesh is under the law. The law was designed to control the flesh, not the spiritual man, not the godly man. So you see, a good man, a godly man, doesn’t need the law. It was not made for the righteous, this isn’t Timothy, it was made for the ungodly, the unrighteous man. So when you walk after the flesh, your place and yourself back under the law.

Now, is that a wise thing to do? No. So he gives us a wonderful illustration in chapter 7 that helps explain that. But what I want you to also see there in verse 21, verse 21 says that righteousness without the law. So we know that there’s people who have rested in the law, but they were condemned by the law and that there’s the knowledge of sin. And then he says, there’s righteousness without the law. You see in verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law, so there’s a righteousness within the law, but nobody could earn that.

But there is a righteousness without the law that is offered freely to every individual. And so that’s why he says in verse 22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, get this unto all and upon all them that believe, but there’s no difference. So whether you’re Jew or Gentile, no difference. It’s not just a comparison between you and somebody else. It’s a comparison between Jews and Gentiles that there’s no difference between them because he makes the same statement there in verse nine when he says, what then are we better than they?

No and no wise for we have before proved Jews and Gentiles that they are what? All under sin. So Jews and Gentile, no difference. Then those who had the law, then those who had conscience in the world and those that had the revelation, all have sinned and come short of the law. Now look in verse 28 of Romans chapter 3. In verse 28 he talks about been justified by or without the law. See there in verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

There’s an awful lot of stuff that’s been taught in the book of Romans about the law, the law, the law, the law. And then it talks about how that we’re under the curse of the law when you tie it in with the book of Galatians and it makes that statement very clearly in the chapter 2 of the book of Galatians. Then you’ll notice there when he says all of this now you’re looking chapter 6, chapter 6 and verse 2 he makes a statement.

God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? We are dead to the law, dead to the law. Now, in the book of the Galatians chapter 2 verse 19 it says that we are dead to the law. So, you know, if you’re dead to the law then you’re not under the law, you’re not bound by the law and the law can’t touch you because you’re dead. Well, you and I are supposed to understand that the old man was evidently crucified and therefore you got a new birth because this one died.

So you couldn’t get the new birth until the first one dies. So that’s why you accept his death as the death of the old man as though your sins are paid, it’s all over with, great. You come back from the dead and then he talks about you and I about the Spirit. look there in the book of 2 Corinthians, the book of 2 Corinthians and chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and look what he says in verse 6. In verse 6 says, who also made us able ministers of a new testament, a new will, new contract, not of the letter but of the spirit get this for the letter killeth reference to the law but the spirit give it life so when you were born into the world you were under the law and the law kills that’s why we all die but when you trusted

Christ is your Savior you were born by the Spirit of God and the Spirit gives what life That’s why when the law was given back there with Moses, 3000 were killed. But on the day of Pentecost when he gave the spirit, 3000 were saved. There’s a lot of difference between did in the live. And so this is the same thing he’s mentioned in here. Now look down in verse 17. Now the Lord is that spirit. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

In other words, when you have trust in Christ is your Savior, He has made you free from the law of sin and death. The new birth sets you free. So there is liberty. Now as a chalom God, you are free to serve God. Before is the lost man, you couldn’t serve God, you couldn’t please God. That’s meant in chapter 8 of the Romans that they that are in the flesh can not please God. Now as a cell of God, you can please God.”

And so he says here in verse 18, but we all, with open face beholden as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord, from the glory of the law where Moses had to veil his face when he came down from the mountain, which is mentioned up there in verse 7, that there was glory because of the law. But how much more glorious is the Holy Spirit?

And so you’re changed from the glory of the law to the glory of the Holy Spirit. One was death, the other one is life. because now you have been given this new birth, this new life, this new man back to the book of Romans in chapter 6. Now, look in Romans in chapter 6, notice what he says in verse 7, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.

Even so we also, and you’re on the line this word, should, should. A lot of things we should do. Don’t have to, but you should. Should walk in, what’s those next three words? Nuness of life. So is it the will of God, his children, who have been given this new birth, this new man, and the old man, as far as God is concerned, died because Christ died for us. So we were crucified with Christ, yet we live. And the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

So then he says here, walk in newness of life. Walk as a new man. Walk as a child of God. Now look over there in chapter 7. Chapter 7 you’ll notice in verse 6 where it makes statement. But now we are delivered from the law delivered from the law. How? By death. You died. So the law can’t touch you. The law can’t condemn you ever again. But now we are delivered from the law that being dead. We’re in, we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit.

You ought to underline that in newness of spirit. Because now God expects you and I to walk in newness of life by the Holy Spirit that lives within us. And so the Holy Spirit lives in the new man to teach us his word so that he can lead and guide us. Because see we want all things new. Now you’ll see that in 2 Corinthians in chapter 5 verse 17 we said if any man be in Christ all things are passed away.

Why? Because the old man died. Behold all things become new. That’s the new birth. You used to have, you see, you were a child of the flesh going to hell, child of the devil. Now you are a child of God, well the new birth going to heaven. It’s a totally new different condition that you have. Therefore he says, because he did this for us, the love of Christ should constrain or motivate us, because we He does judge, you think like this, that if one died for all, then all were dead.

Then they which live, those who do believe, should not henceforth now one live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them. So He died for us to give us this new life. When does our new life begin? When we leave here and we get to heaven, then God gives us eternal life, right? When does He give it to you? And the new trusted Christ is your Savior, you were given eternal life. That’s when you became a child of God.

So when do you think God would want you to begin walking and newness of life tomorrow? That never comes. It’s now. You’re supposed to learn how to think differently. Choose differently. Walk differently. Act differently. Why? Because you are different. You’re not the same person you used to be. Now you may act like that old man for the rest of your life, but you did that on purpose. You could have made a choice. You can walk in the spirit or follow after the flesh.

So he gives us a beautiful illustration of what God wants us to do. So go there to chapter seven and notice the illustration that he gives us here. He makes a statement. Now this is to those who knew the law. There’s a lot of things God says to those who knew the law. And if you follow that, are you gonna be so glad you’re not under the law? You’re gonna be so glad that you are not of Israel living back in certain times because, buddy, you could die quickly.

I mean, very quickly. They could stone you to death. Children could be stoned to death by their parents. You know, they kept a lot of kids from being disobedient. I guess it was scary in half the death. But now there’s several things that I want you to see because of this word law and those that are under the law. It’s not just an illustration on marriage. It’s more than meets the eye here. This is talking about an illustration about the Christian life and you need to see that.

So hold your place right here and look with me in a few verses. Look in the book of Acts in chapter 6, the book of Acts in chapter 6. Remember, when Christ was here, they did their best, the Pharisees, trying to trap Jesus Christ. And they tried to get him to, well, oppose the teaching of Moses. They would bring up things about the law, trying to trap him, seeing if they could get him to say something, and they’d hold him to his word and trap him in his words, you know.

But Jesus knew their thoughts and he knows the book. He wrote it. So they couldn’t trap him. That was so foolish, but they did it anyway. And now you have a young man that’s preaching and it may be his only sermon. Well, we know it was his last sermon. But notice what he says in verse 51 of the book of Acts in chapter 7, he makes his statement. Now I’m going to go over to another one. Go over Verse 8 of chapter 6.

First mistake I’ve ever made. Verse 8 of chapter 6 where he says, and Stephen, full of faith, power did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue. So if it’s a synagogue, you know that you’ve got to mess with the Pharisees, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and the Cyrenians and Alexandrians and of them of Cidylicia, an invasion, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spanked.

Then they sworn men which said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. So this is what they worked on. They tried to do this with Christ, but Christ was able to manipulate out of their midst and so on and they wanted to stone him at time and push them over a cliff at times. But he was always able. Now, Stephen, he just stood there and stoned him to death. But notice they stirred up the people and the elders and describes and came upon him, caught him, brought him to the council and he says he’s trying to destroy say and blasphemous things against this holy place and against the law.

So there were those who knew the law and the ones that knew the law was supposed to be the Pharisees, the Sadducee. They’re supposed to describe they know the law. Well they didn’t always do what the law says. So look there in the book of Matthew in chapter 5. Matthew and chapter 5, because this is the subject that comes up in the book of Romans chapter 7 and by the, I believe, the Apostle Paul making the statement there because it was something to help us understand the thing about the Christian life.

You say, what’s that got to do with the Christian life? You’ll said just a minute. See there in Matthew in chapter 5, you look there in verse 31. Now he already had said, up in verse say 27 of chapter 5, you have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I send you, the whosoever looked upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. How many people do you think that condemned?

It’s not looking too good, is it? Well see, some people were using the law to show how righteous they were, how good they were. And that’s why he says in verse 20, he says, but I send to you that, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes of the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. And then he says, you have heard, you have heard, you have heard, and then he makes a little bit tighter, going beyond what the law said.

He was going to the spirit of the law, and that they had never entered into. And so nobody knows what a man’s thinking. Okay, most men are the same, most women are the same in how you’re thinking about life. He’s just made choices, good, some, bad others. So he made the statement here that you’ve already committed it just the last. So a lot of people have stolen, though they may not have stole any particular item, but you still stole.

You can hate somebody and hate somebody. He says this was like murder. And thou shalt not covet. Anybody here never coveted? So who has not broken the law? All of us have broken the law. So he goes down here in verse 31 and says, it hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorcement. But I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, save him for the cause of fornication, cause of her to commit adultery.

And whosoever shall marry her that his divorce committed adultery. Now he’s dealing with Pharisees, lawkeepers, and explaining you’re not as holy as you think. And buddy, I believe he made a lot of people very angry and very mad because they were trying to use Moses law and the bill of divorce can a man divorce his wife for anything or any reason. So he had gotten to the place where it didn’t matter what the cause was, whatever cause. Now we even have no cause divorce, no cause, you know, car insurance.

It doesn’t matter who did it, you covered. No fault, they call it, no fault. It’s nobody’s fault. Everything can happen, nobody’s fault. But if I don’t do away with responsibility, but anyway, so he goes down to here and he hits all all these issues, but he using the law, they’ll tell him this is the way it was. So he’s not attacking Moses, but people who are supposed to know the law. Now… Look there in chapter 19 of the book of Matthew.

We’re not going to cover everything about this stuff, but just to give you an idea of what he’s talking about. So when we go over there, you’ll really understand it. You’ll see it very, very clearly. In chapter 19, you’ll notice in verse 3, the Pharisees, might have known that’s who it was, the Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, saying unto him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife forever? cause. Now if they knew the law they should have already known the answer to that.

They’re trying to find some way to get against him, to turn to people against him because he’s defying the law of Moses. So how’s Jesus going to get out of this? He’s trapped. He’s trapped the poor man. They outsmarted him. So he says, have you not read that in the beginning it was not like that. See there in verse 4, he says, have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and transvestites and all the rest of it?

Now the Bible says he only made male and female. Now that’s the only kind of people there are. You see what about the transvestite? There are no such things. They don’t exist. You’re either a male or a female. Duh, you’re one of the you’re a male or a female. I can get sidetracked here because buddy isn’t in a hot issue today and nobody knows what to do with all these kids that want to go to the wrong bathroom. It is ridiculous.

But anyway he says in verse 5, and said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, father and mother, not father and father, not mother and mother, but father and mother. That must mean that a family is supposed to exist because of a mother and a father and shall cleave to his wife. Usually a wife refers to a female. But of course they change in everything these days. And they too shall be one flesh. In other words, these two shall be one flesh, they can make a child.

Two becomes one. But anyway, it’s more than that. But he says, Wherefore they that are no more to but one place, what therefore God have joined together, God joined together, that let not man put us under. That means that no man in no court, no law was supposed to divide it because this was recognized by God. So he says that verse 7, they said unto him, why did Moses then command to give a writing of the He said in the then, be Moses because of the hardness of your heart, because of sin, your hard heart.

You will not make it work. You will not do. You will not forgive. There’s reasons, but then he goes on further and he says, but from the beginning it was not so. Now what did Jesus say that was wrong? What did he say that was wrong? They couldn’t nail him They couldn’t nail him because he quoted the scriptures. He wrote them. He know what it was like. He said what to do. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr.

Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of The Gospel Driven Man.

The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address. And God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4081 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.