Well, shalom everyone. God bless you. Welcome to the Bible classes of the Holy Scriptures in Israel. We are blessed to be able to be together under the sound of the Word. And we are thankful for the Lord's grace to help us to learn from His Word, to seek to grow in appreciation of the person of our Lord, Yeshua. Jesus the Messiah who loved us and gave himself for us. We want to welcome you. Hopefully you have your Bible with you. And we are going now into Romans chapter 7. We have begun with verse 2 today to verse 13. This is the second meeting on Romans chapter 7. So our God and our Father, we ask your blessing upon us as we begin with the reading of Romans chapter 7 in the first 13.

Bless us and help us to understand your word, we pray, for we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Amen. Amen. So, my dear friends, please turn with me, dear brothers and sisters, to Romans chapter 7. We have covered in our previous meeting together the first verse, really. We really began with some introduction into this seventh chapter, which is not an easy chapter to grasp and to understand. Understand, but yet it is a very, very, very important chapter because in this seventh chapter, the apostle Paul really helps us to understand the purpose of the law and what really the law is and how it relates to the believers.

In our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who are already justified by faith, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So let me read Romans chapter 7. We will continue for verse 2, but just for the connection, I'll read verse 1 as well. Please follow me, verses 1 to 13. Law how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives for the woman which has an husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband so then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man she shall be called an adult But if her husband be dead, she is free from the law that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, Mashiach, that ye should be married to another, even to him, who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were in and by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. We were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known lust or coveting, except the law had said thou shalt not covet.

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of desires. For without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And a commandment which were ordained to life, I found, to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, the commandments holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. Sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful or exceeding sinful and i will stop here dear brothers and sisters in these 13 verse of Roman chapter 7.

I've already mentioned that more than once that it's not easy to understand the Spirit of God will have to help us this seventh chapter of the book of Romans to remind you that the theme of the book of Romans according to Romans chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 is the righteousness of God you remember Shaul Paul said to the Romans for i'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ Mashiach, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also unto the Greek. For therein, in verse 17 of Romans chapter 1, for therein, in this gospel, in this body of truth, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith unto faith as it is written, quoting Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith.

Of Roman is the righteousness of God in other words Paul is not ashamed and you and i are not to be ashamed in the gospel of the of the Lord Jesus Christ for it is God's power God's dynamite it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe when we believe the gospel of Christ the gospel of the Messiah who died for us who was buried for us who was raised for our justification this is the ground upon which God can forgive us sinners that is Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 and 17 that word tzedakah is mentioned about 30 times the word righteousness in the book of Romans and that word in God's word in its totality Genesis 15, 6 to Revelation 19, 11, that word righteousness mentioned over 300 times.

God wants to attribute righteousness to a sinner, but he can only do so on the basis of the sacrifice of the bloodshed. The animals pointed to the coming Christ, to the coming Messiah. When he came, once and for all, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Righteousness for those that believe. According to the study that we have done already righteousness is achieved not by keeping law or by keeping any of the law but simply by grace through faith in the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. We have already settled it according to Romans chapter 3 if you remember verse 21 and verse 22 and this is important to remember in that passage Romans 3 verse 21 and 22 where we read listen to this we read in Romans 3 verse 21 and 22 but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference so that's we have also covered up to now beloved brothers and sisters.

Justification is due to declare one righteous it is an act of God whereby he declared a sinner who believe in the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah righteous and that is what we have learned up to now so now as we arrive to chapter 7 where we are just about ready to to get a little bit in and I'm to say and there's so much to be said to reminder that the Jewish people remember that he began in Romans 7 and verse 1 he says know ye not brethren for i speak to them that know the law how that the law has dominion of a man as long as he live as notice he said i speak to them that know the law and he specifically initially though he speak to all the believers.

Us at Rome. Though he speaks to all of us, but he specifically wants to emphasize that those who know the law and those who knew the law, these are the Jewish people to whom the law was given, they knew the law because God had given this to the people of Israel. They were under the law. So the Jewish people who did not accept the message of the gospel, do say to Paul and to others who believe that Jesus is the Lord, is the Savior. Jesus is the Savior of sinners and that he fulfilled the law and that we are saved no longer. We are not saved.

We were never saved by the law, but we are not under the law anymore. So the Jewish people say, well, if you say that we are no longer under the law, what are you saying to believers? What you are doing, you are leading them to live a loose life and live in sin. Because we are under grace, we are not under law. Well, Paul dealt with it. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. In other words, Paul is seeking to cause the believers to understand that justification by faith, what it should do, it should produce holiness in the life of God's people, not the opposite.

Anyone would think for a moment, well, I am saved by grace, and therefore I can continue in sin that grace may abound. Romans chapter 6 and verse 1, Paul says, God forbid. As he says, well, what then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law and we are under grace? Paul continues and he answers, God forbid. No, no, no, no, no, in Romans 6.1, Romans 6.15. So now as he's entering into chapter 7, He wants us to understand the purpose of the law in the lives of God's people today. Does that mean that we are lawless now because we are living under grace? Of course not. Because we are under grace, does that mean that God gave the law for nothing to Israel and that God's law is no good?

Of course not. Holy and righteous. In fact, David said, Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day long. In a previous meeting, we read together from Psalm 119 and from Psalm 19, and we did read the preciousness of the law of God as it is written in the Hebrew Scriptures. God did not give a bad law, a sinful law to his people. You remember what the psalmist said in Psalm 19, he said, the law of the Lord is perfect. It's converting the soul. The law of the Lord and the testimony of the Lord is sure. It is making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandments of the Lord are pure, is enlightening the eye. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgment of the Lord are true and righteous. Altogether more to be desired are they than gold yeah than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb this is Psalm 19 verses 7 to verse 9 oh the law is perfect but how do we as believers are relating to the law now that we have been justified by faith by grace through faith in the person of the Lord Jesus. Well, that's what Paul is seeking to communicate in Romans chapter 7. Let me also remind you with another thing.

According to the spiritual leaders of Israel, the law from Genesis to Deuteronomy has 613 commandments. 248 of the commandments is what to do. Positive. And 365 of these commandments are what not to do. Negative. Thou shalt? 248. Thou shalt not? 365. But what the apostles teach us, that these commandments and laws could have never delivered Israel from sin. Right direction it helped the people of Israel in their ceremonial social and moral life but it did not deliver the people of Israel from the curse of the law when the law was violated you see we quoted it and I have to quote it once again in Deuteronomy chapter 27 and verse 26 we do read he that confirm or uphold not all the words of this law to do to do them and all the people shall say Amen this is the word of the law to Israel through Moses in other words you you are cursed if you are not fulfilling if you're not upholding notice the word all the words of the law to do them in fact beloved brothers and sisters if you If you read with me in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verses 15 to 22, look what God said to Israel if they will not submit to his law.

Deuteronomy 28 and verse 15, God said, The word for curse is klala. Klalot is a plural. Lekalel means to curse. And so he says in verse 16. The fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kin and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou cometh in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou going out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, for to do until thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doing whereby thou hast forsaken me. In other words, God has expected his people, Israel, to follow the law. And what happened is that he promised that when someone violates the law, they are cursed.

You and I are the same. We are not different. And because Israel could not, beloved brothers and sisters, fulfill the complete law of God because of their sin nature, and neither will you and I could ever, that's why the blood had to be shed to make atonement, to forgive sin temporarily until Yeshua HaMashiach, the Lord Jesus the Messiah, came in the fullness of the times and put away sin once and for all by the blood of His cross. And that's why, beloved brothers and sisters, as we are studying together this very, very interesting portion of the Word of God, listen to what Paul said in Galatians chapter 3.

Listen to what Paul said. Galatians 3 and verse 10, Paul said to the Galatian believers, he said, life even as believers as many as of the work of the Lord they are under the curse. Because we just read in Deuteronomy 26:27 Deuteronomy 27:26 and Deuteronomy 28 that those that do not fulfill and upheld all the law in its totality are cursed. We are all cursed by nature because of our sin nature and because God is holy and his law is holy, he must judge sin. And he did judge sin in the person of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. And when the Lord Jesus the Messiah died, and you and I believed on him, the curse he took on our behalf.

That's why Paul said in Romans. 6 if you remember God forbid how shall we that are dead or have died to sin when Jesus died you and I died when we believed on him how can we any longer live in it so in Galatians 3 and verse 10 Paul said to the Galatians for as many of the work of the law they are under the curse for it is written and he's quoting beloved brothers and sisters Deuteronomy chapter 27 and verse 26 where it says cursed is everyone not only all in general, but everyone that continues not in all the things that are written in the book of the law to do them.

And he continues in verse 11, he says, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God as it is written. You see, that's what Paul is seeking to explain to the Romans believers and to you and I. Became believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah that we will understand the purpose of the law in the life of God's people today as well because see Romans 7 verse 1 began by saying know ye not brethren for I speak unto them that know the law how that the law has dominion over man as long that he liveth in other words as long that we are alive in the flesh that is, before we became believers, specifically in relationship to the Jewish people, because they failed, they could not fulfill all the laws, so they are under the curse.

And all mankind is under the curse. Because God's law is holy, man is sinful, God demands justice, God demands perfection, short of the glory of God and therefore we are all by nature under curse. But now that we have accepted the Lord Jesus the Messiah as our Lord and our Savior we are to understand what is the authority of the law over the believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Now just to mention also beloved brothers and sisters that. Paul now is seeking to help the believers to understand what the Lord cannot do and what the law cannot do and what the law can do.

And that's why you notice in Romans chapter 7, you will notice in our passage here, according to Romans chapter 7, in verses 1 to 13, there are two points that he's mentioned. Today Romans 7 verses 1 to 13 what is the authority of the law over God's people today in verses 1 to 6 and what is the ministry of the law in the life of God's people according to verses 7 to 13 and then later on in verses 14 to 25 he will show what the law cannot do in our life the law can never cause us to live a perfect life because every time by nature we're trying to live in the power of the flesh to live a life that is fruitful for the Lord we cannot do so unless we are not doing it in our strength unless we are looking at Jesus at the Lord Jesus the Messiah and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Life for God as we are following here in this world so let's go now notice what he said in verses 1 2 and 3 the apostle Paul uses using an illustration Romans 7 verses 1 2 and 3 the apostle Paul is using an illustration of a husband and a wife in order to show us that the believer have a new relationship to the law because of his union with the Lord Jesus Christ with the Lord the Messiah now again to remind you these verses are not to be used in relationship it doesn't speak about marriage here but he uses here an illustration of a husband and wife relationship when it comes to marriage there are other passages that we have in Scripture that deal with it but he's using an illustration so he says in verse 1 believers should know that the law have dominion over a man.

Over people as long that as it says here in Romans 7 and verse 1 it says that the law has dominion over men as long that he lives so what happened when we became believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah we really died with him we are no longer live but our life the life that we live today we live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Galatians 2:20 so the believers need to understand that the law has dominion and in other words the law has no longer dominion over me because I died in Christ in a Messiah. Speak to them that know the law so it's more problematic for Jewish believers and we know that in our own life because the law was such an important part of the life of Israel Torah Moshe the law of Moses the law that God uses Moshe to give to the people of Israel the holy law of God is part of the life of the people of Israel and now in the early days when the Jewish believers know Christ the Messiah and they now identify with him they still have that issue of what should we keep the law at the same time and how do we relate to the law and so understanding that the law if we don't keep the whole law we are cursed and that Christ the Messiah became cursed for us we all need to understand that as long.

Is a lie that we are alive, the law has dominion, a ruling over us. But now because we have died in Christ, Galatians 6 and verse 2, knowing, notice, how shall we who have died to sin shall live any longer therein, knowing not that so many of us that were baptized, put into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. With him. In other words, we belong to him. We have a different relationship. He is now the one that is our Lord and our master, and he is the one who has dominion over the believers. That's what Paul is trying to explain. Notice in verse 2 and in verse 3, Paul continues and he says, just like God's law, so is a husband's law.

You know, in marriage relationship, there is especially, I don't know if you have ever been in a Jewish wedding, but you have the ketuva, the ketuva, the ketuva is the writing, is a form that is written there and the husband has to sign it. And that is a ketuva, it's called in Hebrew, ketuva means writings that you make a commitment to your wife and your wife belongs to you. Here in verse 2 for the woman which have a husband she's bound to bound by the law to and of her husband so long that he's alive and you know that's why when when we officiate a wedding you remember this expression until death do us part might say that marriage because the husband has died or the wife have died and therefore what happens is as long that the husband is alive his law the law of the husband is really is upon that woman so the woman which has a husband is bound by the law to her or to their husband so long that he is alive, as he lived.

But if, notice the same verse 2b, if the husband be dead, she's loosed from the law of the husband. So when the husband, if, should the husband died, she's no longer under the law of that husband, under the ketubah of her husband, because now that he died. Is that she's no longer she's loosed she's free to marry someone else if that what God is leading here and so he's leading now in verse 3 he is saying now a wife in a marriage union and he making again making an illustration he doesn't teach here now marriage and all that which we sometimes put into it we have to just somehow in the context this in mind he doesn't speak about wedding and marriages here so much although he's using it as an illustration and so in verse 3 a wife cannot be married to another husband while her husband is still alive you see it says in verse 3 so then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband be dead.

This is the law of her husband, so that she is no adulteress, though she married to another man. You see, this is a very interesting illustration. Now, you see, when God made a covenant with Israel, with the nation of Israel, we call it Mount Sinai covenant, the law covenant, the law was a covenant. Mount Sinai, Torah Moshe was a covenant between God as the husband Israel and Israel as a wife of Jehovah and Israel really violated the law that her husband that the Lord gave to the nation of Israel remember we read it in Jeremiah chapter 31 where the Lord says he says I will make for you with a new and new covenant verse 32 of Jeremiah 31 not according to the covenant that I made with their father in the day when I took them by the.

To bring them out from the land of Egypt which covenant they broke they break they broke it although I was a husband unto them says the Lord this is Jeremiah 31 and verse 32 Israel broke the law that God the commandment that God had given to the people of Israel they brought the covenant so what happened is because they could not upheld all the law and when they did not upheld they could turn to the Lord in confession and they receive forgiveness on the basis of the blood atonement and they had to repeat it again and again and again because sacrifices were offered every day every morning and evening every day every week every Shabbat day every month every year the day of atonement so they were forgiven those that came to the.

Lord on the basis of the blood atonement, but they were cursed every time because they violated the law. And so what happened when any one of us have turned to the Lord Jesus who became a curse for us, who were judged for us, not for his own sin, but for our sins, we died when he died and therefore we died to the law. Now again, we have to understand, there's no problem with the law. The law is holy. But the law can no longer curse the believer because Christ took the curse on our behalf. And therefore, we are free from that relationship. Now again, we are free now, not to do our own thing, but to live in our relationship.

With the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. That's why, beloved brothers and sisters, in verses 1, 2, and 3 of Romans chapter 7, the apostle Shaul Paul uses an illustration of a husband and wife in order to show the believers that the believers have a new relationship to the law. Why? Because of our union, the believers' union, with the person of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. So the believers need to know that the law has no longer dominion over him or her because they are having a different relationship now. We are not under the law. We are under the grace of God. You remember we did read this in Romans 6 and verse 14.

In the middle, for ye are not under the law. Because if we would have been under the law, we would have been cursed because we are sinners and God's law is holy. But we are under grace. Why? Because the Messiah bore the curse that we deserve. He has extended His forgiveness for us. When we believed on Him, we have received His chesed, His grace. And therefore, all that we deserve to receive, all the curses we deserve to receive because of our sin nature and because we fail to fulfill, to upheld the law, we are now forgiven because Christ, the Mashiach, has bore our sins in his own body on the tree and we are no longer under law, we are under the grace of God.

The law is still upheld, but it is upheld by the Messiah himself. And therefore, the illustration is very important. Like God's law, so is a husband's law. A wife cannot be married to another when her husband is still alive. And therefore, when we die to the law in Christ, we are married to another. We belong to another. Now, it's hard to grasp. And it's hard to understand. Be hard to even kind of put together beloved brothers and sisters we really need the Lord's help to grasp it but it is important to understand it the law can no longer curse us and judge us not because we don't deserve it but because Christ the Messiah paid for these sins and all the curses that should fall upon us fed upon him the sinless one the undefiled the Mashiach We can praise him.

We can thank him for what he has done for us sinners who deserve to be punished by a holy and a righteous God. Amazing grace. Paul continues now, beloved brothers and sisters, in verses 4 and 5. To the law we died in Christ notice he says in verse 4 we died to the law which condemned us when we trusted in the Messiah in Christ he says in verse 4 wherefore my brethren that is so beautiful because this would be the third time that he used the word achim brethren he used it in chapter 1 and verse 13 he used it in chapter 7 and verse 4 and now you i'm sorry in chapter 7 verse 1 and now he's using it a third time in chapter 7 and verse 4 brethren brethren achim every believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah Jewish and Gentile the like are brethren achim brothers and sisters in the Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah were part of the ecclesia of the called out ones and so he's telling them in verse Notice what he said.

This is very important. Say that the law died, but he said that we died. Notice that? Why? Because the law is alive. The law is holy. The law is just. The law of the Lord is perfect. The law never dies because God's law is His law. And because God is holy. He changes not. His laws do not change. But we died. The believers died in Christ, in the Messiah. In other words, the moment we have accepted the finished work of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, we died with Him who died. Our behalf some two thousand years ago that's the promised Messiah that Isaiah said all we like sheep have gone astray Isaiah 53 6 we have turned everyone to his own way but the Lord laid upon him the Mashiach the iniquities of us all this is the Messiah the Messiah who according to David in Psalm 22 he says Why have thou forsaken me?

He was forsaken. Again, the Mashiach, the Messiah, Christ, Christos, the Anointed One. He was judged. And he fulfilled it according to Matthew chapter 27 where he there was raised, lifted up between heaven and earth, all that Roman shameful Roman cross where there was a sign says the king of the Jews and he was crucified for your sins and for mine and that's why Paul said in verse 4 wherefore my brethren ye also are dead not the law is dead but you are dead you are also became dead to the. Law by the body of Christ that you should be married to another even to him notice to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God notice then the resurrection is essential because it does say in Romans 4 and verse 25 who was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification you see the resurrection of the Messiah the death and the burial resurrection this is the gospel the gospel is the Messiah Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture he was buried and he rose again on the third day according to the Hebrew Scriptures to the Scriptures it's not an afterthought it was in a plan of God it was written in the word of God it was predicted by the prophet of Israel and it was fulfilled.

In the fullness of the time when he came down to this world and he became the Redeemer and therefore the law that cursed us is no longer we are no longer cursed because he bore our sins wherefore my brethren you ye also known as are become dead but to the Lord by known as by the body when the Lord Jesus body when Yeshua's body was hanging there on that shameful cross, he bore our sins in his body on the tree. That he should be married to another, to another, even to him who raised him from the dead. But now, beloved brothers and sisters, why? In order that we will bring forth fruit unto God.

In other words, God wants us, you and I, beloved brothers and sisters, and all his own people who are dead to. Who died with the Messiah to the Lord. He wants us to bring fruit for God. Fruit for God. You see, when we will be taken to heaven, there will no longer be an opportunity to bring fruit for God because that's it. In heaven, we will have no longer the sin nature. We will no longer be here in this world. Him and like him and live with him and enjoy eternity but we will no longer have this a challenge to bring fruit for God as the Lord have allowed us to have to walk here in this world that's why he says walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh that's the struggle that we have notice what he continued to say here in verse 5 because in verses 4 and 5 Paul speaks of the fact that we have to the law that the believers in Jesus the Messiah because of the Messiah we've died to the law he said before we trusted in Christ in the Messiah the law you see when we were in the flesh the law was when we were in a re you might say unregenerated state we notice what he said and i just read the verse in verse five for when we were in the flesh.

The motion or the sinful desires, the motion of sins which were by the Lord did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Now, what does he say? What does he mean when he says in verse 5, for when we were in the flesh? In other words, that means before we became believers, when we were in our unregenerated, state so he said before we for when we were in the flesh when we were in our unregenerated state before we became believers the motion the the motion of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death now it's very interesting You see, what he's really saying is simply this.

The law of God, these 613 commandments, 248 and 365, 613 commandments found in the law that God had given to the people of Israel, what the Lord does or what he do when he demanded from Israel, thou shall do, thou shall do, thou shall do, or thou shall not do. Thou shalt not. The people of Israel violated this law. So what it did, notice that it says here, I'm reading verse 5, when we were in the flesh, the motion, and that word, the motion of sin simply means the sinful's desires were at work. For example, a sign is on the grass says, thou shalt not step on the grass. If that sign was not there I could step on the grass many times and I didn't violate any law because it didn't say thou shall not step on the grass but when the sign came and I'd step on it I violated the law.

If the highway has a law to drive 100 kilometers an hour and for some reason we managed to always violate God's will. Have a desire to go beyond, to kind of, you might say, overdo it. Go beyond it. Have my own way. But there are some countries that you don't have these signs on the highway. And you can just drive as you please. You don't violate the law. Because there's no signs. What's the speed limit? And we can just go on in every area of life. So what he's saying here in verse 5, beloved brothers and sisters, in verses 4 and 5, Paul, speaking of the fact that we have died to the law when we became believers in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, we died with him, we died in him, and therefore, as we have in verse 4 and verse 5, he is now verse 5, when we were in the flesh, before we became believers in an unregenerated state, Sinful desires were at work because we didn't have the Holy Spirit of God in us.

We were not born of the Spirit. We did not belong to God. We had no hope in this world, as Ephesians tells us in chapter 2 about the nations of the world, without God, without Christ, without any hope, without the covenant, having no God and without hope here in this world. Now notice that which were by the law and then he says did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. In other words the motivation and the dynamic of our lives does not come from law but from the desire of our hearts. In other words the law shows us the desires of our hearts.

As we're moving along here in this passage. So God's law and God's rules, God's law demand perfection, demand holiness. But when we were in a state before we became believers, we did not have the Holy Spirit of God within us. We were not born of the Spirit of God. So our sinful desire, not that we don't have it now, we still have this old nature within us now, but we also have a new nature, a divine nature now, as the Apostle Paul has emphasized this already in Romans chapter 6. So what we really learn here, beloved brothers and sisters, for when we were in the flesh, that word in the flesh is in our unregenerated state.

He doesn't speak about the flesh, the skin that is upon the bones. He speaks about the old nature. When we were in the unregenerated state, the motion, the sinful desire, you know, the motion is what you have the desires in your heart. The motion, the desire that were to sin was at work, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. It is so amazing because sometimes we think that by the law is the knowledge of purity, but really by the law is the knowledge of sin. Because the law is like a mirror before us. And when you look at a mirror, you see all the wrinkles that you have.

You see all that which is not right. The loss of hair, the age that one is growing to become older and weaker and so on. And that is exactly what the law does. Brothers and sisters shows us that we are failing. We just don't reach up to God's holy requirement. And it calls us to turn to God and say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I need your help. I cannot do it on my own. And we turn to the Lord. And that's what happened when we have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Lord and as our Savior. Let me turn a verse to 1 Corinthians.

Chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 14. Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. This is speaking about when we were, notice then, when we were in the flesh, in our old nature. 1 Corinthians 2:14 "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." This is the condition that we were by nature chapter 3 and verse 4 it says this for while for while one says in chapter 3 and verse 4 while once i'm of Paul and another i'm of apollos he says are ye not carnal this is still the flesh in the believer now the flesh is carnal The flesh is seeking his own will.

The flesh lusts us against the Spirit, Galatians 5. The flesh is against the will of God. And therefore he says to the Roman brothers and sisters in verses 4 and 5, he speaks to the fact that we now died. That is how we understand the relationship of the law to us as believers now. With Messiah. And therefore the law can no longer curse us because the judgment fell on Christ. The law didn't change. The law is alive, but we have died. Sometimes we don't understand it, but that is the truth of the Word of God. Notice verse 6 now. Let's at least touch verse 6. 7 verse 6 we are now as believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah we have been delivered from the law again we have been delivered from the curse that we deserve because of the holiness of the law and the sinfulness of our flesh so in Romans chapter 7 verse 6 he said but now now when now that we have accepted the Lord Jesus now that we become we are Belonging to him, verse 6 says, we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the little.

You see what he's really saying, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 6, that we have been delivered from the law. Not have authority over a dead person. Remember we made the illustration if somebody committed a crime in any country and he's awaiting the day that he will stand before the judge to be judged and cast into prison. Well, the day of judgment, the day of the court, the session will come. Happened if that person died. There's no need any longer to bring that person to stand before the judge because he's dead. And then what happened to the believers in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, because we died through and in Christ in the Messiah.

He died on our behalf and we have received the grace and forgiveness. He took the punishment for us and we are forgiven because of him. We really died with him and the Lord therefore as it says in verse 6 now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit you remember that expression newness of spirit in chapter 6 and verse 4 we read therefore we are buried with him by baptism this is a not water baptism but this is buried with him we are You notice? Newness of life in Galatians in Romans 6 verse 4. Newness of spirit in Romans 7 and verse 6.

In other words, we are living in newness of life. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit. Spirit of God as we are occupied with Christ, with the Messiah, the risen and exalted Redeemer. So, God's Word is written now in our hearts, not on stones. The law of Christ, the law of the Messiah is written now in our hearts and no longer on stones as it was given to the people of Israel. Quickly to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3. 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 in verses 1 to 3. We do read in verse 1 to 3, do we begin to commend ourselves or need we some other epistles of commendation to you, Paul said to the Corinthian?

Or letters, do we need letter of commendation from you, he's saying to the who were away from the Lord, who were not treating the Apostle Paul right. He's saying to them, verse 2, the living God not in table of stones but in the fleshly table of the hearts in other words when the law was given to Israel Moses came down from the mountain and the law that was the first ten at least were written on the table of stone we call it in Hebrew the ten commandments it was written on stone by the finger of God but what happened to us beloved brothers. And sisters now that the Mashiach have come because the law was until the time when the Messiah will come when he came the law that was written on table of stones and now because of the the finished work of the Messiah now everyone that trusts in him the law is no longer written on a stone but it is written in our hearts being born again of the Spirit of God So Paul is saying that God's law, God's word is written now in our hearts.

Very beautiful here as we read here in this verse 6. He says, and I'm going to have to stop here with these beloved brothers and sisters, this verse 6. We were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. You see, the oldness of the letter is outside. It's written on a stone or by letter, and it is an external. Here's the law. You should seek to obey it. But now that the law of God is written in the heart of God's people, and because the Holy Spirit of God now indwelled in every true believer, now the believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah now can serve and bring fruit for God in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Newness of spirit is not only in the power of the Spirit of God, but with a completely different attitude and the right spirit and the right attitude, the right manner because of the fact that the word of the Lord, the law of the Lord is written in our heart. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, in verses 1 to 6 of Romans chapter 7. Authority of the law over the believer today what happened we died to the law the law has no more uh the law has no have any more authority over the believer because we have died that's why he said that brethren ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ when we have accepted Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, we died with Him, and the Lord can no longer condemn us and curse us because Christ, the Messiah, took upon Himself all the curse that we deserve because of our sin.

That does not mean that we are to be lawless. That does not mean that the law of God is not to be upheld but that means that because of Christ because of the Messiah the curse of the law had passed over us because Christ has taken the curse of the law that we are forgiven and therefore we are now to seek to live our lives as we are occupied with the one who is now glorified sitting at God's right hand who bore our sins who became cursed for us. And as we look at Him by faith, and as we seek the help of the Holy Spirit of God to lead us and to guide us, we are able, with the help of the Spirit, to live a life, to fulfill the law as we are led by the Spirit, not by the flesh, because the old nature is going to fall every time.

And so we thank God for His goodness, beloved brothers and sisters. We're going to stop for today in Romans 7:1-6 and in the will of the Lord we will continue in the next meetings together to read from Romans 7:7 onwards towards the end of this so interesting 7th chapter of the book of Romans. So our God and our Father thank you for your word. Bless your word to us all. Help us to understand your word. Faith that your law is alive and well and pure and holy. And thank you for helping us to understand that it is not a problem with the law, but it is us, our sin nature.

But thank you for the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who bore our sins in his body on the tree. So we give you thanks for the time together, and we ask it all, giving the praise and thanks in Yeshua's name. Amen. Amen. Well, my dear friend, we say Shalom. Until the next time, Shalom, Shalom. Bye-bye.