1) The law, including the Law of Moses, only has power over people while they are alive and can no longer punish or bind those who have died. 2) Under the law, a woman was bound to her husband while he was alive, but if he died she was free to remarry without being considered an adulteress. 3) Before Christ, people were bound to the law of sin and death, but through Christ's sacrifice we are now set free from that law and bound to Christ as his bride.

1. God's Idea of a Good Time Gospel Baptist Tabernacle 7 P.M. January 7 www.rossvillechurch.com www.blainemowman.com

2. Romans 7 1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? The Law of Moses, but indeed, any law, only has power over a man while he is alive. If a murderer is killed during his arrest, He is not tried in a court of law. He can not be punished on this earth.

3. 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. Self-evident Truth. No society considers a woman as bound to a dead husband.

4. 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, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Unfortunately, our society thinks that man can declare people free from the bonds of marriage. They can be divorced and remarry as often as they wish.

5. While there are Biblical grounds for divorce, it should never be considered an easy choice . People often trade one set of problems for another. Emotional problems Financial problems Problems with the children This is not the topic of today's lesson, but if you are considering divorce , Talk to someone who believes the Bible is the Word of God and the source of absolute Truth .

6. But, let's apply this principle to Christian living. Before Jesus came and died for mankind, shedding His Blood for the remission of sins, Men were bound to the Law of sin and death. But, since Jesus, we are set free from that Law, and have become the bride of Jesus Christ.

7. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Thank God, we are no longer bound to the Law attempting to keep it in our own strength. We are the bride of Christ, the church. We live in Him and He in us. In Him we bring forth fruit unto God.

8. Galatians 5 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Only as the Holy Spirit produces this fruit in us can we bring it forth in our lives unto God. Let's fully submit to the Lord that He may plant within us fruit unto God .

9. 5-6 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now 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 letter. We serve God as we submit to His Holy Spirit, allowing Him to enable and empower us. Trying to keep the letter of the law in the power of the flesh is futile .

10. If a person did all that the Law commands, his motivation would have to come from his heart, it would have to be his heart's desire , before God would honor it and count it righteousness . That's why we must be born anew , born of God's Holy Spirit, to bear fruit unto God . We receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

11. We must serve in newness of the Spirit, not in oldness of the letter. 6b Jesus taught so much that it is the spirit of the Law that matters most , not the letter. Matthew 23 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

12. Matthew 23 25-26 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Matthew 5 21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: …

13. Matthew 23 27-28 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Do you see how that righteousness is of the spirit and not of the flesh? Rule-keeping will never make us righteous.

14. 7 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, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Even though outwardly keeping the Law can never save us and make us righteous, The Law is good. It reveals unto us our sinfulness and our need for a Savior.

15. Galatians 3 24 Wherefore the law was our school-master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Only extreme human pride can cause a person to believe that he perfectly keeps the Law from his heart , and therefore doesn't need a Savior.

16. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the Commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (longing or lust) . For without the law sin was dead. Often we don't even want something until told we can't have it. That fact alone reveals our ungodly human nature. Forbidden fruit seems the sweetest.

17. But we still need to be taught right from wrong. Only through the knowledge of right and wrong can people realize and acknowledge Our need for a Savior.

18. When we come to God through Jesus Christ, acknowledging our sinfulness, and asking God to save us from sin and from hell -- Jesus died on a Roman cross, shedding His Blood to take away our sins. It was not for nothing .