https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NatureOfLaw.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Romans 7:1-14<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. Laws can be irritating at times.<\/p>\n
A. Do this, don’t do that.<\/p>\n
B. Of course, we never get it right.<\/p>\n
C. Why do we need laws?<\/p>\n
II. Law defines right and wrong – Romans 7:7-13<\/p>\n
A. The law does not make things right or wrong, it simply states what exists.<\/p>\n
1. We have, in science, a law of gravity.<\/p>\n a. Now gravity existed long before someone came up with the law of\ngravity.\n b. The law of gravity defines how gravity operates, but it did not\ncreate gravity.\n 2. Murder is wrong. The law only explained that murder is a sin. The law did\nnot make murder into a sin.\n
3. This is why God’s law is called truth – Psalms 119:142<\/p>\n a. Unlike man’s laws which are sometimes arbitrary and inaccurate,\nGod’s law accurately define what exists.\n B. Though things are right or wrong, even without a law, justice demands that a law\nmust define something sinful before sin will be counted against us – Romans 5:13\n
1. Sin is defined to be the breaking of law – I John 3:4<\/p>\n
2. Sin therefore dies without law – Romans 7:8<\/p>\n 3. Before we were aware of law (when we were children), sin was unable to\ndestroy us – Romans 7:9\n a. There is a time when people have no knowledge of good and evil –\nDeuteronomy 1:39\n b. However, we grow up. We realize there are laws defining right and\nwrong, and we are then held accountable for our actions.\n
C. Now remember that law does not make something wrong.<\/p>\n 1. It defines wrong behavior, allowing God to justly hold us accountable for\nour actions.\n 2. Think about this, if no one ever told me not to touch the hot stove, would\nthat have spared me a burn when I touched it? \n
a. Of course not! <\/p>\n b. My lack of awareness of the danger doesn’t change the\nconsequence.\n c. But you know the lack of warning might spare me a whipping from\nmom.\n 3. When God told Adam and Eve not to eat of one tree, He was telling them\nwhat already existed – Genesis 2:16-17\n a. Danger existed. There was something there that had bad\nconsequences.\n b. Adam and Eve were made aware, by a commandment, that the\ndanger existed.\n c. Yet, they broke the commandment and thereby sinned – Romans\n5:12\n D. God has always warned us of the dangers. There has always been laws – Romans\n5:12-13\n
1. Even before Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, people had laws.<\/p>\n 2. How do I know? Because people were sinning before Moses lived –\nGenesis 4:7\n
3. Sin doesn’t exist without the presence of law.<\/p>\n E. Now some clever person might think, “Hey! If I never learn the law, then God\nwon’t hold me accountable for my sins. I won’t be aware of the dangers, but at\nleast I won’t go to Hell for breaking God’s law.”\n
1. Paul discusses this in Romans 2:14-16<\/p>\n a. The Jews were given a law by God, but the Gentiles did not have\nthis law.\n b. Therefore, how could God condemn the Gentiles when they did not\nhave Moses’ Law?\n
2. Paul tells us that there are some laws that are instinctively within us.<\/p>\n
a. People have always known murder is wrong.<\/p>\n
b. People know you should not take what belongs to other.<\/p>\n c. The fact that people, even without Moses’ law, lived by a moral code\nshows their awareness of right and wrong.\n d. It might not be well defined, but the law exists, and they are held\naccountable for it.\n
III. Other purposes of the Law<\/p>\n A. Because the law defines right and wrong, it can be called a teacher – Galatians\n3:24\n
1. We can be aware of dangers before we actually commit them.<\/p>\n
2. But there is a side-effect that is not so nice – Romans 7:7-8<\/p>\n a. If I told you not to think of an elephant, the image of an elephant\nwill pop up in most of our minds.\n b. Few of us are clever enough to think of all the possible sins in the\nworld, but when the sin is defined for us, so as to warn us of the\ndanger, well, the idea of the sin is now planted in our minds.\n
c. Sin will take that opportunity to tempt us.<\/p>\n
B. Law is a testimony of God – Psalms 19:7<\/p>\n
1. They prove the greatness of their Maker – Psalms 78:1-7<\/p>\n
2. When God kept His promises, the law provided evidence – Ezekiel 39:27-29<\/p>\n
C. Law proves we need a savior – Galatians 3:22<\/p>\n
1. It proves we all sin – Romans 3:23<\/p>\n
2. It shows the true extent of our misery – Romans 5:20-21<\/p>\n
IV. Law cannot make a person right – Galatians 3:21<\/p>\n
A. It tells us what righteousness is, but it also warns us what wickedness is.<\/p>\n
B. The world existed for thousands of years before Moses, but all men sinned.<\/p>\n C. The Jews were given a clear law, written out for them in black and white. That\nlaw was in effect for about 1500 years; yet, people still continued to sin.\n D. If perfect law keeping could save people, someone in that time would have been\nsaved, but no one was.\n
E. There was a weakness in the law – Hebrews 7:18-19<\/p>\n 1. The weakness is that man was expected to keep it, but they were unable to\ndo so.\n 2. The law is holy, coming from God, but we are miserable sinners – Romans\n7:14\nV. Hence God established a way to save man that did not require perfect law keeping –\nGalatians 2:16\n
A. Here some stand up and say, “Yippee! I don’t have to worry about law any more!”<\/p>\n
B. Paul says otherwise. Read the next verse – Galatians 2:17<\/p>\n
1. Sin only exists where there is law.<\/p>\n 2. If we can be judged a sinner while seeking justification in Christ, then it\nmeans law still exists.\n
C. We cannot claim salvation and continue in sin – Romans 6:1-2<\/p>\n D. We cannot be saved by law, but those desiring to be saved cannot willfully break\nthe laws of their Savior – John 14:15\n
E. The commandments of God are not burdensome – I John 5:3<\/p>\n
1. They exist for our benefit, to keep us out of danger.<\/p>\n
2. They teach us how to please our God.<\/p>\n
F. The part that we could not do – to save ourselves, God has done for us.<\/p>\n
1. He sent His son to pay our debt of sin.<\/p>\n
2. All He asks in return is faithful obedience to His will<\/p>\n G. To become a child of God, God asks us to listen to His teachings, have faith in\nHim, leave our sins behind through repentance, stand boldly for our Savior by\nconfessing our faith in Him, and to be baptized for the remission of our sins.\n H. If you are a child of God, we know that sin still happens, but forgiveness is\navailable – I John 1:8-2:1\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 7:1-14 I. Laws can be irritating at times. A. Do this, don’t do that. B. Of course, we never get it right. C. Why do we need laws? II. Law defines right and wrong – Romans 7:7-13 A. The law does not make things right or wrong, it simply states what exists. 1. We have,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[177,38,179],"class_list":["post-54106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-law","tag-morality","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28000,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-source-of-morality\/","url_meta":{"origin":54106,"position":0},"title":"The Source of Morality","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Romans 2:12-16 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Where does the concept of right and wrong come from? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why are some things \u201cright\u201d and other things \u201cwrong?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul points out that the Gentiles were able by nature to know right from wrong - Romans 2:14-15 II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Where morality doesn\u2019t come from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92996,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/behold-i-will-do-something-new\/","url_meta":{"origin":54106,"position":1},"title":"Behold, I Will Do Something New","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Isaiah 43:8-21 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0New things are special \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They are fresher, cleaner, brighter. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We want new things, not old, used, hand-me-downs \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God told His people that He had something new for them - Isaiah 43:18-21 II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A new covenant \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God selected the decedents of Abraham,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-law-and-the-commandments\/","url_meta":{"origin":54106,"position":2},"title":"The Law and the Commandments","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Deuteronomy 30:6-16 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Seventh-Day Adventists insist that the only acceptable day of worship is the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath day. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To get to that belief, they insist that the Ten Commandments are separate from the rest of the Law of Moses. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30735,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-non-christians-subject-to-the-laws-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":54106,"position":3},"title":"Are Non-Christians Subject to the Laws of God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: II Thessalonians 1:3-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Without a doubt people make a mess of their lives \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the hardest things about studying with people these days is the tangle they create in their families \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You have people who have married and divorced serval times \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They have kids by multiple partners,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86359,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/an-introduction-to-the-ten-commandments\/","url_meta":{"origin":54106,"position":4},"title":"An Introduction to the Ten Commandments","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Exodus 20:1-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thousands of years ago, God gave Israel a law that has impacted the laws of mankind ever since. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0John Adams wrote, \u201cAs much as I love, esteem, and admire the Greeks, I believe the Hebrews have done more to enlighten\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60620,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-sermon-on-the-mount-nailed-to-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":54106,"position":5},"title":"Was the Sermon on the Mount Nailed to the Cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton There has not been a more fundamental question about how to rightly divide the word of truth and how to apply the scriptures than this one. At first, you might think this question is preposterous, but bear with me. There are brethren lurking in churches today\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}