In Christ, You Are Free

Now, if you look at the preceding verses of Romans chapter seven, and it’s one of Paul’s complicated passages, of which he has produced a number, you find that he uses an analogy. And I’d rather just say it than read the verses and explain them. He takes the analogy of a woman married to a man. And he says, according to the law, if that woman marries another man while her husband remains alive, she is an adulteress. But once her husband is dead, she’s free to marry another man.

Now, there’s a lot there in connection with divorce which I don’t want to go into. But I would like to suggest, if you have questions about the rights of a divorcee, the answers that I gave are found in our book, “God is a Matchmaker.” All right. There’s a whole chapter on divorce. I cannot go into it tonight, but people use this verse to say a woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. Now, they don’t go the whole way. Because if the husband has committed adultery, the law left no options. He had to be put to death. It was mandatory. There was no other penalty. So once, under the law, a man committed adultery, his wife was automatically free to marry another.

Now, it is totally illogical to apply the law in one part and not in the other. You see? And I think millions of innocent Christians have been held in bondage by this misapplication of this scripture. Now, that’s not what I’m dealing with, but I always, when I get here, I get indignant. I really do, because I think many places divorcees are treated like second-class citizens. That’s right. Okay. And as far as America is concerned, about 50% of people today are divorcees. Some of them through their own wickedness, but many who’ve done nothing wrong whatever.

Let’s come back to Paul’s analogy. What is he trying to say? He’s talking primarily to Jewish people. See? You need to bear in mind, as a matter of fact, the only nation that was ever put under the law was Israel. God has never put Gentiles under the law of Moses. Furthermore, in actual fact, the only place where the law could be fully observed was the land of Israel. You can’t observe it outside the land of Israel, because there are all sorts of geographical features to the law. See, people don’t realize this.

But anyhow, Paul says, all right, we’ve been under the law. And he says this,

“By the law we were married to our carnal nature.”

And the carnal nature produced out of that union what it always produces: the works of the flesh. And there’s not one good thing amongst them. Okay? But he says the good news is that on the cross, our carnal nature died in Jesus. So now we are free to marry another without being adulteresses. You see the application? To whom shall we be married? To the resurrected Christ. And when we are married to Him, what do we bring forth? The fruit of the Spirit. See? That’s out of that union.

There’s two possible unions. You can be united with your fleshly nature and bring forth the works of the flesh. That’s the marriage under the law. But delivered from the law, we are free to be married or united by the Holy Spirit to Jesus in what is called a marriage relationship and bring forth out of that relationship the fruit of the Spirit. You see, in neither case is it a question of trying or doing our best. Christianity is not a religion of doing our best. It’s not a religion of effort. The key word is union. You bring forth that which is appropriate to what you’re united to.

When you’re united to your fleshly nature, no matter how hard you try, no matter how many rules you make, you’re going to bring forth the works of the flesh. And there isn’t one good one amongst them. When you are truly united by the Holy Spirit to Jesus, the resurrected Lord, you don’t have to make a lot of effort. You will bring forth the fruit of the Spirit. I tell people, it’s not effort, it’s union. It’s not a new set of rules, it’s a relationship. That’s stated so plainly in the New Testament. Isn’t it amazing that the majority of professing Christians have never known it?

Just to take another very simple picture, John 15, the parable of the vine. Jesus said,

“I am the vine, you’re the branches. Every branch in me that bears fruit,”

etc., etc. That’s a beautiful parable of the Godhead, because He said,

“My Father is the vinedresser. I’m the vine.”

And where’s the Holy Spirit? He’s the sap. That’s right. And how do the branches produce fruit? By trying hard? By abiding in the vine. And when they abide in the vine, they can’t help it. It is not effort, it is union. That’s right.