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Sermon #3117

Life in the Spirit

A Sermon on Romans 7:6

Originally preached May 22, 1959

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Scripture

Romans 7:6 ESV KJV
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (ESV)

Sermon Description

What makes Christians different from others is that they have been granted a new mind and new desires by the Holy Spirit. This new life in Christ puts believers in a new relationship to the law of Moses as now the law is written upon the heart of every believer. This creates a heart of worship that is not focused on the externals of religious acts, but on the orientation of the heart. True worship flows out of a heart renewed and freed from the curse of the law and the power of sin and flesh. In this sermon on Romans 7:6 titled “Life in the Spirit,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is emphatic that this new relationship to the law does not bring about antinomianism since all of God’s commands are good and just. It means that Christ fulfilled the law and gives believers a new heart that has new desires. The end of the law is not a license to live in sin but it comes with the joy and privilege of seeking to love God and neighbor out of the new person that Christ Jesus is fashioning all believers to be. Sanctification cannot be separated from salvation and glorification because Christ Jesus is the one who begins and completes salvation.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. We have been delivered from the law. We have been discharged and set free from it. We are no longer under its control and dominion.
  2. We have died to the law. The law is not dead, but we have died to it. We are no longer under its rule.
  3. We have been delivered and died to the law in order that we might serve in newness of spirit. The purpose of our deliverance is so we can serve God in a new way.
  4. We now serve in newness of spirit, not in oldness of the letter. We serve in the power and sphere of the Holy Spirit, not under the law.
  5. There is a contrast between the old and the new. The Christian life is completely new, not just an addition or improvement to the old life. We are new creations.
  6. There is a contrast between the letter and the spirit. The letter refers to the written moral law. The spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. We live by the Spirit, not the letter.
  7. The Christian life is a life lived in, by, and through the Holy Spirit. Everything we do is spiritual, not fleshly. Our minds, worship, prayer, and walk are spiritual.
  8. The Christian life is a complete contrast with even the best type of moral, fleshly life under the law. It is a totally new kind of life.

The Book of Romans

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.