Romans 7:1-25 Part A

There's one question from the last reading. In Romans 6 and 22 when it refers to fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life, is this a possible reference to Christ becoming a superior spiritual gardener than Adam was? Well certainly this this will link as well into the next chapter where fruit again is referred to and so I think it is good to recognize that holiness, holiness is really essential to the spiritual life and it's really the goal of spiritual life. In fact really holiness is the perfection of life and so that's where our salvation is is moving towards and so it is a nice thought that Christ in his relationship to us is dealing with us as a precious garden in which his interest is in bringing fruit unto God.

So we can appreciate that thought. Romans chapter 7. Know ye not brethren, for I speak to them that know the law or know law, how that the law hath dominion over a man so long as he liveth. For the woman which hath a 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 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. Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law through the body of Christ or 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. For when we were in the flesh the motions of sin 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.

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 but sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence 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 the commandment which was 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 and the commandment holy and just and good.

Was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful for we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin for that which I do I allow not but what I would that I do not or do I not and what I hate that do I if then I do that which I would not I consent unto the law that it is good now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good that I would I do not but the evil that I would not that I do say that ten or fifteen times quickly now if I do that I would not is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me for I delight in the law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin I thought Josh prayed very nicely but I will just bow for a further word of prayer before we open up the passage our Father again we look to thee we have need of divine illumination we thank thee for the work of the Spirit of God and for the work of the Word of God itself living and powerful and we pray that the minutes before us that will to us pass so quickly will be minutes in which there will be faithfulness to the Word of God and pleasure for thy heart and honor for thy beloved son and blessing for thy beloved people we look to thee and our dependence and in our need we are ignorant we are children there is so much we should know that we do not know and far more than we will ever fully know but we pray for grace and help for the present moment in the name of the Lord Jesus now we've been reminded that the truths that we're dealing with are truths that are important for young believers I'm not so sure that anybody outgrows the need for the truths that we are in fact I'm sure that no one outgrows the truths and the need for the truths that we're looking at I just want to in by way of introduction and be very quick with this because it will be very important for us to get to the end of our Bible reading if we do not get to the last four verses five verses of the passage then it will be a tremendous mistake just three things that I want to look at with you first of all the context this is very profound but I hope you'll be able to understand it chapter 7 is after chapter 6 and chapter 7 is before chapter 8 but that is the context in which it is found and we're looking at the link with Adam severed at the beginning of chapter 6 the link with sin severed at the end of chapter 6 now it is the link with the law severed at the beginning of chapter 7 so in one sense the first paragraph of chapter 7 belongs with chapter 6 but the Lord knew Bruce had enough to deal with this morning so he put it in the chat somebody put in the chapter 7 so we'll begin with that but that does sent set the tone for the rest of the chapter as well in chapter 8 chapter 7 however chapter 7 would be a sad chapter in the Bible if it were not followed by chapter 8 and chapter 7 will be a tragic chapter in our experience if our experience does not take us to chapter 8 so chapter 7 is essential for us to understand chapter 8 what we would miss what we would fail to realize in chapter 8 if we did not understand that chapter 7 is concluding this there is no way to live righteously practically apart from the power of the indwelling Spirit of God that's all I'm going to say I'm not going to take any more from you but that is the great message that comes to us in chapter 8 now just a couple of things about the characteristics of the chapter Bruce mentioned to us earlier characteristic words that are in the epistle so just note this in chapter 7 that he told us that the laws mentioned 78 times at least that's what I recorded I didn't have a number but if that's what he says that's good in chapter 2 there are 11 mentions of the law that's the most of any of the other chapters except for chapter 7 in which there are 22 mentions of law sometimes law just as a general principle and sometimes the law as the Ten Commandments given to us and without any question the Ten Commandments is the focus of the chapter that is before us let's not say too much about law in a negative way because there is the law of God and the law of my mind that is crucial and the law of the Spirit of life and Christ Jesus in the next chapter so let's not disparage law but let us recognize that there is law that is incapable of being fulfilled apart from the work of the Spirit of God within us and in the chapter self whether it's I me my myself mine is mentioned and I think I'm going by memory of this because I didn't copy down but something like 47 times in the chapter and if our Bible readings make self-conscious in your Christianity then we have left you in chapter 7 and if your Christianity is primarily how bad I am and how negative about myself then you live in chapter 7 which is not a very nice place to live thank God for occupation with Christ will come to that in the passage and the operation of the Spirit of God in our lives now just for the idea of contents that are in the chapter Bruce reminded us again of two men in chapter 5 and he reminded us of two masters in chapter 6 so I got to get something out of chapter 7 that will be 2ms and not 3m but no it's very obvious that there are two marriages there is a marriage to the law in in picture and there is a marriage now to Christ and so Paul gives us at the beginning of the chapter an example and the major part of the chapter is experience Paul's own experience or experience that he is taking for himself now I'll just give you four lines of thought I hope they will be logical for us and and understood and we'll use that as the basis for our Bible reading to move through the chapter verses 1 through 6 is deliverance from the law in the death of Christ and in his resurrection the deliverance from the law and a new relationship for discovery through the law is what you have in verses 7 through 13 now brother Richard told me sometime along the line but this chapter that this is the most difficult chapter in the Bible readings I don't know why I said that well it is difficult because there are various views at various points okay the overall point of this chapter is very clear how Paul arrives at it there may be some differences of views and and none of those differences of views will any of us be adamant I hope but I'll just express where I am and then I'll get amendments from whoever wants to make things right it's okay I'll argue I'll argue no I will set forward my reasons and you can set forward your reasons and you'll be wrong enough no no I don't know I'm willing to learn but I think in these verses from 7 to 13 they are all in the past tense I think they are the experience of an unconverted man but when you come to verse 14 the tense changes and you're brought into the present I take this to be the experience of a Jewish man who is saved so we have deliverance from the law verses 1 through 6 discovery through the law Paul discovering the absolute sinfulness of sin through the law in his unconverted days but despair because of the law the law now sets a goal for one who is saved and he delights in it and he desires that he might attain that standard but there is despair totally incapable of doing so verses 14 through 20 desires consistent with the law at the end of the chapter verses 21 through 25 I delight in the law of God after the inward man so we'll look at the the chapter relative to the law and these four phases of thought delivered from the law thank God for that and good reason to be delivered from the law because the law pointed out in you're sinful and gave us no help condemned us and in converted days if we attempt to attain the standard of the law which is right and good and holy frustration absolute impossibility and yet that desire characterizes everyone who is a believer delighting after righteousness as the law of God upholds it and we come to this and in one way wonderful conclusion Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death whatever that means it's going to be very helpful for us to step into chapter 8 essential for us to come there and so we'll look at these sections together versus 1 to 6 will be our first occupation and I hope if you have a contribution to make you make it I'm not gonna sit around and wait for you to do that as much as I would like all the help we can get we do have a time constraint as you understand when he speaks of brethren here in verse number one who is he addressing is it a national link as he will do later on in the book or is this a spiritual link which do you think well you're you're cheering but I think it's a spiritual link as in chapter 1 okay and I thought it was a nationally first verse for my brother my brother makes the difference mm-hmm I think he goes to the national well here here is the difficulty my brethren as such how would you take it I've taken a spiritual link with every but all of them yeah here's my problem with the spiritual link John and there is merit to what you're saying and that's what most of the commentators say but here's my problem with it I was not under the law I had no obligation to the law as an unbeliever so but there are those who have a covenant relationship with the law how would it be right for them not to observe that covenant relationship how could God end that relationship so that they actually could be connected to Christ in order to bring forth fruit that's my thinking but go ahead later in the book he mentions my brethren according to the flesh and I thought when he qualified it it was the national link but very good I take it he says for I speak to them that do that know law and I know that Roman law could be brought in here and all kinds of law brought in but I had thought he specifically again working with what he comes to in the chapter the law the Ten Commandments a lot of Moses but wouldn't you say in this part that that he's I think maybe you're saying the same thing but just that really you're talking he's talking to believers here but he's talking to Jewish he's particular possibly particularly talking to Jewish brethren oh what a compromise yeah they are there is a spiritual connection between all and these people yeah he's not speaking to unconverted Jews no that's that's what he's saying thank you is that what he said okay but here's here's what we'll we will agree on this that the conclusion he is going to come to is equally applicable to Jew and to Gentile Christian okay yeah I think there's a bit of logic like in chapter 3 okay remember in chapter 3 what he says is now what's one ever things the law says it says to them that are under the law Jews that every mouth might be stopped so God takes the specimen of the Jews gives them the highest privilege and proves that humanity is guilty before God through that specimen therefore it passes to all I think maybe here you're looking at a Jewish man who has all the privilege of full light of what is right as a Christian he cannot live what is right and so if it's proven for the Jew it's applicable to Jew and Gentile alike I thought that the first one really was was a spiritual side but I thought that he was bringing in on the national like my brethren because of what follows and yes okay good we'll move on from that but I don't have any problem either way with it to me it helps me but if that's not logical to others fine but what he points out this is his this is his premise in verse 1 that the law is applicable as long as a person lives that is true relative to various aspects of the law and he only chooses one to prove it right he chooses the law of marriage and that is supported by Moses law but I think you would have similar by civil law as well so now the picture that he gives let's move right into that verses 2 & 3 it is a picture of a marriage as God intends it to be and as it was designed by God and came significantly it comes from Adam I don't know whether you want to make a connection there with what has gone before but as long as the husband lives the wife is subject to the law of marriage to him it's not subject it's not here talking about being subject to him it's subject to the law that links with him and if she goes outside of that link she bears shame she's called an adulteress and she will be known for that lifelong because she has gone outside of God's intention for marriage but whereas she went outside to another man and it's wrong upon his death if she forms a link with another man it's proper that simply to me is what Paul is setting forth now in verses 2 & 3 and I'll anticipate this anybody here that wants to bring up the subject of divorce I will tell you right now it's not in the passage it's not relevant to the passage I'm not trying to be evasive but it's not here this is the ideal this is what God intends marriage to be this is what loss that's up this is the illustration that's being used so if it's a general principle in verses 1 to 3 is it specific does it become specific law in verse number 4 I think so yes the the law meaning the law of Moses sure yeah so okay verses 2 & 3 I actually I'm gonna move on past that not that it's unimportant but it leads to verses that's the picture that he uses but the point is in verses 4 5 & 6 and that's where we want to go and that's where we are wherefore here's this conclusion there was a death you were connected to the law you were under law to the law but there was a death you didn't die that death but see it all goes back to chapter 5 it all goes back to the representative death of the Lord Jesus and that representative death not only severed our link with Adam and it severed our link with sin it severed a link with the law which is a Jewish link with the law I think we okay on that part or we don't agree on that one either you go ahead well thanks John but at any rate there is a there is this link to the law that was I take it to be a Jewish connection but it was severed through the death of Christ so it would be the natural thing for a Jew to turn to the law wouldn't it that was we were never under law but just imagine what it was like and now something new comes in the law is going to be set aside it must have been very very difficult for them to just take that on it was part of their culture was part of their mentality and it was part of what they regarded as spiritual and it certainly was it's it's right we'll get to that later so in other words they are thinking that in order to produce practical righteousness in life how else could you do it but by adhering to law keeping and then there's a dilemma that follows when he can't do it that's right good there is a purpose that's brought before us here not just I'm looking at verse 4 okay the purpose is this and Bruce has made mention of this in answering the question that ye should bring forth fruit now it's not bring forth fruit unto righteousness now but it is in a relationship with God so it's he's developing the thought further from chapter 6 and now it's coming out that a relationship with God a relationship with Christ actually a relationship with Christ is absolutely essential for there to be fruit to God so is this parallel in in natural creation be fruitful and multiply is that the brought now into the spiritual and we're linked with Christ so there should be fruit following that union that relationship verse 5 tells us about the fruit of our former life okay and that the law had its impact it stirred our members to sin and the result was fruit unto death and there again death in its most abrasive sense is being brought in there so that's our past life but we were stirred by the law to utter failure to sin but in the purpose of God we are severed from the law that there might be fruitfulness fruitfulness through this connection with Christ married to another now please don't press this into Ephesians chapter 5 it's an illustration that's being used and what we're talking about is only through association with Christ will there be fruit to God so you didn't really get that clearly in the previous preceding chapters but he's moving toward chapter 8 where that relationship with Christ will be seen in the power of the Spirit of God previously as mastery you had fruit to righteousness to holiness but now it's fruit for God through this connection with Christ is it important that the connection with Christ is not the Jesus who was here but it's a risen man who is there yeah we didn't look we didn't point that out really but in chapter 4 chapter 6 you have Christ Jesus the anointed one the exalted one the living one in heaven who died who was here on earth who suffered would there be any distinction between the fruit here in John 15 being being in Christ we're going to produce fruit in John 15 here are links with Christ now we'll bring forth fruit to God okay and then we can go to Galatians chapter 5 where it's the Spirit of God that produces it and that will fill the picture in for what we're developing here so will the divine persons are all involved and all our recipients of that which is produced in our life by relationship with them so will the ultimate of this fruit be seen in the next chapter in conformity to the Lord Jesus yeah sonship and likeness to Christ absolutely but but William sleeping over here but you get in trouble if we don't so the purpose of this severing of the connection with the law is that there might be another for whom there is fruit brought and it will be for the glory and pleasure of God the past that being dead okay which was my number in verse 6 let me just sit back here verse 5 for when we were in the flesh in the flesh I'm believing mm-hmm all right that's an unbeliever the motions of sin that would be the emotions or the passions of sin it's not it's an older word and not what as we would use it now the the passions the stirrings of sin the emotions of sin which were by the law now he's going to explain that further down the chapter that the law actually incites to sin but that's just a reference that he makes to it now it worked in our members and it produced fruit all right but that fruit was associated with death verse 6 we're moving on I do I'm not shutting out contributions I want all the help possible but verse 6 but now we have been severed from the law we have been delivered from that that is not the means by which there will be fruit for God because we have been associated with the death of Christ and therefore our link with the law severed and now instead of the oldness the weariness the incapacity of the letter of the law we are now brought into service in the newness of the Spirit now personally I wouldn't mind putting a capital S there but it is within our spirits by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God that's where we're going in chapter 8 so whether you want a lowercase s or a capital S here it really amounts to the same thing so the word for delivered here is discharged isn't it it's the same word that we really have for loosed in verse number 2 yeah the connection becomes ineffective no longer does it have any power that's the same word as well back in chapter 6 and 6 might be destroyed rendered rendered useless and that's the thought sorry having died to that we were held so not only have we died to sin but we've died to the law at least the Jew has okay good enough that's where I that's what I see but it's all in the death of Christ so every obligation under which man was to God or to righteousness or to Adam whatever every obligation is severed by the death of Christ for the believer this is all a work outside ourselves we have accepted Christ as our Savior this is all associated with that that's all it's happened the night you were saved the night at the time I was saved I wanted to be delivered from going down to hell I wanted to be delivered from my sins and I took the only remedy that God had and I was so thankful weren't you I had no idea what I came into at that moment I became linked with Christ and all that his death accomplished and I still don't know all that it accomplished but I've come into the good of that in one moment and the truth is to when you think I know we maybe didn't pick up on Bruce's reading it was a busy reading but when it comes to death that we appreciate when it comes to that mode of death there's a lot of ways in which a person could take his life but he can't crucify himself so I had to be as our brother said something that was done in by God of God alone now this is just to make sure because this idea of the spirit and the letter has been abused the spirit meaning what's just within me and what I feel within me whereas the letter is this observance of things literally the Word of God's to be observed literally and the truth of God is to be taken literally so we're not talking here about what's just spirit and character versus what's codified in the law we're talking about the letter engraved in the Old Testament law no longer is that the means by which we serve but it is by the newness of a life within us by the power of the Spirit of God so you have a liberating spirit and the binding letter of the law would that be right but in order to produce righteousness is back of that thought that there might be fruit to God okay that there might be fruit unto righteousness and the holiness from chapter 6 it is a poll uses this parallel in 2nd Corinthians 3 as well with the difference of ministry of the Spirit ministry of the law and there he calls it the ministry of death and he calls it the ministry of condemnation written and engraven in stones placed in contrast to the ministry of the Spirit of God in the New Covenant so it's it's the Old Covenant versus the New Covenant ministry not engraven in stones but actually their law will I write in their hearts yes what's the thought of newness and oldness well it's newness in character and it's old in character as well it's it's it just is worn out it's not effective doesn't work precisely we've been taken from one bondage and that's what it says here that when we were held that's a bondage that we should bond serve serve as a serve as a bought one who has purchased that's the meaning of the word and so we've taken from one servitude to another servitude and earlier on was on chapter 6 bond servants of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness so we're not at liberty to lead our lives as we want the Sun shall make you free you're free indeed from the bondage of sin and death but we still have a responsibility and accountability both positionally and practically to live for Christ but there's just a hint in all of this that this bond is so superior this service is so superior it comes from a relationship and intimacy with Christ and how much more desire it's the the bondage of longing to do what will please him rather than having to do what we're required to do right to the Hebrew servant yeah well so much of this is really chapter 8 just what we were given here and and so now from the rest of this chapter he has to show the you know the detriment of attempting to maintain our relationship with God under the terms of the law covenant good thank you so we'll look at verses 7 through 13 and here is the discovery that I take it an unconverted person makes a Jewish man attempting to keep the law and he's questioning as anyone contending with him would well now is the law sin is that what you're trying to say and Paul says that's not my argument God forbid and here the three words lust concupiscence and covet are all the same word as you know have you any idea why do you think he chose this commandment out of the ten I'm not sure John but I will tell you one thing that appeals to me it is the one law that addresses something deeper than actions it addresses a man's thinking so it's the most stringent in that sense the most easily overlooked that's not covered but it goes right to what we think and therefore I wonder if that's at least partner I don't do you have any other suggestion is it possible that behind most other sins is this in okay the you could keep the other ones outwardly as you have said and Paul didn't he talk about himself being blameless without but then you know what they say the sting is in the tail and the last one got him because as you see it was inward yeah I think it's because it's it's really identifying the essential nature of sin here it's not just one chosen at random but but this is the actual character of sin that it is desire out of control and drawn to words what is not mine what does not rightfully belong to me and so there's I think there's really two definitions of sin that we find in the New Testament and this is one of them in a sense that describes the essence of it and the others in first John 3 about five where it says sin is transgression of the law or literally lawlessness so you put these two things together you have disorderly desires desires that are out of control unsatisfiable and you have a refusal of restraint well that's where you get this mind of the flesh as we get later this this which will not be subject to subject to law and again you were thinking of it probably but he saw that it was to be desired to make one so it really goes back to the initial Paul says I had not known sin there is an innate sense of what is right and wrong but that clear definition of sin he was blissfully living without that sense but here's the instruction of the law the law says this is sin here is where the line is this is sin so the law not only exposed my sin but it excited something in me to sin okay and that's the next verse thanks Mary we're going down but sin taking it but I really don't want to eliminate further thought from verse he's dealing he's dealing isn't he with what we are not with what we do so covetousness is something from within that's the subject isn't it that he's dealing with so sin instructs it says it it educates us as to what sin actually is and when he read than the law thou shalt not covet he hadn't recognized that there was coveting going on there was there but he hadn't recognized it until the law says thou shalt not covet suddenly he says oh that's sin so so in verse number nine just just to come in on that when he says when the commandment came is that the giving of the law or is that when the commandment came into Paul's experience and was addressed to his experience I take it to be the latter yeah when the when they the truth of law dawned on my consciousness okay so verse 9 verse 8 let's go just drop back there for a moment sin took occasion by the commandment the sin used the commandment as a launching pad for its its desire okay and just as surely as as you tell a child there's wet paint do not go into that room what will my grandchildren accepted what will your grandchildren do now there'll be some finger somewhere that will try it out and it'll it's just the very statement thou shalt not that says I wonder why that is what's wrong with it and that's human nature because and I'm sorry this is from chapter 8 but it's not subject to the law of God neither indeed does it have the capacity to be because it's not sins it's sin it's it's the sin nature it is that nature that rebels rebellious nature rebellious nature so now here's something that sets the standard what does sin do it rebels it's excited against it it's rebels against and it not only now produces the original problem of whatever the covetous nut whatever the covetousness was it produces all manner of covetousness every evil desire once it's the lion within is untamed and it's released it goes in every possible direction so when you're walking through the park enjoying walking on the path lovely grass suddenly you come to a partner says keep off the grass you may never put your foot on the grass the right through your mind is I'd like to walk on the grass it never would have been there before you're even content to walk on the path so you saw the sign that says do not do that's law and it gives the thought of sin brings it up what it is and you may want to do it you may do it it focuses the mind on it at the very least that's it's like when in a Bible reading when the brother says now we've got to move somebody takes you back at the end of the verse he says for without the law that is without the operation of the law without the awareness of the law he was I some people want to press this to be when he was 12 and he became a son of the law I don't know that you have to be that precise but he says without law apart from that law sin lay dormant it's not that it was put to death it just lay dormant it was waiting to be excited by thou shalt not but verse 9 where we were before I was alive without the law once I take that that I was blissfully ignorant living in well I thought it was life but I I did not know the very nature of my own sin now for a Jew when would this be in his life you suggested an unsaved man then the other line of thought is how it's a young child who comes to the age of responsibility they an unsaved man at the age of 20 would be cognizant of the law a child at the age of 12 would be ignorant of the law so where do you see this fitting into a man's life I I took it that it is a general whether Paul I don't see that Paul is talking about some specific time in every Jews life I don't know if whatever you have in mind is fine no I'm just wondering that's why I like the thought of the child that once you come off the age of accountability responsibility and knowledge then you've taught the law and suddenly you learn that what you thought was right is wrong and whereas a grown man you've known for many years it didn't suddenly come when you were 25 it came when you learned the law and the unsaved man's known the law all his life when he came from an age of accountability and yet it is a very strange thing that we meet people who who still think that they're going to get to heaven by keeping the law they're obviously still oblivious to the message of the law and to the conviction of the law that brings them under judgment and so you know I'm not I'm not sure whether we can define it would be typical for what you're expressing there but but it's possible for people to think they're all right with God and think they love God and think God loves them and everything's just wonderful and until this realization comes and they realize that this puts me in jeopardy and in trouble with with God I think that's probably the sense in which it is here so you're suggesting verse 10 is an experience in your life that the commandment was ordained to life they found to be to death because otherwise of the oblivious of the intent of the law and the people today that try to keep the law but I've never heard anyone say I don't covet they say I don't steal I don't commit adultery and it's when the commandment came I would think it when it really came right home to him I was gonna bring that scripture into what Bruce was saying that's what I take it to be I can see the merits of thinking of it in terms of the typical Jewish child and coming into responsibility that this law is of God and that's my obligation I can see that I thought it was a more general thing but I don't know that we're gonna resolve any problem with that you know really really throughout this section just as you know many of us wouldn't have been in the same kind of environment exactly but we have all had that that coming to recognition and and that's as we realize it's actually an essential coming to recognition that sin is real that it's working in me and it's overtaking me it's overcoming me it's destroying my life in an age of Bible ignorance I think that we're pointing out the need to preach the law and I don't mean specifically the law but to enunciate in the gospel what is right and what is wrong and to uphold the standard of God because we are living in an age of ignorance of the scripture and of God so alive without the law once that's not spiritual life I don't think so that's blissful ignorance of the law and of sin what he considered to be life this is fine everything's okay so how do we understand the the end of the verse I died can you help us with that I thought he became conscious of an alienation from God so this is a sense of hopelessness yeah whatever it's leading a man to recognize his true relationship to the God against whom he sinned that was the purpose of it for by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight by the laws the knowledge of sin that's true for the unbeliever there and I think he's bringing himself in the experience of it here twice twice in this section you have sin taking occasion by the commandment and just to go back to the Garden of Eden where you have that beautiful paradise where everything was theirs everything was theirs to enjoy from the goodness of God except for just one thing so that's what the tempter drew attention to that one commandment and that was taking occasion by the commandment to deceive and to slay he made that that one statement from God the base of operations from which he launched his attack and now that the law now to Paul in his earlier experience was the base of operation that sin took not that the law itself was a military thing but sin took that as a point of advantage to attack him. In verse 9 and 10 brother David is he making a distinction here or a difference between the law and when he refers to it as a commandment in verse 10?