Love, the Fulfillment of the Law
September 06, 2006
Pastor Matt Black
Midweek Service
Romans 13:7-10
Discipleship: What are the Ten Commandments of God’s moral law?
(Quote them.)
Introduction: Open your Bible tonight to the book of Romans. Our text is found in Romans 13:7-10. Tonight I want to look at the eighth commandment and how it relates to loving Christ and sharing Him with others. The title of tonight’s message is “Love is the Fulfillment of the Law”.
Let’s stand together for the reading of God’s Holy Word:
Turn over to Romans 13:7-10. Verse 10 tells us that “love is the fulfilling of the law”, but I want you to see it in context. So look over at chapter 13 of Romans, and verse 7, “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent [ADVANCED], the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
Law Breaking is a Lack of Love
Law breaking is a lack of love for God. Only a fervent love for God will keep you from sinning. Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee”. Sinners break the Law of Christ because they do not love Him. They love themselves. Only those who are love Christ through the new birth can keep Jesus’ commandments—that is we let Jesus be king in our lives—we depend on Him—we look to Him in faith! We are filled with the Spirit—and therefore filled with love for Jesus. That is why when we walk in the Spirit, we will not “fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).
Demonstration of Love
We see from the Word of God that the highest demonstration of love is obedience to God. Love is the fulfilling of the Law. We joyfully obey Christ’s commandments because God has put a new heart within us. It is our delight to do what a loving, good, merciful Saviour says. Christ said in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” If you don’t believe that Christ is a loving, good, merciful Saviour, then you won’t obey Him. And if you don’t believe that He is a loving, good, merciful Saviour, you are not saved. Lost people can’t obey Christ because they have no love for Christ. Only those with true faith and love for Christ will truly keep the commandments in the power of the Holy Spirit of God.
This Passage Reveals that Love is the Work of God in the Heart
This passage teaches about a love that is transforming! It takes a law breaker and makes him a law keeper. There is an amazing work of God that is done in the heart that compels the sinner to love God and to be bathed in God—to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”. If you look at our text in Romans 13 we see several phrases that mean the same thing and that are referring to the new life we have in Christ working out of us. Something has radically changed in us. The phrases found in this passage all refer to that work of God in the heart—the outworking of our salvation (what we call sanctification)…
Ø Love
Ø Fulfilling the Law
Ø Awaking out of Sleep
Ø Putting off the works of darkness
Ø Putting on the armour of light
Ø Walking in Honesty
Ø Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ
Ø Making no provision for the Flesh
This is all a list of synonyms for the walk of faith and love in Christ. It’s all characteristic of the work that God does in the heart. We love Christ, we put Him on—that is He controls our mind, our actions, our being. When you put something on, you put on the appearance of that clothing. When you put on Christ, you put on Christ to the extent that Christ can be seen in you!
Love means Christ is our ALL
When you love someone, you honor them, you hold them dear. You find them satisfying and sufficient. They meet deep needs in your life. We are wrapped up in someone we love. Love is all consuming. Therefore Christ is our “armour of light”—Through Him we “awake out of sleep”—by “putting Him on”, we can “walk in honesty” and cast off the works of darkness and make no provision for the flesh. Fulfilling the Law is a walk of faith and love.
Love (seen in obedience) is the fruit of the Great Commission
Look over at Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Part of the Great Commission is teaching people Jesus’ commands. Obeying Christ with a transformed mind is the fruit of our salvation! In other words, we are teaching people to love Jesus. We are teaching people to obey His voice. He is Lord; He is trustworthy; He is worth obeying. We trust and depend on Him. Our trust in Christ is seen in direct proportion to our obedience to Him. We love Him—we want His dominion and reign and authority to rule our lives. Jesus is Lord! He is our King!
Law Breaking Makes a Big Statement: God cannot be depended on!
Here’s the principle: Stealing, lying, and any breaking God’s Law is wrong, because it is a lack of love for God. By breaking God’s Law we say that God is not good—He’s not worthy of my dependence, because He is not trustworthy. When we break God’s Law, we reveal a belief that God does not know what is best. He can’t provide for me like I can provide for me. Therefore, I’ll steal. I’ll take what isn’t mine. I’ll give less of myself to people and take more. God tells me not to do this, but I can’t trust God, so I have to get it by depending on something other than Him, like stealing. So breaking God’s Law is a lack of dependence on God.
Ø When you steal, you stop depending on God to provide for you.
Ø When you lie, you stop depending on God’s perfect providence to care for you, so you try to change God’s history.
Ø When you commit adultery or covet, you say that what God gives you is not good enough, and you in essence question God’s goodness and His understanding of what is best for you.
So people who steal are faithless people! They are people who do not love Christ! They think God does not know what is best for them and cannot provide for them.
Paul’s teaching on Law Breaking
Now think of a place where the Bible commands us not to steal—of course in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:15). Where do we learn about how we shouldn’t steal in the New Testament? Look over at Ephesians 4:28, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.”
The context of this again is found in light of the new work that God has done in us. Paul not only mentions stealing there, but he goes through the commandments. He says we shouldn’t lie, we shouldn’t speak corruptly, we shouldn’t be angry and hate. How can we love Christ and keep His commandments?—By living a transformed life in the power of the Spirit of God. Look at verses 22-24, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
So stealing is part of the old self that we are to strip off (verse 22). Stealing is part of the corruption that comes from deceitful desires. Stealing comes from being deceived about what is truly desirable.”[1] With that in mind, let’s look at how we can root stealing out of our lives.
I. Expose the Roots of Theft. To steal is to not trust God. Thomas Watson said that to steal is to knock on the devil’s door and get a job at his company. He’ll teach us all how to live off of stolen goods instead of trusting in God if we let him. To steal is to go to the devil for a livelihood. If you steal, you may gain materially, but you will lose eternally. 1 Corinthians 9:10 tells us that people who steal will in the end lose everything “thieves…shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The unbelieving Israelites while wandering in the wilderness asked the question, “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” (Psalm 78:19). Stealing begins by questioning what God can do. So can God put a table—a four course meal out in the wilderness? The answer is: God can do whatever He wants to do. God will provide for you! If you don’t have faith that God will take care of you, then you will steal. Instead of doubting God, you need to say, "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14).
Application: The heart of unbelief says, yes—My situation is too hard for the Lord, so therefore,
o As an employer, I’m going to steal from my employees with unjust wages
o Or as an employee, we steal from the company with shoddy work and extended breaks,
o We can steal from the store by shoplifting,
o or from the government on our tax returns, or by not reporting all of our income.
II. Understand the Realm of Theft
Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”
So based on this verse, everything belongs to the Lord. The earth, the world, and all of us who dwell on God’s earth.
Keeping the Sabbath Holy: Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another”
We owe God our worship!
1. Tithing: Tithing is not a form of the OT Law that was done away with in the NT. How do we know this?
a. Melchizedek: In Genesis 14:20, we read that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek before the Law. The Bible says “he gave him tithes of all”.
b. Law: Leviticus 27 tells us that the “tithe is holy to the Lord.”
c. Withholding is Robbing God. Malachi 3:8, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.”
d. New Testament:
Ø 1 Corinthians 9:13-14: "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? 14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." Pink says:
‘The emphatic words there are, "Even so" in the beginning of the fourteenth verse. The word "tithe" is not found in these two verses but it is most clearly implied.’
It was the tithe that supported the Old Testament ministers. That’s Paul’s point. Verse 14, “Even so” Paul says, in the New Testament time “the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel.”
Ø 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
The “in store” is the storehouse in Malachi 3:10, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
2. Paying Taxes: Romans 13:7, “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom” Jesus said give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s.
3. Borrowing without paying back: “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again” (Psalm 37:21). It is stealing to borrow money from others and not to pay them again.
4. Purchasing or Receiving stolen goods. The receiver of stolen goods is an accessory to the theft. We must be extremely careful in this, especially in software, music, and items sold on the internet. We cannot know where everything came from, but if there is any hint whatsoever that something is stolen, we must not receive it. Once I purchased a software CD on an internet auction site. When I received it, I found out that it was pirated. What should we do? Call the authorities.
Not only must we look in the area of finances, but also in the area of work.
III. The Victory over Theft. Turn over to 1 John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Thievery is a lack of faith in God. Faith is the only way to keep someone from stealing.
The Law is the school master that brings us to Christ. It tells us our problem. We love ourselves. We’ve done things our own way. We are willing to defy God and hurt others for our own gain. We have all lied, defrauded, stolen, lusted, and coveted. We’ve been utterly defeated by it.
Conclusion: Does the love of Christ control you, motivate you in all you do? Or are you robbing God? Are you living totally dependent on Christ? Our life is His to control!
Closing Hymn: 394 My Life is Yours to Control