It is a fact that we are no longer in Adam but in Christ. However, we must realize that our history is very complicated. In our history, in addition to the cross of Christ and the death and resurrection of Christ, there is the history of Moses. Moses was the law-giver. Through him the law of God was given (John 1:17). Adam gave us sin and death, and Christ gives us righteousness and life. But between Adam and Christ, there was another man named Moses, through whom the law was given.
The law is a complication. Although the law of God is very good, we need to forget about it. I have the boldness to tell you to forget about the law of God because according to God’s Word it has nothing to do with us and is in fact foreign to us as believers (Rom. 6:6; 7:4; Gal. 2:19). We have been brought out of Adam and are now in Christ. Anything that is outside of Christ we should not try to touch. Since the law is something that is outside of Christ, we should not try to touch it.
Forgetting about the law, however, is not so simple. The fact of the matter is that although we may try to forget about it, we simply cannot do it. Perhaps we were able to forget about it yesterday, but today someone may come to us and remind us that according to the law we must love our neighbor. Such a teaching causes us to remember the law. We ourselves often remind ourselves of the law. Our prayer to the Lord in the morning may bring us back to the law. We may pray for the Lord to help us keep such laws as doing good, honoring our parents, submitting to our husband, and loving our wife. You may remind me that such laws were taught by the apostle Paul. But I in turn would remind you that while Paul tells the children to obey their parents, he tells them to do it “in the Lord” (Eph. 6:1). Whether it is obeying our parents, loving our wife, or submitting to our husband, we must never do these things outside of Christ. Rather, we must do them in Christ, in the realm of Christ. Today the biggest problem with us is the problem of trying to keep the law.
There is one thing in my life that is particularly difficult for me to overcome—my being proud or my tendency to look down on others. Pride is my most difficult problem. When I was in my late twenties, every day I prayed to the Lord that He would help me to be humble. Nevertheless, I would always have to repent to the Lord for my pride and ask His forgiveness. Morning after morning, day after day, I petitioned the Lord concerning my pride. Yet sometimes, even immediately after breakfast, I would have to repent to the Lord for my pride. Sometimes I would pray, “Lord, I was proud again just now after breakfast. I looked down on the brothers. Forgive me. Lord, help me to not be proud from now until noon.” But my experience proved that the Lord never helped me in this regard. Not only did He never answer my prayer, He frequently sent someone to me to arouse my pride. Sometimes I was successful in not being proud until nearly noon and would happily tell the Lord, “Lord, there are only several minutes left until noon. With Your help I will be successful.” But before I had finished uttering such a prayer, a very peculiar brother would come to me, and my pride would be stirred up. Soon I realized that I could not help myself and that I would never have success in the matter of pride. My story was one of failure instead of success. Although I always tried, I always failed. Then one day when I was reading Romans, the Lord showed me that we are dead not only to sin but also to the law. Romans 7:4 says, “You also have been made dead to the law.” Dead persons are neither able to commit sin nor able to keep the law. Keeping the law is not the duty of dead people. There is no obligation for dead people to keep the law, because, being dead, they have nothing to do with the law. Dead persons have nothing to do with sin and nothing to do with the law. The day that the Lord spoke to me in this verse, my eyes were opened. I praised the Lord that I had died not only to sin but also to the law.
According to Romans 7, whenever we try to keep the law, that is an indication that we are exercising our self and are still living in the flesh. In other words, it means that we have forgotten that we are dead. Always remember that if you are trying to keep the law, you are in the flesh, which means that sin will revive and you will die (v. 9). While it is good to die in the sense that we have died with Christ (6:6), it is not good to die as a result of sin reviving. Whenever you try to keep the law and live in the flesh, sin will revive and will fight with you. Sin will always overcome you and make you a captive (7:23). The Lord has to open our eyes so that we can see that we are dead persons who have nothing to do with sin and the law. Such a death has released us not only from sin but also from the law.
By death and resurrection, we came out of Adam and are now in Christ. Not only so, we have nothing to do with the law. Never try to keep the law. Just remember that you have died and resurrected with Christ and that now the Spirit of the Lord lives within your spirit. Simply follow Him, walk with Him, and get in line with Him. Then the strongest, most powerful law, the law of the Spirit of life within you, will take care of you and will bring the victory to you.