6-28-2026

“YES, THE LAW IS GOOD!”

Text: Romans 7:1-13– Pentecost 5

Sunday June 28, 2026

Trinity – Creston

       Grace, mercy, and peace is yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

       Our text for this Fifth Sunday after Pentecost is the Epistle Lesson from Romans 7:1-13 that was just proclaimed.

Let Us Pray:  Dearest Jesus, send your Holy Spirit to remind us that your law is always good and it reminds us sinners that we are not good, opening our heart to the Gospel and what you accomplished for us on the cross.  Amen.

Dear Fellow Redeemed in Christ:

Have you ever realized that something was good for you only after the fact? Folks trying to change their health for the better sometimes suffer immensely in the immediate efforts.

They struggle to change the way they eat to better fuel their bodies—buying new foods, learning how to cook them and season them to give them great flavor.

They struggle with exercise—motivation to get off the couch, walking, jogging, weight lifting. All these are important for health and well-being, but the struggle is real and often intense, and it feels like suffering in the moment.

Only after weeks and sometimes months does a person realize that healthy eating and exercise are truly good.

This morning, the Holy Spirit sets before us his good Law, and, as Paul points out, that Law of God doesn’t always seem good to us sinners. As we’ll consider, it’s only after knowing Christ Jesus our Lord and his love for us that we can truly confess with joy,

Ah, Now I See: The Law Is Good!

       1.   The Law is good, . . .

a.   The Law is good because it’s given to us by God.

(1) God wrote the Law on our hearts. The Law is the good will of God for our lives. It’s what he says is good for man, how man was made to live.

(2) Our consciences bear witness to the goodness of the Law, so that we must confess with Paul that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (v 12).

b.   The Law is good because it shows us a picture of man as he should be.

(1) Externally, a piece of artwork shows us beauty in a way that is helpful for contemplating beauty. We look at Terry Redlin art, and we pause to contemplate why it captures our attention.

(2) The Law shows us that picture of man in order that we might contemplate what goodness in man looks like.

       2.   . . . but it doesn’t feel that way to sinners . . .

a.   The Law is good, but because of our sin, the Law doesn’t feel good to sinners. Precisely because it’s good and we sinners aren’t, the Law always does two things according to Paul in this text:

(1) One, the Law accuses and condemns. Paul says, “If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’ ” (v 7), and the Law works in such a way “that sin might be shown to be sin” (v 13).

Because the Law is good, it always shows us where we fall short. It always points out how we don’t live up to that goodness.

(2) Two, the Law draws out even more sin. Paul says, “Sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died” (v 8).

When the Law is pressed upon a man, the sinful flesh rebels against the Law and produces the very sin the commandment warns against!

b.   Neither one of these makes the Law seem good to sinners! The Law accuses us of wickedness. That doesn’t feel good to us!

The Law draws out more sin. That’s not pleasant!

And it makes the Law seem like a great evil instead of a great good. Many outside and inside the faith have come to that very conclusion.

       3.   . . . until we know the love of God in Christ Jesus, . . .

Only when we know the love of God in Christ Jesus can we truly view the Law as good.

a.   In Christ, we have died to the Law. Since we have died to the Law, it can no longer accuse us.

(1) Paul says as illustration, “Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive.

But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress” (vv 1–3).

(2) Paul then applies the illustration: “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (v 4).

(3) In Holy Baptism, you were joined to Christ’s death and resurrection. Having died with Christ, the Law no longer applies and can no longer accuse.

b.   In Christ, we have forgiveness and salvation.

(1) In Christ, our sin is forgiven. The blood he shed cleanses us from all sin. When the Law comes to accuse, it finds nothing but the cleansing, holy blood of Jesus.

(2) In Christ, you have salvation. The blood of Jesus opens the doors of eternal life to us. The Law would reveal our sin and bar the door to heaven for sinners. But in Christ Jesus, the Law finds no sin, and eternal life is ours.

       4.   . . . when we can see the Law as good . . .

a.   In Christ, the Law no longer feels against us.

(1) Consider a caged animal, like a lion or a tiger. They would be terrifying to meet in the wild. The danger to life and limb is real! Meet that same beast at the zoo, and there’s no longer any terror in your heart.

As long as the fence stands between you and the animal, the beast seems almost tame and friendly—and you remain thankful for the fence!

(2) Shielded from the Law’s accusations, the Law doesn’t seem against us. Christ has caged the Law so that it cannot hurt or harm us who are in Christ. Its accusations and condemnations come up against the wall of his atonement and are stopped.

And, if not exactly tame, the Law we now see as given to us by our Best Friend, now that we are in Christ Jesus.

b.   In Christ, the Law serves to guide us. Set free in Christ from the Law’s accusations, we can see the Law for what it is—God’s will for our lives—and, by God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit, seek to keep the Law.

c.   In Christ, we believe and trust that the Law is good. Apart from Christ the Law feels like only a terror and a tyrant, but in Christ Jesus we are freed to see the Law as truly good.

       5.   . . . and rejoice in the commandments.

a.   Psalm 1 says the man of God’s “delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps 1:2). How can we delight in the Law? Only by clinging to Christ.

b.   In Christ, we love the Law of the Lord and “gladly do what He commands” (Small Catechism, Close of the Commandments).

 Paul says that the Law is good.

The Law is good, but it doesn’t feel that way to sinners until we know the love of God in Christ Jesus, when we can see the Law as good and rejoice in the commandments.

Amen.

Now may the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior...Amen.