The Christian I (Romans 7:7-25)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:05.639 If you're able, please remain standing and let's give our attention to God's word 2 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:13.750 in Romans Chapter Seven. Roman seven will continue our reading of this passage. 3 00:00:15.830 --> 00:00:24.780 I'm going to read from verses seven through the end of the chapter. What, 4 00:00:25.019 --> 00:00:30.579 then, shall we say that the law's sin? By no means. 5 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:34.820 Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known 6 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:38.009 sin, for I would not have known what it is to cove it if 7 00:00:38.049 --> 00:00:43.609 the law had not said you shall not cove it. But sin seizing an 8 00:00:43.689 --> 00:00:49.530 opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For, apart 9 00:00:49.609 --> 00:00:53.880 from the loss in lies dead. I was once alive, apart from the 10 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:59.359 law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 11 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:06.829 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me, for sin 12 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:11.870 seizing an opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me. So 13 00:01:12.069 --> 00:01:19.620 the laws wholly and the commandment is wholly and righteous and good. Verse Thirteen. 14 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:26.939 Did that which is good then bring death to me? By no means 15 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:33.730 it was sin producing in producing death in me through what is good, in 16 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:38.849 order that sin might should be shown to be sin. And through the commandment, 17 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:44.090 might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, 18 00:01:45.010 --> 00:01:48.879 but I am of the flesh, sould under sin, for I do 19 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.359 not understand my own actions, for I do not know, for I do 20 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:56.040 not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 21 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:00.280 Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the 22 00:02:00.439 --> 00:02:04.349 law that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do 23 00:02:04.469 --> 00:02:07.430 it, but sin that dwells within me, for I know that nothing good 24 00:02:07.469 --> 00:02:12.349 dwells in me, that is in my flesh, for I have the desire 25 00:02:12.509 --> 00:02:15.349 to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 26 00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:20.659 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do 27 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:24.860 not want. Is what I keep on doing. For if I do what 28 00:02:24.979 --> 00:02:28.659 I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but 29 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:32.969 sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that, 30 00:02:34.409 --> 00:02:38.729 when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand, for 31 00:02:38.849 --> 00:02:43.009 I delight in the Law of God in my inner being, but I see 32 00:02:43.050 --> 00:02:46.400 in my members another law, waging war against the law of my mind and 33 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:53.560 making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched 34 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:59.550 man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death, thanks 35 00:02:59.629 --> 00:03:04.789 be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then, I 36 00:03:05.430 --> 00:03:09.310 myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I 37 00:03:09.469 --> 00:03:23.219 serve the laws, and you may be seated. So this passage is not 38 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:28.889 an easy one to understand, or an easy one, I'm to interpret, 39 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:35.090 like most passages that we might say that of there are things in the passage 40 00:03:35.169 --> 00:03:39.250 that seem to resonate and be immediately clear and immediately obvious, but then there 41 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:45.639 are other things that aren't that way and in particular, understanding how it all 42 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:53.000 connects together is a somewhat challenging and so throughout the history of the Church there 43 00:03:53.080 --> 00:04:00.270 have been various interpretations of this passage. One of them, which I'm not 44 00:04:00.550 --> 00:04:05.110 going to present to this morning, is true in a sense, and that's 45 00:04:05.310 --> 00:04:11.539 this interpretation, which I myself have held to until just recently, is that 46 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:16.819 there is within us a battle. I'm waging a war between the flesh and 47 00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:20.540 the spirit, and this is a true thing. Paul Talks about this in 48 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:28.009 Galatians chapter five, versus sixteen and Seventeen. He says there but I say 49 00:04:28.170 --> 00:04:30.930 walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, 50 00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:35.170 for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the 51 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:40.120 spirit are against the flesh, for they are opposed to each other to keep 52 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:45.120 you doing from the things you want to do. So here in a passage 53 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:47.839 like this, he describes the reality that we all resonate with and then, 54 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:54.870 in some ways seems to also be said in Romans Chapter Seven, this reality 55 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:58.790 of I want to do these things, these good things, and yet I 56 00:04:58.949 --> 00:05:04.230 don't do them. That war, that's there, but that's not exactly the 57 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:11.019 question Paul's dealing with. In Romans seven, Paul isn't here to talk about 58 00:05:11.339 --> 00:05:16.459 this internal struggle that we have. He's particularly answering this objection. Is The 59 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:23.730 law good? Is the Law Holy? How do we understand our death and 60 00:05:23.970 --> 00:05:29.970 what the law is capable of and what it's not. So this is something 61 00:05:30.009 --> 00:05:34.209 that perhaps we can compare and contrast these views, maybe at another time. 62 00:05:34.250 --> 00:05:39.519 I think we'll get a little too deep in the weeds if I try to 63 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:45.079 do that all now. Plus a present what I believe the passage is saying. 64 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.350 So I'm going to just give it a positive presentation of what is going 65 00:05:50.470 --> 00:05:55.949 on here in Roman seven, and then perhaps we can continue that conversation. 66 00:05:57.709 --> 00:06:01.350 But essentially what's going on here is Paul is doing as he's often done in 67 00:06:01.430 --> 00:06:05.939 the letter. He's sort of dealing with these objectors. You might imagine this. 68 00:06:06.100 --> 00:06:13.060 Imagine you were going to or imagine you regularly debated people on a particular 69 00:06:13.259 --> 00:06:15.500 point and you went out and you debated, you had on these one on 70 00:06:15.579 --> 00:06:19.129 one conversations. But then somebody write you a letter and says, Hey, 71 00:06:19.170 --> 00:06:24.810 I want to understand this issue that you often speak on, and then you 72 00:06:24.930 --> 00:06:28.410 decide to write them a letter. But you have all these experiences right of 73 00:06:28.490 --> 00:06:32.199 people objecting and uncountering and all these things that you're concerned about, and so 74 00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:38.000 because you can't debate it right in front of this person or because you can't 75 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:43.040 have a conversation, you sort of write it all down, including these objections, 76 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.639 these things that people say, wait a second, Paul, what about 77 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:48.550 this and what about that? Well, that's what Paul's dealing with here and 78 00:06:48.589 --> 00:06:53.550 he's done that a few other times so far in the book. He brings 79 00:06:53.589 --> 00:06:57.110 here. The objection he's dealing with is, well, if all of these 80 00:06:57.189 --> 00:07:00.910 things you're saying about the law is true. Well then, are you calling 81 00:07:00.069 --> 00:07:05.899 the law bad? Are you calling the law sinful? If the law leads 82 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:11.459 to death, if we are under slavery, if we're under bondage, as 83 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:15.290 Paul says in Second Corinthians, that the law of the Law of Moses is 84 00:07:15.370 --> 00:07:20.689 a Ministry of Death and condemnation? Are you really, Paul, Paul, 85 00:07:20.730 --> 00:07:27.490 are you going to really say that about God's word? Are you going to 86 00:07:27.569 --> 00:07:33.720 say these terrible things about the word that God spoke to Moses? And it's 87 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:39.879 not just about his word in general, but the word that actually promised life, 88 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:46.269 not death? Well, actually both. The law, you see, 89 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:49.509 promised life. It said, do these things and you will live, you'll 90 00:07:49.550 --> 00:07:53.910 be blessed, you will know God, you will be close to him and 91 00:07:53.990 --> 00:07:58.509 be in his presence. Fail at these things and you will find curse. 92 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:05.980 The law of God is good. Paul very much wants to defend against that 93 00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:13.970 objection, and so he says this. But he'd also says that the law 94 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:18.329 is weak and unable to do something that we desperately need it to do. 95 00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:24.769 So let's consider these things. First, that the law is good. Paul 96 00:08:24.810 --> 00:08:28.720 begins this way in verse seven. What, then, shall we say that 97 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:35.360 the law is. Sin Is the law of God. Sin Is the Law 98 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:41.429 of God, evil, wicked, morally wrong. The answers very clearly. 99 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:46.870 He says by no means, and then even shows the goodness of the law 100 00:08:46.870 --> 00:08:50.389 by saying what he says next. If it hadn't even been for the law, 101 00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:54.470 this good law, I would know what sin is. And then he 102 00:08:54.549 --> 00:09:01.379 gives the example of coveting. He also know that. We also know that 103 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:05.100 the law of God is good, because God is good. God doesn't command 104 00:09:05.340 --> 00:09:11.970 evil things, more immoral things, wicked things. We also know that it 105 00:09:11.169 --> 00:09:15.490 is on the spirits work in us. The intention is, though, that 106 00:09:15.570 --> 00:09:20.409 we can bring forth the fruit of the law, or the the good fruits 107 00:09:20.529 --> 00:09:24.600 of obedience, would maybe be a more precise way to put it right, 108 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:28.720 God cares about the law because that's what he's saving us to do. He 109 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:33.039 saves us so that we can produce these things, so that we can do 110 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:37.000 good works. The Bible says that these are things that God himself has prepared 111 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:45.350 beforehand for his people whom he's saving. Does God care about goodness? Of 112 00:09:45.549 --> 00:09:52.070 course. Does God want our obedience? Absolutely. Is God's law steering us 113 00:09:52.190 --> 00:09:58.940 in another direction? No Way, by no means he says God's law is 114 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:05.580 good, but at the same time he says it's weak. This is actually 115 00:10:05.620 --> 00:10:09.210 expressed most clearly in the next chapter. If you look at verse three, 116 00:10:09.250 --> 00:10:16.889 he says of Chapter Eight. For God has done what the law, weakened 117 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:24.759 by the flesh, could not do. The law was weakened by the flesh 118 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:31.399 and couldn't do something. So God stepped in and he did something. This 119 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:35.789 is what he describes in Romans Chapter Seven. Something happens. There's this working, 120 00:10:37.029 --> 00:10:41.269 this relationship between the sinfulness that's in us and the law that God gives 121 00:10:41.509 --> 00:10:48.110 that steers us towards death. That brings about curse. As I mentioned before, 122 00:10:48.149 --> 00:10:54.500 at a time the law promised life. If you will obey the law, 123 00:10:54.980 --> 00:11:01.059 you will find the verdict of righteousness, of justification, blessedness, communion 124 00:11:01.179 --> 00:11:05.250 with God. We know this deep down inside. You do good things and 125 00:11:05.769 --> 00:11:11.049 good things happen. You do bad things and bad things happen. That's the 126 00:11:11.169 --> 00:11:18.009 principle of the law. But in the fall, Paul says and has explained 127 00:11:18.090 --> 00:11:22.519 in other places, Romans five for example, in the fall that possibility of 128 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:31.909 life drops away and all that remains is curse because of sin, because Adam 129 00:11:33.070 --> 00:11:39.830 sinned because he plunged in the entire a human race into sin and misery. 130 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:46.190 Whenever we come into this, into contact with this good thing, sparks start 131 00:11:46.269 --> 00:11:52.539 flying. It doesn't work. Instead of good this happening, instead of righteousness 132 00:11:52.580 --> 00:12:01.570 happening, it fails. We fail because of sin. Paul personifieses this very 133 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:05.730 unvividly. In Verse Eight, he explains how this happens, he says, 134 00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:13.409 but sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness, 135 00:12:13.970 --> 00:12:18.600 for, apart from the loss in lies dead, I was once alive, 136 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:22.440 apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive 137 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:26.919 and I died. The very commandment that promised life, do this and you 138 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:33.750 will live, proved death to me, he says, for sin seizing an 139 00:12:33.789 --> 00:12:39.429 opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me. You see how 140 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:43.070 he separates, he makes this distinction between law and sin. It's like sit 141 00:12:43.299 --> 00:12:46.460 like it, you could imagine, the law is being a hammer, this 142 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:50.899 thing that does good things, a tape, hammers and nails, it builds 143 00:12:50.940 --> 00:12:54.179 houses, things like that. Sin Grabs that hammer and starts beating people to 144 00:12:54.299 --> 00:12:58.129 death. The law is good. There's nothing wrong with the law. It's 145 00:12:58.250 --> 00:13:03.570 sin that grasps these things and steers us in the wrong direction and takes us 146 00:13:05.330 --> 00:13:13.799 in the wrong way. So that's why he says by no means sin is 147 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:22.240 sit when sin is close at hand, the law and our obedience to it 148 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:30.669 goes wrong. Now Paul, in using this word I throughout this passage, 149 00:13:30.789 --> 00:13:35.870 could be describing himself on this in many ways, does describe people's experience with 150 00:13:37.590 --> 00:13:39.990 the law in this way. They hear the law, they know the law, 151 00:13:41.190 --> 00:13:43.419 maybe they even love the law, and yet they don't do it. 152 00:13:45.659 --> 00:13:48.580 This doesn't seem to be Paul's experience. Of perhaps it could have been, 153 00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:54.059 but Paul, in other places tends to describe himself in other ways. He 154 00:13:54.220 --> 00:14:00.330 says I was great. He says I didn't have any problem obeying the law. 155 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:03.090 I heard the law, I know it, I did it, I 156 00:14:03.289 --> 00:14:05.730 was schooled in the law with the best teachers, I studied the law, 157 00:14:05.769 --> 00:14:11.519 I worked hard, I was righteous beyond all of my brothers. That's how 158 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:18.120 Paul describes his righteousness in comparison with the law and other places. In those 159 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:20.960 other places he goes on to say, I'll add, he would give it 160 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:33.590 all away and compares at all to filthy garbage, to rubbish, to disgusting 161 00:14:33.629 --> 00:14:39.460 things. I'm compared with the righteousness of Christ. But here it sounds different, 162 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:43.820 doesn't it? Here there's this other kind of reaction that people have with 163 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:50.820 the law, in which they're struggling to do it. What seems to be 164 00:14:50.940 --> 00:14:56.129 happening is he is taking us and having us think in this very personal way 165 00:14:56.169 --> 00:15:01.929 about what life in the Old Testament was like, life, as he puts 166 00:15:01.970 --> 00:15:05.970 it in verse six of Chapter Seven, in the old way of the written 167 00:15:07.129 --> 00:15:11.720 code. He's describing this economy of this this time under Moses, and he 168 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:16.879 has been since the beginning. Remember when, in the early chapters, he 169 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.600 spoke to the Jews and he said to them, you know, you have 170 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.870 the law, you know these things, you believe that it's good, and 171 00:15:22.950 --> 00:15:28.909 yet you don't do them. There's this that kind of reaction that he's describing 172 00:15:28.950 --> 00:15:33.549 here. One kind of curious thing that leads us to think that he is 173 00:15:33.710 --> 00:15:39.740 speaking in kind of a corporate way, of belonging to this covenant and not 174 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:46.340 necessarily of his personal experiences, is verse nine. He says, I was 175 00:15:46.539 --> 00:15:50.649 once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came 176 00:15:50.690 --> 00:15:56.169 alive and died. Well, at what time was are any of US alive 177 00:15:56.409 --> 00:16:02.649 apart from the law, in a spiritual one on one situation with the law? 178 00:16:02.970 --> 00:16:06.120 At no time. But there is a way in which, in the 179 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:11.399 Old Testament, when God gave his laws, the mosaic lots, to his 180 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.679 people, there was a time when they didn't have that law, a time 181 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:21.029 when they did and then a time when they sinned immediately after. So you 182 00:16:21.149 --> 00:16:25.070 remember, God brings his people out of Egypt, he takes them to Mount 183 00:16:25.110 --> 00:16:30.870 Sinai, he declares their law to them and then they obey it. Well, 184 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:33.980 no, they don't. He brings them out of Egypt, he takes 185 00:16:34.019 --> 00:16:37.779 them to Mount Sinai, he declares his law and then they make a golden 186 00:16:37.980 --> 00:16:47.059 calf idolatry, which Paul says is coveteousness in several places throughout the New Testament. 187 00:16:47.409 --> 00:16:52.490 The sin that he identifies here. Paul is saying this is what happened 188 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:56.570 when the Mosaic Law was given, this law that is good and holy and 189 00:16:56.649 --> 00:17:02.840 righteous. The people didn't become righteous. Instead, what happened? We, 190 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:07.680 I, he says, sinned. He identifies his self with the people, 191 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:11.319 his old the old people of the Old Testament, his people, the Jewish 192 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:15.150 people, and he says this is not what happened. Whence the law was 193 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:23.069 given. Sin Came Alive and we immediately disobeyed, and that happened throughout the 194 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:27.630 Old Testament. The law came and instead of the people living in the land 195 00:17:27.670 --> 00:17:33.420 and and enjoying their time there and being filled and blessed over and over and 196 00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:37.819 over again on into eternity, they were kicked out of the land. God 197 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:45.170 describes the the that action as vomiting. Maybe some of you have had this 198 00:17:45.289 --> 00:17:51.410 stomach flew lately and you remember what it's like to vomit, that expelling of 199 00:17:51.930 --> 00:17:56.849 things that are bad inside of you, that forceful, powerful, those muscles 200 00:17:56.890 --> 00:18:02.119 contracting. That is what the land did, that is what God did when 201 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:07.880 he spewed his people out of the land because they were bad, because they 202 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:18.390 didn't obey the law. When the law came, unrighteousness was increased, and 203 00:18:18.589 --> 00:18:23.349 this is what happened. This was the way of the old written code, 204 00:18:23.390 --> 00:18:27.420 as he calls it in verse six. That's why he says in Corinthians that 205 00:18:27.460 --> 00:18:37.259 it was a ministry of death and condemnation. The law is good Paul says, 206 00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:44.690 as a good Jewish Pharisee, the law is good, it's holy, 207 00:18:44.769 --> 00:18:49.809 it's righteous. He says that as a Christian, but the law, weakened 208 00:18:49.970 --> 00:18:57.079 by the flesh, was unable to save us. Now, why is this 209 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:03.640 important? This is very important and it's very practical. Because if you imagine 210 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:08.880 yourself in Rome. Okay, imagine yourself in Rome, in this mixture of 211 00:19:10.029 --> 00:19:15.869 Jews and gentiles, imagine that you just came, as a gentile, as 212 00:19:15.910 --> 00:19:19.430 a non Jew, out of paganism. Right a week ago you were worshiping 213 00:19:19.630 --> 00:19:25.339 trees and you were going to the temple of some goddess and doing all kinds 214 00:19:25.380 --> 00:19:30.140 of unspeakable things there. But now you're a Christian and somebody comes to you 215 00:19:30.259 --> 00:19:34.900 with the Bible and says, Look, God has given us his law. 216 00:19:37.059 --> 00:19:41.809 Obey these things and you will be saved. Do these righteous things and you 217 00:19:41.849 --> 00:19:45.650 will live. That would be pretty tempting, wouldn't it? It would be 218 00:19:45.809 --> 00:19:49.890 very tempting, very attractive to say here is God's law, the God who 219 00:19:49.890 --> 00:19:53.720 has done these things. If I obey them, I can have life. 220 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:59.640 That's what the Judaizers were promising and that's what the Jews, in many ways, 221 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:04.359 were resting their hope and salvation on by obeying the law. And this 222 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:07.950 is in some ways because of the fleshly part still in us, the trying 223 00:20:08.150 --> 00:20:12.549 harder, the striving. If I just perceive the depth of the law more, 224 00:20:12.630 --> 00:20:18.869 if I just try to do more than perhaps this will work out. 225 00:20:21.109 --> 00:20:26.140 But notice how Paul describes our situation under the law in this passage. And 226 00:20:26.299 --> 00:20:30.339 we could go to other places too, but he says we are in the 227 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:36.210 flesh. Verse Fourteen, sold under Sin. He says that we are kind 228 00:20:36.250 --> 00:20:37.690 of crazy in a way, if I can put it that way. In 229 00:20:37.970 --> 00:20:42.730 Verse Fifteen, for I do not understand my own actions, for I do 230 00:20:42.890 --> 00:20:45.609 not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 231 00:20:47.569 --> 00:20:53.920 What but that's exactly what we do when we are under the law, he 232 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:59.160 says in verse eighteen. Nothing good dwells in me. He says in Verse 233 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:03.160 Eighteen, I have no ability to do the necessary and good thing that I 234 00:21:03.309 --> 00:21:08.990 need to do. He says in verse thirteen, my handwriting sloppy here. 235 00:21:15.029 --> 00:21:18.740 He says that we are captive to the law of sin. At the end 236 00:21:18.779 --> 00:21:22.259 of this chapter he describes himself as a wretched man in a body of death. 237 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:29.460 These are his not the typical language of the Christian life. Being sold 238 00:21:29.539 --> 00:21:33.130 under sin, being in the flesh, having nothing good in you, having 239 00:21:33.210 --> 00:21:37.289 no ability to do what is necessary in what is good, being captive to 240 00:21:37.369 --> 00:21:40.769 the law of sin, being a wretched person, being in a body of 241 00:21:40.970 --> 00:21:47.089 death. This is not the resurrected life. Paul's going to describe that in 242 00:21:47.160 --> 00:21:52.839 Chapter Eight, which will get to next week. Their life under the law, 243 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:56.200 though, is these things. Now, sure there is some good right. 244 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:59.440 He says in Verse Twenty One that he wants to do what is right. 245 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:03.710 He says in Verse Twenty Two that even delights in the law and is 246 00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:07.750 inner self. In Verse Twenty Five, he says he serves the law of 247 00:22:07.829 --> 00:22:11.509 God in his mind, you know, not in his actions, but at 248 00:22:11.549 --> 00:22:18.099 least in his mind. But that's true of many people. Even Pagan Philosophers 249 00:22:18.259 --> 00:22:23.460 and writers have spoken to these things and you've seen it in your own lives 250 00:22:23.740 --> 00:22:29.579 with people who are not Christians. Let me just read to you a couple 251 00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:34.529 quotes. One from hippolytis for four hundred and eighty two, four hundred six 252 00:22:34.609 --> 00:22:40.609 PC. He says, I believe in a play. That which is good 253 00:22:40.730 --> 00:22:45.839 we learn and recognize, yet practice it, not or ovid around an older 254 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:49.400 contemporary of Paul. He says I see the better and a prove it, 255 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:56.440 but I follow the worse. These are experiences of people who are under the 256 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.589 law. You know it, you call it good, you see the good. 257 00:23:00.670 --> 00:23:03.829 Maybe you have people in your life that are like this and yet they 258 00:23:03.910 --> 00:23:11.509 don't do it. You might compare it to a man who is walking towards 259 00:23:11.589 --> 00:23:17.500 the edge of a cliff and God, in opening their conscience, opens their 260 00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:21.819 eyes and they see, oh, going to the Ende of that cliff is 261 00:23:21.859 --> 00:23:29.809 a bad thing. But what do they do? They walk right off. 262 00:23:30.490 --> 00:23:33.930 That's what being in the flesh does. That's what being in the sin. 263 00:23:34.210 --> 00:23:40.529 Sin Sees death and runs toward it, since he's curse and says that's what 264 00:23:40.690 --> 00:23:45.720 I want. Want. It's insane, but that's what sin loves. Sin 265 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:52.920 Loves what is what a sin loves? A perversion and destruction. Not that 266 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:56.390 the curse of God is evil in itself, but that's what it leads to 267 00:23:56.589 --> 00:24:03.269 and that's what our sin leads us to. So it's not enough to have 268 00:24:03.470 --> 00:24:07.910 the law. It's not enough to have your eyes open, to have your 269 00:24:07.230 --> 00:24:14.579 your conscience softened to the things of the law. What does it require. 270 00:24:15.259 --> 00:24:22.180 It requires a savior who will deliver us from the body of sin, as 271 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:26.529 pauls that calls it in Romans six, or the body of death, as 272 00:24:26.569 --> 00:24:30.329 he calls it here in Roman seven. Well, he can't quite hold himself 273 00:24:30.450 --> 00:24:36.849 back and he's so he he announces his joy even before he gets to the 274 00:24:36.930 --> 00:24:41.200 full argument, in Verse Twenty Six, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, 275 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:47.720 Our Lord, and then he finishes by saying so then I'm myself serve 276 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:51.640 the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the 277 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:55.950 law of sin. Well, if you're reading that straight and you haven't read 278 00:24:56.029 --> 00:24:59.109 Chapter Eight, you might say, well, Paul, why are you giving 279 00:24:59.150 --> 00:25:03.829 thanks? Everything you've set up to now has been terrible. The experience of 280 00:25:03.990 --> 00:25:08.819 being under the Law and knowing only our sinful reactions to it does not sound 281 00:25:08.980 --> 00:25:12.180 good. Indeed, the thing he says just before that is wretched man that 282 00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:17.339 I am. But it is in response to this question, who will deliver 283 00:25:17.420 --> 00:25:21.140 me to the bought? Who will deliver me from this body of death, 284 00:25:21.450 --> 00:25:25.450 that he can't hold himself back and he kind of foreshadows and gives the answer 285 00:25:25.490 --> 00:25:30.250 and he says thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. That's 286 00:25:30.329 --> 00:25:33.890 the answer, the answer to righteousness, to holiness, to law, oh 287 00:25:33.970 --> 00:25:41.000 be obedience to the law. Is Not more law, it's Jesus, it's 288 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:44.000 the spirit of God working in us. And this is what he's going to 289 00:25:44.039 --> 00:25:48.160 say in Chapter Eight. Let me read a few verses for you. He 290 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:52.349 says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus 291 00:25:52.029 --> 00:25:56.990 for the law of the spirit of life, not the law of Moses, 292 00:25:57.069 --> 00:26:00.150 but for the law of the spirit of life, has set you free, 293 00:26:00.390 --> 00:26:06.180 in Jesus Christ, from the Law of sin and death, for the law 294 00:26:06.619 --> 00:26:10.940 has done with the or sorry, for God has done with the law, 295 00:26:11.259 --> 00:26:15.740 weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending his own son in the 296 00:26:15.859 --> 00:26:21.730 likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in 297 00:26:21.970 --> 00:26:26.809 order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in US, who 298 00:26:26.849 --> 00:26:33.559 walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. This is the 299 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:41.559 good news, this is the great promise. So Win The objectors to the 300 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:44.799 Gospel of God come to Paul and say well, Hey, second hold on, 301 00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:48.950 Paul. Are you saying that the law is sin? Are you saying 302 00:26:48.990 --> 00:26:55.029 that God is evil, that God is wicked in giving the law, he 303 00:26:55.190 --> 00:27:00.710 says, by no means. But the law, weakened by the flesh, 304 00:27:00.829 --> 00:27:07.740 is unable to produce the righteousness that God requires. But Jesus Christ, whom 305 00:27:07.859 --> 00:27:12.259 God has given, has fulfilled that law, has delivered you from this body 306 00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:17.170 of sin and body of death. And in him he has done this so 307 00:27:17.289 --> 00:27:22.329 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. So, 308 00:27:22.569 --> 00:27:30.480 to conclude, is the law evil? Is The law sin? By no 309 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:34.680 means the law is good. So Christians, study it, know it, 310 00:27:36.039 --> 00:27:38.799 learn it, follow it, ask God to make you strong in it, 311 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:45.710 consider it often and obey it. You can think of the Law of God 312 00:27:45.950 --> 00:27:49.549 as these tracts that you're on this way and the direction that you go. 313 00:27:51.390 --> 00:27:55.710 If you stay on them, you arrive at your destination. If you fall 314 00:27:55.750 --> 00:28:02.380 off, it's a horrible wreck. But no train ever gets to its destination 315 00:28:03.140 --> 00:28:08.140 by sitting on a track. It needs an injune. It needs to move 316 00:28:08.940 --> 00:28:14.250 and you don't move it by laying down more tracts, you move it by 317 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:18.609 having an injuine, and that injuine that moves us, the injine that causes 318 00:28:18.650 --> 00:28:22.970 us to stay on the tracts and get to our destination. Is Indeed God 319 00:28:23.130 --> 00:28:29.200 himself, Father, son and spirit, who saves us in order that the 320 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:33.799 righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, so that we might 321 00:28:33.960 --> 00:28:41.119 do the things God has called us to do. So, if you find 322 00:28:41.319 --> 00:28:47.109 in yourself that struggle that Paul describes here, of those who are under the 323 00:28:47.190 --> 00:28:52.869 law, or if you find in yourself that struggle of the Christian who has 324 00:28:52.069 --> 00:28:56.500 in dwelling stin sin, still remaining and there is a war going on, 325 00:28:56.660 --> 00:29:03.740 the one he describes in Galatians, what shall you do? You shall go 326 00:29:03.940 --> 00:29:08.980 to Jesus, you shall seek his spirits, spirits work in you, you 327 00:29:10.089 --> 00:29:15.289 shall depend on him for everything and trust that he will do these things in 328 00:29:15.410 --> 00:29:21.210 you, even as he said he will, because he will. The resurrection 329 00:29:21.329 --> 00:29:25.519 of Jesus promises that, the work of the spirit, and you promises that. 330 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.440 God promises that and will bring it about. So trust in him, 331 00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:34.240 put your faith in him. Let us pray