Let us turn again to God's word
in the portion of scripture we read in Romans chapter 7 and
I want this morning to direct you to the words that we have
at the end of the chapter the last two verses Romans 7 24 and 25 O wretched man that I
am you 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 Lord of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. Romans 7 is a remarkable chapter
of Holy Scripture. but it's one that has caused
some controversy amongst the professed people of God. And the question is as to just
who Paul is speaking of here. He speaks of himself, but does
he speak of himself as a believer, as a child of God, or is he speaking
of his experience that previous to that is experience when God
began to deal with him and to convert him to himself. Now, the majority of the Reformers
and the Puritans certainly understood it in the former sense. They said that what we have here
throughout this chapter is the cry of a godly man. The cry of a godly man. And that man certainly is the
apostle. Of course the epistle is written
by Paul and here he uses the personal pronoun repeatedly. In verse 7 following, he asks
the question, what shall we say then? is the law sin, God forbid,
nay, I. I had not known sin, but by the
law, for I had not known lust, except the Lord had said, Thou
shalt not covet. And so he goes on to speak repeatedly
of himself. Verse 8, 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 at once. But
when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." He is clearly
speaking of himself, but as I said, is he speaking of himself at
the time of his conversion, or is he speaking of his experience
subsequent to becoming a child of God? Well, We said that the
Puritans, certainly in the main and the vast majority, understood
him to be speaking of his experience as a true child of God. And we
see how he does very much speak in the present tense, there at
verse 14, following. We know that the Lord is spiritual,
he says, but I am carnal, sold on the scene for that which I
do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate
that do I he's not speaking of what happened in the past he's
not speaking in the past tense he's speaking of his present
experiences and all of these experiences all that he describes
here of that awful conflict that he feels within himself, the
conflict between his old nature and his new nature, or the old
man and the new man, leads up to this cry. It's the cause of
him crying out at the end of the chapter, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? and that's what I want us to
really consider as a theme this morning the cause of the cry,
the cry of the godly man but in particular what causes him
to cry out in such a fashion as this surely the child of God
is one who is blessed and as you know in the Psalms. Repeatedly the Psalmist speaks
of that blessed man and when we come to the New Testament
in the Sermon on the Mountain, the opening of that sermon in
Romans 5, the Lord Jesus speaks of the blessed man. If the Christian
is so blessed, why is it that Paul is using such language as
we have here in our text this morning? He refers to himself
as wretched. He is laboring under this awful
burden. He is pressed down by this burden
of sin and of death. What is he speaking of? Well,
we know that Paul had to endure many persecutions. He suffered. He suffered a great
deal at the hands of the Jews and also at the hands of the
Gentiles. And when he writes in the Corinthian
epistles, we see how he has to defend his ministry. There were
those false teachers who would come into the church at Corinth
and they'd stolen the affections of the people, they'd set them
against the Apostle. And as he writes, certainly in
that second epistle, we see him defending his ministry and speaking
of all that that ministry had cost. And he was one, of course,
who had been instrumental in first establishing the church
at Corinth. And so he writes, for example,
in chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians, the 23rd verse, are they ministers
of Christ? These false teachers, are they
ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more
in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequent, in deaths of the Jews. Five times received I forty stripes,
eight one. Thrice I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Thrice I suffered
shipwreck. The night and the day I have
been in the deep." And so he goes on, speaking of all those
troubles, those trials, those difficulties, those persecutions
that had come upon him. And he can go on to say later,
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I
am weak, then am I strong. He doesn't pronounce himself
a wretched man in view of all the sufferings, all these external
sufferings that he had to endure. They were really in a sense nothing
to him. He was set on serving the Lord
Jesus Christ at tremendous cost and he doesn't complain in any
sense about that. In fact, remember when together
with Silas in Acts 16, they're cast into the inner prison there
at Philippi? They're chained. And what do
they do, these two men? Well, we read in Acts 16 how
Paul and Silas sang praises to God at midnight. All the persecutions
end. were in no sense the cause of
him thinking himself to be a wretched man. It wasn't any of his outward
circumstances that he bemoans, but rather it is that he's inward,
it's those inward pollutions, it's what he feels in the depths
of his soul, it's indwelling sin. Lydia laments in this chapter. In verse 18 he says, 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 which I would
not that I do. Again at verse 21 I find then
a law that when I would do good evil is present with me. And
so when we come to the words of the text this morning. This
is why he cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? There's this law, it's in his
members, it's in his body. And he wants to be freed from
sin and he feels it to be such an awful burden to him. Well, as we come to examine the
words that we have here in verses 24 and 25, as I said, I want
us to consider the cause, the cause of his cry. And there's
a threefold cause. Firstly, it's because he has
been brought to see something of the spirituality of the Lord
of God. He's come to understand that
God's law is a spiritual law. Secondly, He cries out because
he feels his revival of sin within himself. And then thirdly, we'll
see that he cries out because he's engaged in an awful spiritual
conflict. There is the reason then, the
cause why he cries out. First of all, there is the sight
of the spirituality of the Lord of God. Now, he knew the Lord
of God. He knew the law of God very well.
He was one who was schooled at the feet of Gamaliel, one of
the great Jewish rabbis. He speaks of himself in Acts
23 as the son of a Pharisee. And again he says he lived the
life of a Pharisee. And the Pharisees were those
who were very diligent in God's law and and sought to live their
lives in accordance with that law. Remember the language that
we have in Philippians chapter 3 where Paul speaks somewhat
of his pedigree. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
He says, and as touching the Lord he was a Pharisee and touching
the righteousness which is in the law he was blameless. That's his background. He is
schooled then in the law of Moses and he knows it and he seeks
to live it and yet in a sense he knew nothing at all about
it. He didn't understand it in any
sense until he was brought to understand that that law of God
is a spiritual law. Verse 14 We know that the Lord
is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Previously, he tells us how it
was when the Lord began to deal with him and opened his eyes
to the truth of the Tenth Commandment, that commandment which says,
Thou shalt not covet, it was sin. that he began to understand
something of the true nature of the law of God. Verse 7, I have not known sin
but by the law. I have not known loss or concupiscence
is the other word that he uses in verse 8. The word loss, concupiscence,
it's speaking of all that evil desire, all that sinful desire
that's in the heart of the sinner. I have not known sin, but by
the law I have not known lust, except the Lord had said thou
shalt not commit. But sin taking occasion by the
commandment brought in me all manner of concupiscence, all
manner of lust, all manner of evil desire. For without the
law, sin was dead. Oh yes, he could live his life
in accordance with so many of those commandments, so far as
externals were concerned. He sought to be an upright man
as a Pharisee. He was no thief, he was no murderer,
he was no adulterer. He abides by those commandments,
but he comes to the tenth commandment, and of course, The coveting is
not something outward and external. Coveting is that in the heart
of a man, that desiring a thing, longing, lusting after a thing.
It was when he came to see the true nature of God's holy law,
that it's a spiritual law. And remember how it was the Lord
Jesus himself who unfolded, really, the true spiritual nature of
the law there in the Sermon on the Mount. As we've said many
a time, how does the law, how does the law speak of the sixth
commandment? They shall not kill. They shall
do no murder. Well, you read it there in Matthew
5, 21 and 22. If you're angry with a man unjustly, and seek to do evil things against
that man and seek to destroy his reputation give expression
to your anger and your disapproval of all that that man is, you're
a murderer and then in verses 27 and 28 the Lord takes up the
7th commandment they shall not commit adultery and he says if
you have wanton thoughts or if you have lustful looks That's
adultery. Adultery is in the heart of the
man. He came then to understand something
of the true nature and character of the Lord of God. He saw that
the Lord of God was a spiritual law and he wasn't what he thought
he was when he was a pharisee. We had an external religion.
and he felt himself to be so much better than others. We know
the spirit of the pharisee. Now the Lord speaks of those
two men who go to the temple at the hour of prayer. The one
was a pharisee, and the other was the publican, the tax-gatherer,
the man who was working for the occupying forces of Rome, who
was much despised. And the pharisee, of course,
so highly regarded by the Jews, and they both go to the temple
at the hour of prayer, And the Lord speaks of how the Pharisee
in his praying does nothing but congratulate himself. He praises
us with himself. He thanks God he's not as other
men are. Oh, he's not like this Pharisee
that he spies there in the temple. What pride in the heart of the
Pharisee, it's that publican, that greatly despised man, who
goes to his house as a justified man because all he can do is
pray for mercy. God, he says, be merciful to
me, a sinner. Well, Paul was once a Pharisee,
but he had to be brought to see something of the reality of his
condition in the sight of a God holy righteous just and good
man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord God looks upon the
heart and he was brought to see what he was he was brought to
see his sin and of course all who are saved must be brought
to that they must see and feel something of what they are as
sinners some will have deeper experiences of conviction some
will have less of that experience of conviction but all must in
some measure be brought to see what they are and that's the
ministry of the Lord of God isn't it? as Paul says here in chapter
3 and verse 19 we know that what thing soever the law said it
said to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God Oh yes, the law was
given to the Jews at Mount Sinai, but it doesn't just belong to
the Jew. It's that word of God that is applied even to sinners
of the Gentiles. Every mouth has to be stopped.
All the world! become guilty before God. That's the meaning of the law.
By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. And how necessary this is to
see the spirituality of that law of God. To understand the
significance of that law What comfort can a Saviour bring to
those who never felt their worth? New life from Him we must receive
before for sin we rightly grieve. Here is Paul then bemoaning himself
as a wretched man because he has come to see something of
the spirituality of the Lord of God. But then, secondly, As
he experiences that sight of the Lord of God,
that spiritual understanding of the Lord of God, there is
the revival of sin. And he says it, doesn't he, here
at verse 8? Sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, or lusts, or sinful desire 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 or
previously previously he was so pleased with himself so pleased
with his own righteousnesses he could boast touching the righteousness
which is of the law, he was blameless, and he really did think that.
He thought he was a man who had done sufficient to make himself
acceptable unto God. But then, as we see here in verses
8 and 9, the law really comes. He may have studied it, he may
have sat there at the feet of Gamaliel, he may have poured
over the Old Testament scriptures and the writings of Moses and
so forth. But now his eyes are open to
see the spiritual nature of that law, and he provokes that sin
that is within him. As the law reveals to man his
sin, so it increases his transgressions. Why is that? because God desires
truth in the inward parts. And here Paul has to confess,
I know that in me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good
thing. Here at verse 18. Oh, there is a revival of sin
in the very depths of this man's soul He sees, as it were, something
of those chambers of imagery that are spoken of in Ezekiel
chapter 8. He sees into his own heart. And remember what the Lord says
concerning sin, it is that that proceeds clearly out of the hearts
of men. There in the Gospel in Mark chapter
7, Verse 21, Christ says, "...from
within. Out of the heart of men proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness,
wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride,
foolishness. All these things come from within
and defile the man." Remember the context here. how the Lord
is answering those scribes and pharisees who will find fault
with his disciples because they're not washing their hands they're
not going through those ritual washings after they've been to
the market as if they're going to defile themselves because
they've not done it's not just hygienic washing that's being
spoken of in the gospel It's those rituals that the Pharisees
would go through. And the Lord is making the point
quite strongly that it's not what goes into the man that defiles
him, it's what comes out of that man's heart. All this law of
God how it provokes sin in the sense that it exposes the sin.
And David knew it. David, the man after God's own
heart. He was brought to feel the reality
of his own sinnership. There's a sense in which we could
say that Psalm 38 is the Old Testament counterpart of what
we have here in Romans chapter 7. Paul bemoans his condition
And David also in that 38th Psalm is bemoaning his condition. What does he say? Verse 3, There
is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger, neither is there
any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities
are gone over mine head as an heavy burden, thereto heavy form,
and my wounds stink and are corrupt. because of my foolishness. I
am troubled, I am bowed down greatly, I go mourning all the
day long for my loins are filled with a loathsome disease and
there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore-broken,
I have wrought by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Is it not the same as what we
have here in the New Testament? All wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? These men understood then something
of the real ministry of that Lord of God, that law which is
holy, that commandment which is holy and just and good as
we read here at verse 12, they understood it. And though a good
law, yet it made them see what sin is. Verse 13 was in that
which is good may get unto me. God forbid that sin, that it
might appear sin working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." Oh,
it's that reviving of sin, that awful reality of what sin is,
the nature of it. That was the experience of David,
that was the experience of Paul. And doesn't Paul go on in 2 Corinthians
chapter 3 to speak of that ministration of the Lord? And he calls it
the ministration of condemnation. He calls it the ministration
of death. It is so demanding really. James says,
if a man keeps the whole law of God and then offends Him one
point, he is guilty of all. What hope can there be for the
sinner then in the Lord of God there's no hope there but there is a ministry of the
law there's that lawful use of the law and Paul Paul speaks
of that also when he writes to Timothy in the opening chapter
we know that the law is God he says if a man use it lawfully
knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man
but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners,
for unholy and profane. That is the lawful use of the
law, to show a man himself, to teach a man what he is, as a
sinner, to bring him to the end of himself. The complete opposite
of that Pharisaic religion that was Paul's, who thought he could
make himself righteous and acceptable before God. No, he has to be brought to this,
even the experience that he is writing of throughout this chapter,
brought to the end of himself, and to see that there was no
hope at all. He has to learn the awful truth
of the sinner's total depravity, his own impotence, his weakness,
but you see when he is all weakness then he sees that there is all
strength and all salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh wretched
man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We have the the cry, as it were,
of the ungodly, of the godly man there in verse 24. But when we come to the next
verse, verse 25, we really see the confidence of that man. All
his confidence now is only in the Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on, doesn't he, in the
next chapter, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. O of him, i.e., in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that he that glorieth, as it is written, is
to glory in the Lord." And this is what Paul is brought to. Oh, there's that awful reviving
of sin, that realization of what sin is in him. But then there's
the answer. And the answer is found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Or the cause then, the cause
of the cry? We see it firstly, when he comes
to understand the true nature, the spiritual nature of the Lord
of God. We see it secondly, when there is that revival, as it
were, of sin within him. And as the law reveals his sin,
So, in a sense, his transgressions increase, he sees more and more
what he is. And then thirdly, we have this
crime because of that conflict that he is feeling. He feels
this awful warfare going on in the very depths of his soul. And so he says at the end of
verse 25, So then with the mind I myself serve the Lord of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin. And mark again just what
he says. He's not speaking as someone
who has a split personality. The real Paul is that new man
of grace who wants to do good. the good that I would, he says.
He doesn't want to do evil, the evil which I would not. And yet
this conflict with himself, as it were. But here we have this
emphatic statement, with the mind, not I serve, but he says,
I myself. I myself, the real me, is serving
the law of God. But there is this old nature
that will still cling and cleave to the law of sin. Well, here
is the battle then. He says back at verse 15, that which I do I allow not,
for what I would that do I not, but what I hate that do I. What strange language, what paradoxical
language. He wants to do what is right
and yet he finds that it is impossible to do the thing that he would.
Verse 19, the good that I would I do not, the evil which I would
not, that I do. This is why he feels so wretched
a man. Think of the Song of Solomon.
We were considering verses, a verse in the Song of Solomon on Thursday,
in the previous Thursday, that remarkable book that is clearly
a love song and celebrates all that is best in human love. It's
a love of Solomon for his bride. But as we've said, greater than
Solomon is there in the song because ultimately it is speaking
of Christ of whom Solomon is a type, and Christ's love for
his church. And the language is so full,
and so graphic. Wonderful figures are used to
describe something of the wonder of that love between the Lord
and his people. And there in the Song, in the
6th chapter in verse 3, we have a description of the Shulamite,
the Bride of Solomon, or the Church, we might say, really,
the Bride of Christ. What will you see in the Shulamite
is the question. And the answer, as it were, the
company of two armies. That's a description of the Church,
a company of two armies. That's a description of the individual
believer. The church made up of those living
stones, believers, and what's in them? The company of two armies. And what does Paul say? Well, he learns the truth of
that in his own experience, and so time and again he speaks of
that conflict. In Galatians 5 and verse 17,
the flesh lost it against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh and these are contrary one to the other and ye cannot
do the thing that ye would it's the same as we have here
in the seventh chapter of Romans the new nature and the old nature
All that new man of grace and yet that old man of sin and the
conflict that the believer is continually experiencing. But it's not just Paul, is it?
It's the language also of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He
tells us there in that third chapter of John, that which is
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. And what are we by nature? We're
of the flesh. And that's why there's that necessity
of the new birth, the sinner must be born again, born of the
Spirit, born from above. He must become a new creature,
a new creation. And that's what he is in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and yet, he feels he still has his old nature
whilst he's in this world. There's this constant fight of
faith. so here at verse 21 I find then
a law that when I would do good evil is present with me or the
new man would do good wants to live an upright life wants to
live in accordance with all the holy precepts of the gospel wants
to do all the things that are pleasing to God I would do good
but evil is present with me I still have this whole nature that wants
to have the ascendancy that's what Paul is saying and so what is he brought to?
he's brought to this there's no help at all in self there's no help at all in himself
what is a man to do? he has to look to the Lord Jesus
he has to look only to the Lord Jesus You have to be continually
looking away to the Lord Jesus. I thank God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's His language. He's engaged,
you see, in a strife. He's wrestling, as it were, with
sin within Himself. Doesn't the apostle also speak
of that striving when he writes
to Timothy, to Timothy 2.5, if a man also strive for masteries
yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. In the context there he's speaking
of the Olympic Games. He was familiar of course with
those Grecian Games and many a time he uses figures from events
that he would be familiar with, the apostle. And he speaks of
wrestlers, it were, striving one with another, but there are
rules to be observed. And the man is only going to
be crowned if he strives in accordance with the rules. If a man strives
for the mastery, he is to strive lawfully if he's going to win
the crown. And then there's an application
of that, isn't there, to the spiritual strife of the believer.
How do we strive lawfully? How do we enter into this conflict
with ourselves and with our own nature? Well, where there is
that lawful strife, there is that continual, that constant
looking away from ourselves and looking only to Jesus. And the
conflict is a perpetual conflict that's going on. So then with
the mind I myself serve the Lord of God, but with the flesh the
Lord of sin. This is how the chapter finishes.
There's no end to it. All their days the believers
are involved in this in this battle against themselves and
against sin that is within them. But notice a distinction. Because
Paul doesn't say here that he is serving sin, does he? He doesn't
say I serve sin. He speaks of the law of sin. With the flesh he serves the
law of sin. That is the principle. The principle
of sin is what he is speaking of. The believer isn't one who
is to indulge in his sins. One of the Puritans, Thomas Goodwin,
says that those who are true believers, when it comes to sinning,
they're bunglers at sinning. They're bunglers at sinning.
It's not... It's not what they're good at. Or they can't avoid
it. They do sin. but remember what the Lord says
in the previous chapter there in verse 14 of chapter 6 sin
shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the
law but under Christ all the believer is that one
then who is subject to the Lord Jesus Christ who looks to him looks to him
as all his salvation and all his desire and finds that Christ
is that one who is able to save him and he's continually saving
people he's having this constant experience of the grace of God
he's learning daily to die to self and to live to the Lord
Jesus all wretched man that I am he cries Who shall deliver me
from the body of this death? Oh, he feels it. Ought to cease
in smart, but slightly to own with lip confession is easier
still, but ought to feel. Cuts deep beyond expression,
he feels it. He feels it. O 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 Lord of God, but with the
flesh the Lord of sin. May the Lord bless His Word to
us. If the Lord will, we'll come
back to it again this evening. But the Lord bless His Word to
us this morning. Let us now close our worship
as we sing. And we sing the hymn 1089, the tune
Westminster, 865. Sold on the scene with Paul's
complaint, he felt its galling load, though he by calling was
a saint and rightly taught of God. 1089, June 865.