Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. We're going
through the book of Romans and we come to this Precious book. This is a precious book. I'm
so thankful to the Lord for putting this chapter in His Word. Burdening the Apostle Paul to
bear his heart to his brethren. That's what he's doing here.
He is bearing his heart. In this chapter, he completely
exposes the struggle with sin that is going on within him. And this is something that every
believer experiences. Every believer experiences this
struggle with sin. Every true child of God will
experience this. And we can all enter into what
he's saying right here. In a nutshell, this is what he's
saying. If God has saved me, why am I
still the way I am? Why do I still struggle so much
with sin? He said, there is a war going
on inside of me. There's a war going on inside
of me. He knows why, and he tells us why. It has been revealed
to all of God's people why this takes place. What exactly is
taking place? What the end result is going
to be? The Lord told us that through
two boys, Jacob and Esau. All right. Isaac's wife, Rebecca
had these two twin boys inside of her and they struggled together
the whole time they were in there. And she inquired of the Lord
about it, and she said, if it be so, why am I thus? If there's life in here, why
is all of this struggle taking place? And the Lord said to her,
two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall
be separated from thy bowels. But he said, the one people shall
be stronger than the other people. And who is it, who's gonna win? He said, the elder, the older
shall serve the younger. The old man is not going to win. There's going to be a struggle,
but he's not gonna win. God's people know that, we know
that. But we still experience the struggle. What I'd like for us to see in
this is an understanding of what is taking place and why it's
taking place. None of God's people excuse it,
but may He explain it to us and may we understand it. Two natures
are inside all of God's people. There is an old man who was born
first, My old man was born back in 1976. Born of the flesh. There is a
new man that is born in time. I can't give you a date on that
one. I pray it's today. But there's a new man that is
born second. Born of the spirit at the moment
that God chooses to give life to his people, quicken his people
to life. That new man that dwells in God's
people is the born again man. The second man, the first man
is Adam's nature. The second man is Christ's nature. The first man is a sinful nature. The second man is a holy nature. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. Second man is of heaven, heavenly. All right. Both of
these natures dwell in the Child of God. And they're going to be at war
with each other until this body lays down in death. They are
going to struggle together. They're going to be at war until
the Child of God lays the body down in death. That's the point
that the victory will be won between these two natures. And here's the promise of God
to his people. The old man is not going to win. He's not going to win. The old
man is going to serve the new man. Now, I want to be very clear
on this. This inside struggle is not for
salvation. This is not a war to determine
whether or not a person is going to be saved. The only reason
the struggle exists is because the person has already been saved. If God has not quickened the
sinner, there's no war. There's no struggle. So the struggle
only comes to those who are saved. And it's a miserable struggle.
Once God quickens us, it's a miserable struggle. Before that, everything
was fine, wasn't it? But it is a miserable struggle
after God brings this new man, but there's hope at the end of
it. All right? There is hope for all of God's
people at the end of it. Now, Romans 7, so much is said
in this chapter. And I really looked at this and
thought, what are we going to look at and how are we going
to break this chapter up? How many verses will we see?
And I feel led today, we may come back and look at certain
sections of it, but I feel led to look at Romans 7 as a whole.
Because what he says at the beginning of this chapter will explain
what he feels at the end of the chapter. Alright, so I want to
just move right through this and just read it. It's very plain
and very clear. And see what he's dealing with.
And then we'll see how the same thing applies in us. All right.
He just told them in Romans six, that we are not under the law. We're under grace. We're not
saved by the law. We're saved by God's free grace. And now he's going to explain
that Romans seven, verse one says, no, ye not brethren. For I speak to them that know
the law. I'm talking to men and women
who know the law. Know ye not how that the law
hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? God has given his
law to man, and man is obligated to that law. Man is under the
authority and the dominion of that law until he dies. The moment he dies, he's no longer
under the dominion of the law. And Paul gives an illustration
of that by saying in verse two, for the woman which hath and
husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she
is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her
husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man." He gave us the illustration that
death frees us from the law. And we understand that, don't
we? That makes total sense. The law says you cannot do that. No, you cannot do that until
death comes. But if we died to the law, and
we did, the moment we died in Christ, His death on that cross,
our death in Him on that cross, freed us from the law. It freed us from the hold and
the bondage of the law. All right, because of that, we're
no longer married to the law. We're now married to Christ.
He's our authority. He's our master. Verse four says,
wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by
the body of Christ, that you should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit unto God. We were married to that law.
But death came, and now we're free to be married to another.
Verse five, for when we were in the flesh, the motions of
sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. When we were married to the law,
everything it demanded of us only brought death to us. It
said, do this and live, don't do this and die. And everything
it demanded, we could not do. It reigned over us in threatening
and bondage. Verse six, but now we are delivered
from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we
should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter. Now we're married to Christ.
And everything that he demands of us, it brings life to us.
This is what he says. This is the new authority. believe. He says, look, just look. He says, come. All of it, all
of his commandments are in the newness of the spirit, not in
the oldness of the letter and everything he demands, his spirit
provides the ability to do it. All right, verse seven, what
shall we say then? Is the law sin? Now, every time
he talks about the law and tells us that we're free from it, and
he immediately says, now, is the law sin? Is the law our enemy? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law
had said, thou shalt not covet. He's saying, I was married to
the law, did the law mistreat me? Was the law unfair to me? No, it just revealed what I was.
I'm the problem, that's what he's saying. The law's not the
problem, I've always been the problem. I was lusting, I was
coveting since day one, I just didn't know it. And isn't that
the case with us? All of our sin that we were committing,
we just didn't know it. We're so happy with ourselves,
and I was in harmony with myself before God's holy law came to
me, and God created life in me. Well, verse eight, he says, but
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of lust,
concupiscence, for without the law, sin was dead. Sin, which is what I am, Sin,
he said, was producing every kind of lust that there was in
me. But without the law, I didn't know it. I was dead to it. I
couldn't see it. I couldn't hear it. You know,
the things that men and women say in religion, once the Lord
opens their eyes, they look back and think, man, what a fool I
was. The stuff that used to come out of my mouth, I couldn't hear
it. I couldn't feel it. I was dead to it. Verse nine,
for I was alive without the law once. I was alive in the flesh,
alive in that old man. I thought I was really living
for God. I thought I was producing a self-righteousness. Verse nine,
I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came,
when God's law came to me, and I heard it for the first time,
I heard what it really had to say to me. It exposed me for
what I was. It brought all of my sin up before
me and it slew me. Verse 9 says, I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. The law that I
thought was commending me to life. God said, do this and live.
I thought I was doing it and living. And all of a sudden I
realized this is not commending me to life, this is condemning
me to death, because I'm not doing it. I cannot do it. Verse 11, for sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. That self-righteousness that
I felt, it deceived me. And that's what's going on. That's
what's going on. All that self-righteousness that
people feel is deceiving them. Don't you feel so sorry for them?
All of that pride that I felt, Paul is saying, everything I
thought I'd done for God, it deceived me. All my sinful works
that I thought were good works, turns out they're not. All of
them deceived me. Verse 12, wherefore, he now says,
the law is holy. and the commandment holy and
just and good. Was then that which is good made
death unto me? God forbid. Did God, am I free
from that old terrible, is that law dead to me now? God forbid.
But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me, by
that which is good, that sin by the commandment, might become
exceeding sinful. I now realize the law was not
my enemy. The law was my friend exposing
my enemy to me, which was the sin that I am. Verse 14,
for we know that the law is spiritual. The law declares nothing more
than what the Spirit of God demands. The Spirit of God is the one
who gave the law. You know that every word of God's
law is the character of God. He said, this is who I am, this
is what I am, and this is what I demand for you to stand in
my presence. It reveals His holiness, His justice, His purity. But
Paul said, this is the problem for me. Verse 14, we know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. I'm everything that is not holy,
and not just, and not pure. I am sold under sin. Now, he says, here's my struggle. And this is our struggle. All
right, this is our struggle. with all of these facts being
made known. Knowing what we are in the flesh
and knowing what we are in the spirit. Knowing what we are in Christ,
knowing who reigns over the old man and who reigns over the new
man, knowing all of these things. The fact that before the new
man came, the old man was fine. And the fact that after the old
man is gone, the new man will be fine. But for right now, both
of them are living inside the believer. And what Paul says is his struggle
is our struggle. I know it's my struggle because
I constantly feel it inside myself. And I know it's your struggle
because you talk to me. I know you feel this. I know
you say this, and you understand these things, but you mean this.
Verse 15, Paul said, here's my struggle, that which I do, the things that I do, I don't
approve of it. I allow not, I don't know why
I'm doing it. He said in verse 15, for what
I would, what I ought to do, what that new man wants to do,
I don't do it. That do I not. This old man in
me won't let me do it. What do you want to do, Paul?
I want to be like Christ. I do, I want to walk like Christ,
talk like Christ, live like Christ, love like Christ, forgive like
Christ. But this old man in me will not
let me do it. This old man is not someone else,
it's still me. I won't let me do it. Sin dwelling
in me, it still will not let me do it. Verse 15, he said, That which I do, I allow not
for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that's what
I do. The very thing that I, the new
man, hate, that's what I, the old man, do. In verse 16, he
said, while I'm doing it, I consent that I'm doing wrong. I know
I'm doing wrong. Think about it in this way. He
said in verse 16, if then I, the old man, do that which I,
the new man, would not. I, the new man, consent unto
the law that it's good. I acknowledge, I, the new man,
acknowledge that the law is good. And that it commands me to do
the opposite of what I'm doing. The I, the old man. I'm in the wrong for doing it.
And I acknowledge that while I'm in the midst of doing it.
I take sides with the law. I, the new man, take sides with
God's holy law against me, the old man. And I condemn myself. That's
what David said in Psalm 51, isn't it? I acknowledge all of my sin,
my transgressions ever before me. Whatever you do is right.
Verse 16, if then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the
law that it's good. Now then, it is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. The new man knows that. It's
hard for us to enter into that verse because the old man's still
in here. The old man is still I. Paul said, I'm not doing it. The new man knows that. That
new man that possesses the purity of Christ, the new man that has
been given to a child of God, whereby that child of God can
say, I in Christ, the new man can rightly can rightly say,
I have been born of God and I don't commit sin. I'm not doing it.
It's the sinful flesh of me that's doing it, the old man. Verse
17, now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. For 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. The new man says, I cannot fully
do what I want to do because the old man is still here. And
thank God the old man says, I cannot fully do what I want to do because
the new man is now here. Verse 19. For the good that I
would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. You ever struggle to wrap your
mind around, why am I still like this? You
ever struggle with that? Why do I still do this? You'd
think, you know, I've been believing now for I don't know how many
years. You'd think by now I would have learned something. You'd
think by now I would have grown. You'd think by now I would be
past this. The old man is older than the
new man. That old man's growing too. That
old man's getting stronger too. A believer does not have one
new nature that is being reformed and made better. There is a new
man and there will always be an old man. fighting and warring
and beating down. He said, every time I try to
do that which is good, evil is always present with me. I'm still
here. Every time I try to do good,
I'm still here. And I just won't let me. All
of it's me, I, I, I. That's what he keeps saying,
it's me, the old man, I, the new man, I. But he said in verse
20, I know that if I do that, I would not, it's not me doing
it. But it's sin that dwelleth in
me. What He's saying is, and we can
say it too, we believe, God has given us faith to believe that
He has created a new man in us. And that new man is going to
reign eternally. Verse 21, He said, I find then
a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. By God's grace,
I do see that he has put a desire in me to do good. I can say with sincerity that this
new man that God has created does delight in his law. I just can't fulfill it. I, the
old man, just cannot do it. Because verse 23 says, I see
another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my
members. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? This war within
me, it proves to me that I have been delivered from the power
of sin and from the penalty of sin. The fact that this war is
even going on, it gives me hope for the fact that I have been
delivered from the power and the penalty. The blood of my
Lord, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and paid all
the punishment of this sin. And I'm so ready to be rid of
it. Even though I know that Christ
put it away, it still grieves me. And it does. It does. I know that Christ paid for all
the sin that I will commit until the day this body lays down.
But as I go through it, it just grieves me. I know it's forgiven. I know in Him it's put away. But it grieves me. Verse 24, he said, O wretched
man that I am, and every true child of God will say that, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Paul said in verse
25, I know who. Here's my hope. The same one
who delivered me from the power of my sin and the penalty of
my sin, he will soon deliver me from the presence of it too. Verse 25, he said, I thank God
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. I thank God for my Redeemer. I thank God for the one who loved
me and washed me from all of these sins in his own blood.
I thank God for putting this new man in me that thanks God
for Jesus Christ our Lord. Thank God He would do that because
before there was no true love for Christ and all of His glory. The end of verse 25, He said,
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh the law of sin. The war will continue. until
the old man lays down in death. It's going to continue until
that new man is delivered, finally free from him. Every time you
see a body in a casket of a believer, realize that's the freedom from
the old man. There lays that old man and he's
finally rid of him. The war is over. The battle was
long finished. But now the war is over. The
struggle is over. And that promise comes to us
in chapter 8 verse 1. He said, if there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. In Christ
it's done. The battle's over and so is the
war. It will be soon. Hang in there.
Alright, you're dismissed.