Romans 7, The Fight is On!, Dr. John Carpenter

Romans chapter 7 we'll be reading the entire chapter here the word of the Lord or do you not know brothers for I'm 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 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 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 for while we were living in the flesh our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death but now we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive so that we serve in the new way of the

Spirit and not in the old way of the written code what then shall we say that the law is sin by no means yet 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 but sin seizing the 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 the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me for sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good did that which is good then bring death to me by no means it was sin producing death in me through what is good in order that sin might be shown to be sin and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure for we know that the law is spiritual but I am of the flesh sold under sin for I do not understand my own actions for I do not do what

I want but I do the very thing I hate now if I do what I do not want

I agree with the law that it is good so now it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out for I do not do the good

I want but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing now if I do what

I do not want it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me so I find it to be law to be a law that when

I want to do right evil lies close at hand for I delight in the law of God in my inner being but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our

Lord so then I myself serve the law of God with my mind but with my flesh

I serve the law of sin if the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his

Holy Word I hate dandelions those weeds the ugly sprawling leaves spread like wildfire just crowd out the good grass

I hate dandelions every spring the war against dandelions starts again

I put down some weed killers usually like by February but so they can't get in and then maybe later some some more just to kill any that have cropped up in my yard and still some dandelions managed to fight their way through the chemicals and raise their ugly heads in my my lawn then the fight gets personal

I spray individually I separate ice those dandelions and I spray those with a weed killer directly sometimes accidentally killing the grass around the dandelions but that's just that's just collateral damage the regrettable but necessary cost of my war on dandelions now some people like the flowers believe it or not

I can't understand how you could like those flowers but I so was because I so associate the little yellow flowers of those ugly weeds that choke out my grass

I when I see those flower I associate them with that's my enemy it's like those flowers to me are like waving a red flag for a bull so every year

I hate getting a lesson but I keep weed poison in the trunk of my car just so if I see like I'm going to my car and I see a dandelion

I don't have to go back to a shed and get the weed killer out it's right there it's convenient I pop up on my trunk and I spray that dandelion

I'm not gonna give it one second more of life that's my that's my zeal of my hatred my war against dandelions and other weeds for that matter but every spring the dandelions other weeds they're back there they are

I never successfully vanquish my enemy of the weeds now should

I just give up maybe to save myself on the money and the trouble they're trying to exterminate those weeds again every year only have them pop up again why not just surrender so okay weeds take my yard let the weeds grow and you know if you mow the grass low enough you can hardly tell if it's really grass or weeds anyway so what's the difference no

I hate dandelions and so once again this year already the fight is on just because you you don't you're never perfectly successful it's some goal some something you're pursuing should you give up just surrender you say never mind do you exercise you know why what would you exercise you know you'll never you almost certainly never make it to an

Olympic level of fitness so why not just give up you know if you can't run a four -minute mile you might as well just stay on the couch and not jog or walk at all you know do you diet we hear diet you may never get down to your ideal weight so you might as well just give in right just give up never mind about dieting just open another carton of ice cream and get some baggy sweatpants with an elastic waistband and just let yourself go no some battles are worth fighting year in year out never perfectly permanently achieving our goal but it's better to keep fighting than it is to give up you hear this about some political and national issues sometimes to the same line of reasoning you know we've had a war on drugs for decades now and the drugs are still a problem we should just give up just legalize them all really why not apply that same logic to other crimes and we've been trying to eliminate crime for as long as their civilization it hasn't worked we still have crime might as well just give up disband all police departments or send all laws let all the prisoners go free close the prisons you know why not stop the endless war on crime that's probably not a good idea just because a fight against something appears endless just because it's never perfectly successful yet against dandelions about being out of shape being fat drugs terrorism crime doesn't mean we give up oh we want parts of it parts of us want to escape to this fantasy world this ideal peaceful everything's peaceful and perfect and there's nothing to have to fight against there's no struggling there's no wars nothing unpleasant we can just let ourselves go and still be fit and trim where we can let society go and still live peacefully we don't have to do anything to the yard and it's no dandelions up here but that world that life doesn't exist here not yet not now here the fight is on now

Romans 7 flows out of the chapter 6 where we sounded so triumphant if I had stopped at chapter 6 but it's an announcement that our old selves have died with Christ and a new self has risen with Christ and is now serving a new master

God I just stopped there and one way it sound very encouraging very positive uplifting who we are in Christ our new identity a new life free from sin free for God I can sound very triumphant right up until you come smack up against reality and when the weeds start to grow again and you realize you haven't completely vanquished them when the sin tempts you again or even overtakes you and if you believe that you're supposed to be perfect right that you if you stopped at chapter 6 and you think well

I'm supposed to be perfect now I'm free of all that sin if you think you just have enough faith or you have the right experience and then you realize still the fight is on but you bought this dream that the battle was supposed to be over you're not supposed to be having these problems anymore and weeds aren't supposed to be growing anymore that you that you don't have to fight anymore well then the result then instead of being encouraged feeling triumphant by all the talk of perfection and being free from sin you'll be discouraged and you'll want to give up you'll think maybe this is all false this doesn't work it's not true why should

I keep fighting this never -ending battle I'll quit Romans 7 exists to brace us for reality to hold us on to the truths of Romans 6 the dying and rising with Christ but holding on to it through the real world of the ongoing fight here in Romans 7 we see that in three parts first the release from the rules for verses 1 to 6 and then the result of the rules from verses 7 to 13 and then the reality of ourselves from verses 14 to the end of the chapter so the release the result and the reality the first part of chapter 7 the release from the rules flows out of chapter 6 and there we saw that we were in Christ when he died and so we died remember all that we have died to that's the emphasis in chapter 6 and then remember for Paul there's no chapter divisions here he's flowing right out in what we call chapter 7 and he takes that same truth in chapter 6 we were in Christ when he died so we died with him he he takes that and then applies it to our relationship to the law first it was we died with Christ to sin and now in the chapter 7 same thing we have died to the law to God's rules to a way of approaching

God by rule keeping a rule keeping relationship he says that's that died with Christ same way of sin did our slavery to sin and now he says we have we've died to the law so we're free of it and he compares it to a marriage a marriage is until death do us part now once one of the marriage partners dies well then the marriage is dissolved then you're parted

Christians do not believe in the heavenly marriages lasting for eternity we get have our own planets and that we at least at least we husbands and fathers sorry women you're you don't get it rule as gods and populate with our spiritual children no that's a totally pagan idea marriage is for this life only it's dissolved at death and so it's weighty and is important is you should take

I hope you do your marriage vows once your spouse dies you are free of them and so he compares our relationship to the law

God's rules trying to please God by rule keeping he compares that to a marriage in other words we're like married to God God's law where the marriage vows people were bound to God that way and the law was law was your vows there was no way to get a divorce you had to keep the rules it was until death do us part and then there was a death and so now we're parted the other thing about this analogy for us is that here it's not the law that died in Christ but it's we that died we died with Christ this is we died to sin because we were in Christ when he died we also died to the law we probably all met people who whose previous spouse died and they remarried but we probably never met someone who said you know

I used to be married to so -and -so but then I died we never meet those people then

I died and so the marriage was dissolved you know after I died my marriage is over I didn't get divorced

I died now I'm not married anymore sure well we don't get to meet the deceased person and one of our constraints but this time because we were in Christ when he died and when he rose again we have died to the law and we've risen to be related to God another way and so we are released from rule keeping the reason we can now eat pork reason you can go to checker pig and get a sandwich or you can eat shrimp is because Jesus died we died with Christ we rose to a new life our death in Christ dissolved our rule relationship and gave us the free gift of being right a new relationship with God that's not based on rule keeping the free gift comes through the death and resurrection of Christ not just by we don't just like proclaim ourselves free of of the law that's kind of the way some people think

I'm free from the law so I can do whatever I want Paul begins in chapter 7 do you not know and the modern professed

Christian today can confidently say confidently say yes I'm released from keeping all the law all those regulations rule keeping the rule keeping relationship is expired but then they think often they think they think well the law you know it's all that stuff in Leviticus Exodus those laws don't let me eat pork and shrimp that I like that's expired but then they come up with their own laws their own rules they think if I keep them

God is pleased with me and and so he accepts me because of that we actually still many people to think that this is an age of laxity but we actually still have a lot of legalism today it's just legalism with low standards some people think if it's low standards is not legalism no there's a lot of people are legalist

I just have very low standards they think what you have to do to please God and they think well as long as you're not a mass murderer you know you're not a cannibal you're not

Adolf Hitler God will accept you that's legalism it's very low standards almost everyone can meet it but that's that's still legalism it's still thinking your way to God is by keeping these rules and it's not very much rules but they still it's still a type of legalism just with low standards something well you can kind of grow up to be a

Christian but you learn the habits you say the prayers you attend church you're a fairly decent person

God will accept you still a lot of legalism a lot of people who trust in some form of rule keeping if it's even if it's just a bare minimum you know be nice most of the time but what they don't see is what

Paul says here is the release from the law why are we released from the law something we're released from rule keeping because God changed he was strict and he kind of like it well it didn't work out so I'm gonna

I'm gonna mellow out or they think okay but it may be a little more sophisticated than that well it's not that God changed

God changed his way of dealing with people he used to demand rule keeping and now he doles out grace he lets sins slide no remember that in the gospel the wrath of God is being revealed remember that's how

Paul begins his explanation of the gospel the wrath of God is being revealed what's also being revealed is that you are if you are in Christ then when he died you died and so you died to the law and are free of it if you want to be released from having to keep all those rules and Excellus and Leviticus you can't just proclaim yourself you know free of it now that's a prior dispensation that law is over that era of law keeping is over no you have to die with Christ and rise with him you have to be in Christ to identify with him through faith to believe now if you don't have faith if you're a legalist even of a very low standards then you're not released from the law you don't get to make your own law

God makes the law so if you're gonna come to law you got to come to his law and so you're still bound to keep the rules so you should not be eating pork or shrimp you should stop working on the

Sabbath if you haven't died you're still married to the law you're still bound to it and you heap up more and more guilt and more condemnation on yourself the more you the more you violated no matter how religious or decent upstanding you are according to your own little set of rules you made up to be released from the law you have to die with Christ and if that's you you have died to the law through the body of Christ he says here that is when his body died on the cross you were in him same thing before in chapter 6 about dying to sin you were in him and so died to you are released now you now you can have good pork barbecue good for you enjoy your shrimp you don't have to keep the law as a way of getting to God you don't belong to the law you're not under it to keep its rules instead you belong to Jesus who has been raised from the dead and that's why we meet on the day that he was raised and we no longer meet on the day that the law told us to stop work but on the day the resurrection first told us to start to live the reason we are released from the law and that we now belong to Jesus is at the end of verse 4 in order that notice that means purpose this is the this is the reason the purpose of our being released from the law is that we may bear fruit for God it's not what antinomians think you know what we looked at last week that we're saved you can be saved you can be a quote carnal

Christian free from sin but not free for God the purpose of our being released from the law is so that you may reflect the character of Jesus on earth we talked about before the

Lord's Supper he may bear fruit we may live like him they may we may be like him now someone say well that's that's what the law was supposed to do he told us how to live and so that if we did it we would be buried fruit for God we just follow the rules but it didn't work not because something was wrong with the law but something was wrong with us we were living he says in verse 5 in the flesh now in the flesh doesn't mean in the body the flesh is the sinful nature that works through the body notice that verse 5 flesh is working through the body

I mean there are two different things the body isn't sinful we're still in fact get in chapter a you'll talk about walking in the in the spirit but you're still in the body when you're in the spirit in the flesh means that we were living without connection to God by our own strength not with the spirits power we were living as people who had not died and been risen with Christ that's being in the flesh in the flesh the law didn't keep our sin down but the law was more like so some people think you the law at least keeps the sin under control no it not really it's more like pouring gasoline on a fire the result is more sin the result is death law plus flesh equals death the solution say the legalist either the old kind with the high standards or the new kind with the low standards to try harder obey obey obey or maybe the new kind would say be nice be nice be nice try somebody that but that's just ways to death the law what to do or what not to do leads to death because it depends on us on our flesh law plus flesh equals death the real solution is

Christ in verse 6 were released from the law because the old self that was bound to the law died with Christ and now we're raised with Christ so that we can serve

Christ and one way is when we join him in fighting against the sins in ourselves that fight against him we are released from the law to join the fight and the fight is on we're not only released from the rules we have the result of the rules starting verse 7 now here there are two results of the rules notice why did

God give his law what's the result of giving his law what's the purpose of it many people just assume well it's due to obey them when you talk about what's the purpose of it what's the purpose of a speed limit sign so you'll drive the speed limit well

God did it for a different reason what's the result of the rules two reasons first they expose that is they reveal sin and second they exacerbate that is they make sin worse he's already said that we were released from the rules the law fueled our sinful passions and brought us death so the legalistic critic hearing this hearing

Paul here thinks that Paul has just accused the law of producing his sin and verse 70 what should we say then that the law sin again absolutely not no way the law didn't create sin it just exposed it like a medical exam doesn't create the disease it just uncovers it the

MRI doesn't make the tumor it only shows us this there so in the middle of verse 7 if it had not been for the law

I would not have known sin this is the purpose first purpose of the law to know sin and he gives the example of the command against covetousness the other commandments are easy to fake obedience now they're largely external we can make ourselves not kill or not commit adultery or not steal but then the command not to covet do not covet to be told not even to want what is not rightly yours don't even desire it and that gets right to the heart those who think sin is just a matter of the things we do that we discipline ourselves with enough keeping that we can be free of sin well then the command to covet comes along and it tells us that sin is much deeper the result of the rules especially the command not to covet is to show us that the problem isn't just sins just individual actions simple things we let ourselves do the problem isn't just sins we do but a sinfulness that is in our hearts but not only is the result of the rules to expose our sin the rules also exacerbate our sins inflames them makes more sin

God gives a command like to Adam and Eve do not eat of that particular tree you can eat of anything else in the garden just not that one tree now without the command would they have even have noticed that particular tree and there surely there were many trees in that garden

Eden was big and lush that's been a lot of fruit why even want that one particular tree but then

God singled it out with a command don't eat of that one you need of any of the others just not that one without the command sinfulness doesn't have an opportunity without the command to Adam and Eve there would be no opportunity for the sinfulness they chose to show itself otherwise why did

God give the command to show that they had chosen sin the problem wasn't just the action eating the forbid fruit but the covetousness that they wanted what

God said not to have what didn't belong to them but then they had to have it just because God pointed it out they weren't satisfied with God they doubted

God they wanted to take God's place so he said you eat of it you'll be like God they wanted that and they didn't love

God enough to want to do what he said to do the rule don't eat of that tree first exposed the problem that they wanted what

God said not to have and then exacerbated it inflamed it that they believe

Satan's slander against God that God was just trying to keep something good from them the rule made the sin worse this is the principle of contra suggestibility that is that many people will respond to a suggestion or a by doing the opposite paint a bench paint a public bench put a little sign on it do not touch some people will probably touch it just because there was a sign there and says don't touch it's good the sign puts in their mind the idea of touching the paint which they would never have had without the

Prohibition people will break laws just but simply because they don't want someone telling them what not to do

August and the early church leader tells of how when he was a boy he trespassed on his neighbor's land and stole some pears from the neighbors pear tree not because he wanted pears in his own pear tree in his own yard but because he just wanted to break a law the law was that gave him the opportunity to sin he had to break the law and when it comes to God's law we want to break it the sinfulness of our remaining simple nature uses the law not to serve

God but first to expose our sinfulness and then to exacerbate that sinfulness to inflame it to actually encourage and provoke it to awaken it and the law against covetousness shows us this most clearly we can keep our bodies from bowing to idols or from killing our neighbors but we just can't keep our hearts from craving our neighbor spouse or house or car or pears or the things we see in a catalog online the money we want

God says don't covet them and yet we do just because he says not to the result of God's rules is to expose and exacerbate our sinfulness the sinfulness lies dormant in us and we can fool ourselves that it's not really there then the law comes around gives it a kick we never thought we would want to disobey

God until he told us to not to do something and then we wanted to do it just because he told us not to do it it awakens and shows itself to sin in us even being worse than it would have been without the law

Paul here is I think both autobiographical and typical he's talking about his own experience using the

I pronoun and speaking in the past tense he's talking about something he knows the law exposed his sin he saw that his life which he once thought of as blameless was really sinful and he is typical of all people

God's rules will expose and awaken sin in anyone bringing conviction in the kind of misery a death if someone hasn't experienced that yet it's only because they haven't heard

God's law Paul is both autobiographical and saying that he is he's every man

Adam and Eve were sinless until the command came not to eat of the tree but they coveted what was prohibited and they died the very command that could have given them eternal life that is access to the tree of life given them immortality if they had obeyed it instead became the opportunity to sin sin sees the opportunity presented by the law like in verse 8 here the law says here is an opportunity to sin without the law it wouldn't have existed

Adam and Eve the law is don't eat of that tree sin sees that opportunity now you can sin they sinned and sin killed them for the law we can be happy we can be happy sort of for a while anyway a little bit without the law and without Christ there are lots of happy pagans out there living for pleasure and money and materialism and enjoying their lives for a while without God and if you just give them

God's law his rules and maybe you'll think by doing that you can attract quote seekers with relevant messages about how

God's ways can lead to success so you give them God's ways give them

God's rules you give them the commands even if you're able to sugarcoat them you call them steps to success secrets to a happy marriage friendly advice on how to raise successful kids but it's just law if it's just instructions on what you should do or what you should not do and there's nothing about your sinful inability nothing about what

Christ did in your place about dying and rising with him if that's all you give him then you've killed them you'll make them miserable what he calls near the end of the chapter wretched the pagan without God's law or Christ can be happy for a while in his in his sin because he's not fighting it he surrendered to it he's letting the weeds grow he's letting he's eating ice cream letting himself get fat he didn't care the

Christian can't be happy in sin sleeping with people he or she is not married to addicted to pornography a drunk or a drug addict a hateful racist unfaithful covenant breaker commitment breaker so constantly working the type of person that constantly works for money to be successful in business or for luxuries that he has no time for God too greedy to give those kinds of sins make the true

Christian just too miserable because he has a new nature now that's free of sin our free selves hate when we serve our old master sin the problem isn't with the law the law in verse 12 he says it's holy and righteous and good so don't blame the law for your sin

Paul says in verse 13 don't blame the speed limit for your speeding don't blame the diet for your being overweight don't blame the doctor for your disease sin produced death sin was exposed he says it's exposed in order that this is the purpose sin might be shown that is exposed to be sent then sin was exacerbated then it was awakened so that through the commandment who

God's rules it that is sin might become sinful beyond measure he's in perfect God is purposely inflaming sin the law makes sin worse why why does

God give us a law that makes sin worse because our obedience our law -keeping our morals can't save us and God is here moving us to desperation to wretchedness to our crying out who can save me our problem is sin the law that's

God's rules turns the light on to our sin and exposes and exacerbates our sin so that finally finally maybe what we were denying what we didn't think was really there finally we see it we see that we are not blameless but we see that we are the foremost of sinners and so finally we cry out who will save me the result of God's rules is that it identifies the problem sin once we accept the result our problem is sin then the fight is on finally is the reality of ourselves some people stopping at chapter 6 think that they can be perfect they can reach a level of sinless perfection maybe with the right faith the right experience they can then live once they get that they can live without sin but here the great

Apostle Paul he's speaking about himself about now in the present tense speaking about himself at the time that he wrote this great letter he says that he the one who revealed the great truths of Romans 6 that our old self died with Christ and the new one is raised no longer enslaved to sin inspired

Apostle who celebrates those great truths chapter 6 celebrates them in chapter 8 where we are more than conquerors that same man now reveals the reality about himself and about ourselves in that last section verses 14 to 25 as much as some today wonder when arrested triumph claim that the battles over there's no more fight

I can have perfection contrary to that Paul in verse 14 says that the problem isn't the law the problem is me

I am of the flesh that is I have a sinful nature still I am so under sin a part of me is still under it now sure there's a new me was in with Christ the true me that will live forever we are not defined by our sin that's why in verse five

I do not understand my own actions for I do not do what

I want but I do the very thing I hate the fact that something in me wants to obey

God something in me wants to serve Jesus something in me desires to do what is right what

God says is right what's pleasing to him that fact is because there's now a new me risen with Christ but that so often

I fail I don't serve him like I should that's because I have a sinful nature to fight there is a verse 17 sin it dwells within me in verse 18

I have a flesh and again flesh is not the body because notice it is a force that dwells in me again in verse 20 there is there's a simple sin that dwells within me or a sinfulness that lives inside me this is why perfectionism really the silly myth that we can reach a sinless perfection if we put it out enough effort or the right experience or have the right faith is ultimately disillusioning damaging it's a lie eventually you will run into the reality that you are not sinless that you are still sinful and when you're faced with that fact that the fight is on like the

Israelites in the book of Judges and not all the Canaanites have been destroyed you're gonna have to fight some of them but it's not all peace and ease like you might have thought at the end of the book of Joshua now now they're attacking and when you're faced with the ongoing fight you'll either give up I thought there was gonna be no more fighting

I thought there was all victory you give up thinking there's never any this is a never -ending battle why should

I keep doing it every year the weeds keep keep coming back up again the pounds keep coming back on after every diet crime and terrorism never seemed to end so what's the use or realize the lesson of chapter 7 the fight is on chapter 7 tells us that yes chapter 6 is right but there is no such thing as a carnal

Christian but there's also no such thing as a Christian without carnality evil lies close at hand and that reality is this mix in one person one person who is a new creature who's longing for holiness to be pleasing to Jesus but still evil lies close at hand the flesh still clinging to us when we have had part of us that desperately wants to do what is right that wants to serve the

Lord and then another part of us that just won't that refuses that combination is indeed wretchedness it's the anguish of a fight not a fight against weeds or terrorists or criminals something outside of us but a fight within so one of the evidences of a truly spiritual person a true born -again person risen with Christ but still with a flesh serving sin one of the evidences is an ongoing fight the spiritual person is constantly aware that the fight is on he may have time to triumphant joy when he lives the new life but then he knows evil lies close at hand and so we cries out like Isaiah woe is me like here

Oh wretched man that I am the fight is on right now the wretchedness is the anguish of of our fight between the new us raised with Christ and the old us the flesh now sure we have the joy of Christ's triumph but the daily fight against sin makes us miserable at our sins we sometimes feel the filth and the struggle against our sins so much we wonder who will save a wretch like me that fight is so much a part of our lives that between the the freeing resurrection of chapter 6 and the triumphant celebration of chapter 8 between them we have the wretchedness of chapter 7 the miserable humbling dreadful ongoing anguish of our war against sin going on right now right inside our own hearts that fight is so desperate so overwhelming at times just when temptation hopelessness despair a doubt is about to sweep us away we cry out who will deliver me from this body of death and to that we hear the answer ring back the joyous answer loud and clear thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our