Oh WRETCHED man that I am! Romans 7:13-25

and here we are Romans chapter seven and we're going to talk about the worst enemy you will ever face in your life and sadly all your life that's you I am my own worst enemy this is absolutely true certainly I've experienced this in my own life and as weary Romans seven we read about really the angst human angst and part of the problem of the human condition that there is something wrong inside of me it's not just the world you're a little kid you think there's things wrong with the world it's not fair it's not fair it's not fair as you get older you realize there's something wrong with me and with all the world and its problems what plagues me the most is me so as we read it we will find the Roman seven is describing us each of us hopefully as we identify man this is me this is me I feel this way God's putting my thoughts into words in this passage now there's a bunch of different threads coming together in our sort of verse-by-verse study through the whole book of Romans so Romans 7 doesn't stand totally alone and then when we get to Romans 8 there's even more threads that come together it's like a climax passage romans 8 where all the stuff we've done so far in romans sort of builds up to this dramatic high note of romans chapter 8 but for now we all should know a few things so i'm going to give you vocabulary words here's your vocab words for romans chapter 1 through 7 so far just just three of them the first word is the word law the word law in the book of Romans is used in several different ways it's not one definition for the word sometimes Paul uses it talking about the law of Moses so these are the laws the Jews received from God through the hands of Moses and that's the law and he'll just call it the law and then he'll sometimes use the term law to represent an internal personal awareness of moral truth now there's a connection between that law my conscience right my awareness of moral truth and Moses is law because Moses is law impacts that conscience and makes it more refined but both of these what they have in common is awareness of moral truth there's a moral truth that he's talking about but as you're reading it'll make sense to you if you realize when you said law there he meant Moses when he said law there he meant conscience and sometimes when he says law he seems to mean both and if you just know that it'll really help you as you read through the text it'll make it'll click it'll make more sense but there's a third way in which he uses the word law that's totally different than the other two and the third way is when he uses the term meaning a general principle of how things work in life and that that happens in Romans 7 in particular we'll get there today so you'll hear the word law and it'll just be like a general principle like for instance the law of gravity that's not a moral thing it's just what we call it a law because it's a man that always happens and so he'll just talk about law like there seems to be a rule that happens in my life you know whenever something good happens something bad happens I guess that's like the law you live under that sort of thing um that's kind of the sense in which he's using it now it's it's not hard to tell what he means you just read the words in context and it should be obvious which which use of law he's using so that's the first of all cowboyed law the second vocab word for the genie are going to get vocabulary words today and bow see the second one is the word flesh Paul uses the word flesh a lot I'm not going to get into a ton of deep theology but I just want to say this but flesh is not merely your physical body but when Paul uses it in Romans typically he's talking about our sinful nature our fallen nature and it is actually in some sense connected to our bodies but it's the fallen nature if the flesh is the seat of desires towards sin selfishness pride anything that rebels against the love and goodness and truth of God that's all flesh that's of the flesh vs. of the Spirit which is the opposite of all that and that's your third vocab word your third vocabulary word is spirit now the Bible can use the word spirit you know capital s talking about the Holy Spirit or it can use the word spirit talking about a spirit as in the substance of which something is made of like God is spirit that's speaking of his substance but it can also use the term spirit to talk about that eternal part of us which is alive now that we know Jesus so we can serve Him in the newness of the Spirit instead of the oldest of the letter and there's alive new part of us is connected with God and it's it's like juxtaposed there's a fun word for it it's set against the idea of the flesh so spirit flesh two very different things but they're cohabitating in one person hints the problem and so so that there you go there's your your three vocab words I hope that they make sense to you and as a Christian you have got in reading the Bible you've got to know the difference between the spirit and the flesh or you will not understand a large number of the epistles just know that their difference between spirit and flesh and worse worse than that not only will you not understand a lot of the scriptures but you won't get life like you won't get the Christian life if you don't know hey wait that wasn't just all I made a mistake as like no that was the flesh versus the spirit well I think that my spirit is is directing me to do such and such well if it's good if it's the spirit then it's of good motives and godliness and if it's carnal or fleshly then it's ungodly and you can you can look at your mode of living in regards to these words so it's a real eye-opener it's a real important Christian worldview thing so there's your three words law flesh and spirit so now we're going to read on Romans chapter 7 verse 13 let's pick up it just has been what is good become death to me now the good thing here is the law if we read about it in context but we dropped off in verse 12 and 13 last time so we're picking up here so has been what is good the law has that become death to me certainly not but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good what's the good thing again the law yes the law here now what did you mean Moses is law or does he mean internal moral awareness yes I think he just means both I think to the Jew they'd be thinking of Moses to the to the non Jew they are thinking of their personal awareness of moral law I think it's both in this passage so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful it might become exceedingly sinful and what this does is this zooms out it says let's look at the cosmic thing that God is doing with your personal struggle against sin it's a really interesting concept I tend to think of my own struggles as they impact me if I'm really gracious and loving I might consider how they impact my wife you know I might consider how they impact others I might as a pastor think how my personal struggle or my compromise in some area might be affecting my teaching which then affects the discipleship to others that I do I might be considering these things but rarely do I think I wonder how what I'm going through might impact the Angels you know like I'm not really thinking about this very often but there is something cosmic going on something Universal in the struggle you have with sin I think we can see there's an Old Testament that God sometimes does something cosmic or something very big through one person's little struggles and that person almost never realizes it the book of Job is a fantastic example of this the book of Job we see a cosmic scene the sons of God and and and Satan comes up and he's challenging God and and job gets thrown into the mix there between Satan and God and then this guy job his his life become sort of the stage on which the glory of God is now going to be displayed he's doing something big through this one guy's life and maybe just maybe as insignificant as you might feel you are maybe God's doing something big through the things that you're going through and maybe it's in ways that you can't even see because you don't see most of what happens in reality so God does this with sin and that's what verse 13 is saying let me tell you my how I'm interpreting verse 13 then we'll read it again I'm interpreting it to say this that he's using man and man's sinfulness and his moral law and truths and he's using this black and white issue this struggle to demonstrate something to all of creation that's what I'm saying so let's look at it again and ask yourself what is he demonstrating verse 13 has been what is good become death to me certainly not but sin that it might appear sin was producing death and me through what is good so that sin through the Commandant might become exceedingly sinful what is the cosmic thing God is doing he's showing the not only the the wrongness of sin but the whole like putrescence of it that's what he's doing through the rebellion of people he's allowing to be displayed how messed up sin is you want to know how messed up drugs a drug addiction is have someone in your family who's drug addicted and now you know it is now on display if you want to know how messed up divorce is in someone's life either have it happened to you or somebody you know and you will see how messed up this thing is it hurts it is hard it is painful and it's now on display and so here we have God putting these things on display I think you're showing his glory all of creation he shows through sin he shows love because if it wasn't for my fallen state in a sense God wouldn't have been able to show so much love to me it's it's it's by comparison to my fallenness that he shows his love so through sin he's going to reveal his love he brings good out of the evil he'll also reveal his righteousness his righteousness because he's going to judge sin and he's going to deal with sin and he's going to let the rebellion against God take its course he's going to let it take its course it's like if I stand there holding up a sign that says don't turn right you'll go off a cliff and then someone drives up and they turn right and they go off a cliff what does that do about about me and my sign and everyone's like what is that sign saying I realized how right you are in that issue in the same sense God is being shown as being right God is showing us he's showing the angels he's showing what his righteousness really is and he's showing how bad sin really is and this is something that has to be shown because people don't get it people don't think sin is that bad they only don't like the consequences of sin but they like the sin this is the difference it's like some people I don't want to get busted I don't want the pain of sin but I want the sin well God's trying to show us that sin is sinful sin that it might appear sin was using death in me so one of the ways God shows us that sin is sinful is by its penalty death there's death there's judgment there's eternal consequences for sin and so I should look at it and go wow that must have been a very big deal sin must be really Grievous another way is that it shows enslavement when I when I see someone who thinks they're I can't help but think now Pinocchio again and Pinocchio and you know that the whole Donkey Island right the kids they did school they're they're quote sinning and it's a cartoony version of things right but they're sinning and then they start turning into donkey slaves and this is a picture of Wow maybe what what I was doing wrong was worse than I thought because look at the slavery that it brought me into and that's what send us with our lives it enslaves us jesus said he who commits sin is a slave of sin so sin is sinful this simple truth is resisted by so many in fact the world flips it upside down and tries to say that sin is good in fact it's delicious it's sinfully delicious they try to spin it and flip it upside down and the world is upside down instead of right-side up on this issue and it's interesting to me while people reject the idea that sin is sinful in many cases they'll have random exceptions whenever they feel offended but it's interesting that those who reject Jesus tend to have such a low morality by comparison to a Christian moral value system right because in Christian morality for instance pride is looked at as a grievous sin drunkenness is looked up as a serious sin you know unforgiveness is a serious sin and these are things that the world would look at and laugh at or make excuses about or even enjoy pride is something that our culture now thinks is a beautiful thing thinks is a wonderful thing you should have pride you should have this sort of thing and that's that's unfortunate the world tends to lower morality even though they often then pretend that their morality is higher and we'll even get mad at you because you don't agree that's that's unfortunate the way it is though but I think what it comes down to is this issue of autonomy versus accountability so hear me out on this when I reject God I'm accountable only to me so I filter my view of morality through what makes me feel good what makes me happy what what looks good in my eyes I'm autonomous I'm just it's just me that I'm focused on in that regard but if I'm under God I have to filter all morality through whose eyes through his eyes and so my morality becomes much higher much stricter much different than the morality where I reject God and so when I encounter an unsafe person I'm not only encountering somebody who rejects the Lord but someone who will not be filtering moral values through the Lord they have their own set of morals that sort of wishy-washy typically kind of cobbled together based on what they like in the experiences they've had whereas God obviously has a true set of morality that we all should have so sin that it may appear sinful what we're getting is some deep stuff or anything here but I like it I think it's exciting stuff so verse 14 let's read on for we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin the law is spiritual the law here is talking about Mosaic law or just talking about personal awareness of moral truth yes the live spiritual I think the answers both it's good it's holy the law is not the problem and what sense is it's spiritual it's in line with God it's moral it's all that if I was spiritual I would be behaving in these ways so it's spiritual the lobsters will put me I have a problem I'm carnal I am carnal that word carnal also think of it as fleshy carnal in fact Carnival comes from this so it is carne asada that's also connected it's also connected as well so it's above the flesh the meat you know but but again this word flesh our vocab we give you this is about our sin nature sinful desires desires that are focused on me and that sometimes infrequently go against God so so far we've got in this big mouthful of stuff we've already covered in just one verse two verses is that sin is utterly sinful and God is going through great Labor's to show us how sinful sin is because we don't get it I shouldn't think of sin as being a little mistake a little issue any any sin that Jesus had to die for must be a big deal the Christian I should realize this but the problem here is even if I am aware that sin is bad and God is good I am carnal sold under sin I'm under this I'm under this bondage this is me I'm of the flesh so what does that mean in verse 14 I'm carnal sold under sin well let me tell you what it doesn't mean it does not mean that what's physical is evil because again by flesh we're not talking about a physical body we're talking about a carnal sinful fleshy desires it does not mean physical equals bad there was in church history of after first couple hundred years of the church there's there arose groups of people who thought that we should teach that all carnal stuff is bad and by carnal they meant physical so they would have taught that it was somehow ungodly for husbands to even be with their wives this is the stuff that like lead to some serious weird confusions including something called piller Saints have you heard of them the pillar Saints in the Dark Ages so-called for good reason they would put themselves up on a pillar a literal pillar and they'd sit there and they would starve themselves sometimes some anyways they'd stay up there until they died because that's holy man right there slow suicide right isn't that what the Bible says suicide is exactly what God wants from us I think it was a living sacrifice you read it wrong so the pillar Saints would do things like take their their hands and tie them with wrappings so that their fingernails would grow into their hand and through the skin and through the meat out the other end they would rely on random strangers to bring them food up on poles and sponges of liquid and stuff like that why because they were messed up in the head this is not what Scripture means when it says that what's carnal is bad or fleshly is bad that's not what it means it doesn't mean that so pillar Saints the problem there is that is not denial of the flesh and the red colossians they would have known this they would have known this that's not really denying the flesh the sinful nature in fact what you've done is you've taken a lot of carnal desires and set them aside and substitute them all for pride Here I am you know the old build phrase don't put yourself up on a pillar there you go don't do it for multiple reasons so what we do mean when we say the flesh is there's an ailment that that is in all of mankind this has been driven into us hardcore in the book of Romans that we have a sin nature a sinful capacity that we're simply we have all of us have this and we're all inclined towards sin Romans preaches this clearly talks about us being slaves of sin Romans 6 talks about our Liberty from this our freedom from this in Christ but it but it grants that we have slavery to sin but it's not just Romans the whole Bible endorses this idea of mankind being fallen in the same sense that Paul mentions here I'm carnal sold under sin in the book of Genesis we read about Adam and Eve we'll read about their glorious garden and that lasts for about ten seconds right and then then they eat of the tree and then something changes in mankind shortly thereafter we read about the first murder two brothers surprise surprise and the first murder happens and not too long after that the flood and what the flood says the flood says that mankind was so wicked so horrifically bad that God fled to the entire earth now I hear people respond two ways to the flood and I think the way you respond says a lot about your your mind and your views one they respond by thinking wow God must be messed up for having flooded the world and the other group responds wow man must have been really messed up for God to flood the world now I know which one the scripture teaches I know where I stand on it but it's interesting to me that when it comes to moral issues you will always end up either condemning man or condemning God but you can't stand on the fence you're eventually going to get pushed to one or the other on that condemned man or condemn God somebody's condemned here I don't think it's God so in reality that this shows this shows the wickedness of man that all of man was that bad and then did man totally change did mankind completely changed no of course not he didn't exhibit why is the why God not flood the world again because he said he won't the reason why he hasn't done that then God chooses a people Israel Israel this will be God's people and they'll have God's lies and they'll have God's guidance and prophets and judges and they'll have all this stuff and God's protections and all these things and they turn away from God over and over again have you read judges the book of Judges gets worse as you carry on I mean as a teacher I've taught through judges as you get to the end you're just like I'm just looking for a good guy in this story you know like that I can talk about it just ends up really bad seven times the people of Israel turn away and as a group they just do whatever is right in their own eyes which as we learn is a much lower moral standard than what God really calls us to so the book of Judges shows us something it shows us that even when God chooses a nation and gives them laws they don't do it something's wrong with people man people are messed up and this is not me attacking Israel me attacking the Jews because I think the Jews a representative of any nation God could have picked any group of people and it would've been the same story as it was with the Israelites because it's a people problem it's a people problem I remember hearing some people that were racist talk about how there's there's a lot of domestic violence oh there's a lot of domestic violence in the I think was the Spanish that he was talking about in Mexican homes a lot of domestic violence and drinking and I'm a DD counselor right so I'm like you're right there is there is we study the statistics and all that I said now what might surprise you is in the Italian communities there's also a lot of domestic violence and heavy drinking what really might shock you what might really blow you away is in British communities there's a lot of domestic violence and drink it I mean this might really surprise you but in Canadian communities you know what they have a lot of domestic violence and drinking I mean pick a culture people are messed up the problem is I'm people I'm not standing here like looking out at some distant crowd they're all messed up and I'm great it's like I'm just looking in the mirror and the problem is you're all like me that's the problem so people are messed up that comes of that's kind of the point in John 8 and John 8 Jesus talks about this he went to the to the Jewish people now you would think knowing the background of Genesis knowing the background of Judges knowing the the fallenness of Israel in the sin that the Bible keeps accusing mankind of that they would respond differently to Jesus but they don't they missed the point so in John 8:31 Jesus is speaking it says then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him but once who believed if you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed so they had some kind of belief but the question was would they really be disciples of Christ and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free one of Hollywood's favorite verses to constantly quote out of context Jesus is the truth guys and whatever your Hollywood movies about this is you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free and they answered him wait make us free and their pride gets in there and it says we are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone how can you say you will be made free they missed the point Jesus as usual is talking about spiritual truths and spiritual realities and they as usual are thinking about the last five minutes and what they're having for lunch jesus answered them most assuredly I say to you whoever commits sin is a slave of sin and he tells them the real issue is sin and your slavery to sin and I will set you free from this issue and the slave does not abide in the house forever but a son abides forever therefore if the son makes you free you shall be free indeed indeed and that's really what Romans 6 and 7 is about isn't it about our slavery to sin and how the Sun sets us free so then if you're asking well I want more details on what it means to be carnal to be quote sold under sin it means slave understand well we'll read on because Paul keeps explaining so verse 15 of Romans 7 he says for what I'm doing I do not understand for what I will to do that I do not practice but what I hate that I do the word will here means want or desire or preference or opinion or wish that's so he'll say will a lot in this passage he's talking about that what he what his preferences or his want is I remember being a child and getting in trouble it happened and being asked over and over again as a kid why did you do that what were you thinking and my answer was always the same I don't know and I remember hearing the question why did you do that and it would be something weird I I got in you get busted for wheat you do weird stuff when you're a kid you know I used to like juggle knives in the kitchen I'm not kidding I would take knives and throw them in the air and then try to catch them by the handle I'm actually pretty good at it now but but the kid put the linoleum in the kitchen still has all the scars yeah turns out it's not that easy to get cut we didn't have Cutco knives though I have no fingers if we did but but we just do weird stuff we just do we were ever going up onto the top of the roof and jumping off just to see if I could me and my buddies and they were like can you get to the pinnacle to get to the top go to the top okay and it stings your feet you know and you Lannon we just do weird stuff and add to other weird stuff that I don't really want to tell you about and I got busted for this weird stuff somebody's like it's been quiet for a while and where Michael is you know and they go and they open the door and they're like yo what were you doing why did you do that and I look and I'm going what am i doing I'm doing this and I go I don't know I really don't know why I'm don't tell me what I don't know why I'm doing it you better think of a reason I don't know and I never knew why what I remembered as a kid was when I have kids and they do stupid things I'll remember they don't know why they know they really don't know why I'll just remember this rule of life well it appears as though Paul still didn't know why cuz here he says for what I'm doing I don't understand for what I will to do I don't practice but what I hate that I do it's not just children that do this I mean how many of us if I followed you around throughout the week would there be a tie or I might grab you by the arm and say hey what are you doing why did you do that where you look at me and go what did I just die because I am messed up man something's wrong with me yes exactly don't you feel it when there's things that you hate and you do it like I hate it but then I desire it it's disgusting it's wrong something's wrong with me yeah and it's wrong with all of us you're not alone I mean Paul the Apostle writes us about himself he's like that which I hate I do I don't understand so if you're looking for Paul to fully explain the issues of sin nature and why you do things you don't he didn't know either I don't know I just need help and this is this is Romans 7 it's when I first read Romans 7 about being sold under sin I thought this is describing me I mean no one preaches on this at least not that I have noticed in my time following the Lord at the time I was like I don't think I've ever heard this priest of it but man this is about me Romans 7 is about me a wretched man that I am like I completely identify with this and there was somehow comfort in that and just like Lord you know you know you know you know but the news is it's not just me this passage has so much value for so many who struggle against sin and have guilt and have a sense of self-loathing that is natural for those whose eyes have been open to the goodness of God and then they peer down and they see the Ignis of self there's the worship song and says the more I see you as you are the more you show me who I am and now that's it's it's a it's it's a humbling thing to be a Christian it's a humbling thing to look and realize like me hi my ideals keep getting higher but this just makes me look lower and that's reality so this is very honest about our human condition I'm very honest about the human condition I love that about the Bible I love the honesty and integrity of the scriptures about the human condition I've you know I've looked at other religious books but I haven't seen such a genuine yet that is exactly what life is like that I see in Scripture but there is a debate that goes on in with Romans 7 is the question is is this pre salvation or post salvation some people go well Paul only struggled like that before he was saved but after he was safe clearly he wouldn't have struggled that way I can say this you can't Clete you can't say clearly this is not post salvation there's nothing in the text that makes it clear that as a as a saved believer he didn't experience this but perhaps the answer is it's both it's pre and post salvation it's pre and post salvation the problem of the flesh the sin nature that the non-believer is under and enslaves too is also the problem of the flesh that the believer can overcome but still has to deal with and I know as I read it I'm like well I'll tell you before I was saved I would have read this and I wouldn't have really thought that much about it because it wasn't till after I was saved that suddenly it was me hating those things me despising them I might have felt guilty but I didn't hate him that was me as a believer so what I hate do you hate sin not as much as a non-believer su2 when you're saved that's for sure so it's honest about the struggle but it will be honest about the victory over sin so hopefully we can we can commiserate we can commiserate with Paul we can come together and be like yeah me too Paul me too and I'm glad you're lame like me verse 16 it says if then I do what I will not to do I agree with the law that it is good this is this is an important point we could miss because the wording is a little different than the way we would say it it's agreeing with Romans chapter 2 verse 1 so if you can flip there this is kind of saying the same thing as Romans 2 1 it says therefore you are inexcusable o man whoever you are who judge for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself for you who judge practice the same things this is the this is not a do not judge verse remember this is a radically misunderstood passage but it's saying that when you go yeah yeah it's wrong to be mean for no reason I'm agreeing that the law is good and then what I've been mean for no reason sort of self condemning that's the idea so if then I do what I will not to do if I go yeah I shouldn't do that I ought not do that well then I'm agreeing that the little law that mortal truth is real I'm accountable for that I'm affirming I'm saying God is right God is right which means that then after saying yes these morals are true when I don't do it what's that say about me what's that say about me verse 17 but now it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me this is a verse that is very interesting and very easily taken very much out of context very much to the destruction of individuals who feel very much like they have to very radically distance themselves from their own accountability for their very big sins but in verse 17 when it says it's no longer I who do it does it really mean don't worry Christian you robbed that bank but it wasn't you it was sin you didn't rob it it's that sin nature or blame it on sin that's not what it means this is not saying I'm not accountable because it's my nature which the world likes to say don't they all I can't help it I was born like this if if they found that there was a gene that made someone predisposed sexuality here I'm just talking about any sin issue but if they found there was a gene that we were born with that made us like cold-blooded murderers would that make it okay would that mean that we should not like sentence the cold-blooded murderer because its genetic no it would just mean like wow you're really messed up that thought that means so it's not saying that it's not and now we disagree with the statements in Romans and throughout the Bible of accountability and of awareness and all this other sorts of things God God judges the sinner he doesn't just judge their nature he actually deals with the sinner so it may be related to the concept of addiction it's possible because it's just this idea that there's this like monster within me but what does it mean then I think it's a spiritual differentiation between me and my sinful nature because and here's the good news in Christ God can separate you from your sin he can separate you from your sin nature as a Christian I don't conquer my sin nature I die to it I distance myself from it I separate myself from it and I sew unto Christ and yield and walk in the spirit and this is creating that separation this is like a biblical anthropology right the study of man anthropology study of man there's there's basically when I'm unsaved there's me and my sin nature is dominating and I'm going to get saved my sin nature sort of pulled off my back set to the side and now I can yield to the spirit or I can yield to the sin nature and then upon our full salvation upon our new bodies and resurrection new bodies new creation or if we get taken up into heaven and transformed then we get our new bodies then that sin nature won't even be there anymore and I am really looking forward to because then I will be able to tolerate you it's just amazing and Philippians talked about that time so we have the before your salvation sins controlling if after salvation you can walk in the spirit or the flesh it's going to be up to you ultimately and then you have upon our transformation and that's Philippians 3:21 it says who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself so maybe this transformation in this new life hopefully they'll happen in the next five minutes verse 18 it says for I know that in me that is in my flesh so he's just hi - flesh nothing good dwells for to will is present with me that means to desire right but how to perform what is good I do not find for the good that I will to do I do not do but the evil I will not to do that I practice now if I do what I will not to do it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me send us for taking on a persona in this individual again this is a separation of me and my sinful nature so this results in something it means I can be saved and separated from that sin nature I can anticipate a new uncorrupted nature in the future why don't I sit in heaven because I don't want to thank you lord thank you lord there's that final deliverance that we've all been begging for then there's also a lack of ability that he talks about in this passage he says how to perform what is good I do not find I can't find the ability to perform what's good I got all these you know you just think about your New Year's resolutions I don't recommend you use resolutions by the way I recommend New Year's goals you know why because goals are something you can keep reaching after you failed at once but resolutions you break goals are still there the resolutions are broken on the ground so I think New Year's goals are nice it's good to reflect on our lives and all that but but there's a lack of the ability in me to perform the things that I that I desire to do that I say I'm going to do it I want to live a moral and good life I don't find that ability where in my flesh I don't find it in my natural self that's the thing I don't find it in the natural mean in my flesh nothing good dwells Matthew 26:41 Jesus says that the flesh was weak a lack of ability to perform we tend to think of the flesh as being strong the Bible says that it's weak sin is not strong anger is not strong wrath your wrath the wrath of man is not strong you know when I was a kid we joked about how we were Irish and so we should be able to drink a lot of beer like drunkenness is strong but anybody who's known an alcoholic knows that it's weak anybody who knows someone who's caught up in laziness or lost in any kind of sin you know that that's a weakness on strength the flesh is weak Romans 8:3 says this says the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh I mean I can't be saved by obedience because my flesh is so weak I won't obey I'm not going to do it so this is not only generic this is personal man this is really personal I know in fact I can think of someone I know personally who every once in a while they post on Facebook I hate people I hate people they just post that on Facebook I've known a few people who this is their mantra every once in a while when life's just going down they just decide to hate everybody later they love everybody so I guess that count that counteracts it somehow the problem is that in them I see me I hate them but it's me I am my problem and this is what we've got to get into our hearts and minds this describes the unbeliever and the believer the unbeliever stuck under it but the believer can overcome it but it will still be your struggle and if that's not true then my entire Christian life is very confusing because I still struggle daily against the flesh there's a daily dying to Christ they're dying to the world taking up the cross and serving Christ that I have to do a daily dying to self I've got to do this it's very personal to me and again the Bible so true to the nature of man it's just describing me so then verse 21 he's going to use the word la here and here he means it like law of gravity like a general principle of life he's not referring to the Old Testament or something I find in a law that evil is present with me the one who wills to do good for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man but 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 a wretched wretched man that I am who will deliver me from his body of death the enemy in me that's my biggest battle that's your biggest battle and when we stand before Lord we are not accountable for what others did to us we're just accountable for what we did and when you talk to people in their honest moments the biggest griefs of life are not what others have done to them it's generally speaking their own failings if they're being very honest it's not so much what my dad did or my mom did it was when I did it that's what really gets me you know these are the things the enemy that's in me it's the biggest battle it's not the outward attacks it's my sin it's my compromise and this is why I encourage you Christians keep ourselves pure don't let sin take root in your life if it's taking root or rip it out you know take this to the Lord because you can have victory we'll go back to Romans 6 you can have victory but this is the struggle this is the battle and we we should be able to hold each other's arms and and link together and say hey you just like me you battle against sin and it is a war but we can have victory in Christ true victory really overcoming I don't find the ability to perform in me and the conclusion finally in these in the the members he talks about in verse 23 his members that that's his body or his physical flesh I see this law in my flesh and my members warring against the law of my mind the principles or the operating principle I want to do good I want to do good bringing me into captivity to law of sin which is in my members and he concludes a wretched man that I am this is the conclusion of a sin nature notice this he calls himself wretched he doesn't say poor me there is a radical difference between the two I just recently had a conversation with somebody who was talking about all of their personal failings and their conclusion was poor me now there is a mountain of grace there's an ocean of grace for personal failings but not so much for the person who says poor me instead of woe is me there was just such a big difference so I don't say poor me I say wretched me have you said this I don't think I honestly realized I was wretched until after I was saved it was after I was saved and God started enlightening my eyes to true morality and true spirituality and I was like man I'm not either of those you know and I fall short so much and in ways that people see and in ways that people don't wretched man that I am I I am destroyed by me so Paul he's just fully exposing the angst of hopefully everybody and if you've never felt this can I say this there's a huge spiritual blind spot in your life if you've never said wretched me wretched me if you've never thought this you're like I really think I'm probably a pretty good person it's not true you just literally can't see the forest through the trees it's there and I feel this I personally I feel there's no one's ever really had to point it out to me so it seems like it's so obviously how could you not know you're messed up I mean look at me I'm messed up so you must be but in verse 25 he answers the question he takes us to the depths of the angst of personal pain and disappointments and wretchedness of self-loathing and he says not suicide is the answer not even to stay here thinking about how wretched you are is the answer no the answer is this 25 I thank God why because there's a solution because there's a cure because there's help for this wretch that through Jesus Christ our Lord so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin the answer is Jesus he's the answer to not only the guilt of sin that I can be forgiven but he's the answer to the wretched person that I am he delivers me from me from my failings and my shortcomings and all that stuff and when you realize oh richard i am and then you turn it you see Jesus and he's there going I died for you and and he couldn't even he couldn't even answer the question without saying I thank God Paul knows the depths of wretchedness and so he knows the heights of praise I thank God so we can harken back to Romans 6 we see that this is where Jesus is delivering us from the old me yes my flesh serves the law of sin but I don't have to serve my flesh I can walk in the spirit God he just cuts the ties to our old self in fact the Bible even calls us the old person and the new person because it's that big of a difference so if any man is in Christ he is a what a new creation old things have passed away I like that because you know sometimes when people die we say they've passed away so old things have passed away that old me that that wretchedness that I am very familiar with that is passed away it is gone so I can walk in victory so what's the response the response is gratitude as a Christian with Romans 7 I read it in I just go man that's that's me so how can I have pride I mean how is the Christian can I have arrogance or pride what if I have a skill what if I have a gift what if I have an ability how can I be arrogant or proud about any of those things because Lord you know the wretched state of me and you save me in it how can I feel superior to anybody anybody I'm not superior I'm not superior I'm just saved how can I have anything but gratitude to God there's a reason why this song I mean think about this one of the most popular worship songs of all time is where we sing that where a wretch Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me because if you're in Christ I think you get it I think you get it Paul has gone to really great lengths I would say the Holy Spirit has gone to great lengths in the book of Romans to paint an accurate picture of the wickedness of man so that when we say Lord is your grace really enough for this wicked man for this wicked person that we say yep it sure is because he painted me accurately and they set me free in Romans 8 which I can't wait to get to next we'll do Romans 8 and Romans 8 is leading right from Romans 7 it really doesn't stop I would just keep teaching if time allowed but but Romans 8 gives us the new life and the spirit so we talked about life in the flesh that's Romans 7 but now we'll talk about life in the spirit and so this new mode of living this new way of life that Christians can have and should have moment by moment walking in the spirit and it's better than most people realize walking in the spirit is not primarily about spiritual gifts while we believe in spiritual gifts that they're active in the church that God has gifted us that's not the primary thing when we talk about walking in the spirit walking the spirit is is better than that actually and so I'm excited to get into that in Romans 8 and we'll probably spend a few weeks on Romans 8 and there just a little preview when we hit Romans 9 Romans 9 is it poses that are familiar with Calvinism Romans 9 is one of the strongest Calvinist passages one us also Ephesians some other stuff but it's one of the strongest Calvinist passages and I'm excited to kind of teach it to you guys on a more theological level than maybe we would often get like say on a Sunday morning type service because our Sunday night group is a that you guys are dear for that like I think so so I'm excited to get into all that all that good stuff but for now for tonight as a closing prayer just stop for a minute and realize God knows your condition at your lowest worst most disgusting perverted state he knows and he saved you right there romans 7 isn't just to beat us up it is to lift us up we realize yep that is me and I'm forgiven that is me and he paid for me that's me I felt that I feel that thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord let's pray father we thank you for your holiness revealed to us in your word revealed to us in our conscience and Lord it shows us clearly that we are mess up we are we look around the world it's not that hard to recognize that mankind has a serious and problem in it and it's only through sort of a happy delusion that we can pretend that everything's okay the Lord you meet us right there in our depravity you save us by your grace we thank you God through Jesus Christ our Lord we want to serve you in our spirits we want to serve you from the inside out Lord we want to now walk in this flesh and I'll walk in the depravity and the failures and the and the shortcomings and the temptations and slavery of sin we don't want to walk in those things so lord we don't we don't ask help us conquer sin but rather help us die to it and just to walk in the spirit and as we keep going through Romans we pray for not only a verse by verse understanding of the meaning of the passage but for a heart and life application of the transformation of it in Jesus name Amen [Music] you [Music] and you're [Music]

Channel: Mike Winger

Views: 27,548

Rating: 4.8738966 out of 5

Keywords: Mike Winger, BibleThinker, wretched, wretched man that I am, real hope for wretched people, Why do I sin, Why can't I stop sinning, what's wrong with me?, How do I overcome sin, sin nature, self-control, help, addiction, Romans 7, Romans 7:24, Romans 7:25

Id: EuwBziNR3JE

Length: 49min 42sec (2982 seconds)

Published: Mon May 22 2017