15th Nov. 09
Romans 7: 14 – 25
If you can grasp what I’m going to talk about today, it will save you a lot of heartache and confusion in your Christian life.
Typically, what tends to happen when we first become a Christian is that everything is great; we have a real honeymoon with Jesus.
But after while our old temptations, bad habits and problems start returning again. And so do our doubts – we might say things like;
“I thought I was over with that” or
“Maybe I’m not a Christian after all” or
“I don’t seem to have the ability to do what I know is right – I lack the discipline I need to be a Christian”.
The way Paul says it is, “The things I want to do, I end up not doing, and the things I don’t want to do, I do”.
It feels like there are two of me now – one wants to do what is right and the other wants to rebel. Part of me wants to live for Christ and the other part of me doesn’t and fights against me.
Perhaps summed up in a little poem written by Edward Martin called
“My Name is Legion”.
Within my earthly temple there is a crowd
There’s one of us that’s humble and one that’s proud
There’s one of us that’s broken hearted for our sins
There’s one that unrepentant sits and grins
There is one that loves his neighbour as himself
And one that cares for naught but fame and self
From much controlling care I could be free
If I could but determine which is me
What does it all mean? The answer is that in Christ:
I. We Have Two Natures Now.
i. Our new nature – the nature of Christ (the Holy Spirit) who now lives within us – who is capable of doing the right thing, to please God,
ii. But we still have our old nature – our ‘sinful’ nature. It didn’t die when we became a Christian.
Galatians 5, Paul says there is a conflict between these two natures.
“So I say live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other.” vs. 16
There is a civil war that goes on in the life of every believer, between the old nature, which does not want to please God and the new nature that does.
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law”. Galatians 5:18
Q: What can we say about the old nature?
Paul says of our old nature that, “It’s incapable of doing the right thing even if it wanted to, which it doesn’t” – it has neither the will not the power to do what is right.
Despite our best efforts to whip our old nature into shape and discipline it, we cannot change.
As long as we live with our sinful nature in control, we are going to have the same old desires. (Crab story).
But there is a way to win the battle – the civil war within- and we will come to that.
In the mean time Romans 7, gives us a portrait of a struggling Christian. It’s Paul’s testimony and it’s comforting to know that even a great man like Paul was like us in our weakness.
Paul’s actually talking about what it means to try to live ‘under the law’.
Trying to please God by being good – he says it always leads to frustration.
II. A Description of a Struggling Christian (vs. 14 – 25)
In baring his soul in this way, Paul shares five characteristics about his own powerlessness.
1. I Have a Problem
“We know that the Law is spiritual but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin”. vs. 14
The first thing Paul admits to is, the fact that his sinful nature wanted to dominate his life – he was not in charge.
The key word in Roman’s seven is the word ‘I’, used 27 times in 12 verses. Paul reveals that he has an ‘I’ problem and so do we.
We can’t go anywhere with God until we admit to the same problem.
And the problem is caused by our ‘sinful nature’.
As Pogo, the cartoon character said, “We have found the enemy and he is us”?
Our biggest problem is not the devil – it’s us.
My new nature (Christ), on the other hand, wants to do what is right – hence the battle within us.
2. I’m Confused.
“I do not understand what I do”. vs. 5 -16
Once again, it is very comforting for me to know that even Paul didn’t understand what was happening in his life.
The greatest Christian man next to Christ has these two perplexing questions.
How can I stop constantly doing bad things and how can I start doing good things?
“What I want to do, I end up not doing. What I don’t want to do, I end up doing”.
Q: How many of us start the day with the best of intentions – today is going to be different.
But at the end of the day we have to report into God that we ‘blew it’.
3. I’m Frustrated.
I have the greatest intentions but nothing seems to change.
“It is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I can’t carry it out”. vs. 17 – 18
Remember Peter? Lord I will never deny you!
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus came to Peter and he had fallen asleep.
Remember Jesus’ words “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”.
This is exactly what Paul is talking about, “I have the desire to do what is good, I just can’t carry it out”.
4. I’m in a Battle with Myself and I’m Losing
I’m getting tired and I feel like giving up,
Verse 21- 23 says, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members”.
The law of sin that Paul talks about is like the law of gravity – it holds everything down.
Now I wonder if you have noticed – that there is a very important reference, missing from Chapter 7?
What is lacking in Chapter 7 is any reference to the Holy Spirit. (There are many references to ‘me’ and ‘I’).
But chapter 7 is really just getting us ready for Chapter 8 where Paul talks about another law, the only law greater than the law of sin and death – the law of the Spirit of life is Christ Jesus.
It’s the Spirit of God living within us who is life for us.
The law of sin and death drags down our sinful nature just like gravity holds everything down in the physical world.
The law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin death, to live the Christian life.
(Just as the law of aerodynamics enables an aircraft to break free from the law of gravity)
5. But Without the Holy Spirit we Feel Trapped.
“What a wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” vs. 24,
The word ‘wretched’ in Greek literally means ‘worn out or exhausted’.
It describes a person who has fought an intense battle and they have nothing left to give.
And this is the way it is for many Christians – they are out of energy – tired – defeated and so Paul cries out,
“Who will rescue me from this body of death? I cannot get rid of this old sinful nature.
We will always have our old sin nature; our weakness and addiction to sin, for as long as we live in our present mortal body.
The sooner we realise, that we can’t whip our sinful nature into shape or patch it up, the sooner we will come to despair like Paul and then do something about it – like the alcoholic, who says I need God’s help, I can defeat this addiction to alcohol on my own.
And the whole point, of course, is that this is what brings us to the wonderful promises of Chapter 8.
Paul’s insight, in the last verse of chapter 7, (vs. 25) is to recognise that the answer to his question; “who will rescue me”, only God can.
“Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
And next week we will see why the Spirit’s presence is so wonderful – Paul says the key is allowing Christ is to allow him to live his life through us, by the Holy Spirit.
And in Romans 8 we are going to see how God answers every one of Paul’s feelings – frustration, guilt, condemnation, feeling trapped – the answer is having ‘Christ living in us and through us’.
III. Lessons from Romans Chapter 7.
1. We have two natures – in conflict.
Even though we are Christians we will still have the desire to do wrong.
2. Our will is powerless to change our old nature.
New Year’s Resolutions don’t work if we rely on our own strength.
3. Our only deliverance is through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It’s the Spirit of Jesus in us that produces the changes we desperately want to make in our lives.
When we get into Chapter 8 (which, I think, is the greatest chapter in the Bible) we will find a totally different man to the man we find in Chapter 7.
We will read of a man who is; coping with life, is not under condemnation and who knows that ‘all things work together for good’.
A man who knows that nothing can separate him from the love of God. That God is for him and not against him.
And the difference is the 19 references to the work of the Holy Spirit.
Only the Spirit of Christ can give us the power to overcome all our old tendencies and desires, but even then it will remain a constant battle.
I thank God for Paul’s honesty – he’s so honest about his weaknesses.
He admits it’s a struggle to live the Christian life even for a mature Christian – we will never be completely rid of our old sin nature.
Which makes the ‘victorious Christian living teaching’ that pops up every now and then such nonsense; we have to work at our Christian life like anything else.
We are all sinners and we come to Church to be real; but we are redeemed sinners and the Holy Spirit is working in us to make us better people than we could ever hope to be without Christ.
Part of being a Christian is, wanting to be the best that we can be for Christ’s sake but let’s be real and not pretend that we are better than we are – that’s called self righteousness.
IV. Being A Realistic Christian
How can we make sure that we don’t lose the struggle with our sinful nature?
There is no easy solution but allow me to make some suggestions.
1. Admit When You Are Confused
When you don’t have all the answers – or when you are struggling; none of us has a basis for giving the impression that we have arrived spiritually or in any way.
Paul was honest enough to say, “I’m struggling.” – I need God’s help with just about everything.
2. Try to Accept Your Own Imperfections
“I know that nothing good dwells within me.” vs. 18
Q. Did Paul have a low self image? Not at all but he realised that there was a part of him in which dwelt no good thing; “That is my sinful nature.”
The basis of accepting the truth about ourselves is, knowing that our self image or self worth comes not from any unrealistic idea we have about ourselves but from God’s unconditional love.
3. Leave Room for Failure
Paul did, look at verse 19,
“For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing…it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” vs. 19
Paul is not making excuses, he is like the alcoholic who acknowledges that he is addicted to alcohol – it’s not the devil, its my sinful nature.
God has given Paul a new nature but the old nature is not going to give up without a struggle.
Sometimes we focus on peoples success stories in the Christian life; Testimonies of prayers that have been wonderfully answered.
But should this be our only reason for sharing – what about testimonies of failure and the grace of God in the Christian life?
Many of us don’t have a great prayer life and many of our prayers seem to go unanswered. Shouldn’t we share this as well, to encourage others to know they are still normal?
4. Admit Your True Feelings To God
Be honest with God about your struggles and failures. Jesus did not condemn Thomas for his doubts, instead he showed him his hands and it enabled Thomas to believe.
5. Do Not Depend On Rules and Resolutions for Your Christian Life
Christianity is not about the things I should be doing;
Romans 7, shows us the limitations of human will power. Resolutions to change, without any help from God, for the most part, don’t work.
Paul uses marriage as a metaphor for what happens to the Christian. We are married to Christ now.
Before we became Christians we were married to the law – the law was our demanding spouse and as such we were living under condemnation.
But now that we are married to Christ we don’t have to please the law any more.
Living to please Christ means, wanting to be the best person we can because we love God.
But don’t ever catch yourself saying, ‘Sorry God, I let you down”.
Why is it wrong to think like this?
Because we don’t hold God’s reputation in our hands, we can’t let God down – in fact it’s the other way round isn’t it, God has us in His hands.
Christianity is not about us – it’s about realising how great God is and how much God love us.
It’s about grasping the fact that God, in his wonderful love and grace is reaching out to us to life, to help us fulfil our potential as His children.
David Lawson writes, “We have got it all wrong. The Bible is not God’s solution to our problem it’s God’s solution to His problem.”
Q. Do you know what God’s problem is?
He loves us but we don’t know how to receive His love and we don’t know how to return His love. We are like the rebellious child you long to help and hold but who resists you.
If we could receive all the love that God has for us, we wouldn’t need rules – this is what heaven is like.
In the mean time we have to learn how to cope with our sinful nature and this is what Roman’s chapter seven is all about.
And one of the most important lessons that we can learn in our Christian life is to realise that we can’t live this life in our own strength.
The only way to prevail is to let the fullness of God’s Holy Spirit live in us.
We will never fully participate the victory of Roman’s Chapter 8 until we experience the frustrations of Roman’s 7.
Paul’s conclusion in verse 25 is a summary of the chapter;
“So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
And in the very next sentence he says:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom 7:25-8:1
There were no chapter and verse divisions in Paul’s original letter.
God loves you just as you are, as much on your good days as on your bad days. His love is not based on your performance but on His unconditional love.
And this is the wonderful message of Roman’s Chapter 8 – next week.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit; Help us to realise that it’s only as we relax and let you live your life through us that we can have the victory over our sinful nature.
Help us to be honest when we struggle, to understand that you are not looking for perfection from us but honesty and trust and as we are honest with you, you can work in our lives.
Lord help us to come to a point like Paul, when we can say, “Oh wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me?” then we will that we are ready to experience the victory that you talk About in Roman’s 8 – the Law of the Spirit of life that sets me free from the law of death”.
Lord we thank you for the verse that says that, “For what the Law was powerless to do because of our weak and sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son.”
Thank you for sending Jesus. Lord Jesus, please live through us this week. In Jesus name we pray. Amen