Who will Save Us?
Romans 7:8-25
1.
Remember - Romans 6-7-8 is the key to overcoming
sin
a.
Today is the day that Paul is going to reveal
the final piece of that key
b.
But before we get there, he has a few final
words about - THE LAW.
2.
What is “The Law?”
a.
Most people when they think of the law, think of
the Ten Commandments (which Jesus summarized)
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first
and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 22:37-40
3.
True - if you love God, you won’t break the
first four commandments,
a.
if you love others, your won’t break the last
six!
b.
Love God, love others, who would get upset about
those two statements?
4.
But people do get uptight about the Ten
Commandments
The little town of Muldrow, Okla., is in turmoil after the
group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FRFF) threatened a lawsuit if postings
of the Ten Commandments aren't removed from the walls of a public high school.
The school has pulled all the plaques off the walls in order
to avoid a legal drama, according to News on 6. "When it's clearly
decided, there's no point in continuing to fight a losing battle," Muldrow
Schools Attorney Jerry Richardson told the local channel.
5.
Why? I
believe it’s because by nature, people don’t like to be told what they can and
can’t do.
a.
But in my humble opinion, people are blaming the
wrong thing
b.
We do that sometimes, when “grandma, you missed my bat again!”
6.
That’s what we do, isn’t it? If something or someone points out something
to us that's “wrong” – the first thing we do is blame the rules!
a.
Question: Is the problem really the law?
b.
Paul sets about to answer that question
7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful?
Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never
have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not
covet.” 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires
within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time I
lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to
covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I
discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought
spiritual death instead. 11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me;
it used the commands to kill me.
7.
If the law can’t save us, and it only shows us
how unacceptable we are, then maybe something's wrong with the law!
a.
Common tendency:
when a law gets in the way of something we want to do, well there must
be something wrong with the law!
8.
It’s happening right now: "Everyone's smoking weed, so weed
shouldn’t be illegal!" the argument goes...
a.
“Matter of fact, because it is illegal, it
probably incites people to want to smoke it more!”
b.
Guess what: there's some truth to that!
9.
Paul has exposed a very real human
tendency; Humans want to do what we’re
told NOT to do!
a.
Parents, you know this: the fastest way to get your child to do
something is to tell them not to do it!
b.
I remember when I was a young man, when my
parents told me I couldn’t do something, the first thing that went through my
mind was ‘well then it MUST be fun!”
c.
I remember my dad told me one time “Son, you
can’t do drugs, you’re allergic to them…”
d.
Now he had good intentions, but the first thing
I thought was “if he’s feeding me that line of ‘you-know-what,’ then they must
be really awesome!”
e.
That's what happens, someone tells me I can't do
something, and something rears up inside of me and says "Ill do it if I
want" (even if it hairlips the devil...)
10. Now,
with the wisdom of age, looking back, I now know that my parents were
right…
a.
The things they told me not to do, those rules
they put on me, had i followed them I would have saved myself a world of pain
and problems…
b.
Because, as I learned from experience, doing bad
things brings bad results!
11. What
happened to me was exactly what Paul is talking about: My sinful nature looked at those rules, it
produced a rebellious response, and it killed me!
a.
See Paul is helping us to begin to understand a
very simple truth: God’s law is not the
problem, SIN is the problem.
b.
Sin existed before God’s law was given; Sin
occurred in the garden, the law wasn’t given until Moses.
c.
When law came it illuminated the obvious; Sin is bad.
d.
It’s not bad because it’s sin; it’s sin because
it’s bad. (write that down!)
e.
Think about this this way: If the government repealed all of the laws
against theft, it wouldn’t matter to you, you still wouldn't want me taking
your stuff! You wouldn’t need a law to
tell you that!
12. See,
what the law did was it activated our sinful nature (that we inherited from
Adam):
a.
Ex: If we were to put a sign on the wall that
said “wet paint, don’t touch,” just as sure as I’m standing here someone would
reach over and touch the wall!
b.
But the fact that the law activates our sinful
nature doesn’t make the law bad, you can’t blame the law.
12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are
holy and right and good.
13. The
law doesn't make people evil, it simply reveals how evil we are, it brings
sunlight to the nature of man.
a.
Just like the scalpel doesn't make the psychopath evil, the law only
reveals how evil we really are…
b.
(SLIDE “Can you see the black circle? – NO
CIRCLE)
c.
(NEXT SLIDE – has the white circle)
But did it really
kill us?
13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my
death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to
death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands
for its own evil purposes.
14. The
law is like a surgeon’s scalpel; A
surgeon can use it to cut away cancer and heal, or a psychopath can use it to
torture and maim.
a.
That’s what happened: Sin is like the psychopath, it took the law,
and slashed our throats!
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual
and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I
don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do
it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong,
this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing
wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good
lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I
can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is
wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not
really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
15. Reading
this, one might wonder if Paul was perhaps struggling with some sin in his
life. (Sounds like Paul needs some correction!)
a.
Well, keeping it real: Paul wasn’t sinless! (only Jesus was!)
b.
Paul is simply describing the real battle that
occurs in the heart and mind of Christians - all Christians - at some level.
c.
The DESIRE to obey God, which is born of the
Spirit of God that lives in us,
d.
Versus the tendency that we have to sin, which
is born from the old sin nature that we used to be a slave to.
16. What
was Paul's struggle? I think he gave us a clue in a comment earlier: “For I would not have known covetousness
unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.””
a.
Covetousness is one of the ten commandments, and
it means “an envious eagerness to possess something,”
b.
...to want something very badly, perhaps
something that someone else has.
c.
To want it so badly that your willing to
sacrifice what's good in order to get it.
d.
Covetousness Is the root of most sin: theft,
adultery, murder, etc.
e.
And I think that might give us a clue to Paul’s
personal struggle…
17. See,
before Paul came to Christ, he was a Pharisee. (PICTURE OF PHARISEE) Pharisee’s were religious leaders in the
Jewish society, they were experts on the law, they were highly esteemed, and
well compensated.
a.
It was like being a US District Attorney, a
Senator, and a Cardinal, all rolled into one. It was a big deal.
b.
One didn’t become a Pharisee because they were
humble, meek fellows that just wanted to serve the Lord.
c.
To become a Pharisee meant you were smart,
motivated, driven, and that you wanted power and prestige.
d.
(You might wonder why I would make that
assumption; think about it, Jesus had
little tolerance for the Pharisees, because He knew their hearts - most [not
all] were power-hungry hypocrites)
e.
That's who Paul was... Before he came face to
face with Christ. In the eyes of the culture he existed in, he was "the
man"
18. Back
to my assumption about Paul; Knowing his
background helps us understand what Paul may have struggled with as a
Christian,
a.
Because of his decision to follow Christ, Paul
lost ALL of that, and most likely his family as well.
b.
If you read through Acts and his letters, you
clearly see that his life of ministry was difficult to say the least.
c.
The thing Paul was describing may have been the
desire, the coveting that arose in his heart from time to time, to have all of
that back, to be esteemed, to be recognized.
19. But
see Paul isn’t alone: All of us had
something we were before we came to Christ.
Some position, some lifestyle, some identity that we embraced, and just
like Paul, it defined who we were.
a.
And when we came to Christ, we realized that
that identity wasn’t who God designed us to be, it didn’t align with our new
faith,
b.
We let go of that identity, and embraced a new
identity in Christ.
20. But
there’s still some residual of that identity, the old man or woman still
lurking around down there in the grave, and it beckons to us, it calls to us….
a.
“You can still be that guy, you can bring me out
for a little while, one more cruise around the circuit...
b.
It's a powerful temptation, and we'd all be
lying if we said we never struggled with it.
c.
Even in our new life in Christ, our old nature
will flare up, prompting a desire to rebel against what we know to be right.
d.
CS Lewis said it well, “No man knows how bad he
is until he tries to be good.”
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want
to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with
all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.
This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a
miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin
and death? /// So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s
law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin
21. I
won’t ask for a show of hands, but I’m sure you’ve experienced what Paul is
talking about,
a.
Which is the battle that occurs inside, where in
our heart and mind we want to do right, we want to be righteous, we want to do
good,
b.
But there is another force in us, the old
nature, that want’s just the opposite!
c.
We don’t talk about it, in the Christian culture
often people will act like it doesn’t even exist! “I’m fine!”
22. I’m
going to make an interesting point here:
a.
#1 - This battle CAN occur in the life of a
Christian.
b.
#2 - This battle can ONLY occur in the life of a
Christian.
c.
What I mean is: Before we came to Christ, there
WAS NO battle!
23. When
the opportunity to obey our sin nature presented itself, we were more than willing,
because it was all we knew!
a.
I’m not saying we committed every sin that was
presented to us, certainly, we all had our sin’s we wouldn’t do… sins that
others did, that we perhaps prided ourselves on not doing…
b.
But in reality that was only because that
particular sin wasn’t our thing! (but then, some things that ‘weren’t my thing’
became my thing, then I was perfectly fine with it… just sayin…)
24. Yet
because we now have a new nature within us, the Spirit of God that makes us
alive to God, the stage is now set for there to be a battle with the old
nature.
a.
The Spirit of God in us makes us want to do
right, but the old nature is like “come on, what’s wrong with you, you used to
be fun…)
b.
And it can be a fierce one...
c.
Paul says “O wretched man that I am!” - The word “wretched” doesn’t describe “evil
and debaucherous,” it describes a man that is completely worn out after a long
struggle…
25. How
many of you are tired of the struggle?
Tired of the battle? Worn out
from trying to “be good?”
a.
That’s where many Christians find
themselves: completely worn out from the
battle of trying to BE good.
b.
And the answer isn’t a new philosophy, or to
understand ourselves better,
c.
the answer isn’t more rules, it’s not more
willpower...
d.
THERE IS AN ANSWER - and the answer isn’t WHAT,
its WHO!
25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
26. We
thought the problem was that we didn't understand ourselves
a.
The law came as a teacher, it showed us who we
really were, but we couldn't do anything to change
b.
We don't need a teacher, we need a Savior.
27. We
thought the problem was that we weren't motivated enough,
a.
The law came in like a coach to encourage us to
do the right thing, but still we didn't do it.
b.
We don't need a coach, we need a Savior.
28. We
thought the problem was that we didn't have enough rules.
a.
So the law came and gave us all the rules, but
we couldn't follow them.
b.
We don’t need more rules, we need a Savior.
What does that
look like?
29. Remember
last week, how I shared when my wife and I finally came to believe that we
loved each other no matter what, and it changed our relationship?
a.
What was is that made our relationship begin to
come alive?
b.
We spent time together, we began now learn one
another, to know one another.
c.
As we grew closer, our relationship began activating
the love that was within us for one another..
d.
And the closer we became, the less we sinned
against each other.
30. That
is how we gain victory over our sinful nature, we begin investing in our
relationship with Christ
a.
Not just learning about Him, or trying to do
everything He taught, but being WITH Him…
b.
When Christ ascended to Heaven, and gave us our
commission, He didn’t say “I’ll check back with you in a few thousand years…
NO!
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20
31. Reading
His word, worshiping Him, talking with Him through prayer, listening for His
voice…
a.
Jesus said
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in Me. John 15:4
32. See,
the closer you get to Christ, the more it activates the Spirit of God that now
lives in you.
a.
The closer you get to Christ, the less power
your old nature will have to influence.
33. (Close)
think about it this way:
a.
Say before you married your spouse, you had a
boyfriend / girlfriend that you had some pretty hot times with…
b.
Now you’re married, but if your relationship
with your spouse isn’t that good, that old flame could call you up, and it
would be a great temptation.
c.
But if your relationship with your spouse is
deep, and strong, then that call wouldn’t have any affect on you at all.
d.
It would be like they were dead to you.
34. That’s
what I’m talking about – then your relationship with Christ is where is can be,
when that old nature rings you up, you’re dead to it.
Communion
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