Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 7 as we look at the struggle between the flesh and the spirit, something that we face every day once we are saved. To set the stage for what we will be studying this morning, listen to what Charles Spurgeon had to say regarding the old flesh life that we drag along with us and the life of the spirit. He said:
It was the custom of ancient tyrants, when they wished to put men to the most fearful punishments, to tie a dead body to them, placing the two back to back; and there was living man, with a dead body closely strapped to him, rotting, putrid, corrupting, and this he must drag with him wherever he went. Now, this is just what the Christian has to do. He has within him the new life; he has a living and undying principle, which the Holy Spirit has put within him, but he feels that every day he has to drag about with him this dead body, this body of death, a thing as loathsome, as hideous, as abominable to his new life, as a dead sticking carcass would be to a living man.
- Charles H. Spurgeon
There lies the battle, the struggle for us and in this section of Scripture, Paul is going to show us how we can have victory over the flesh nature that tries to control our bodily appetites. I think most of us know the answer, that is not the problem. The problem comes with the application of the information and my prayer this morning is that we would learn how to apply this truth so that we can walk in victory! With that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 7 starting in verse 14 and see what the Lord has for us this morning.
Here we see a man in a struggle. He wants to do good, he wants to do what is right and yet he finds himself doing what is bad, what is not right! You can see the frustration, the disappointment in his failure to do what is right. Now, the question is, “Who is Paul talking about?” Interestingly enough, there are three different views and yet I truly believe there is only one correct answer. Let me show you what I mean.
The first view says that Paul is speaking of a non-Christian who is a keeper of the Law, like a Pharisee. But those that are legalistic tend to be self-righteous in regards to the keeping of the Law. They don’t see themselves as sinners. Jesus, blasting the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy in saying they were keepers of the Law said to them in Matthew 23:23-33, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?”
You see, they saw themselves as righteous, but God didn’t! And yet, when you read through this section in Romans you see that this person Paul is describing is struggling. He sees himself as a sinner, that the flesh is bad. So, obviously this can’t be speaking of a non-Christian keeper of the Law or a person trying to enter in by works.
The second view says that Paul is speaking of a carnal Christian. One who lives on a very low or basic level of Christianity. But as you read through this section you can easily see that Paul is not speaking of a carnal Christian for they have no real concern for their walk with God. They are comfortable living where they are at. But the person that Paul is describing here is broken, he is humble, something you would not except to see in a carnal Christian. Paul said in I Corinthians 3:1-3, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” So Paul is not speaking of a carnal Christian here in Romans chapter 7.
The third view and the one I believe is true, the one I think Paul is speaking of is himself. Paul is not speaking of himself before he got saved, but after he was saved, speaking of the struggles he was having now in his Christian walk. In Romans 7:7-25 Paul uses the first person singular some forty-six times which tells me that Paul is clearly speaking of himself.
Folks, how many times have you told yourself, the Lord, maybe a counselor, or even your pastor “I am not going to do that anymore!” And before you know it, you are doing that which you said you would not do anymore. It is as Paul said in Romans 7:14-16, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.” What is the problem? Why do we respond like that? Because a believer has two natures. Romans 7:21-23 tells us, “I find then 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.” You see, one nature delights in the Law of God, desires to do it. The other nature wages war against the Law of God and thus, the struggle. Paul, in Galatians 5:17 tells us, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”
You see, when man was created he was created in the image of God, who is a superior Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit and man was created as an inferior trinity; spirit, soul or mind and body. When Adam sinned his spirit died instantly and now his bodily appetites where in control of his soul or mind. And as Paul said in Romans 5:12, 18-19, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned . . . Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.” Adam’s sin affected all of mankind, including you and me!
Now, when we are “born again,” when we ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to be Lord over our lives, our spirit is revived, it is reborn and now we are controlled by the spirit and not the flesh.
Remember our study last time in Romans chapter 6 when we were no longer slaves to sin. We can title Romans chapter 6 – DEAD TO SIN! Then, here in Romans chapter 7 we see the progression, dead to sin but – ALIVE IN CHRIST! Then, as we finish up this section on sanctification in Romans chapter 8, we see the power to accomplish these things, or EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT!
Thus, some of the material we are looking at will overlap from the previous week, and I think that is important. I think we do need to be reminded of these things so they are not only part of our mind but part of our lives!
As we have seen, here in Romans chapter 7 Paul is in a battle, he is in a struggle with the flesh. It is a struggle of the inner man or the spiritual man against the fleshly man or the flesh nature. Now, some would see that as the problem. You need to let go and let God handle it. You are striving too much! Others may try a program to help them, like a 12-step program, a bondage breaker program and people are running to and fro to the latest seminar to help them overcome these problems. Others look for emotional responses like being slain in the Spirit, and again they run to and fro to find teachers that will knock them down in the Spirit! There are those that attend spiritual warfare seminars where you cast out the demons of bad behavior.
Like so many of us today, we struggle with this issue, and these warfare seminars, programs, all these seminars, books, tapes and-so-on are not the answer. Nor is the answer just a pill or a quick fix, it is a lifelong process and truly the answer is Jesus. We then need to take that, take Jesus and apply what He has to our lives. Wow, that sounds like a works theology! No, it is not a salvation by works but a salvation that works!
Listen to what Paul has to say regarding this battle that he is in and what he does to overcome these problems he is going through and as you will see this is not a passive relationship where we sit on the couch and let God do it all! You see, we are involved in this process as Paul says in I Corinthians 9:24-27, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”
Paul, writing to the Corinthians, knew they would understand this illustration. Like the Olympic games in Greece, the Corinthians had what they called the Isthmian games where athletes competed for a prize. Thus, Paul’s point is simple, run the race to win not to lose! Fight the fight not to be knocked down but to win! Keep your body in shape so that you can compete to win!
Think about athletes of today and the training they do. It blows me away seeing their dedication. In fact, some gymnastic competitors, just kids, leave their family to join their trainer with the hopes that he will help them achieve a victory! Some of these kids are barely teenagers when they leave home to train for what, a perishable crown, a piece of gold that you can’t take with you?
Thus, Paul moves from the temporary to the eternal as he applies this to our own lives. We need to keep our bodies healthy and strong, we need to be in shape, spiritually speaking. Can you imagine a wrestler or runner or boxer who says to his coach, “Hey coach, is it okay if I go out drinking, have a few cigarettes and miss a few practices so I can go to some parties and have a good time?” The coach would say, “Sure, go, do what you want but don’t expect to win!” Now apply that to our Christian life, “Hey God, do you mind if I go out drinking, fool around with some women, miss a few Bible studies to have a good time?” The Lord might say, “Sure, go ahead, but you will not find the victory you are looking for in those things, you won’t win, in fact, you will find yourself in bondage and not freedom, the joy you are looking for is not in those things, but Me. But if you must, remember I am still here waiting for you to return!”
As Christians, we face strong foes that would bring us into spiritual defeat. Our greatest enemy, however, lurks within. Even though we have been born again, we are deeply aware of our inclination toward evil. The apostle Paul wrote, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find” (Rom. 7:18). He added, “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” (vv. 22, 23).
In Victor Hugo’s story, “Ninety-three” a ship is caught in a storm. The frightened crew hears a terrible crashing sound below. Immediately the men know what it is: a cannon has broken loose and is crashing into the ship’s side with every smashing blow of the sea! Two men, at the risk of their lives, manage to fasten it down again, for they know that the unfastened cannon is more dangerous than the raging storm. Hillery C. Price made this application: “Many people are like that ship – their greatest danger areas lie within their own lives.” How true that is, for we are the only ones who can stop God from working in our lives, from accomplishing what He desires for us, what is best for us!
Back in Corinthians, please understand that Paul is not speaking of our salvation when he said, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” What he is saying is we can lose our witness before others because of what we are involved in, what we are doing. Thus, don’t do those things, discipline your body. It is as Paul said in Hebrews 12:1-4, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”
In Hebrews chapter 11 Paul spoke of the men and women of faith that endured all kinds of hardships, tribulations, they fought the good fight of faith and now he says to us that we should look at them as examples as we walk in faith. Don’t let sin weigh you down, trap you from moving forward, but run freely, run with endurance the race that God has for you.
Can you imagine an athlete who is running a 100 yard dash, a sprint race, with a parachute strapped to their back? That would be foolish and of course he would never win the race if he could even finish it! And yet, how many Christians do that very thing, have the parachute of sin strapped to them and they can no longer run with endurance? Let it go, look to Jesus who not only is the Author of our faith but also the Finisher of our faith. Your response is to walk, do what He tells you to do and strive, fight against sin, don’t let it control you, but become dead to sin and alive to Christ!
I like what the Puritan writer Thomas Watson said in regards to sin and a person who has died to sin and is made alive in Christ. He said “sanctification is an antipathy against sin . . . A hypocrite may leave sin, yet love it; as a serpent casts its coat, but keeps its sting; but a sanctified person can say he not only leaves sin, but loathes it.” He goes on to say to the Christian, “God. . . has not only chained up sin, but changed thy nature, and made the as a king’s daughter, all glorious within. He has put upon thee the breastplate of holiness, which, though it may be shot at, can never be shot through.”
In saying that, let me give you several Scriptures that deal with how we should respond to sin, what sin does in our life which should encourage us to walk away from sin and walk back into the arms of Jesus.
In Ephesians 4:30-32 Paul tells us, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” We need to be aware that sin will hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, thus, put it away, reckon it to be dead that we may not grieve the Holy Spirit!
Also, sin dishonors God as Paul tells us in I Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” You see, our bodies are the temple of God in which God dwells in and we should do things that bring Him glory and not dishonor Him! Live a life that is pleasing to the King!
As we let sin grow in our lives, if we don’t deal with it, it will make us powerless spiritually speaking. Paul, in I Corinthians 9:27 says, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” You see, our witness will be destroyed if we don’t deal with sin!
David, after his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah saw his life dry spiritually, his physical life was weak and he had no joy and thus, he said in Psalm 51:7-13 “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.” Sin will rob you of the joy you once had in the Lord, the joy of your salvation. David repented, his sins were forgiven and it was then his joy returned and then he was able to live a life that was a witness of the God he served and the same is true with us!
Sin will also rob you of growing in the Lord, it will keep you in a spiritual dead end which we may call a “failure to thrive!” Paul, in I Corinthians 3:1-3 said, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” Don’t let sin rob you of growing in the Lord!
Folks, sin is destructive, it is not good, it is not healthy, and God is not preventing you from having fun by telling you don’t go down that path. He is telling you not to go down that path because it will hurt you and he has only what is best for your life!
Remember Paul’s frustration in life, trying to serve God, live for him and falling far short of doing what was right. He said, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24. It is the cry of a man, “Who can help? Who can deliver us?” And Paul goes on to say, he tells us who can help us, as he says “I thank God -- 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.” Romans 7:25.
That is who can help us, that is where our help comes from – JESUS! You see, it comes from believing and applying these things to your life. The inner man desires to serve the Lord and the flesh nature is trying to circumvent that in our lives- don’t let him win, give it to the Lord and then walk accordingly, for the victory is found when He is the focus – may we not forget that.
Let me share with you this from Avis Christianson for it sums up what we have been talking about here in Romans chapter 7. He said:
I prayed for help, I prayed for strength, I prayed for victory, I prayed for patience and for love, for true humility. But as I prayed my dying Christ by faith I seem to see. And as I gazed my glad heart cried, all things are mine through Thee. If he doth dwell within my heart why need I strength implore. The giver of all grace is mine and shall I ask for more? And need I pray for victory when He who conquered death, dwells in my very inmost soul nearer indeed than breath. Oh help me Lord to realize that thou are all in all. I am more than conqueror in great things and in small. No need have I but thou has met upon the cruel tree. O precious dying risen Lord thou are my victory.
- Avis Christianson
It is all about Him and if we abide in Him He will provide us what we need and folks, the control of self will only come as we die to self and are alive in Him. In our culture we want more of this and more of that but the truth of the matter is we need less of ourselves and more of Jesus. Paul said in Galatians 2:19-20, “For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Remember we opened our study this morning on how they would take some prisoners and tie them closely to a dead body, back to back, and he would have to carry this rotting, decaying body with him wherever he went. We were told, “Now, this is just what the Christian has to do. He has within him the new life; he has a living and undying principle, which the Holy Spirit has put within him, but he feels that every day he has to drag about with him this dead body, this body of death, a thing as loathsome, as hideous, as abominable to his new life, as a dead sticking carcass would be to a living man.”
Folks, we have seen that we are DEAD TO SIN in Romans chapter 6. We have seen that we are then ALIVE IN CHRIST, here in Romans chapter 7. And next time, in Romans chapter 8 we will see how this is all accomplished, the power behind it as we look at how we are EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT!
Let me leave you with this to think about, “I am not what I am going to be but I thank God that I am not what I use to be!” That is the sanctification process, that is growing in the Lord, and it is a lifelong process but it should never be stagnant. Praise the Lord that He has not given up on us and thus, don’t you give up on yourself, but die to sin, be alive in Christ and praise the Lord for what He has done, what He is doing and what He is going to do in our lives! It is as Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:23-24, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” Amen to that!