Romans 7

1. Romans 7 The War Within

2. Announcements!! • Grow Groups!! • Adopt-a-dawgs! • “Around the Table” (Nov. 22nd) • Thanksgiving Meal!! (At CV) • Christmas Extravaganza!! (Dec 3rd) • Bigger Vision!! (Dec. 6th) • Gulf Coast Getaway!! (MLK Weekend—Jan. 17-19) • Honduras!! (July 12th-19th) Commitment meeting on Nov. 17rd in CV after worship

3. Romans 7 1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.3Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

4. Romans 7 7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.

5. Romans 7 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

6. The Gollum Predicament • “Two minds” (James 1:8) • The Devil and the Angel in cartoons • The choice of who to be: Smeagol or Gollum • We see the effects of sin in Gollum (Distancing, Decay, Destruction) • We also see the fight and battle for Gollum’s soul • In the end, he clutches what he wants most as he disintegrates in the fires of Mt. Doom • Tolkien in The Two Towers

7. The Law • Paul makes the audacious claim that the result/purpose of the LAW was not to save but to identify Sin • Not bad in itself, but twisted by Sin and used for evil • The very weakness of the LAW was its neutrality, its impersonal nature • Much like money, it can be twisted by Sin and sinful people to do evil things • Paul kicks off the discussion with a metaphor on marriage • Death frees a spouse from their relationship so Christ’s death frees us from the LAW

8. The Bride of Christ • Confusing metaphor to say the least • In Jewish culture, death was the only way out of marriage • Our spiritual death has changed our status • Becoming a Christian is a complete change in relationship and allegiance • Marriage does entail a significant loss of freedom and independence • You cannot live now simply as you choose, but it’s a joy and not a burden

9. The Flesh • Verse 5 is talking about Adam • Talking about the general proclivity to sin and do evil • Paul is talking to the Roman Christians and reminding them that before Jesus this is how they made choices • Sin is “aroused” by the LAW (V. 5) • Think of Adam and Eve and how the serpent waits until the command is given before attacking • Augustine and Mark Twain • Sin takes the opportunity to “take ground” and mount an attack (V. 8 is a military metaphor) • Sin as an active force that springs to life once CHOICE is made available

10. Sin? Really? • Can we really believe in SIN in a personal force in the 21st century? • The Death of Satan by Andrew DelBanco • Lost the language to describe evil • Hitler and his counselor • Evil can become a scapegoat for non-reflective people • Last sentence is where he goes awry • The problem with the secularist is the same as the LAW • If we could just get THIS right, then… • Education, war, economy, etc.

11. A person, not a program • Verse 7 • The LAW just shows us how much we need a Savior! • “You never know how bad you are until you have tried very hard to be good.”—CS LEWIS • Some translations say that the heart is “stirred up” in Verse 8 • The Pharisees only thought of sin as external • The sin under the sin is that we want to be God and that we know best • Strikes at our pride and self-will and it’s a problem for all human beings • The impersonal nature of the law cannot save because humans are sinful • (V. 13) Life and LAW EXPOSES sin for what it is! • We didn’t need a program, we needed a person!

12. Is this it? • Does the rest of this chapter DESCRIBE the Christian life? • Or is this a picture of life under legalism and moralistic righteousness? • Yes and no • The problem is NOT the ability to RECOGNIZE SIN • It’s the motivation and ability to do it! • Moralism and psychological approaches don’t go deep enough • Gospel rootedness is the only thing that can fight Sin • Chapter 7 is NOT describing the NORMAL Christian life

13. Paul the Pharisee • The story of Paul • “Pharisee of Pharisees” • Led the charge against the early church • Scrupulously followed the LAW • Then, he found out that that very thing has led him to become BLIND and LOST • All this came from a desire to do good! • LAW is non-relational and if made the most important thing it is essentially ANTI-CHRIST • Wherever SIN is at work you can be sure there is an IMPERSONAL DEHUMANIZING of people going on • This is a picture of the life of moralism!

14. LORD and Savior • Only by turning over your life to Jesus and finding your justification in Him can we not live like this! • Chapter 7 is the set up for chapter 8 • The mind is the battleground! • Verse 23 • The stories we tell ourselves and the things we know or don’t know are what put us in this place • Col. 1:9-12, Eph. 4:20-24 • Thinking wrongly about ourselves and about Jesus leads to the struggle we see here in chapter 7 as normative • Jesus is LORD and SAVIOR • He must take control of your life, you only start to make progress when you realize that… • AW Tozer on thinking…

15. Prayer