Romans 7

 

Introduction:

 

I.       The Law and the Christian

A.    Dead men tell no tales

1.      Once you are dead, the law has no power over you

2.      We are dead to the law

B.     Widowers from the law

1.      Note: Don’t use this verse to teach on divorce

a)      One aspect of death/marriage is being used to illustrate another truth

b)      Divorce is not the issue here

2.      We are become dead to the law (“We died to the law”)

a)      It is not that the Law became dead

b)      We died to the law

Wiersbe: “It appears that Paul has confused his illustration, but he has not. When we were unsaved (“in the flesh,” Rom. 7:5), we were under the authority of God’s Law. We were condemned by that Law. When we trusted Christ and were united to Him, we died to the Law just as we died to the flesh (Rom. 6:1-10). The Law did not die; we died.

But in Paul’s illustration from marriage, it was the husband who died and the wife who married again. If you and I are represented by the wife, and the Law is represented by the husband, then the application does not follow the illustration. If the wife died in the illustration, the only way she could marry again would be to come back from the dead. But that is exactly what Paul wants to teach! When we trusted Christ, we died to the Law; but in Christ, we arose from the dead and now are “married” (united) to Christ to live a new kind of life!”

3.      We are to bring forth fruit unto God

a)     The Law worked in our members to bring out sin (more on this later)

b)     The result was death

4.      Our motivation has changed from letter to spirit

a)     Under the law we tried to do right because we had to and yet we failed

b)     Now we do right because the new man wants to do right

(1)   The old man would not obey the law
(2)   The new man needs no law

II.     Holiness of the Law

A.    Reveals sin (Ro. 3:20)

1.      It reveals particular sins

2.      It reveals sin as a principle

a)      We realize that we cannot meet the demands of the law

b)      We realize that we have sin in our inmost being

c)      Illus.

The rich ruler in Mark 10:17-27 is a good example of the use of the Law to reveal sin and show a man his need for a Saviour. The young man was very moral outwardly, but he had never faced the sins within. Jesus did not tell him about the Law because the Law would save him; He told him about the Law because the young man did not realize his own sinfulness. True, he had never committed adultery, robbed anyone, given false witness, or dishonored his parents; but what about covetousness? When Jesus told him to sell his goods and give to the poor, the man went away in great sorrow. The commandment, “Thou shalt not covet,” had revealed to him what a sinner he really was! Instead of admitting his sin, he rejected Christ and went away unconverted.

B.     Makes sin alive

1.      We are rebels at heart and “thou shalt not” brings out the worst in us

a)      Don’t walk on the grass is an invitation to most people to walk on the grass

b)      Rebellion and selfishness are motivated by a challenge to their autonomy

c)      There are times that we would have done the right things but a command to do that particular thing made us rebel against it in order to show that we were not taking orders from anybody

2.      The law itself is not the cause of sin or the problem

a)      It only reveals what is already inside

b)      Our sin nature is the problem

c)      Illus

When a person is convicted of a crime, i.e. murder, the fault is not with the Law against murder, but with the individual.  Granted, there are some laws that are wrong.  However, none of God’s law is unjust.  The fault lies in us who break the just laws of God.

C.    The law kills (v. 10)

1.      It deceives you in making you think it is the way to live

2.      It deceives you into thinking that self-righteousness will suffice

a)      This is what it did to the Jews

b)      They were deceived by sin into thinking that the law was a means to salvation

D.    Demonstrates the awfulness of sin

1.      Sin is shown to be awful because it can take something holy and just like God’s law, and use it to deceive us

2.      It can twist something holy into something that is detrimental to us

Wiersbe: “Paul’s argument here is tremendous: (1) the Law is not sinful—it is holy, just, and good; (2) but the Law reveals sin, arouses sin, and then uses sin to slay us; if something as good as the Law accomplishes these results, then something is radically wrong somewhere; (3) conclusion: see how sinful sin is when it can use something good like the Law to produce such tragic results. Sin is indeed “exceedingly sinful.” The problem is not with the Law; the problem is with my sinful nature.”

3.      The old nature knows no law and the new nature needs no law. Legalism makes a believer wretched because it grieves the new nature and aggravates the old nature!

III.  Struggle with Sin

A.    Debate over saved person or unsaved person

1.      Argument for unsaved

a)      “I am carnal, sold unto sin” (v. 14)

b)      “I know that in me dwelleth no good thing” (v. 18)

c)      “”O wretched man that I am” (v. 24)

2.      Argument for saved

a)      Desire to follow God and a hatred of evil (vv. 15, 19, 21)

b)      He is humble (v. 18)

c)      Gives thanks to Christ and serves him (v. 25)

d)      He uses the present tense

e)      High regard for God’s law (vv. 14, 16)

f)        The passage is in the sanctification section of Romans

B.     Struggle

1.      During this struggle we consent that the law is good

a)      We don’t rationalize our sin away

b)      We recognize that the problem is in us, not in  the law

2.      The real self is the new man

a)      That is why he can say that when he sins “It is no longer I that do it”

b)      This is not to rationalize or excuse his sin.  It is only to point out why, as a Christian, he still does sin

3.      The new man does not sin

a)      By nature, it cannot sin

b)      The old nature, in contrast, does sin

c)      There is a struggle between these two “laws” or “principles”

4.      Victory comes through Christ

a)      He delivers us from the body of this death at the resurrection

b)      He delivers us from the power of sin in this life through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and the new nature

5.      Synopsis

a)      This is a picture of the struggle a Christian goes through

b)      It is not a “carnal” or disobedient Christian who has this struggle as much as it is the one who is striving for holiness

c)      The closer we get to the Lord, the more we realize how sinful we are in the innermost being

(1)    David recognized this in Ps. 51
(2)    It is the inward parts that need the most fine-tuning

d)      The person living for God is hungering for righteousness and feels the struggle more intensely