Romans 7:14–25Scripture
I'm really thankful for Pastor Bruce and Pastor J.R. For holding down the fort and bringing a wonderful word, and I'm sure they're extremely thankful that they don't have to deal with the text that I've been assigned today, because it's a fun one, folks. It's a fun one. And so they have done a really wonderful job at setting up one of the most controversial chapters in the entire Bible, if you have not gathered that already in your personal study or personal reflection. As you go through Romans chapter 7, you soon will be faced with a lot of conflicting messages, conflicting ideas, conflicting questions, conflicting thoughts, and that's okay. How many of you know that's okay, that it's hard sometimes, right?
How many of you know that some of our greatest strength comes from tension?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 0:48
So we really will be jumping into a very tense kind of message day in Romans chapter 7. We're gonna look at verse 14. My assignment today is 14 through 20, but I think it will be fitting for us to look at 14 through 25, and over the next two weeks we'll be exploring this. Really, two weeks is not enough. I probably need about 10 weeks to really deal with this section, because there's just a lot going on here. Now, how many of you have been in small group, you've read this text, you've read a devo? How many of you been in it? So some of you, not all of you. How many of you not been in it? All right, that's okay. It's okay too.
Well, we're about to get in it, and although some of you might have had opportunity to think through some of this, you won't be left behind if you haven't.
I'm going to do my best to really lay the groundwork and pose maybe three arguments or three positions that people hold regarding this text. Specifically, let me say this, specifically coming out
Introduction
Of Romans 6. Let me do a brief summary. In Romans 6 we see that we are set free from the power of sin, right? In our life we are dead now to sin, right, and we are united in Jesus' death that we might also be united in his resurrection, that we no longer are slaves to sin but we are slaves to righteousness, that he has transformed us, he has made us a new creation. What we used to be slaves to we are no longer slaves to, and I'm talking about the type of slavery that no matter what you want to do, you can't do, because something has rulership over you. That's what sin did. So praise God, through belief and faith in Christ we are set free from that sin, and now we are slaves to Christ, specifically slaves to righteousness. That's Romans 6. So we have been encouraged, we have been challenged a little bit, we have taken inventory of our life, and we've looked at our life and we've asked questions like, does this look like me? If this is what a saved life looks like, what a redeemed life looks like, do I look like that? Has this transformation taken effect in my life? Do I see these changes? Am I a slave to sin or am I a slave to God? We've asked some challenging questions, haven't we? We've reflected. Some of you have questioned and asked me questions, and your parents questions, and friends questions, and people in your small group, the type of question of, I'm trying to decide if I'm saved or not. And that's okay, because all the apostles were very comfortable in their writing in the New Testament of making you come to a place where you question, will you test, where you wonder, because
It is in questioning that we can come out with an answer.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 3:57
Where no questions are, no answers can be formed. It is questions that help us arrive at a destination, a belief system, and a position. So it has been good that we've done even that. But also we've been encouraged, because we see that although sin seems to be multiplying in the world, we rejoice because just as sin seems to multiply and have exponential increase, so will righteousness for all who are saved. And as we are saved, and because we are saved, righteousness then will increase in our life at an exponential rate, that now we will be sanctified more and more day by day until we are fully and completely delivered even from the presence of sin one day, when we stand in heaven and are given a new body, right? Completely delivered. So, sanctified day by day, righteousness growing and increasing day by day, us becoming more like him day by day, and one day being completely released from any residue of sin that might remain in our flesh. Man, isn't that
Point 1Romans 7 seems to contradict Romans 6
Good? So that's chapter 6. Then we turn to chapter 7, and he begins. Listen, where you can go wrong here is if you want chapter 7 to say what chapter 6 is saying. Chapter 7 doesn't have to say what chapter 6 is saying. He's saying something different in chapter 7. So that's the first thing, our job is to figure out what the author is saying in chapter 7 and what he was saying in chapter 6, all right? And then once we determine that, then we can begin to understand where the author is taking us, right? Let's read it together, Romans 7. Let's do some work and let's figure out what is he saying, because it almost seems like in chapter 7, specifically, what I'm talking about now, think about what we've learned in chapter 6. We're not a slave to sin doesn't reign anymore, you're set free, he's going to sanctify you're made holy, you're delivered. Right now you're a slave to Christ and you're a slave to righteousness. And then we read this, and it just seems like a contradiction, right? Here we go, Romans 7, verse 14. "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin." How many of you, that makes you, after chapter 6, verse 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. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
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."
How many of you are like, now at this point already you're like, wait a minute, wait, just one minute, Shawn, what about chapter 6?
Right? If you've been studying along with us, this should be confusing to you. You should be concerned, and matter of fact, you should have a lot of questions right here. It's good to have questions. Don't be like, don't be like sitting here going, "Oh yes, oh amen," and looking over at your neighbor like they "amen" it too, like, I gotta amen, because I don't look like the person who doesn't know what's going on here, right? Don't be like that. It's okay to have questions about this.
"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 the inability to carry it out." Verse 19: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me." That's my assignment for the day, but let's read on, verse 21 through 25. "So I find it to be a law, that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight," listen to this is important, "I delight in the law of God." How many of you remember Romans 1? How many of you remember what depraved people feel about the law? Keep that in mind, it's important. So here we get a little indication of who he might be talking about here. "For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind." Let me just stop here. You can put it in your notes, I would encourage you to do so, because really, quite honestly,
Point 2Two laws wage war: the mind and the flesh
As we go through this, for there to be some clarity, and I really believe breaking down some of this, there are two laws at work. I would probably categorize them this way, you might be able to dismantle this theologically. I think words are very difficult when we're trying to talk about spiritual things and use earthly words to communicate them, but I'll do my best here. One thing that I see lining up here, when we see the conflict between two laws at work in the life of a person, we see these laws that are in conflict with one another taking up residence in one of two places. One law at work is in the mind, that is one law, and then that law, right, is in conflict with the law that takes place in the flesh. So you have here two things, you have the mind and the flesh.
Both the mind and the flesh are waging war against one another, okay? That's the best way I can say it in earthly terms. We see these words used through the entire book of Romans. We see this war raging between the flesh of man and the mind of man. We see this taking place.
"But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind." Notice this: I see the law in my members, flesh, body, waging war, conflict between the law in my what? So that's where the war is taking place.
Let me just go ahead and say, we have a promise that the broken part of us we receive when we get to heaven is done away with, and we receive a new, which is flesh. It is important theologically for us to understand, and I'm sorry, this is teaching, but we can't help but do this, right here, right? I mean, I want to get up and give you three points to get you pumped, and we'll just go out and you'll be encouraged and you go home, but you've got to understand what's happening here. Like, Paul is not some hobo off the street talking about stuff. This guy is a scholar. He knows what he's talking about, and if you don't understand what he's saying and the terminology he's using, we're in trouble. And really, quite honestly, if you don't understand everything he said up to this point and begin to put pieces together, you're toast when it comes to Romans, right? So we know we receive a new body. So we know that because we still have this body, sin still dwells in the members, all right? Or some theologians will say old nature, that there is, the old nature is still there, but we have a new nature. A new part of us is in us, and these two things wage war with one another. How many of you could testify to the fact that is accurate on some level in your life? Those of you who didn't raise your hand, then I guess you would align with, I'm just picking on you would align with the fact that once you became a believer you never sinned, you never even thought of sinning, you never even looked at anything the wrong way, you never even thought the wrong thing, you never gossiped again, you never even had a problem, you never rolled your eyes, you never thought anything derelict or silly, there was no reprobate way in you, nothing, no remnant of irritation at all. You were a floating deity at the point of salvation.
Or could we really testify to the fact that there's a conflict that still rages after he makes us new and releases us from sin, which we used to be slaves to? I think most of you would agree with that, and that's good, because that will help you in the sermon today. Verse 24: "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Notice here the tension between what he knows to be true and what he feels to be true. Notice the tension.
Notice, whenever in the world, particularly even in the church, when the enemy wants to attack our worship, notice that he tries to make us slaves to what we feel rather than what we think.
Matter of fact, today in the church there's a movement that the greatest worship is when we turn our brain off and we turn our body on, because that's how the enemy attacks our worship.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 14:25
Because when we worship at the altar of how we feel, we don't worship God, we worship us, right? Some of us measure our worship by the amount of goosebumps that pop up in our time of worship. How many goosebumps do you think, how many goosebumps do you think Jesus felt when he was being beaten within an inch of his life?
Yet that was the greatest form of worship, the greatest sacrifice, the greatest act of submission.
Ladies and gentlemen, the American idea of worship is not godly worship.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 15:13
We've gotten it wrong, and part of the problem and the reason why we've got it wrong is because we don't understand the duplicity of what's happened once we are made new and set free from being a slave to sin, and the fact that we still have this flesh thing we're dealing with. Although our mind has been renewed and it rages war, what we know to be true we don't feel to be true, and how many of you know that's a problem today? That's a problem. It affects our worship, it affects how we talk, it affects how we walk, it affects the choices we make, and we are constantly in this difficult position of trying to not give way or sway to the flesh, but trust what we know. Verse 25: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind." Everybody say it out loud. Say one more time, how do you serve the law of God? With your body? Your mind. How many of you know your body goes where your mind tells it to go?
So we serve the Lord with our mind.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 16:47
We don't serve the Lord with our body, because our body, one day we get a new body. Why do we get a new body? Because this body still got problems. It's got problems. Paul says that sin still rests in its members.
We got a problem with our body. So this is a poignant description of someone who is in conflict with himself. I don't know if you can relate as a Christian, I don't know if you can relate as someone who's walked with the Lord any amount of time, as someone who loves God's moral law. Just think about that for a second.
He describes himself as someone who loves God's law. How many nonbelievers do you know that love God's law?
Something has to happen to renew your mind to love it. Someone who, deep down in his innermost self, wants to obey God's moral law but then is pulled and pushed away from its fulfillment by sin. Sin, listen, that's in him.
It is the personal experience of a soul in conflict.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:08
It's a battle. It is a warfare that rages in the hearts of men, and the conflict is real, and it is very intense, and it is very strong. Of that there is no mistake, and all of us have felt this conflict if we are a true believer in Christ.
If you have not felt this conflict, First John says you might not be a believer.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:45
This conflict is real and only happens when we are his.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:00
It finds that summation in verse 25.
Let's look with me now. Here's what you're gonna have to do today. We're going to move through this quickly. I don't have time to stick around somewhere, so I'm going to give you books and chapters and verses. I'm going to be circling around, and it will be your responsibility to get there quickly, and I'm going to read them and I'm going to make points about them, and I'm going to bring clarification on some of the conflicting verses between chapter 6 and chapter 7. If you need to circle it, if you need to mark it, if you need to write it down, go back later and look at it. You do that, but today I don't have time to labor on a verse, but you have to, you're going to get lost if you don't follow along in your Bible. Everybody have your Bible? All right, so follow along with me in verse 25, or verse 24. Oh, he says, "O wretched man that I am!" Romans 7:24, "O wretched man that I am!"
There is a righteousness, in other words, there is a wretchedness about this battle, there is a righteousness about this conflict, and then the cry. He says this, "Who shall deliver me?" And then around these same verses, the affirmation, "Thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
But even knowing that, he then includes this at the very end: "So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." Notice this: with my mind, everybody say mind, I serve the law of God. Everybody say law of God. With my flesh, everybody say flesh, I serve the law of sin. Say law of sin. You getting it? Making sense to you? You'll need that to make sense of chapter 7. You're going to need that.
You're going to need to see that one is made holy and one is still unholy. One is new and completely righteous and completely pure and can never be a slave to sin and is completely filled and is godlike, Christlike. That part of you looks like Christ. It's made holy, not just in imputed righteousness but in complete holiness. It's pure. That's new. That part of you can never be a slave to sin, but the flesh, but the flesh, that's what he's talking about. Now, some people say regarding chapter 7 that Paul is describing a Christian.
You might be getting a hint of what I feel regarding this, but we're going to talk about all of them. Some people say that this is a non-Christian, and then some people say the first part of it is a non-Christian, the second part of it is a Christian. Some people say that Paul is talking about back when he wasn't a Christian, and then he shifts and talks about when he is a Christian. Some people say that it's a Christian but it's immature Christians. Others
Point 3Weighing the non-Christian and immature views
Say it's a Christian but it's a legalistic Christian. What's that? But I want to talk about three views today, because I think they're the three most common views. First, the non-Christian. In other words, one side says there's too much bondage to sin for this to possibly be a Christian. Paul uses terminology and words and vocabulary that makes us feel like there's too much bondage to sin, especially coming out of chapter 6. How could we even talk like this, that there's so much bondage to sin? The vocabulary clearly tells us that this could not be a Christian. That's their position. The other side says there's too much desire for good and too much desire for the law of God for it to be a non-Christian. And so is Paul's writing. He torches all of us. It drives me crazy, but if we do the work, I think we can get to the answer. We can get there. How many of you are encouraged that we might be able to get there? Yes, good, me too. And therein is the conflict of interpreting chapter 7, specifically this portion of Scripture. Let's attempt to tackle this verse by verse. I have some images up here, you still need to mark it in your Bible, you still need to go home and do homework. You're going to walk away going, and you need to do some work, because I've spent 30 hours on this and i'm still going, I think I understand. All right, and this, you're getting it real fast. Let's tackle the non-Christian view for a second. Everybody say non-Christian.
We're going to tackle the view that people interpret this as Paul talking about a non-Christian here. Those who argue this is speaking of a non-Christian use several verses to build their case that Paul must be talking about a non-Christian here. Here they are, I think you have them. Yeah, verse 14.
In verse 14 in chapter 7, let's look at the verses in chapter 7, the verses in chapter 7 they used to build their case that this must be a non-Christian that Paul's talking about. Verse 14, they use this: "I am carnal, sold under sin." That bothers them, especially coming off of chapter 6. I mean, you know, you're with me. And so they would say this has to be an unbeliever, this could not be a believer. Verse 18: "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." In other words, they contend that this must be a non-Christian, because a person who's a Christian knows how to do what's good. Or they ask, where's the evidence of the Holy Spirit in this kind of a statement?
Where is he? It's not there. Where is he? And if he's not there, this must then be a non-Christian. Verse 24: "O wretched man that I am!" He says, seems rather far from the promise we see in Romans 5:1, which says, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
They further contend, how can he be carnal, sold under sin, when Romans 6:14 says this: "Sin shall not have dominion over you"?
Seems pretty good. I might agree with them, this must be a non-Christian then. They go on to chapter 6. Everybody say Romans chapter 6. Good, I'm just making sure you're with me.
And then they invariably go to chapter 6 in detail, and they give these verses as their case of saying that Paul must, here in chapter 7, be talking about a non-Christian. Verse 2: "How shall we who are dead, or have died to sin, live any longer in it?" That's a good, that's a good case. Verse 6 for their position: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."
Another good case. Verse 7: "For he that has died is freed from sin." Verse 11: "Reckon yourselves to have died indeed unto sin." Verse 12: "Let not sin reign in your mortal body." Verse 17: "God be thanked that whereas you were the servants of sin, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered." You were delivered, you're delivered. Verse 18: "Being then made free from sin." Verse 22: "But now being made free from sin and becoming servants to God." Seems like their case is strong that Paul must then be talking about a non-Christian here. All these things we just read in chapter 6 become a stumbling block for seeing Romans 7:14, which is the essential verse of this section. Some of you may be asking, Shawn, why are we talking about these different positions? Because the positions affect the interpretation, and the wrong interpretation makes the illumination of the revelation lost on you. Then no longer are you benefactors of this word, but you are burdened by it through improper interpretation. That's pretty good. I wish I would have wrote that down, because that'd be a pretty good tweet, but I don't even know how that came together.
Definitely not in my notes, but anyway, maybe there's something bouncing around up in that cabinet space called a brain of mine yet, right? So here we go.
Chapter 6 becomes a stumbling block for seeing Romans 7:14, which says, "I am carnal, sold under sin," as a Christian.
Are you beginning to understand the problem? It is my aim to deal with each of these as we work our way through this text, but as a general reference to Romans 6, let me break Romans 6 and Romans 7 down. Romans 6, the emphasis, and you write this down as best you can, because this will help you, the emphasis in Romans 6 is on the new creation, the new nature. I'm using keywords here: new nature, new identity, new person in Christ. The emphasis, therefore, is on the holiness of the believer. The emphasis in 7 does not necessarily have to be the same as chapter 6. So Romans 6, the emphasis, every position, and every Christian knows, every Christian knows that even though he is new in Christ and sin's dominion is broken and sin no longer has mastery over him, sin is still a problem. Every Christian knows this. And so whether or not you want to see chapter 7 as him talking about a non-Christian or a Christian, you've still got to see a Christian having conflict with sin, even though his new creation, his new self, is holy.
It's a problem. It's a problem. Now, pause, Paul's, because we can get into some dangerous territory here, let me give you a caution, a word of caution here. You do not take human experience and make that Lord and then interpret the Bible based on what you've experienced, because that'll get you lost real quick, because your human experience is based on flesh, and what are we hearing about the flesh? It's broken. And so if you trust the flesh to interpret the Bible, you start wrong before you even begin. So although we can reflect and understand that sin is still a problem, listen, it's not just in Romans 7 that we hear that sin is still an issue for Christians. The New Testament, and specifically the Epistles, are replete with conversation about the Christian life and the conflict that remains.
Replete, it's full, complete, fully saturated with this kind of language.
So here's the conflict: Romans 6 reveals the new creation, the new self that is holy. Romans 7 reveals a conflict that wages war against the new creation.
The conflict is not only seen in chapter 7, but listen here, this is important as we try to look at the verses they're using to say this is a non-Christian, right? Because we have to know whether it's a non-Christian or Christian to be able to interpret it, and our interpretation is going to be built off of how we view this, right? So it starts there, so we've got to get that right. But although there's many verses in chapter 6 that people build a case that it must be a non-Christian, what are they to do with verse 12? Look at it, Romans 6:12. What are they going to do with that? Here's a conflict that exists even in the midst, the middle, of all of their case verses for their defense. Here's a conflict, it's a conflict that's there that they have to deal with. Romans 6:12 says this: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body." That means it can.
Wait a minute, I thought sin was dead. I thought we were dead to sin. So it can reign in your mortal body. Notice where it assigns it, not to your renewed mind, it assigns it to where? Notice this, and you gotta listen to these divisions. You got to listen to where he applies where the new man is and where he applies where the old nature is. You've got to listen to this. You gotta hear this, because he's assigning it to this terminology. The conflict is in these things.
So although the new man, the renewed mind, the new man, the new man we are made new, is set free from sin, dead to sin, holy, not a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness, although we have that, we have in this same person a body which is still broken and still has sin, and as a matter of fact we can still give this body over to it. That's why he then commands us in Romans 6:12, "Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts." You mean you can, if you're made new?
How is it that Romans 6 says things like this? And they have a slide, I think. Oh, you did really good, it's the next slide though. Yeah, there you go.
Romans 6 says things like this. Good. I said died, I read it just now, we're dead to sin, and it's that too, we're dead to sin.
That's where I read it, but I wrote it the right way, so I'm really thankful for that, right? That's what happens when you're a skim reader. We die to sin. Another thing that Romans 6 says: if we are dead to sin, how can we live any longer in it? The body of sin was destroyed, and we do not serve sin. Don't let sin reign in your mortal body. You are set free from sin and now a slave to God. But what are we to do with Romans 6:12, which I just mentioned, which commands us to not let sin reign? Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot accept all the other verses and not come to the conclusion, the conclusionary verse of Romans 6:12, which speaks that although we're set free, we still are in bondage to this other part of us in the flesh. This presents a problem in chapter 6 for those who hold the position that Romans 7 is talking about non-Christians, and it's a massive problem for them. It's a massive problem for them. And all that Paul said in chapter 6 about our new nature, our new creation, our new essence, he never states, listen to this, you write this down, he never states, he never promises, he never inclines us to believe that we would not battle sin. Not once does he say that. We come to that conclusion on our own. As a matter of fact, verse 12 clearly implies that sin could still have a reigning place in us. It could still be shouting out orders that we are submitting to.
We can still be obeying sin. Notice what we take captive and then make obedient to Christ, and notice where we do it.
It's important, maybe the pieces will begin to come together for you. It could still be shouting out orders that we are submitting to, we could still be obeying sin. Look at verse 13. This is crazy. Look at verse 13: "Do not then present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness." Which is to say, you are capable of doing just that. There is a capability of accomplishing that. So if your interpretation for chapter 7 is that this must be a non-Christian because Christians cannot do that, they're disagreeing with the conclusion of chapter 6 by the apostle Paul, who says Christians most certainly can do that. Are you with me? So we can see that the same problem we have in chapter 7 we also have in chapter 6. Look at 6:19. "I am speaking," and I love this, and we broached this subject in our groups, I love it, he's like, he has this stop moment in the middle of his talk and he's like, yeah, "I am speaking in human terms," because I don't even know the words that I can choose to try to explain what happens for a believer. Not only do I not know the words in human terms to give you, but you got a human flesh that's causing you to interpret this probably different than what I really mean. So not only am I trying to interpret and communicate something by the Spirit through the flesh, it's being interpreted through the flesh, and we got a double negative, hoping that you'll get it right. It's crazy, because we know that our flesh is still broken, and it's crazy that God uses a vessel, the flesh, that is broken, to communicate the gospel, and we hear the gospel through a vessel that's broken.
You know why he does that? So only he gets the glory when illumination happens, when the gospel is preached.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 39:37
Not the man who preaches it, can he get the glory? Absolutely not, because he has flesh. And how could a man wrapped in flesh, broken, with the old nature, communicate anything that is glorious from God?
And how can a man who's sitting listening to a man who's preaching from the flesh, who are in the flesh, hear anything glorious from God? Because God is God all by himself, and he will illuminate and give the gospel and reveal the gospel to whom he pleases, in spite of who preaches and those who listen to who preaches. That's good stuff. God gets the glory. He always gets the glory. That's why we're here today.
See, ladies and gentlemen, you might have thought you came here to celebrate Mother's Day, but, mothers, we didn't come here today to celebrate you. We came here to celebrate the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and it is he that we worship. That's who we worship. Happy Mother's Day, though.
Oh man, I'm glad you're still here at church. Does an unbeliever delight in the law of God after the inward man?
You won't find such an indication in the Scripture. Listen to this, verse 22: "For I delight in the law," listen, where am I at, let's go back, "I am speaking in human terms." When you sin, it isn't the new you. What is it? It's your flesh, your humanness. And so he goes on, "I am speaking in human terms,"
It's the flesh that does it's the broken part of you. And then he goes on, he completes this verse: "I have to remind you of these things because your flesh is still there. For just as you once yielded your members as servants to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now yield your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification." So arguing that chapter 7 cannot refer to a Christian because of statements in chapter 6 is to really misunderstand the intention of chapter 6. We miss it, and I think it to be a rather weak argument, period. Now, let's move on. This is what I believe,
Point 4This is a Christian who delights in God's law
And I align with the idea of a Christian view. We just looked at that Paul must be talking about a non-Christian. I hold the position that Paul is talking about a Christian. Now let's look at Romans 7:14 through 25. We're not going to read it all, but I'm going to pull out and extrapolate specific verses that are pertinent for this position, and let's look at it as if it were a Christian, as if it were a Christian in view. Verse 22: "For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being." Sounds like a Christian, doesn't it? That's a very strong statement, isn't it?
"I delight in the law of God, after the inward man." Question: does an unbeliever delight in the law of God after an inward man? You won't find such an indication anywhere in Scripture. It isn't in there. In fact, in Romans 8:7, I know we're not there yet, this is cheating, in Romans 8:7, the middle of the verse, it says that the unregenerated person is not subject to the law of God. Let's read Romans 8:7 in two different translations. It's going to seem crazy, king James first. I kind of like the way that it says it kind of puts it in a little interesting way, and then ESV. King James first: "because the carnal mind," everybody say mind, "is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Notice it's the carnal mind that is enmity against God. This is, of course, speaking of a non-believer. How could a carnal mind, a non-believer, be subject to the law at all? Romans 8:7 in the ESV: "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." I like that, it cannot. It speaks of completeness.
Yet here we read Paul say, "I delight in the law of God," and then we're like, man, I think it's speaking about a Christian here. Look at verse 25: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." That's a strong case just right there. "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God." Remember, we just heard you cannot, if you're an unbeliever. Case in point, conclusion, that's my ending statement as a lawyer, and I walk off, drop the mic, say who's your daddy under my breath, right? That's what it is. Sounds like a Christian for two reasons. Let me give you those two reasons. One, he thanks God through the Lord Jesus Christ our Lord. Two, he serves the law of God with his mind. An unbeliever has a carnal mind, not a renewed one, and only a renewed one can serve the law. That's the facts. That's facts. Read your Bible, it's facts, it's all over. I remind you of what it says in chapter 8 again, that the one who is apart from Christ cannot be subject to the law of God. Look at Romans 7:15. Romans 7:15 says, "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." To me that says that there is a battle here, because the deepest, truest part of this individual wants to do what is right, but something keeps him from doing it.
Is this true of an unsaved person, that they long to do what is right but are inexplicably prevented from doing it constantly?
Look at Romans 7:18. "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh." He, listen, it's like he knows that he better clarify, and he clarifies with the terms I talked about earlier. He gives a clarification, because he doesn't want them to think all of me, just that part of me that prevents me, that comes in conflict, that wages war against me. Not the whole me, but the me that is, the new me, the me that is the old me is the one that's causing the problem, but I identify with the new me, because one day he takes the old me and he gives me the complete new me by giving me a new body. That's good stuff, right? He clarifies. What does he clarify? Because I forgot where I'm at. He says, what was I at, 18? For another 12 million, okay, yeah. "For I know nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh." He clarifies it. "For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out." Why can't he carry it out? Something is coming against him again. It's the same idea. Something deep inside me wants to do what's right, but there's conflict. You have it in verse 19: "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand." You have it in verse 21: "So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand." So the heart, the soul, the mind deep within the individual longs to do what is good. The bent is towards good. When was the last time you heard of a non-believer being good in nature? The Bible says there's nothing good in men. The Bible says of our hearts it is infinitely wicked. We cannot trust it until we remain new, until we're made new. There's an evil principle that causes it to be not so easily accomplished. Whoever this is, get this, he longs to do good things and finds himself doing what? Bad things. Furthermore, let us not too quickly forget Romans chapter 3, because if you forget what we were before, this won't make sense either. Romans 3:10 says, "There is none good, no, not one." For all you new agers who love Facebook posts that sound Christian but they're not, well, they have a good heart. No, they don't. Only God is good. You know that Scripture, sounds cool, but
We've gotten into this difficulty, this problem of wanting to encourage people with lies and we call it Christianity.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 49:40
That's harsh, wasn't it? But it's true.
Sounds good, but it's a lie. Let me tell you what lies will do: lead you astray. And some of you would rather go to bed with a lie and sacrifice eternity in health, because you have temporary pleasure, than be told the truth and be inconvenienced temporarily and live with him eternally. Are you with me?
It's true, think about it. It's true, there's no one good. He says everything about them is bad, everything. Romans 3:11 says no one understands, no one seeks God. Nobody seeks God's purposes, no one wants to do his will, and no one loves his holy moral law. No one, no one. Romans 3:18 says there is no fear of God before their eyes. They have no regard for him, they don't care about him, and they don't love him, and matter of fact, they know what he wants, they do the opposite anyway, and they encourage others to rebel against him. That's what it says of them, lost non-believers. So, ladies and gentlemen, this cannot be a non-believer Paul's talking about. The conflict here, of the tension, the battle between what Paul says, "I delight in, I love, I approve, I want, I long to do,"
And that he actually does, I believe can only be true in a redeemed person. There's another position, last and final position, the immature Christian view.
Some people say it's a description of a Christian on a low level of spirituality. I mean, this guy hasn't even figured out what's going on yet. He's so new to Christ, he's tossed to and fro by the ways because he's immature. See, when God accomplishes something, he accomplishes it. He's trying in his own strength when he really needs to just trust God. He's still trying to live according to the flesh, but he's not trusting in a spiritual man. One day he'll be mature enough and this won't be a problem for him. One commentary writer actually says this is the abject misery of failure of a Christian who attempts to please God under the Mosaic system. Mosaic system, sort of a super legalistic kind of Christian. Just pause here for a second, just, just, I'm not trying to hate on people smarter than me, just pause here for a second, right? Pause. Legalistic Christian? You mean pharisaical? You mean people who hope to be justified by following the law? They're believers? Now you with me?
You're either saved by grace or you're not.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 52:49
How many of you know that if you hope to be saved by the law, you have to fulfill the law in every portion of the law, and if you break it in one part you break it in all parts, and you're going to hell, and there is no one, nowhere, no way that has not broken one part, except for Jesus Christ our Lord. He kept it in every part. He died, he bled for us, he resurrected from the grave, that we might be buried into a death that is fully righteous, that fully obeyed, that through him, although we broke the law in many parts, we are baptized into a man who did not break it in any part, and that is transferred to us through justification by faith. That's good stuff.
Yet this writer is saying this must be an immature Christian who's super legalistic but still a Christian, trying to crank out his own righteousness, and he's unable to do it in his own flesh. I would say that kind of person calls himself a Christian but is not a Christian. I don't believe there is such a thing as a legalistic Christian, but let's just say for a moment, for sake of argument, that there would be such a thing as a legalistic Christian. A legalistic Christian would never have this type of perspective, a perspective of a struggle, a perspective that they want to do good but they always do the dumb thing.
I don't know if you've ever met any legalistic Christians, but the legalistic Christians that I might consider would be people who think they're righteous in all things and everyone else has got a problem. You with me? They live under the illusion that they are very spiritual. They would never for a minute think that they struggle in the slightest, and they would see themselves as perfect. So this position that people have, this
Point 5Paul is the most mature kind of believer
Must be an immature Christian who's legalistic but eventually one day will break out of that, is ridiculous. You want to know what kind of Christian this is, my friend? This is the most, you want to know what kind of Christian I believe Paul is talking about? This is the most mature, spiritual Christian that could ever be, not immature. This defines a person who was a Pharisee of all Pharisees who no longer is.
This is the most spiritual Christian there ever could be, who sees so clearly the inability of his flesh as over against the holiness of God's divine standard,
And the more mature he is, the more spiritual he is, the greater will be the sensitivity to his own shortcomings.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 56:08
You show me an infantile, carnal, fleshly, legalistic, self-righteous kind of Christian and I'll show you somebody who lives under the delusion that everything he's doing is very spiritual when in all actuality it's not spiritual at all, it's selfish. You show me a person with this kind of brokenness, you show me a person agonizing in the depths of his own soul because he can't do anything written in the law of God, and I'll show you a very spiritual person. I believe what you have here is Paul. That's right, Paul. And you see the word "I" 46 times in this small portion of Scripture, Romans 7. I think it's Paul. I think it's Paul. I think he's talking about Paul, and I think he's talking because he thinks he's a Christian here. Here's other books of the Bible where Paul says something similar. First Corinthians, I'm out of time, I'm done, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, almost done, though. First Corinthians 15:9, he says the same thing in other terms. He says this: "For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am."
You see that he didn't say I wasn't fit to be an apostle, he said what I am, not fit now to be an apostle. I'm the least of all. That's the heart of a very mature Christian. Ephesians 3:8, he says, "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints," as he views himself against the holy law of God, he in his own mind is less than the least of all the saints. Paul, it's Paul. In First Timothy 1:12 he says, "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, in that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious." You say, well, sure, that's what he was, Shawn. Well, let's read on. "But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am," what was the word? "Chief.
Nevertheless, for this cause I obtained mercy." Is this the voice of an immature believer?
No, this is the voice of a very mature believer in Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 59:53
Listen, I think that's exactly what he's saying in Romans 7. This is Paul, far along in his apostleship, mature in the Lord, walking in the dynamic of spiritual life, having experienced the mighty power of God and the wisdom of God and the knowledge of God, and the more he knows, the more he experiences, and the more he hates the sin that he sees hanging on. And the terms that he uses in Romans 7 are so precise that I think we cannot miss the picture here to get this wrong, just to miss the whole point.
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