WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.800 Music. 00:00:09.266 --> 00:00:13.666 Good. So we're continuing our series in the book of Romans, so if you have a 00:00:13.666 --> 00:00:15.666 Bible with you, I want to encourage you to take it out. 00:00:15.706 --> 00:00:19.006 Turn to Romans, which is in the New Testament of the Bible. 00:00:22.986 --> 00:00:27.446 The New Testament is the back part of the Bible. 00:00:27.586 --> 00:00:30.626 Well, the old is in the front, the new is in the back. 00:00:30.626 --> 00:00:38.246 Back, the New Testament starts out with the Gospels, which are four accounts 00:00:38.246 --> 00:00:41.286 of the life and ministry of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 00:00:41.446 --> 00:00:44.786 and then goes into a book called, 00:00:45.286 --> 00:00:51.946 Acts, which is the general history of the early church right after Jesus' ministry, 00:00:52.546 --> 00:00:54.786 and then a letter to the church in Romans. 00:00:55.526 --> 00:00:58.866 And that's where we've been studying the last few months, and that's where we're 00:00:58.866 --> 00:01:01.046 going to be today. Today, we're going to study the whole chapter, 00:01:01.346 --> 00:01:04.686 the whole seventh chapter of Romans. 00:01:04.826 --> 00:01:07.146 And don't laugh because we are going to get through it. 00:01:08.966 --> 00:01:11.926 We're going to get through it as quickly as we can possibly do, 00:01:12.046 --> 00:01:13.946 as quickly as we possibly can. 00:01:14.406 --> 00:01:20.106 But if you remember last week, we came off of Romans chapter 6, 00:01:20.106 --> 00:01:27.826 where Paul was describing the relationship that believers in Jesus Christ have 00:01:27.826 --> 00:01:31.986 now with sin and with righteousness. 00:01:33.066 --> 00:01:37.626 That through our faith in Jesus Christ, we are set free from the power and the bondage of sin. 00:01:37.766 --> 00:01:43.126 And now we have become slaves to something else altogether. 00:01:43.226 --> 00:01:48.646 We are no longer enslaved to sin, but now we are slaves of righteousness, 00:01:48.646 --> 00:01:52.226 righteousness which leads to holiness and 00:01:52.226 --> 00:01:55.426 eternal life and so 00:01:55.426 --> 00:01:58.306 now but we're in Romans chapter 7 and Romans chapter 00:01:58.306 --> 00:02:01.386 7 is an interesting one because some believe 00:02:01.386 --> 00:02:04.686 and if we you'll I think you'll see as we read it and 00:02:04.686 --> 00:02:08.366 it kind of exists a little bit as kind of 00:02:08.366 --> 00:02:11.326 sounds a little bit like a diary entry for the apostle 00:02:11.326 --> 00:02:14.646 Paul who is really being vulnerable and 00:02:14.646 --> 00:02:18.306 and with a lot of candor sharing his increasing 00:02:18.306 --> 00:02:26.726 struggle with the power of sin and how he desires in his heart to be free from 00:02:26.726 --> 00:02:31.606 the power of sin and to live in the power of the spirit but it feels he says 00:02:31.606 --> 00:02:34.806 like in him are two warring factions. 00:02:37.776 --> 00:02:43.536 The side that desires him to die under the power of judgment and the law and 00:02:43.536 --> 00:02:48.176 the side that desires for him to live in the power of the spirit. 00:02:48.496 --> 00:02:52.756 And he ends the chapter with this like big question of like, 00:02:52.876 --> 00:02:55.916 who is gonna solve this problem for me? 00:02:56.856 --> 00:03:00.336 Where do I, essentially, where do I go from here? Here's the reality. 00:03:01.116 --> 00:03:04.076 I know what I want to do and I know what I should do, but guess what? 00:03:04.116 --> 00:03:07.436 I keep on doing what I don't wanna do and what I shouldn't do, 00:03:07.576 --> 00:03:12.856 and I'm having a hard time with it, essentially. 00:03:13.396 --> 00:03:18.516 But he begins the conversation a lot earlier, in kind of a strange way, 00:03:19.256 --> 00:03:22.216 but he uses an illustration from marriage. 00:03:22.356 --> 00:03:27.356 And this is an illustration that was more contextual to marriage in the ancient 00:03:27.356 --> 00:03:31.476 Near East, and both in Judaism and in Rome. 00:03:31.636 --> 00:03:35.036 So we're going to get there in a minute. but what Paul's going to talk about 00:03:35.036 --> 00:03:40.616 a lot here is what we hear in the Old Testament and New Testament as called the law. 00:03:42.142 --> 00:03:47.602 And for us, for you and I, if you're not a practicing Jew, if you're not an Orthodox Jew even now, 00:03:47.742 --> 00:03:54.302 the law seems a little bit kind of like out there in the spiritual ether of 00:03:54.302 --> 00:04:01.022 like not really understanding how it applies to us and if it applies to us and what it means. 00:04:01.082 --> 00:04:05.502 We see it written a lot about and talked a lot about in the Gospels and in the 00:04:05.502 --> 00:04:07.082 New Testament, especially in the Old Testament. 00:04:07.102 --> 00:04:14.382 But what is the law and why do we, why do you and I, need to be concerned with 00:04:14.382 --> 00:04:17.122 it at all? Paul addresses this question. 00:04:17.422 --> 00:04:22.522 So when we say the law, what is it that we mean? 00:04:22.842 --> 00:04:25.522 What is it that we are talking about? 00:04:26.202 --> 00:04:32.262 Each of us has at least some kind of understanding of what the law is in our 00:04:32.262 --> 00:04:33.642 contemporary culture, right? 00:04:33.722 --> 00:04:38.962 It is something that generally is supposed to govern our society as we live. 00:04:39.122 --> 00:04:41.682 It is, sometimes it is followed, right? 00:04:43.422 --> 00:04:47.462 And sometimes it is broken, right? 00:04:48.482 --> 00:04:55.302 Like, well, yeah, I'm not a lawbreaker at all, right? I follow all the laws, right? 00:04:55.822 --> 00:05:03.002 Yet me too, right? Until I'm late driving somewhere, and then I am a lawbreaker, right? 00:05:03.702 --> 00:05:06.962 Then I'm getting there as soon as I need to, okay? 00:05:07.762 --> 00:05:10.962 But in general, the law is meant to protect. 00:05:12.142 --> 00:05:18.142 Meant to protect me. It's meant to protect you. It's meant to protect our individuals 00:05:18.142 --> 00:05:20.082 and groups and communities. 00:05:20.622 --> 00:05:26.822 And sometimes, I think this is not a hard thing to imagine, sometimes the things 00:05:26.822 --> 00:05:33.722 that are meant for good can appear now to even be burdensome. 00:05:34.522 --> 00:05:38.702 Especially when those things, they get twisted or they get maligned or they 00:05:38.702 --> 00:05:42.902 get used in ways that they were really never meant to be used. 00:05:44.742 --> 00:05:49.082 The same is true for religious law or the law that we would be talking about 00:05:49.082 --> 00:05:51.802 here when we talk in the Old Testament and the New Testament. 00:05:53.222 --> 00:05:56.022 When it comes to religious law, 00:05:56.262 --> 00:06:00.962 there was none more expansive than what existed for the Jewish people. 00:06:02.245 --> 00:06:10.745 There were 613 commandments or laws in the Jewish law for them to follow. 00:06:10.845 --> 00:06:17.845 613 to be exact. And they ranged throughout all kinds of different categories, 00:06:17.965 --> 00:06:25.385 but generally they ranged from having a moral and ethical demand or command on someone, 00:06:25.565 --> 00:06:28.705 like do not lie, 00:06:28.985 --> 00:06:31.305 right? Do not steal. 00:06:31.525 --> 00:06:33.305 Do not covet. 00:06:33.585 --> 00:06:36.865 Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. 00:06:36.965 --> 00:06:43.585 There was this ethical or moral component to it. Do not do this. Make sure you do this. 00:06:43.765 --> 00:06:52.925 There was sections of the 613 commandments that looked more like a fancy diet 00:06:52.925 --> 00:06:55.125 plan than anything else. 00:06:56.285 --> 00:07:03.625 Do not eat pork. pork. We do not eat shellfish, right? There was dietary restrictions. 00:07:04.865 --> 00:07:08.765 There was also a ceremonial section of that law. 00:07:09.165 --> 00:07:15.025 These commands and these laws were meant to guide the ritual life, 00:07:15.325 --> 00:07:19.925 what we would call the religious life proper of the Jewish faith. 00:07:20.045 --> 00:07:23.265 So that would be things like what happens in the temple and 00:07:23.265 --> 00:07:26.985 ceremonial washing before special feasts 00:07:26.985 --> 00:07:29.945 and religious holidays and and things that 00:07:29.945 --> 00:07:33.445 that that guided the spiritual life of 00:07:33.445 --> 00:07:37.125 the Jewish people and listen um ancient 00:07:37.125 --> 00:07:40.405 Jews worked very very hard 00:07:40.405 --> 00:07:43.765 as hard as they possibly could to abide 00:07:43.765 --> 00:07:46.525 by and keep all of these 00:07:46.525 --> 00:07:49.465 laws laws they were it was 00:07:49.465 --> 00:07:53.285 what their whole life and society was kind 00:07:53.285 --> 00:07:56.745 of um what it kind of rotated around was 00:07:56.745 --> 00:08:03.705 keeping the law maintaining a covenant relationship with the lord now even today 00:08:03.705 --> 00:08:09.465 um uh practicing jews what would that term that we would call practicing jews 00:08:09.465 --> 00:08:16.685 um uh still still ranging from fairly like laissez-faire to kind of like very orthodox Jews, 00:08:16.865 --> 00:08:23.145 still seek to abide by the 613 commandments of the law even today. 00:08:25.265 --> 00:08:30.185 And in manner of speaking, both for ancient Jews and practicing Jews now, 00:08:30.445 --> 00:08:38.325 their adherence to the law was a measure of their faithfulness to God. 00:08:39.745 --> 00:08:47.305 The more laws we obey, the closer that we stick to obedience to these things, 00:08:47.485 --> 00:08:53.025 the more perfect we are in our practice of and adherence to these laws, 00:08:53.225 --> 00:08:59.565 the more, the higher the measure of our faithfulness to God, the closer we are to God. 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:09.519 And so Jewish people, responding to the message of the good news of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, 00:09:10.419 --> 00:09:18.879 who was the Jewish Messiah, he was a Jew himself, following the heart and spirit 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:21.599 of these Jewish laws themselves. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:28.179 When they would come to faith in Jesus Christ as Jewish people, 00:09:28.179 --> 00:09:35.579 they would really, really struggle to, in their heart, in their mind, 00:09:35.599 --> 00:09:37.259 and in their religious practice, 00:09:38.059 --> 00:09:44.159 break free from this belief and practice that to be in relationship with God 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:53.219 meant following or adhering perfectly to a written code of 613 things. 00:09:53.219 --> 00:09:56.119 Things it was really difficult from that 00:09:56.119 --> 00:09:59.439 for them to step away from both 00:09:59.439 --> 00:10:02.599 the religious and cultural practice that demanded 00:10:02.599 --> 00:10:05.639 in order for them to be in right relationship with god 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.879 they must do x y z a b c 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:11.699 a one two three which is why 00:10:11.699 --> 00:10:14.719 you see paul in so many letters 00:10:14.719 --> 00:10:17.559 of the new testament arguing with jewish people 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:20.759 about whether or not new believers 00:10:20.759 --> 00:10:25.359 needed to do things like follow dietary restrictions get 00:10:25.359 --> 00:10:28.359 circumcised or not get circumcised what was 00:10:28.359 --> 00:10:33.939 the role of baptism right because there was this constant struggle in the Jewish 00:10:33.939 --> 00:10:41.839 culture of which Jesus came out of of how much of the old law must we adhere 00:10:41.839 --> 00:10:48.159 to must we obey in order to continue in our faithfulness of God. 00:10:49.939 --> 00:10:57.959 And so since following Jesus was seen in the ancient world, not as a new religion. 00:10:58.659 --> 00:11:06.439 Do you recognize that? That when Jesus, when people started to believe by faith 00:11:06.439 --> 00:11:09.739 in Jesus, calling him Savior and Lord and Messiah, 00:11:10.819 --> 00:11:16.139 that the outside world, the Roman culture, the Roman world, didn't see what 00:11:16.139 --> 00:11:25.599 was happening there with those new believers as a new religion or as a new branch of faith. 00:11:25.719 --> 00:11:29.119 It wasn't like, oh, all of these, this new religion started. 00:11:29.259 --> 00:11:31.959 It's called Christianity. They're following this guy named Jesus. 00:11:32.899 --> 00:11:37.459 In fact, it wasn't that at all. What it was perceived as is like, 00:11:37.499 --> 00:11:40.939 okay, there's this weird sect inside of Judaism. 00:11:42.019 --> 00:11:48.199 This weird sect of Jews who now believe that their Messiah has come And that 00:11:48.199 --> 00:11:53.219 they no longer need to follow in adherence to perfection, the law, 00:11:53.499 --> 00:11:58.639 but they now just follow him who completely fulfilled the law. 00:11:59.599 --> 00:12:07.919 So it was seen not as a new religion, but as an offshoot or as a sect of Judaism. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:15.679 Gentile converts to Christianity were sometimes pressured to continue to follow 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:22.199 all of the rules of ancient Judaism if they wanted to be a true follower of Jesus. 00:12:23.079 --> 00:12:26.159 Hey, if you want to truly follow Jesus, you still need to follow all these rules. 00:12:28.219 --> 00:12:30.999 You need to make sure you're perfect in following all these rules. 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:34.399 Make sure you follow all these rules. He's a Jewish Messiah. 00:12:35.119 --> 00:12:40.779 Let me remind you. and we have all of these rules, we have the law that guides our life together. 00:12:44.079 --> 00:12:50.579 And man, I've got to tell you, when you kind of contemplate that reality, 00:12:51.999 --> 00:12:58.859 that even in the days, weeks, and months after Jesus had ascended back into 00:12:58.859 --> 00:13:03.459 heaven and new believers were coming to faith in him, 00:13:04.699 --> 00:13:11.439 that old believers were trumpeting this message that, hey, look, 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:15.639 to follow Jesus means to follow the rules perfectly. 00:13:16.999 --> 00:13:22.059 To follow Jesus means to continue to follow these 613 commandments. 00:13:23.319 --> 00:13:31.239 And I'm like, you know, the more things change, the more they actually just kind of stay the same. 00:13:34.294 --> 00:13:39.814 The more it really just feels like they kind of stay the same. Because here we are, 00:13:42.314 --> 00:13:47.754 some 2,000 years of separation from the moment that Jesus ascended. 00:13:50.594 --> 00:13:58.574 Far away, both culturally and practically, from an ancient Near Eastern culture. 00:13:59.934 --> 00:14:06.854 Here we are, some 2,000 years later in Christianity, and we still often get 00:14:06.854 --> 00:14:14.394 plagued with this notion or this idea that to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, 00:14:14.574 --> 00:14:18.394 you must simply, only, 00:14:18.614 --> 00:14:23.354 and exclusively just follow the rules. 00:14:25.174 --> 00:14:31.214 Just follow the rules. 2,000 some odd years later. 00:14:31.934 --> 00:14:40.694 And the same issue that Paul was addressing in Romans, we still struggle and fight against now. 00:14:40.754 --> 00:14:46.494 Hey, to follow Jesus, new believer, it just means you got to do these things 00:14:46.494 --> 00:14:49.034 and it means you got to not do these things. 00:14:49.774 --> 00:14:54.074 Just follow the rules. We don't have 613 of those commandments, 00:14:54.254 --> 00:14:56.854 but we do have our own kind of rules. 00:14:58.174 --> 00:15:01.434 Follow the rules. Don't break the rules. say the right things, 00:15:01.534 --> 00:15:08.574 do the right things, think the right things, sometimes just looking good enough, 00:15:09.614 --> 00:15:15.314 is, for you and I, good enough to say that someone is a follower of Jesus. 00:15:17.614 --> 00:15:25.314 Just looking good enough, just saying the right things enough times is enough 00:15:25.314 --> 00:15:28.474 for us to say, oh, they're such good people, right? Right? 00:15:28.654 --> 00:15:32.214 We have a bunch of good people here. 00:15:32.454 --> 00:15:36.034 Right? Just a bunch of good people following Jesus. Right? 00:15:37.394 --> 00:15:42.194 Paul's going to say it. I'm going to say it. We all need to say it over and over and over again. 00:15:42.254 --> 00:15:46.474 Listen, church, there is nothing good inside of us except Jesus Christ himself. 00:15:47.474 --> 00:15:51.594 There is nothing good in me except Jesus. Right? 00:15:51.654 --> 00:15:55.734 And no adherence to a written law. 00:15:55.734 --> 00:16:03.354 No adherence to 613 commandments makes me any more right or good or justified 00:16:03.354 --> 00:16:07.954 in the eyes of God or in the eyes of men than anything else. 00:16:08.054 --> 00:16:14.414 Only thing that makes me right and good is the blood of Jesus applied. 00:16:19.665 --> 00:16:26.505 See, we have come back to the place that Jesus came to set us free from sometimes. 00:16:27.025 --> 00:16:31.325 We come back to this place of saying, hey, look, just exclusively follow these 00:16:31.325 --> 00:16:34.705 rules, look good enough, act good enough, say the right things, 00:16:34.825 --> 00:16:39.605 think the right things, do the right things, be good enough, and it's good enough. 00:16:42.785 --> 00:16:48.045 Somehow, after the ministry of Jesus in the New Testament, We, 00:16:48.285 --> 00:16:50.405 the church 2,000 some years later, 00:16:50.505 --> 00:16:55.365 have come back to the place that Jesus literally came to set us free from. 00:16:57.345 --> 00:16:59.725 We've returned to the old man. 00:17:02.285 --> 00:17:07.945 To use an analogy from last week. We've returned to a rigid moralism that it 00:17:07.945 --> 00:17:13.085 says as long as I follow some list of rules and commands perfectly, 00:17:13.085 --> 00:17:15.845 then I will find myself in favor with God, 00:17:15.985 --> 00:17:19.125 and all will be well. 00:17:22.305 --> 00:17:26.425 But what have we learned? If we've learned anything from the first six chapters 00:17:26.425 --> 00:17:28.845 of Romans that we've been studying, what have we learned? 00:17:28.885 --> 00:17:35.045 It's this, is that we will never be made right with God by simply trying harder. Right? 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:41.719 We will never be made right with God by simply trying harder. 00:17:41.879 --> 00:17:44.579 Just try harder to be more gooder. 00:17:48.099 --> 00:17:48.759 Right? 00:17:51.719 --> 00:17:56.459 We will never be made right with God by simply trying harder because righteousness 00:17:56.459 --> 00:18:04.419 or right standing with God is a gift from God given to us through Jesus Christ. 00:18:05.179 --> 00:18:07.579 We cannot earn it. 00:18:09.859 --> 00:18:17.399 Righteousness is a gift from God given to us through our faith in Jesus Christ. 00:18:18.339 --> 00:18:23.019 We cannot earn it. This is Paul's whole message in Romans chapter six, 00:18:23.159 --> 00:18:24.699 at least the second half of it, right? 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:29.379 Don't you know that when you yourself, when you offer your, I'm sorry, 00:18:31.059 --> 00:18:32.859 Romans chapter three, right? 00:18:34.039 --> 00:18:37.899 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:18:53.919 --> 00:18:57.319 So what then of Romans chapter 7? 00:18:58.699 --> 00:19:03.019 If we get there, right, we get to that point of Romans chapter 7, 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:05.959 what exactly does Paul aim to talk about there? 00:19:05.959 --> 00:19:12.099 Well, like I said, it kind of reads like a little bit of Paul's diary entry, 00:19:12.199 --> 00:19:14.679 his spiritual diary entry. 00:19:14.879 --> 00:19:17.879 Dear diary, I tried again and I failed. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:25.339 The end. Next day, dear diary, I tried harder, I failed harder. The end. 00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:32.839 The next day, dear diary, I continue to try and I continue to fail. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:44.559 It's funny when we apply it to Paul, right? Because it distracts us from the 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:48.639 reality that we, when we continue to try, 00:19:49.699 --> 00:19:55.799 and we continue to try just a little bit harder, and we strive just a little bit more, right? 00:19:56.019 --> 00:20:02.019 We polish the surface of our lives feeling like if we make it just good enough 00:20:02.019 --> 00:20:05.799 on the outside that maybe it will change something on the inside. 00:20:09.142 --> 00:20:14.602 But the more we polish, the more tired we get, right? 00:20:15.322 --> 00:20:20.282 And the less direction that we actually move towards the Savior. 00:20:22.462 --> 00:20:27.282 Because we fool ourselves, we deceive ourselves. 00:20:27.722 --> 00:20:33.422 We don't fool ourselves. Our hearts are deceived in believing that if we simply 00:20:33.422 --> 00:20:41.522 wash the outside of the cup enough, it will eventually make the inside of the cup clean. 00:20:43.902 --> 00:20:47.882 And we just simply never get there. 00:20:48.122 --> 00:20:55.182 And so we end up exasperated at the end of the day, at the end of the week, 00:20:55.282 --> 00:21:01.042 at an end of a spiritual season that we are walking through, asking the question, 00:21:01.182 --> 00:21:06.142 why can't I experience transformation? 00:21:07.922 --> 00:21:11.882 Why am I still stuck here? 00:21:12.642 --> 00:21:18.642 Why am I still failing all of the time? 00:21:20.362 --> 00:21:25.582 This is what Paul deals with in Romans chapter seven. It's his own, it's his own like, 00:21:27.322 --> 00:21:35.802 it's his own like confession that this is a reality that he experiences in his life. 00:21:37.122 --> 00:21:44.002 Why am I always failing what Paul essentially says paraphrased in Pastor Cameron's 00:21:44.002 --> 00:21:49.222 words why am I always failing because I am always trying and rarely trusting, 00:21:51.302 --> 00:22:00.922 I am always failing because I am always trying harder and rarely trusting more. 00:22:05.471 --> 00:22:10.351 Paul starts out in Romans chapter 7 with this really interesting illustration. 00:22:10.631 --> 00:22:15.551 Kind of seems out of place if you were to just read it all on your own. 00:22:15.911 --> 00:22:19.171 But you've got to place it within the context of what he's trying to communicate. 00:22:21.011 --> 00:22:26.871 So listen here. Romans chapter 7, verse 1. Do you not know, brothers and sisters, 00:22:27.011 --> 00:22:32.331 for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law has authority over 00:22:32.331 --> 00:22:34.891 a man only as long as he lives. 00:22:36.411 --> 00:22:37.951 For example, he says. 00:22:40.051 --> 00:22:44.551 By law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, 00:22:44.731 --> 00:22:47.991 but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 00:22:48.391 --> 00:22:51.271 So then if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, 00:22:51.451 --> 00:22:55.871 she's called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that 00:22:55.871 --> 00:22:59.851 law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. 00:22:59.971 --> 00:23:05.251 Well, okay, Paul, where are, what? what does this have to do with anything here 00:23:05.251 --> 00:23:06.691 that we've been talking about? 00:23:07.091 --> 00:23:11.011 And so, but then he uses this 00:23:11.011 --> 00:23:15.671 example of marriage and 00:23:15.671 --> 00:23:24.091 being united with one another and death causing a break in that bond or that 00:23:24.091 --> 00:23:31.851 unification here on earth to talk about how when we are united with Christ Christ by faith, 00:23:31.911 --> 00:23:34.751 as we talked about in Romans chapter six, right? 00:23:34.891 --> 00:23:42.131 When we are united with Christ by faith and that's exemplified or symbolized in our baptism. 00:23:44.206 --> 00:23:52.806 That the law in us or the moralism in us or the idea that we just have to do 00:23:52.806 --> 00:23:58.306 more, be better, try harder in order to be in right standing before God, 00:23:58.406 --> 00:24:01.206 that when we are unified with Christ in our baptism, 00:24:01.386 --> 00:24:07.366 that old way of thinking about our relationship with God is put to death and 00:24:07.366 --> 00:24:09.546 we are separated from it. 00:24:09.606 --> 00:24:18.406 We are broken free from it. it no longer, that idea no longer has any binding effect in our life. 00:24:19.606 --> 00:24:26.646 As death breaks the legal bond between husband and wife, so our death with Christ 00:24:26.646 --> 00:24:32.666 breaks the bond that formerly enslaved us to the law. 00:24:32.806 --> 00:24:37.026 This rigid moralism that says you just got to do better, try harder. 00:24:37.026 --> 00:24:45.546 And we are now free to live into our union, our unification with Jesus Christ 00:24:45.546 --> 00:24:51.246 as he himself is the spirit, not the written code. 00:24:51.366 --> 00:24:53.646 Watch what Paul says. Verse 4. 00:24:55.126 --> 00:25:01.526 So my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ. 00:25:01.526 --> 00:25:07.566 You died to the law through the body of Christ that you might belong to another. 00:25:11.699 --> 00:25:18.579 We might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that 00:25:18.579 --> 00:25:21.019 we might bear fruit to God. 00:25:21.239 --> 00:25:26.799 We belong to Jesus, that we might bear fruit to God. 00:25:26.919 --> 00:25:33.439 We don't belong to the rigidity of the law that keeps us in a pattern of moralism, 00:25:33.459 --> 00:25:37.019 thinking that if we just do more and try harder and be better, 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.399 that that's what it takes. 00:25:38.399 --> 00:25:43.759 We have died to that idea, and we now belong to God in Jesus Christ so that 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:47.119 we can go out and bear fruit that is in keeping with our repentance. 00:25:48.719 --> 00:25:54.659 Verse 5, For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions 00:25:54.659 --> 00:25:59.979 aroused by the law were at work in our bodies so that we bore fruit for death. 00:26:02.239 --> 00:26:06.939 But now, by dying to what once bound us, us. 00:26:07.699 --> 00:26:15.119 We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:19.939 and not in the old way of the written code. 00:26:20.919 --> 00:26:25.439 We have been, through faith in Jesus Christ, through our unification with Jesus Christ, 00:26:25.639 --> 00:26:28.339 we have been released from the bondage to 00:26:28.339 --> 00:26:31.759 the written code so that now we may live in 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:38.779 and through the spirit we serve 00:26:38.779 --> 00:26:44.299 in the new way of the spirit instead of despair there is joy instead of bondage 00:26:44.299 --> 00:26:49.099 to the law there is now freedom through Christ instead of death to the law there 00:26:49.099 --> 00:26:56.499 is now life in the spirit we are no we no longer belong to the law but to Jesus. 00:27:00.717 --> 00:27:09.037 And so we might walk away with this idea, right, that, oh, because Jesus has 00:27:09.037 --> 00:27:13.317 set us free from the law and has put the law to death, 00:27:15.057 --> 00:27:17.977 then the law must, like, bad law. 00:27:18.857 --> 00:27:22.477 Bad. It's bad. The law is bad. It has no purpose. 00:27:22.657 --> 00:27:28.037 It's only, the law is judgmental. And the law, you want to stay away from the 00:27:28.037 --> 00:27:31.737 law. Thank you, Jesus, for killing the law on our behalf, right? 00:27:32.457 --> 00:27:39.097 But not so, Paul says. He says the law actually has a really, 00:27:39.157 --> 00:27:48.877 really important function in our relationship with and our understanding of our need for a Savior. 00:27:49.797 --> 00:27:57.517 It is actually critical and crucial crucial to our understanding of how we are 00:27:57.517 --> 00:28:02.197 actually saved is the presence of the law in our lives. 00:28:03.897 --> 00:28:08.757 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Paul says in Romans 7 verse 7. 00:28:09.697 --> 00:28:12.377 Is the law bad? Is it sin? 00:28:14.837 --> 00:28:21.537 Certainly not, Paul says. Indeed, I would have not known what sin was. 00:28:31.737 --> 00:28:40.517 This is a really interesting, important thing to understand about our relationship 00:28:40.517 --> 00:28:42.717 as followers of Jesus with the law. 00:28:43.897 --> 00:28:53.377 We actually should stand, can stand, right, in a place of being grateful for 00:28:53.377 --> 00:28:58.317 the law that we are now free from. 00:29:01.057 --> 00:29:06.737 We actually can stand in a place of being grateful for the thing that Jesus 00:29:06.737 --> 00:29:10.037 has set us free from. But why? 00:29:11.137 --> 00:29:16.997 Why would we stand in a place of gratefulness for something that Jesus came and set us free from? 00:29:17.697 --> 00:29:24.237 Listen, because the law reveals the sin that exists in our hearts, 00:29:24.437 --> 00:29:28.257 whether or not we were aware of its presence. 00:29:31.928 --> 00:29:42.708 The law stands as a spotlight or a flashlight on our own efforts to self-deceive that we have sin here. 00:29:44.688 --> 00:29:51.668 And it says the presence of the law illuminates the darkness of the human heart. 00:29:55.688 --> 00:29:59.948 Actually, I'm going to read to you Romans 7, verse 7 out of the Living Bible 00:29:59.948 --> 00:30:04.268 translation because I believe that it really captures this idea. 00:30:05.828 --> 00:30:11.468 It says this, Well then, am I suggesting that these laws of God are evil? 00:30:12.948 --> 00:30:22.348 Of course not. No, the law is not sinful, but it was the law that showed me my sin. 00:30:23.528 --> 00:30:30.088 I would never had known the sin in my heart, the evil desires that are hidden 00:30:30.088 --> 00:30:37.168 there, if the law had not said, you must not have evil desires in your heart. 00:30:39.788 --> 00:30:43.028 It's exactly what Paul says here. He was like, 00:30:43.188 --> 00:30:51.928 I had no idea that I was carrying around in me a heart that was covetous towards 00:30:51.928 --> 00:30:58.928 all things around me until the law pointed out that I should not covet. 00:30:59.008 --> 00:31:02.468 I just thought that this was kind of like a natural way to live life. 00:31:02.548 --> 00:31:04.168 I thought this was normal. 00:31:04.348 --> 00:31:07.948 I was generalizing and rationalizing the things that I was doing, 00:31:08.048 --> 00:31:09.128 the things that I was thinking, 00:31:09.348 --> 00:31:15.028 the things that I was feeling until the law of the Lord came into my life and 00:31:15.028 --> 00:31:20.988 illuminated that the very natural state of my heart was actually one that was naturally dark. 00:31:25.860 --> 00:31:34.200 In James, the epistle James says that the law itself is not sin and is not bad, 00:31:34.360 --> 00:31:43.080 but what it actually is, is a mirror that reflects the inner life of the one 00:31:43.080 --> 00:31:44.900 that looks at it intently. 00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:47.720 So when we look intently at the 00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:53.500 law, the law becomes a mirror and we see ourselves for who we really are. 00:31:54.580 --> 00:32:02.100 For what really exists, for what is really here. James chapter 1, verses 22 through 25. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:10.320 Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. 00:32:10.940 --> 00:32:13.560 Do what it says. This is good advice, right? 00:32:14.360 --> 00:32:18.880 Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. 00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:23.320 Do what it says. It says, anyone who 00:32:23.320 --> 00:32:31.100 listens to the word but does not do what it says is like one who looks at his 00:32:31.100 --> 00:32:40.720 face in a mirror and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 00:32:42.180 --> 00:32:50.700 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues 00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:53.660 to do this, not forgetting what they have heard, 00:32:53.780 --> 00:32:57.540 but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do. 00:33:01.340 --> 00:33:06.560 So why bring up the law at all if Christ has set us free from it? 00:33:08.280 --> 00:33:11.660 Because the law exists as a 00:33:11.660 --> 00:33:14.720 way that the Lord reveals and illuminates the 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:20.840 sin that already exists inside of us it gives it a name it describes and defines 00:33:20.840 --> 00:33:27.160 it it becomes a mirror for our own unrighteousness so that we are left with 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:34.540 the question what shall I do who will save me where can I go from here. 00:33:38.329 --> 00:33:40.229 Paul goes on to say in Romans chapter 7. 00:33:43.289 --> 00:33:44.669 This is interesting here, okay? 00:33:46.889 --> 00:33:53.489 Is that the law, the law brings to life, what is the purpose of the law in the life of the Christian? 00:33:53.589 --> 00:33:55.789 What is the purpose of the law in the one that is following Jesus? 00:33:55.949 --> 00:34:02.649 It's this, is that the law brings to life the sin that has been dormant in us. 00:34:05.029 --> 00:34:09.089 It activates it to life. life. Now, this is not a good thing. 00:34:09.149 --> 00:34:12.969 We're not saying that this is a positive thing, but what we are saying is that 00:34:12.969 --> 00:34:18.629 there is a seed of sin and evil that exists within our souls, right? 00:34:19.229 --> 00:34:25.369 And then when the law is held up and we see it for who it is, 00:34:25.449 --> 00:34:29.009 we would naturally think that, well, like, oh, there's darkness there. 00:34:29.309 --> 00:34:31.149 Get that out of me, right? 00:34:31.509 --> 00:34:35.129 But an actual, what the phenomenon, remember, this is Paul's confession of what 00:34:35.129 --> 00:34:37.669 happens, not what should be ideal. 00:34:39.269 --> 00:34:43.629 But what happens is that sometimes when we see what the law says, 00:34:44.049 --> 00:34:46.329 and then we recognize it in our 00:34:46.329 --> 00:34:52.049 own hearts, the sin that has been dormant there now springs to new life. 00:34:54.989 --> 00:35:02.189 This is like when you tell a kid, hey, don't touch that. 00:35:04.049 --> 00:35:06.569 Oh, you mean this right here? 00:35:08.689 --> 00:35:09.409 Don't touch this? 00:35:15.708 --> 00:35:19.188 Why do they do that? Why do they do that? 00:35:20.208 --> 00:35:25.888 Because we said not to, right? Did they think about touching this before we said not to? 00:35:27.068 --> 00:35:39.228 No, no. But the law, the command, sprang, brought to life the dormant sin that said break the law. 00:35:40.388 --> 00:35:45.148 Break the law. Break that commandment. Do it. Do it. 00:35:48.368 --> 00:35:49.308 Kind of like this. 00:35:52.448 --> 00:35:58.388 When there is a, just say, let's just say that there is a church in the Jamestown 00:35:58.388 --> 00:36:05.268 area that plans a February break scavenger hunt in the city and we end at a popular sledding hill, 00:36:05.388 --> 00:36:08.928 that's the last thing that you have to do except that you get there and there's 00:36:08.928 --> 00:36:10.968 this sign, no sledding allowed. 00:36:11.308 --> 00:36:15.248 But guess what? If you look down that hill, You know what happens all day, 00:36:15.468 --> 00:36:17.928 every day at Allen Park, Banshell? 00:36:19.468 --> 00:36:26.088 Sledding happens. Now, I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not anyone 00:36:26.088 --> 00:36:32.688 in this building or on this stage got on a sled and slid down that hill that day. 00:36:32.788 --> 00:36:38.448 But what I will tell you is when kids or people, pastors, see a sign that says 00:36:38.448 --> 00:36:40.908 no sledding, they're like, no sledding? 00:36:42.248 --> 00:36:45.428 Man, I will ride my sled standing up down this hill. 00:36:54.428 --> 00:36:57.728 Like, this happens, right? Does it happen to you? 00:36:58.688 --> 00:37:02.588 It happens to me. It happens to me where people are like, don't do that. 00:37:02.648 --> 00:37:03.548 I'm like, I'm doing that now. 00:37:04.248 --> 00:37:10.468 Wasn't going to until you said don't. Now I'm going to. Why? 00:37:10.468 --> 00:37:12.188 Why? Because there was something dormant. 00:37:13.068 --> 00:37:18.688 There's something dormant in the recesses of my soul that was waiting for someone 00:37:18.688 --> 00:37:20.988 to say don't so that I could. 00:37:28.265 --> 00:37:32.325 If we were to restate or kind of summarize verses 8 and 9, it says this. 00:37:32.365 --> 00:37:42.165 It says, verses 8 and 9 in Romans, But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, 00:37:43.285 --> 00:37:49.005 produced in me, right, it produced in me every kind of covetous desire. 00:37:50.265 --> 00:37:56.365 For apart from the law, sin was as good as dead in me. I didn't even recognize 00:37:56.365 --> 00:37:58.485 that I coveted apart from the law. 00:38:00.285 --> 00:38:05.845 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, what did sin do? 00:38:06.665 --> 00:38:10.565 It sprang to life, and I died. 00:38:14.245 --> 00:38:17.225 I now became a slave to the sin that I didn't know was there. 00:38:17.345 --> 00:38:21.925 The law came in, showed me the commandment. It sprung up that covetous, 00:38:21.945 --> 00:38:26.985 to use Paul's example, desire in me, and now it is bringing nothing but death into my life. 00:38:28.205 --> 00:38:34.705 If we were to kind of summarize or restate verses 8 and 9, I would say it like 00:38:34.705 --> 00:38:42.105 this, but sin, setting up kind of a base of operations through the commandment not to covet, 00:38:42.785 --> 00:38:45.485 produced in me coveting of every kind. 00:38:47.405 --> 00:38:53.565 For apart from the law, sin is dead or dormant. and I was alive, 00:38:53.745 --> 00:38:58.645 blissfully indifferent to the searching demands of the law. 00:38:58.845 --> 00:39:05.145 But when the commandment to not covet came, sin sprang to life in my life and 00:39:05.145 --> 00:39:07.765 I felt the sentence of death. 00:39:13.492 --> 00:39:21.152 See, once Paul realized what covetousness was, all he could do was covet. 00:39:23.592 --> 00:39:28.532 See, as soon as the reality of the law of God is revealed in our lives, 00:39:28.752 --> 00:39:35.872 the sin that lays dormant in us is activated to defy, to disobey, 00:39:36.632 --> 00:39:38.452 and to revolt against that command. 00:39:42.992 --> 00:39:50.692 Not only does the law bring sin to life, but Paul says the law actually brings death. 00:39:50.892 --> 00:39:52.812 It kills, verses 10 and 11. 00:39:53.952 --> 00:39:58.612 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death for sin. 00:39:59.072 --> 00:40:05.132 Seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment deceived me and through 00:40:05.132 --> 00:40:06.792 the commandment put me to death. 00:40:10.452 --> 00:40:16.012 See, the commands, the law, if it was perfectly kept, 00:40:17.952 --> 00:40:26.772 the law itself says, Leviticus chapter 18, verse 15, that if this law is perfectly kept, it brings life. 00:40:28.132 --> 00:40:35.132 But when it is broken, the law can only bring and produce what? Death. 00:40:36.492 --> 00:40:45.652 So kept perfectly the law brings life example Jesus right broken it brings death 00:40:45.652 --> 00:40:53.712 example us Romans chapter 6 verse 23 for the wages of sin is what death. 00:40:57.810 --> 00:41:05.310 The law, verse 12 and 13, we're going on. So then, he says, the law is holy. 00:41:06.350 --> 00:41:07.430 It's not sinful. 00:41:09.050 --> 00:41:14.950 It's not to be cast off. The law actually is holy. And the commandment is holy, 00:41:15.110 --> 00:41:17.010 righteous, and good. Why? 00:41:18.090 --> 00:41:22.970 Listen, because anything that yanks us out of our self-deception that we are 00:41:22.970 --> 00:41:28.490 okay and good enough and we just need to be better and work harder. 00:41:28.630 --> 00:41:35.430 Anything that rips us out of that state of self-deception is good and holy and 00:41:35.430 --> 00:41:37.650 is going to bring life for us. 00:41:40.690 --> 00:41:45.970 Anything that breaks the hardened crust of our heart that we have allowed to 00:41:45.970 --> 00:41:51.510 form as we consistently plug our ears to the calling of the Holy Spirit to repent 00:41:51.510 --> 00:41:53.450 and to return to the Lord, 00:41:53.450 --> 00:41:58.310 to be refreshed by confession and repentance and forgiveness. 00:41:58.510 --> 00:42:03.210 But every time the Lord speaks into our hearts, into our lives, 00:42:03.290 --> 00:42:07.070 and we are like this, our hearts are gradually hardened and darkened. 00:42:07.110 --> 00:42:10.490 Paul says that in Romans chapter one and chapter two, right? 00:42:12.090 --> 00:42:17.310 But the law is actually holy and good because it gives us here, 00:42:17.430 --> 00:42:20.790 again, one more picture of God's 00:42:20.790 --> 00:42:27.150 graceful action to rip us away from self-deception that, hey, I'm okay. 00:42:27.350 --> 00:42:31.750 And this thing that I'm doing is okay. And these actions that I'm taking are okay. 00:42:31.930 --> 00:42:36.450 And this relationship that I have is okay. And these thoughts that I'm having are okay. 00:42:36.550 --> 00:42:40.650 I just need to try a little harder and God will see that it's okay. 00:42:47.470 --> 00:42:53.290 But in 12 and 13, he says, so then the law is holy And the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. 00:42:54.390 --> 00:42:59.950 Did that which is good then become death to me? Verse 13. By no means. 00:43:01.730 --> 00:43:08.590 But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through 00:43:08.590 --> 00:43:13.730 what was good, so that through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful. 00:43:17.031 --> 00:43:23.591 This is a tremendous grace from God that we might see the sin of our hearts 00:43:23.591 --> 00:43:29.311 as utterly sinful and not just as something that we normalize, 00:43:29.311 --> 00:43:31.411 rationalize, or generalize away. 00:43:33.051 --> 00:43:40.211 That the presence of the law in our life is actually a gift that gives us a 00:43:40.211 --> 00:43:45.791 glimpse into the way that God sees our own sin so that we may, 00:43:45.971 --> 00:43:51.331 by his grace, see it the same way and turn to him. 00:43:53.551 --> 00:44:00.371 See, before we came under the teaching of the gospel, some of us were blissfully unaware of our sin. 00:44:00.631 --> 00:44:03.911 This might be part of your testimony coming to faith in Jesus. 00:44:05.991 --> 00:44:09.631 Everything in life was just hunky-dory perfect, right? 00:44:09.631 --> 00:44:17.191 Then we began to see somewhat of God's righteous requirements for our lives, 00:44:17.291 --> 00:44:18.551 his call to righteousness, 00:44:18.951 --> 00:44:26.151 his call to holiness, and our own sinfulness has now become painfully apparent. 00:44:29.171 --> 00:44:32.631 And then as we have continued to walk and journey with Jesus, 00:44:32.671 --> 00:44:39.991 as we have become Christians, life is now a continuing revelation of the radical nature of our sin. 00:44:42.051 --> 00:44:48.091 Do you know that the closer and closer and closer you walk with Jesus, 00:44:48.211 --> 00:44:56.431 the more and more and more you will come to see the utter disgust of your own sin? 00:45:00.051 --> 00:45:04.671 Because you will begin to see it as he sees it. 00:45:05.471 --> 00:45:12.431 As the spirit of God, right, completely engulfs your life and lives within you. 00:45:13.391 --> 00:45:20.991 The spirit of God testifies to your spirit, the utter disgrace that your sin is. 00:45:21.391 --> 00:45:29.611 As I get closer to God, God, everything in life is just going to go up. Well, yes, okay? 00:45:29.891 --> 00:45:36.551 But also understand that we become radically more aware of our sin as we become 00:45:36.551 --> 00:45:38.791 radically more present with Jesus. 00:45:41.011 --> 00:45:46.631 Radically more. So every day, every week, month, year, every moment, 00:45:46.691 --> 00:45:53.191 I become more aware that though I have been born again and that my sin is covered 00:45:53.191 --> 00:45:54.851 by the blood of Jesus Christ, 00:45:54.991 --> 00:45:57.871 that I am thoroughly sinful before the Lord. 00:46:00.827 --> 00:46:05.667 And so now Paul comes to this moment in verse 14, all the way from verse 14 00:46:05.667 --> 00:46:07.327 through verse 24, the rest of the chapter, 00:46:07.967 --> 00:46:13.187 where he begins to describe kind of what it's like for a believer to struggle 00:46:13.187 --> 00:46:17.927 against the law on their own. 00:46:19.807 --> 00:46:20.687 On their own. 00:46:22.667 --> 00:46:28.467 This is all candor from Paul here. There is no pretentious type of piety. 00:46:29.667 --> 00:46:36.667 And what I believe, what I hear here is that this is like the cry of every believer 00:46:36.667 --> 00:46:42.627 now who is trying so hard, 00:46:42.967 --> 00:46:48.187 but is simply relying on themselves. 00:46:49.907 --> 00:46:54.247 I just got to do better. I just need more knowledge. 00:46:54.987 --> 00:47:01.667 I just got to try harder. I gotta pull myself up by my bootstraps I just have 00:47:01.667 --> 00:47:05.467 to do more I gotta do it I gotta do it I gotta do it, 00:47:07.387 --> 00:47:11.887 This is the cry of every believer Who is trying but relying on themselves But 00:47:11.887 --> 00:47:20.087 Paul finds himself just continued To be dominated by sin Talking about Paul here. 00:47:22.387 --> 00:47:29.007 The great church planter The writer of two thirds of the New Testament met the 00:47:29.007 --> 00:47:34.767 resurrected Jesus himself on the road to Damascus was struck blind by the glory of Jesus. 00:47:38.127 --> 00:47:45.907 Whose spiritual lineage we can trace back to us you are a Christian because of Paul, 00:47:49.475 --> 00:47:54.175 Because Paul took the gospel, had the special dispensation from the Lord to 00:47:54.175 --> 00:47:58.455 take the gospel out of the Jewish culture and out of the Jewish faith to the Gentiles. 00:47:59.895 --> 00:48:01.035 It was him who did it. 00:48:04.615 --> 00:48:10.035 So Paul finds himself dominated by sin, and so we should not be too surprised 00:48:10.035 --> 00:48:12.435 when we find ourselves there too. But what does he say? 00:48:12.675 --> 00:48:19.095 He says, I know, verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual. 00:48:20.475 --> 00:48:27.275 I am sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. 00:48:28.995 --> 00:48:33.995 For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. 00:48:35.915 --> 00:48:42.575 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 00:48:46.455 --> 00:48:54.015 As it is, it's no longer I myself who do it, but it's sin living in me. 00:48:55.895 --> 00:49:00.075 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. 00:49:01.035 --> 00:49:08.095 For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 00:49:08.475 --> 00:49:15.635 For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing. 00:49:16.815 --> 00:49:20.335 Anyone's testimony in the room? My testimony, right? 00:49:23.711 --> 00:49:30.011 Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it's no longer I who do it, 00:49:30.031 --> 00:49:31.991 but it is sin living in me that does it. 00:49:32.871 --> 00:49:37.111 So he says it here in verse 21. He kind of like, that was his confession. 00:49:37.791 --> 00:49:38.811 Here's his explanation. 00:49:41.131 --> 00:49:47.931 So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 00:49:48.891 --> 00:49:52.671 For in my inner being, I delight in God's law. 00:49:53.771 --> 00:49:59.231 But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against 00:49:59.231 --> 00:50:06.711 the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 00:50:08.611 --> 00:50:14.671 Paul understands what is happening in the spiritual realm and records it essentially 00:50:14.671 --> 00:50:17.011 here. So I find this law at work. 00:50:17.131 --> 00:50:23.871 There is two things inside of me waging war. I want to delight in God's heart. 00:50:23.971 --> 00:50:27.611 I want to delight in God's word. I want to delight in God's law. 00:50:27.771 --> 00:50:32.711 But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against 00:50:32.711 --> 00:50:38.011 the law of my mind, making me a prisoner once again to the law of sin at work in my members. 00:50:38.151 --> 00:50:43.151 Paul recognizes that he is a man that, for lack of a better term, 00:50:43.271 --> 00:50:46.211 has two natures, one that is delighting 00:50:46.211 --> 00:50:50.571 in God's law and the other that is waging war against God's law. 00:50:50.951 --> 00:50:54.091 And he writes about this other places too. It's not just Romans chapter 7. 00:50:54.231 --> 00:50:57.451 In Galatians chapter 5, he writes about this. 00:50:57.531 --> 00:51:01.871 He says, For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, 00:51:02.071 --> 00:51:05.331 and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. 00:51:05.431 --> 00:51:11.851 They are in conflict with one another so that you do not do what you want. 00:51:16.077 --> 00:51:19.777 And if you're anything like Paul, and you're anything like me, 00:51:19.917 --> 00:51:24.377 you would get to this point in like this, and you're like putting all these 00:51:24.377 --> 00:51:30.637 pieces together, and like, I don't know, I, hearing these things for the first 00:51:30.637 --> 00:51:33.417 time, processing them, thinking about them, praying on them, 00:51:33.477 --> 00:51:34.417 I'm like getting frustrated. 00:51:36.897 --> 00:51:40.597 Internally, right? So I'm like, Lord, I want to do the right thing. 00:51:40.837 --> 00:51:45.677 I want my heart to be aligned with yours. I want to fully delight in your law. 00:51:45.677 --> 00:51:49.597 I want your spirit's power in me, but Lord, 00:51:50.057 --> 00:51:55.737 over here, the law of sin is still waging war in my body, and I'm still doing 00:51:55.737 --> 00:51:59.537 things that I don't want to do, and not doing things that I do want to do, 00:51:59.597 --> 00:52:02.757 and I don't, what is, like, I am sick of this, 00:52:02.877 --> 00:52:05.377 like, when does this end? 00:52:09.317 --> 00:52:15.537 That's why I say this is almost like a diary entry of Paul who is lamenting 00:52:15.537 --> 00:52:20.497 over the constant war in his flesh between the sinful nature and the presence 00:52:20.497 --> 00:52:25.217 of the spirit and it catalogs and recounts the aching frustration of fighting 00:52:25.217 --> 00:52:28.957 and striving in our own strength strength, 00:52:28.977 --> 00:52:40.037 and I think it is a good and fair representation of how many of us continue to walk today, 00:52:40.197 --> 00:52:45.617 struggling with these two things. 00:52:46.817 --> 00:52:53.797 But listen, Paul asks this question in verse 24 and 25. 00:52:54.517 --> 00:52:58.657 This is our last point for the morning. It's this, is that the law, 00:52:58.837 --> 00:53:05.877 the presence of the law drives us to the Savior. 00:53:07.537 --> 00:53:12.097 The presence of, what is the purpose of the law in our life as followers of Jesus? 00:53:12.337 --> 00:53:18.177 What is the, it's not just at the moment of salvation that it drives us to the to the Savior. 00:53:18.317 --> 00:53:23.677 It is at every moment where we are continually aware of the waging war that's 00:53:23.677 --> 00:53:25.177 going on within us, right? 00:53:25.317 --> 00:53:32.077 Where we step away from our attempts to just do better, try harder, 00:53:32.237 --> 00:53:42.677 be gooder, and we instead turn towards the Savior who is Jesus and away from 00:53:42.677 --> 00:53:48.117 just applying more more rigid moralism to our life, to try and defeat the power of sin. 00:53:50.297 --> 00:53:54.917 If this is for us to say, this is for us to say every day. This is not just 00:53:54.917 --> 00:53:56.617 for us to say at the moment of salvation. 00:53:57.037 --> 00:54:01.617 This is for us to say every day. Verse 24, what a wretched man I am, 00:54:01.717 --> 00:54:04.937 Paul says, who will rescue me from this body of death? 00:54:06.497 --> 00:54:07.457 It's a great question. 00:54:10.541 --> 00:54:13.601 The law drives us to a savior. What a wretched man I am. 00:54:13.681 --> 00:54:17.961 Who will rescue me from this body of death? The word wretch here means someone 00:54:17.961 --> 00:54:21.321 who is in a miserable and distressed condition. 00:54:24.461 --> 00:54:29.221 But notice what Paul says here and what he doesn't say. What doesn't Paul say? 00:54:29.741 --> 00:54:35.101 Paul doesn't say, what am I going to do about this? 00:54:37.481 --> 00:54:42.841 What am I going to do about this? How am I going to solve this? 00:54:44.941 --> 00:54:50.921 What are the steps or the processes that I'm gonna put in my life to make sure 00:54:50.921 --> 00:54:53.941 that I beat this thing inside of me? 00:54:54.181 --> 00:54:59.081 Paul does not say, what am I going to do with this? What does he do? 00:55:00.161 --> 00:55:06.041 Who will save me from this body of death? What does Paul know? It ain't gonna be me. 00:55:07.341 --> 00:55:12.381 I'm not saving myself. I've tried over and over and over and over and over again, 00:55:12.441 --> 00:55:13.921 and I'm a terrible Savior. 00:55:16.741 --> 00:55:21.841 Who will save me from this body of death? And then he answers, right? 00:55:21.961 --> 00:55:25.501 What a wretch man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? 00:55:26.041 --> 00:55:33.321 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:55:43.721 --> 00:55:47.941 Paul recognizes and we 00:55:47.941 --> 00:55:51.341 must recognize that in our constant struggle 00:55:51.341 --> 00:55:54.321 against the power of sin which seeks 00:55:54.321 --> 00:55:57.321 to destroy us which seeks to keep 00:55:57.321 --> 00:56:00.601 us in darkness and deception which wages 00:56:00.601 --> 00:56:03.661 war against the members of our body 00:56:03.661 --> 00:56:07.201 that wants to tell us that oh your sin is fine it's normal 00:56:07.201 --> 00:56:10.161 normal everyone doesn't rationalizing in 00:56:10.161 --> 00:56:13.161 a way keeping us in self-deception just try 00:56:13.161 --> 00:56:15.901 harder just do more just read the 00:56:15.901 --> 00:56:20.841 book just listen to the podcast just go to church more just serve a little bit 00:56:20.841 --> 00:56:27.201 more just do this just do that just work really hard and eventually God is going 00:56:27.201 --> 00:56:32.261 to see your good intentions and everything on the inside will be transformed 00:56:32.261 --> 00:56:35.781 if you continue to just spit fit and polish everything on the outside. 00:56:36.041 --> 00:56:38.241 And Paul says, look, I've tried it all. 00:56:38.701 --> 00:56:43.721 I've done it all. I've been faultless in my following of the law. 00:56:43.901 --> 00:56:50.181 And here I am still so aware of the darkness of my own heart. 00:56:50.281 --> 00:56:52.821 And I can't seem to solve it on my own. 00:56:52.981 --> 00:56:58.201 And I've tried and I've tried and I've tried. And I'm frustrated that nothing is changing. 00:56:58.381 --> 00:57:02.101 But wait, who will save me? 00:57:05.401 --> 00:57:06.561 Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:57:12.585 --> 00:57:18.105 And then I think in all of our Bibles, there's a separation between chapter 00:57:18.105 --> 00:57:22.725 7 verses 24 and 25 and Romans chapter 8 verse 1. 00:57:22.785 --> 00:57:24.905 And I think it's like tragic, right? 00:57:26.565 --> 00:57:34.385 Because chapter 8 is like, chapter 8 verse 1 and 2 is Paul's like period at the end of the sentence. 00:57:35.745 --> 00:57:44.465 That addresses the emotional state of the follower of Jesus who is continually 00:57:44.465 --> 00:57:50.945 frustrated by the presence of this war waging on in them. 00:57:52.205 --> 00:58:00.125 Because what happens? What happens is that we approach now life with this thought 00:58:00.125 --> 00:58:03.445 or this idea, what is wrong with me? 00:58:04.385 --> 00:58:08.065 No one else is dealing with any of these problems. Everyone else is walking 00:58:08.065 --> 00:58:11.365 in complete faithfulness to the Lord. There must be something really broken about me. 00:58:11.505 --> 00:58:13.705 God must be so angry with me. 00:58:14.545 --> 00:58:17.145 He's obviously looking down from heaven. 00:58:18.045 --> 00:58:21.705 He's got the lightning bolt like a javelin spear, and he's just ready for one 00:58:21.705 --> 00:58:25.285 more sin. He's going to throw it. He hates me, right? 00:58:25.565 --> 00:58:27.405 Why do I even try anymore? 00:58:28.005 --> 00:58:31.605 I'm so ashamed of the things that I'm doing. I love going to church, 00:58:31.665 --> 00:58:35.185 but I don't want to anymore more because I just feel this sense of judgment. 00:58:35.265 --> 00:58:37.785 So I'm going to stop and I'm going to break free from my Christian community. 00:58:37.825 --> 00:58:40.545 I'm going to stop reading my Bible. I'm going to stop pursuing in prayer. 00:58:40.685 --> 00:58:47.905 And that now becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? 00:58:48.005 --> 00:58:51.545 Of I can't break free. I can't break free. I can't break free. 00:58:51.605 --> 00:58:53.345 I can't break free. God is mad at me. 00:58:54.405 --> 00:59:01.065 God is judging me. God is condemning me because I'm not a good enough Christian. Whatever that means. 00:59:04.006 --> 00:59:08.406 Because what we're seeing here is there's no such thing as a good enough Christian, right? 00:59:08.506 --> 00:59:11.566 There are all of us who, by faith in Jesus Christ, 00:59:11.726 --> 00:59:17.146 continue to have this waging war where we do not do the things that we want 00:59:17.146 --> 00:59:22.006 to do and do the things that we shouldn't do and how we're seeking to please 00:59:22.006 --> 00:59:24.606 the heart of God within our own lives, right? 00:59:24.726 --> 00:59:29.946 But living in frustration that we just can't seem to get there. 00:59:30.946 --> 00:59:34.726 And Paul says, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord that it is he 00:59:34.726 --> 00:59:36.206 who sets us free from this. 00:59:36.986 --> 00:59:40.226 And then he goes into Romans chapter eight, verse one and two, 00:59:40.286 --> 00:59:44.266 and he says this, therefore, remember it's at the end of this whole conversation. 00:59:45.726 --> 00:59:49.506 Therefore, there is now, listen, you need to hear this, right? 00:59:49.646 --> 00:59:52.226 This is not from Pastor Cameron to you, right? 00:59:52.406 --> 00:59:56.246 This is not even from the Apostle Paul to you. This is from the heart of God 00:59:56.246 --> 01:00:02.986 to you this morning that lives in this state of like, the Lord is so mad at 01:00:02.986 --> 01:00:04.486 me because I'm not good enough. 01:00:06.586 --> 01:00:15.586 There is, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 01:00:16.646 --> 01:00:23.506 because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit of life. 01:00:26.986 --> 01:00:33.586 The Lord does not condemn you. 01:00:41.195 --> 01:00:43.115 The Lord has set you free. 01:00:48.235 --> 01:00:51.935 From slavery to doing it all yourself through the law. 01:00:53.955 --> 01:00:59.535 So that you can be united with him and allow his spirit to set you free for 01:00:59.535 --> 01:01:01.215 the life that he desires for you. 01:01:03.575 --> 01:01:04.155 Let's pray. 01:01:08.415 --> 01:01:10.955 Father, we thank you for your word to us this morning. 01:01:13.615 --> 01:01:20.215 Lord we thank you for the law we thank you for the law that has brought life, 01:01:21.375 --> 01:01:27.175 we thank you for the law that has been like a mirror that illuminates our sins 01:01:27.175 --> 01:01:33.655 so that we may no longer live in this state of deception self-deception on who we are, 01:01:38.975 --> 01:01:50.055 Lord I pray that you you would use your law to help draw us to yourself. 01:01:54.075 --> 01:01:59.075 Father, we thank you that we can cease striving. 01:02:04.935 --> 01:02:11.235 Not cease working hard to pursue you, Lord, Lord, but that we can cease the 01:02:11.235 --> 01:02:18.455 striving that says, my right standing before the Lord is all up to how hard I work, 01:02:18.635 --> 01:02:26.735 how good I am, the good things that I do and the bad things that I avoid. 01:02:24.720 --> 01:02:34.640 Music. 01:02:28.655 --> 01:02:32.895 Because Lord, you have brought us life through your spirit. 01:02:36.075 --> 01:02:41.555 Lord, we stand and we worship you now. Lord, because you are worthy of our praise. 01:02:42.795 --> 01:02:49.715 You are holy and glorious, Lord. So let our praises reach your throne and be pleasing to you. 01:02:50.455 --> 01:02:52.675 In Jesus' name, amen.