A Battle for Life - Romans 7:1-25
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Yeah, happy Mother's Day to all the mamas here. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are continuing in our Roman series today, and I'm excited to share with you and maybe take a little bit of a different path through scripture than most of the time. I don't tell my seminary professors, but I'm gonna go backwards through the chapter today. I mean, most people, you start verse one, you work your way through, I'm actually gonna go backwards today. And so I feel like Paul here in this chapter of chapter seven of Romans is setting up a really cool picture and image for us. And I love honestly how he finishes up the chapter. And so I kind of wanna start there and then we're gonna kind of work our way back up through and then end with actually the beginning of chapter seven. And so if you would, before we jump in, I'd love to pray for us and over us and we'll dive into God's word.
Heavenly Father, Jesus, thank you for today. God, thank you for being present here. Jesus, as I bring your word forward this morning, God, that you would ultimately be glorified, that you, Jesus, would be lifted and raised up from these scriptures, and God, that you would use me to communicate, God, what you desire for each and every one of us. God, you have a word for each of us this morning in this space. There's a reason that we're here today for this moment and for this time. So Jesus, I pray that through your Holy Spirit, you would reveal that to each and every one of us. Jesus, we love you, we thank you, amen.
So Paul here in chapter seven is talking about this two odds that are fighting one another. These two sides, this good versus evil side here that are fighting and constantly pulling back and forth. If you guys are familiar maybe with Paul's letter to Rome, you've kind of heard Paul write this before. He talks about how I want to do good, and yet I find myself not doing good. And because of that, I don't like myself. And it's interesting to find, because Paul here, I would say is one of the spiritual superheroes of the Bible. If we were to put up there some of those people that would be like, if I was to pattern my life after summoning the Bible, Paul would be pretty high up on that list. And Paul here yet admits, I don't always do what is right. And I have these two tensions inside of me that are pulling back and forth. Paul says this starting in verse 21. So I find this law at work. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law. But I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. I want that to be our focus here this morning. That even in the midst of turmoil, whatever we're fighting, whatever we're going through, whatever we find ourselves in the face of this, that is only through Jesus Christ who delivers us. So if you wanna hear one thing this morning, Jesus Christ wants to deliver you. That's what I want you to hear this morning. That's what I want you to remember today.
But I see this illustration of Paul saying here, I got these two sides that are pulling on me. Someone say, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, but I myself would say the Hulk. This is where we find ourselves. That Paul here on the good side, Bruce Banner, a mild mannered brilliant scientist, finds himself at odds with himself and the fact of inside of him is this creature, the Hulk. This giant monster of a human that is just unbelievably strong at times comes out And to say the least is feisty, we'll say that. That in this moment, Bruce Banner and Hulk are fighting with each other. And if you guys have seen any of the movies or know anything about the Avengers series, that there are times when this Hulk character comes out at the worst moment possible. And then there's other times where they need this Hulk person to come out and it's just Bruce sitting there, this tiny little lanky guy that's like, "Hey, Mr. Hulk, guy inside, we need your muscles. Like where are you at buddy?" But this tension that Paul here says, there's two sides that are at odd with one another. And Paul here is saying, "At times I'm Hulk and I don't wanna be Hulk. At times I want to be Bruce Banner, but there's just something inside of me that pulls me and turns me into Hulk and I smash stuff. Paul here is saying that there is this battle that is going on in each and every one of us. And Paul is here to raise his hand saying, I am fighting this battle. Paul here isn't saying, well, you guys need to do this and you need to do that. I've already figured this thing out myself. No, Paul here is saying, I struggle with this immensely. And there's two battles that are going on right here. The first of which is the battle lost. This is the battle of the opposition that is coming out. That's at times, no matter how hard we fight, no matter how hard we try our best, we do everything that we can to set ourselves up for success, we lose. Paul says this in verse 14, "We know the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do for what I want to do. I do not do, but what I hate, I do. For if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but the sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is my sin nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. That's a lot of dos in there. (laughs) I would get lost here as Paul's scribe. I'd be like, bro, bro, bro, slow, slow it down, man. I do not do, do, do, not what, do, do what do? But Paul here is saying that I have this inside of me. I really want to do good. I really, really want to do good. I wanna do what God wants me to do. I want to live his life that he's called me to live. I want to live these things out. And yet I find myself this battle inside that I keep losing time and time and time again. And Paul says, I hate myself for this. Don't raise your hand, but I can relate with this. I can relate with this. Even this week, Lord Jesus, come on. I can relate that there are so many times I find myself with the absolute best intentions, the desires to do exactly what God wants to do. And I find myself in the midst of after my actions going, What did I just do? And this is what Paul is trying to communicate in the letter here going, we're all battling through this, but don't lose heart, okay? We gotta kind of get through some of this hard stuff here to try to get, we're gonna make a turn here. And I wanna talk about here specifically the battle that we cannot lose.
And what do I mean by that? I mean the battle that we are guaranteed to win. I'm talking about the victory in Christ Jesus. Guys, remember that verse, verse 25? "But thanks be to God who delivers me through Christ Jesus our Lord." Newsflash, credits have scrolled, everything is done, life's over, everything you've done. At the end, the post credit in the theme of Avengers, like they always have those post credit things, you're victorious. If you call Jesus your Lord and leader of your life, you will find yourself at the end being victorious in battle. And here's what Paul, this is exactly what Paul is trying to tell us in this letter. That even in the midst of this fight that we feel like we keep losing time and time and time again, Paul says, "Uh-uh, it doesn't end like that." You may feel beat up, you may feel frustrated, you may just be so overwhelmed with your own self in these moments that Paul says, don't lose hope. Because in the end, you're victorious. You are covered under the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ in your life. So matter whatever you're facing, when you run into that next battle, know that you're victorious. - Amen. - We'd fight different, wouldn't we? We'd fight a little bit different. if we remember that ourselves, but we forget it, right? I'm right there, I'll admit it, I forget it. It's so easy to forget 'cause we get so beat up and we're like, how, what, I don't know. But we are victorious and Paul wants to remind us that we are victorious, not in ourselves, but in Jesus. Well, how does this victory come about? How does all this come about? Well, there's this incredible thing that Paul here that talks about, it's the law. It's this, the gift of the law that gives us understanding. Verse seven in Romans, "What shall we say then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not. Nevertheless, I would have known what sin was, excuse me, I would have not known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would have not known what coveting really was if the law had not said, you shall not covet. Paul here is taking this and summarizing down. I never caught this before, but Paul here, if you were to take, say, go simple, law, 10 commandments, right? Think Moses coming down, tablets. I can't remember the guy's actor in the name. I'm just thinking of Moses. Charleston Heston, all right. You got Charleston Heston in your head. He's got the tablets, thou shalt not, right? We all, thou shalt, thou shalt, thou shalt. written in old English. I don't think Moses wrote it in old English, just saying, but they had the thou shalt nots, right? And Paul here in a sentence, whittles it all down to coveting. And I'd never taken time to think through that before, but that makes sense, right? Adultery is found in coveting. Stealing is found in coveting. Murder is sourced in coveting. You walk through these 10 commandments, I'm not saying all, I'm saying the majority of them dwindled down to this idea of covenant. And Paul says, "If it wasn't for the law, I wouldn't even know what sin was. I would just gone on about my business." 'Cause deep down inside, there's this fight, this selfishness that we counteract and we battle through every single day. And most of the time, right?
We just choose what we wanna do. Well, I want lunch. I'm gonna go get lunch what I wanna get. I wanna go on vacation. I'm gonna go on a vacation that I wanna go on, right? And we just choose what we wanna choose. And Paul here is saying that it's really the law that it breaks us down and shows us what is actually wrong. And it's because of that, that the law is great. Paul here is making an argument for some that might come at it. Well, if you're saying the law says this and the law says that, then really the law is the one that's bad. Paul here is saying, no, no, no, no, no, that's not right. Paul here is saying the law is actually what guides us. The law is like those guard rails on the freeway that we go down, flying down way over the speed limit, right, amen? And those guard rails are there not to stop us, but to bunk us back onto the road so we don't go flying off the road into somebody's backyard. That's what the law is. The law is here to guide us and lead us in the direction that we are supposed to go. And Paul here is saying that without the law, without the guard rails, I'd be way worse off. 'Cause I would know, have idea where the end of the road is at. Paul here is saying that the law is good. In fact, it is the law is how we know what wrong actually is. But not only that, the law actually brings us loss. God has this image of an idea of what our lives, he wants our lives to look like. And that is shaped, that is guided, that is put together, is guardrailed by the law. Sometimes in our selfishness, we wanna go off the road, right? We'll love some off-roading, okay? This is a bad analogy here, so we're not gonna talk about it. But there are times when off-roading is good, not in your spiritual life, but in real life up in the mountains, amen? All right. God wants to keep us on this path to life that he desires for us. And that is the structure of the law. And at times we go, well, if the law is calling what sin is, therefore the law is bad because the law, it's just, it's trying to control us. Law is just trying to pull me down. The law, it just rules that are made to be broken. You get some laughs from rebellious ones in the room. But that's not what Paul here is saying. Paul is here saying is that the law actually leads us to a place of life. And that's the law that shows us what is wrong. It's not the law that brings forth the sin 'cause it calls out transition, but it's my actions that are sin. I love this quote from Ignatius of Loyola that says, "Sin is unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me "is only my deepest happiness." God's not this God that's controlling from on high. God isn't this God that's just a mean brute of a person that wants to just smash us down. God isn't this one that throws lightning bolts from the heavens. We read Old Testament, sometimes it has to get to that point to get some people's attentions, but God is a God that ultimately desires nothing but the best for our lives. And it's really us that gets in the way of that, right? It's really us and what we want that gets in the way of that because God ultimately wants to bring about life to our lives, true life.
I think of it this way. One of the aspects of God, I think, and I see, and I read in the scripture is coach God. Coach God. That is that God that deeply wants the best for us. I'm a big sports guy, and so I get into coaches and teams and coaching philosophies and leadership examples and all these different things. And the reality is that God just wants the best for us. And that's the same for a coach. Coach just wants the best for us. I don't know if you grew up playing sports, but a coach there who cares for us calls us out, right? Calls us out on our laziness, calls us out on our lack of preparedness, calls us out on our lack of effort, calls us out when we mess up not doing what we're supposed to do, or when we try to cheat, or when we try to cut corners, the coach there is saying, "Knock it off." That's not right. And they're really dangerous places to be when the coach stops calling us out. 'Cause that's when the coach goes, "All seems lost. They're just gonna do whatever they wanna do anyway. They're not receiving my coaching." What I love about God, He doesn't do that. God doesn't do that. God comes to us and shows us what it's like to be successful, to have this ultimate joy, this peace, this everlasting hope in our lives. And the law is like the playbook. The NFL just had their draft, and I think it was last weekend, they had what they call rookie mini camp. This is where all the rookies come in to the training facilities of all the teams across the nation, and they're handed a playbook. It's not really a book anymore, it's more of an iPad or a tablet, no rule of digital, but they're handed this and they're told memorize it. Every single document on that tablet is there to bring you success on this team in the National Football League. It breaks down all of their offense, all their different plays that they run. It breaks down all of the defense, all the schemes, all the trick plays, everything that they try to do, all the special team stuff from punts and kickoffs to returns to all of this stuff. It breaks it down into the simplest terms that says, run this far and turn. Run this far and stop. Go over here and stand. It breaks it down in the simplest terms, but it's up to the players to decide, am I gonna pay attention to what that has been given to me? I think this is what God communicates to us when he hands us this thing. He goes, here's your playbook, memorize it. Here's the offense, here's the defense. And even to the point, unlike the New England Patriots with Spygate, it actually has the opposition's schemes. It has the enemy's playbook in here as well, so that you not only can know how you are supposed to act, but you can also know how the enemy or the other person that you're facing, remember this inner battle, this fight of two sides, how they're gonna come at you so you can be even that much more prepared. And Paul says what? He says, practice it. Practice it, get together, run through your plays, get into the weight room, get stronger spiritually, study this, learn from your coaches, learn from those specialty trainers, learn from everybody in your life that is set up in this moment to bring you success. That's the biggest obstacle to most NFL players in the league, is whether they decide to go all in or not. They might have the greatest talent. They might be the strongest on the team. They might have the fastest time running a 40 yard dash. They might be able to jump the highest, run the longest, have the greatest stamina in the world. But unless they memorize that playbook and understand their piece in the greater picture of the role on that team, they will fail. And Paul here is telling us that I've given you a playbook. I've put you on a team and I've set you up for success with coaches and leaders and spiritual mentors and mamas in your life to help you succeed, to get to a place that is about complete understanding and purpose full of joy and hope.
But it's for us to decide. It's for us to decide ultimately, will we engage with worship? Will we take prayer seriously? Are we in the Bible every single day? Are we living life in a community? Have we faithfully committed ourselves to a church family? 'Cause the law gives us guidelines and the law gives us understanding, but ultimately it comes down to that victory is found in Jesus Christ, not ourselves. 'Cause that's the biggest factor here. Some of these most talented players will come into the NFL and they'll look at the play and go, I don't need that. I know exactly what to do. I was all team top pro, first draft, blah, blah, blah, blah. but this is the big leagues. And Paul is saying here in this idea, this phrasing he's using, this analogy of a battle is that this is serious stuff. This isn't a game like the NFL. This is our lives that are at stake. And that in this, we can find victory in Jesus Christ. Paul says this, starting in verse four through six. So my brothers and sisters, You also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to one another, in him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit of death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way of the written code. Paul here is saying that this victory in Christ is actually a rescuing from ourselves. Paul here is saying that we are the ones that actually pull ourselves down. We are the ones that limit our own potential by having the thoughts that we have. We are at times can be the limit of the amount of Jesus that we let him live in our lives. That we are the source of the biggest struggles in our old life. This battle lost. And we have to change our understanding, we have to change our minds. That's what Paul says. He had to change our minds to understand this battle that we face is a battle that we cannot lose because of the victory in Jesus.
You know the greatest part about this? We've done nothing to earn it and we do nothing to receive it. We let Christ come in and he takes care of it all. That's it. He takes care of it all and we find victory. I love this verse, verse six, "serve in the new way of the Spirit." That's what Paul is saying here, is that no matter when we face ourselves in this battle, no matter what side, whether we're Bruce Banner or we're the Hulk, that we have this victory in Jesus Christ. And not only that, not only victory, but to the victor goes the spoils.
And this is how Paul starts the chapter. He says, "Do you not know brothers? "For I am speaking to those who know the law, "that the law is binding on a person "only as long as he lives. "For a married woman is bound by law "to her husband while he lives, "but if her husband dies, "she is released from the law of marriage. "Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress "if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. "But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, "and if she marries another man, She is not an adulteress. Paul's main point at the beginning of all this, okay, we get all the way to the beginning of this chapter, Paul says this, he says, "I want you to point out that death separates someone from a legal obligation." That's what Paul is saying here. That in this moment, if you had traffic court next week, and you died tomorrow, you don't have to show up for traffic court. (congregation laughing) Don't know if you guys know that, but if you find yourself in a big, nevermind, just kidding. But Paul, you're saying, because we are no longer bound to the law, because we have died to its power over us, we now belong to another. Paul talks about marriage and a whole other part in all of his letters, so don't get lost in that point right there, okay? get focused in on this, is that we belong to Jesus, the one who was raised from the dead. And that's why they said, Paul is talking about this idea of dying to ourselves. 'Cause if we die to ourselves, like Paul is talking about this, then that obligation, that legal binding that we had to our sin nature is no longer binding, therefore we are then united with Christ. And not just united, but I'm talking about a united in a marriage that is loving, that is a committed relationship with our rescue or our deliver, our savior. That's what Paul is talking about here. Some of us need to have a little DTR with our sin. DTR stands for define the relationship. We need to have a serious talk with our sin because this relationship we have with sin is dysfunctional and this ex just won't go away. I love, Pastor Andre had this quote last week. It says, "Sin promises life, but gives death." Sin is stepping out on us. It's using us. It's telling you lies. It's manipulating us. and we need to break up with sin. Because we have the opportunity to be united in this beautiful marriage with Christ that leads us through the law to give us victory over our struggles and ultimately life, eternal life. Paul just uses this illustration of marriage just because it's very well understood in the early church.
Paul here is saying, I want you to have this kind of relationship with Jesus that is like a marriage that is healthy, that is life-giving, that is caring, that is truly loving. This is the kind of relationship that Jesus wants to have with us. And when we step into that relationship with him, we've died to our old self, we've died to our sin, we've died to our selfishness, and we find guaranteed victory in an abundant life that is even more than we ever could have imagined. I've talked to some of you here and in the different worlds that I've had of people who have been married for like 50, 60 plus years. And I sit there and I go, how? Usually the husband cracks some joke, the wife pokes him, it's usually how it goes. But ultimately deep down inside, there is this loving commitment of care for one another. That is what makes a marriage last. And Paul here is saying, Jesus wants to have this relationship with you that will last your entire lifetime. And it's even greater than what you could even think or come up with in your own mind. A kind of love that you can't even put into words. A kind of peace that the Bible says that passes understanding. The kind of joy that doesn't let anything knock it off. That keeps on going and going. and going and going, that gives us guaranteed victory, no matter where we find ourselves in the battle of life. That's the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with us. So the question for us, when we close and the worship team can come up, are we committed to Christ as much as Christ is committed to us? That's the question. 'Cause a relationship is 100% and 100%. You probably heard 50/50, that doesn't even get you close, you're short still. Relationship is 100%, 100%, and Jesus here is 100% in. Always has been, always will be. The question for us, is that us? Are we committed as a lifelong, forever kind of relationship? That's what we have to answer for ourselves. 'Cause Jesus has this life that he wants for us. We have to figure out, are we 100% committed to Jesus? Paul here is saying there's a life out there greater than you ever could imagine, full of victory and love. We gotta say yes to Jesus every single day.
Let's pray. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for your servant, Paul. God, sometimes we get so caught up in his words and get lost sometimes in this train of thought, but I think it speaks to a level of excitement that he knows what's at stake. He understand what is on that other side when we finally say no to ourselves and yes to you, this kind of abundant love that isn't found anywhere else in the universe, but only found in you. And so thank you for your word today. God, I pray that this week we would think through this, that we might find ourselves in different battles and struggles and remember that we already have victory in you, not because it's something that we've done, not because it's something that we've earned, Not because it's something that we're so talented and gifted and we're so amazing, but it's because of our united love to you, Jesus, that we find victory. So Jesus, help us to be encouraged today. Help us to remember what you did for us on the cross. We thank you, Jesus. Amen. - Thanks for listening. And if you would, please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.