“DOING THE RIGHT THING” “THE STRUGGLING CHRISTIAN”

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Sunday
10:30 AM Worship Service

Wednesday
6:30 PM Bible Study

Apr. 16, 2023

“DOING THE RIGHT THING”

“THE STRUGGLING CHRISTIAN”

ROMANS 7:1-25


What really is “legalism?”- it is the belief that I can become holy and please God by obeying laws. It is measuring spirituality by a list of do’s and don’ts. It judges by the outward and not the inward. 


Paul shares with us his difficult and dangerous experience of how he struggles as a Christian. He understands the relationship between the believer and the rules governing conduct or the “Law.” So lets look at three topics, if we understand and apply them to our lives they can deliver us from legalism:


  1.  The Law And It’s Authority- Romans 7:1-6


We as believers are no longer bound to the “Law.”


Romans 7:1-4 “Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”


Paul’s application in Romans 7:4-6 clinches his argument. He states two marvelous facts that explain the believers relationship to the Law.


Romans 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”


*We Died To The Law.


When we trusted Christ, we died to the Law; but in Christ, we arose from the dead and now are “married” (united) to Christ to live a new kind of life.


Galatians 5:16-18


Romans 8:4 “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”


In the old life of sin, we brought forth fruit “unto death,” but in the new life of grace, we “should bear fruit to God.” vs.4


*We Are Delivered From The Law. 


Romans 7:5-6 “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”


We are no longer under the authority of the Law. So we should serve in “the newness of the Spirit…” vs.6


Galatians 5:22-23


2 Corinthians 3:6 “Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”


2.   The Ministry Of The Law- Romans 7:7-13


*The Law Reveals Sin


Romans 7:7 “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 


The Law is the mirror that reveals to us the inner man and show us how dirty we are.


James 1:22-25


“Covetousness” vs.7- differs from all the other nine commandments in that it is an inward attitude, not an outward action. Covetousness leads to the breaking of the other commandments. 


*The Law Arouses Sin


Romans 7:8-9 “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.”


Believers who try to live by rules and regulations discover that their legalistic system only arouses more sin and creates more problems. 


1 Corinthians 15:56-57 “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”


*The Law Kills


Romans 7:10-11 “And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.”


Galatians 3:21 “Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.”


The Law cannot give life, it can only show the sinner that they are guilty and condemned.


*The Law Shows The Sinfulness Of Sin.


Romans 7:12-13 “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 13Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.”


The problem is not the Law; the problem is with my sinful nature. 


The Law is a diagnostic tool, its purpose is to expose the disease of sin and to confront us with the prognosis.


3.   The Inability Of The Law- Romans 7:14-25


*The Law Cannot Change You.


Romans 7:14 “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.”


The character of the Law is described in four words; holy, just, good, and spiritual.


What does it mean “the law is spiritual?” It means the Law deals with the inner man, the spiritual part of man, as well as the outer actions. It relates to the heart of man:


Deuteronomy 10:12-13


The Law cannot transform the old nature; it can only reveal how sinful that old nature is.


Romans 6:6 “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” 


*The Law Cannot Enable You To Do Good.


Romans 7:15-21 “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.”


The statements here indicate that the believer has two serious problems: 1. He cannot do the good he wants to do, and 2. He does the evil that he does not want to do.


Does this mean that Paul could not stop himself from breaking God’s Law, that he was a liar and thief and murderer?


Luke 17:10 “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.”


vs.21 “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.”


In chapter six our problem was “How can I stop bad things?” While the problem here is “How can I ever do anything good.”


*The Law Cannot Set You Free.


Romans 7:21-24 “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”


The believer has an old nature that wants to keep them in bondage. Why?


1 Corinthians 15:56 “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.”


The inward man may delight in the Law of God:


Psalm 119:35 “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.”


But the old nature delights in breaking the Law of God. No wonder the believer under the Law becomes tired and discouraged, and eventually gives up. He is captive and his condition is “wretched” vs.24- it means a person who is exhausted after a battle. 


*This inward struggle with sin is real, so is there any deliverance?


Yes there is!


Romans 7:25 “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”


“I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!


We as believers have a struggle within us between the flesh and the Spirit:


Galatians 5:16-18 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”


It is our union with Christ that enables us to serve God acceptably.


Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”


So, what is our duty as believers saved by grace? Our primary purpose is to know Jesus Christ personally with ever-deepening intimacy:


Philippians 3:8-11