Doomed to Fail: No Ability to DO What is Good Pt 2
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 47:50
0 ratings
· 24 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Paul began his discussion concerning the law back in 6:15-
Question: If we are no longer under law but under grace does that mean we can sin?
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Answer: You are slaves to whatever you obey. Christians have been set free from sin and have instead become slaves of righteousness.
Additional Answer: The only fruit we get by attempting to keep the law is shame and death.
21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
Question: Why is death the only possible fruit for someone attempting to keep the law?
Answer: For those who break the law there is a binding power or an inescapable judgement that is over them.
1 Or 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?
5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
Hope: This is why we need Christ! We need the benefits of his death to set us free from the binding power of the law which only results is fruit unto death.
6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Question: If the law arouses my sinful passions whenever I attempt to obey it, then is the law sin?
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Answer: The law is not the problem. The law is holy and righteous and good. Sin is the problem. Because of our sinfulness the only thing the law can accomplish is to define sin, to show the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and to reveal the extent of my utter depravity.
Question: Did the law then bring death to me? Who can the law be considered good if all it does is bring death?
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
Answer: It was not the law that brought death. It was SIN producing death in me through the good, that is the law.
The problem is not the law, the problem is sin. This is the problem Paul brings light to in Romans 7:14-25.
Paul wanted the Roman Christians to understand that the law of God has no ability to rescue sinful people from spiritual bondage.
We must have no confidence in the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage.
Why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Paul gives three reasons in our text.
I. Because of our slave relationship to sin (v. 14-15)
I. Because of our slave relationship to sin (v. 14-15)
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Last week we spent most of our time showing the various arguments for the identification of the Ego.
Is the experience depicted in vv. 14-25 speaking from the perspective of an unregenerate or regenerate person?
With great humility and a willingness to change my viewpoint in the future if I am persuaded by the text otherwise, I understand Paul to be speaking of himself from the perspective of an unbeliever.
One of the most compelling reasons that I believe Paul is speaking of himself from an unbeliever’s perspective is found here in v. 14- “But I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”
A Christian cannot in any way fit this description. A Christian is no longer sold under sin. A Christian is no long in the position of being a slave to sin. Because of his union with Christ, and his participation in the benefits of the death of Christ, a Christian has been set from the power of sin over their life.
But an unsaved person can never keep the law- they may have the desire, but they do not have the ability. And one of the reasons is that for the unsaved person, they are sold under sin. They are slaves to sin. And the desires of their master always win out.
Argument for the perspective of a believer:
Does Paul’s use of present tense verbs in vv. 14-25 necessitate that he is speaking from his present experience as a Christian? Why or why not?
Ego must refer to Paul himself, the shift from the past tenses of vv. 7-13 to the present tenses of vv. 14-25 can be explained only if Paul is describing in these latter verses his present experience as a Christian.
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Past tense: I would not have known sin / I would not have known what it is to covet....
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
I am (present tense) sold under sin.
The clear switch from past tense to present tense shows that Paul is describing his present experience as a Christian.
Problem: Paul can in no way rightly describe his current state as a Christian as “fleshly” or “of the flesh.”
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
The Corinthians Christians were, what Paul calls, people of the flesh (same word). They were fleshly! Why did Paul call them that?
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
Fleshly = diet of milk, not solid food. Behaving in a jealous manner. Causing strife and divisions in the church.
This description cannot apply to the Apostle Paul.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
So even if you do think that Paul is describing the perspective of a believer, it cannot be his present condition as a believer. Paul is mature, he is spiritual. He is not carnal, he is not of the flesh. So then we must admit that it is possible for Paul to use present tense verbs, and yet still be speaking of his past situation. He does this because it is a tool used to argue his point. This is a common form of arguing one’s point. He is using a grammatical present for the sake of argumentation.
Paul is answering the objection of his opponents from v. 13. “Did that which is good, then, bring death to me?” You cannot say that, Paul states. It was not the good and holy law that brought death to me. It was sin. How so? Well here the reality of it- The law is spiritual (it has a divine origin, it is from God and therefore holy and righteous and good), but me in my natural state, I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
So Paul could be using the present tense as a grammatical present, in order to make his argument. And that is precisely what I believe he is doing in these verses.
His point is this- the law cannot save an unregenerate person because an unregenerate person, in their natural condition, is fleshly, AND sold under sin. They are slaves to sin. They must obey the whims of their master. They do not have any choice in the matter. So he says in v. 15
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
For an unsaved person, their will or their desire might be to do what is right, to measure up to the holy and righteous and good requirement of God, but because they are fleshly and sold under sin, because they have a slave master that will allow nothing but sin, they end up doing the very thing that they hate.
Application: This why we must have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage. The only way the law can save a person is if they keep it perfectly. But, because every unsaved person is a slave to sin and has no choice but to follow the commands of their master the law has no power to save. The law can only tell you what God’s righteous requirements are, but it has no power to give you the ability to measure up.
So- I encourage anyone here this morning who thinks that they can save themselves by doing good to repent of that thinking. Realize the helpless position you are in, realize your complete inability to perfectly do the good of the law. Get to the point where you place no confidence in your own ability. The truth is our relationship to sin, the fact that outside of Christ, we are sold under sin, that we are slaves to sin, demands that we change our thinking.
Change your thinking from —I’m basically a good person- to I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I have no hope in and of myself. I may have the desire to do that is good, but I end up in actuality doing the very thing that I hate.
What you need is not to go home and try harder to measure up to God’s standard of righteousness in order to save yourself, what you need to cry out for someone else to save you from your helpless position. You need an external source to save you from you plight. And that source is Jesus Christ. You need not your own ability and power, you need the ability and power of Jesus Christ who alone can save you from your sin and the power of the law.
Why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Because of our slave relationship to sin
II. Because we are completely indwelt by sin (16-20)
II. Because we are completely indwelt by sin (16-20)
Romans 7:16–17 (ESV)
16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
The problem of sin is complicated further here when Paul teaches that everyone is totally indwelt by sin. Sin dwells within us, we are totally permeated by it. Its corruption of our whole person is complete.
Does Paul teach in v.17 that we are not responsible for our own actions? Why or why not?
If we are not careful we can come away from this passage with an inaccurate and even dangerous teaching. “It is no long I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Paul is NOT teaching here that we are not responsible for our own actions! This is not what Paul means. We all are responsible for our own actions, and God will judge us accordingly.
What Paul is saying is that his failure to do the good he has a genuine desire to do reveals something about his nature. If the situation only depended upon his desire to do the right thing then his actions of doing the opposite would not make any sense. So, Paul is arguing that there is another piece to the puzzle. There is other piece, this other factor is what we call our indwelling sinful nature.
He is quick to show that sin is not a power or force that operates outside of the person, making him do his bidding. Sin is something that dwells within. Sin resides in our very being, dwelling within our person, ruling over us like a master over a slave.
This indwelling nature of sin is the reason that Paul on the one hand desires the good, but on the other hand does the bad. Paul does not transfer the blame of his failures to an outside influence. He instead fixes the responsibility for failure on the power of sin WITHIN each one of us.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
Paul is speaking of the corrupted sin nature. Sin entered the world through the disobedience of one man, Adam. And God cursed Adam. And that curse has SPREAD to all men and women and children. And this sin is not an external force, but an internal one. Sin dwells within each one of us and it has infected the whole of our being. Every part of us is corrupted by sin.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
In v. 17 Paul stated that sin dwells in us. Here he says the negative of the same truth- NO GOOD dwells in me.
Flesh is most likely a reference to the material part of a person. Paul is not teaching dualism here. He is not saying the the immaterial is essentially good, while the material is essentially bad. He is merely highlighting that the material part of our bodies are particularly susceptible to sin.
Although people, even unsaved people, may have the desire to who is right, because sin dwells in them, because NO GOOD dwells in them (all of them), they do not have the ability to carry out what is good. Think about that! Unbelievers have no ability whatsoever to carry out what is right. Why? Because of the indwelling sinful nature that has corrupted every part of their person.
Desire to do right is not enough. Good intentions are not good enough. You must carry out those good intentions and actually do right. The problem is you are indwelt by sin, no good dwells within you, and you have no ability at all to do what you desire. This is the problem of the sin nature.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Illustration:
- Wife opening the pickle jar- desire but not the ability.
- Older generation using a smart phone- desire but not the ability.
Inaccurate illustrations to a degree— the wife could strength train to eventually have the ability to open the jar. Older generation could painstakingly learn to use technology.
Better illustration- I may have the desire to flap my arms like a bird and fly- but I do not have the ability AND I never will. The ability to flap my arms and fly like a bird is an impossibility because of my nature.
This is the unbeliever- they may have the desire to do what is good, but because they are indwelt by sin, they have no ability to do what is right.
Refutation: It seems like some unbelievers do good things.
Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Application: Change your thinking. Most people would say of themselves, “I’m basically good.” God says there is no one good, no not one! Here Paul tells us why- because we are completely indwelt by sin. We might have the desire to do good, but in and of ourselves, we have NO ABILITY to do what is right. Not we have a little bit of ability, or we can develop the ability in time. We have no ability now, and no hope of polishing ourselves off in the future. We are corrupted to the core by the indwelling sinful nature. We have no hope and we should have no confidence our own ability to keep the law to rescue us from spiritual bondage.
Why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Because of our slave relationship to sin
2. Because we are completely indwelt by sin
III. Because we are held captive to the law of sin (21-25)
III. Because we are held captive to the law of sin (21-25)
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
What law is Paul referring to here in v. 21?
Is is the Mosaic Law? I find, with respect to the Mosaic law, that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
Probably best to give “law” the well established meaning of “principle.”
Paul is saying that there is a universal, objective, truth or principle that is effect in the world.
What is this principle? When I (as a person outside of Christ) want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Paul here is stating in objective terms the subjective experience he had as an unbelieving Jew under the law.
What is this objective truth? What is this law that operates in the world?
1st: As an unregenerate Jew under the Law of Moses there was a genuine delight in God’s law.
Argument against: Only regenerate people can delight in the law of God.
Romans 10:2 (ESV)
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
Argument against: Paul only uses the term “inner being” for believers.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Clearly, these two passages speak of believers. But, I do not think this is enough evidence to make “inner man” into a technical term for believers.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,
“inner being” is part of the anthropological language of Paul in this passage. He is referring to the inner part of him as an unbeliever that has a desire to do right.
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Here Paul is putting the arguments of this section together into a condemning reality for all people outside of Christ.
Since it is true that the unbeliever is a slave of sin, and since it is true that the unbeliever is completely indwelt by sin, then these truths form an unbreakable principle or reality of life.
While I, in my inner being, delight in and accept the authority of the Mosaic law, there is another competing authority operating in my members.
This “other law” wages war against the law of my mind, against God’s law that I agree with and desire to do. But this “other law” wages war and makes me into a captive. No matter how hard I try, there is an unbreakable law, the law of sin that indwells me, that causes me to fail.
This is the objective principle- because I am a slave of sin and sin indwells all of me I will always loose the war against sin. Sin will always take me captive. Sin has an unbreakable power over me. At least unbreakable by my own ability and power. An unsaved person is held captive to this law. This is why the law cannot save. Unsaved people are held captive by an unbreakable law- that even though they delight in God’s law, because they are sinners they are taken captive by the power of sin and they end up doing the thing they hate. They are completely captive to the power of sin. This is the law of sin- its power is absolute in the life of an unsaved person. It is binding and inescapable through our own ability or power. Is there any hope then?
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Is there any hope? For the person outside of Christ they truly are wretched. This is the purpose of the law! This what we must allow the law to accomplish!
My friend have you ever said this about yourself?
Are you a good person? What do most people say? I am basically good.
What does the person who has honestly evaluated themselves next to God’s standard of righteousness say? Wretched man that I am!
Notice how acknowledging this truth shapes Paul’s next question!
He does not say, “How can I deliver me from this body of death?” Why not?
Because, based on a proper understanding of God’s Word, he sees himself, his position outside of Christ, for what it truly is- WRETCHED! So his question is drastically different!
WHO will deliver me from this body of death? WHO else, other than me, will deliver me? I have no hope of delivering myself. I need someone outside of myself to deliver me! I have no confidence in my own ability by doing good to deliver me. I am a salve of sin, indwelt by sin, and captive to the law of sin. WHO is there that can deliver me, wretched man that I am?
Romans 7:25 (ESV)
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Friends, the only person able to deliver you from your situation of death, is Jesus Christ the Lord!
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Our deliverance, our redemption, our justification is all a gracious gift of God through Jesus Christ.
Have you come to the end of yourself? Have you cried out “Wretched man that I am?” Have you called upon the name of Jesus Christ to deliver you? Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ ALONE to save you from your sin? Jesus Christ is your only hope of salvation.
Jesus alone can set you free from the slavery of sin. He alone can solve the problem of indwelling sin. He alone can release you from the power of the law of sin.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Have you been set free from the hopeless state of your sin?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Paul then concludes this section with a summary of his whole argument. I serve the law of God with my mind- I have a desire to do what is right. But, with my flesh I serve the law of sin- I have no ability do the good at all.
Why must we have no confidence in the ability of the law to rescue sinners from spiritual bondage?
Because of our slave relationship to sin
2. Because we are completely indwelt by sin
3. Because we are held captive to the law of sin
My unsaved friends-
Repent of your thinking-
Place no confidence in your flesh-
See yourself, outside of Christ, as wretched-
Call out to Jesus to deliver you from your body of death-
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!
Christians-
Let this passage remind you of your past- unable to do God’s will, frustrated at your failures. Praise God for his deliverance! Cry out to God in thanksgiving with a greater understanding of your salvation and greater joy at all that Jesus has accomplished for you.
Secondly, be reminded that any attempt at law keeping is unable to deliver people from sin. There sometimes is a tenancy in Christian circles to multiply and create “rules” and “commands” in order to bring about further deliverance of sin in terms of our progressive sanctification. Be reminded that these kinds of attempts will more than likely drive us deeper into frustration than ever before.
6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
This new way of the Spirit is what Paul will go on to address in chapter 8. Friends, we place no confidence in our flesh, in our ability to keep the law, any law. Instead our confidence is in Christ. In our union with Christ. And all the wonders such a union provides.