Still Struggling

There is tension here, Already/not yet, but for a true believer, victory is assured. In fact, the new man already exists, the new man (Our eternal nature, is holy, is righteous, but is still stuck in the body of flesh.) We need to recognize the struggle, but also realize that the struggle is really already won for us. The heavy lifting has been done.

We are like the little boy, who, seeing 6 men straining to move a piano, comes alongside, and takes a hold, and feels like he is a big help, but the men realize they are the ones doing the heavy lifting. Christ has done our heavy lifting for us, and even the effort we feel we are doing in our battle with sin is really credited to him. Without Christ, we could not do effective battle against sin. Without the Holy Spirit, through God’s Word, drawing us, we would not even respond to the gospel. And as Christians, without the indwelling Holy Spirit, we would be completely helpless to fight against sin.

This week:

Big Idea: Those in Christ have a new nature and must align themselves with it.

What Christians are to do with this passage:

Learn their identity in Christ

Delight in the Law of God

Remember that your deliverance is assured

Romans 7:14–25 ESV

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.

Learn their identity in Christ

Colossians 1:21–23 ESV

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

You were once, but now…

He HAS reconciled you (Christians) in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach.

Colossians 2:13–14 ESV

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

You WERE dead. God made you ALIVE! Dead in sin, alive to Christ.

He canceled the record of debt (our sins against him and his law). We have talked before about how this includes our past, present and future sins. We need to understand this. If we accept Christ as our substitute, the one who pays the price of sin that we ourselves owe, then it must be clear in our minds that this is not merely sins before we were regenerated, but sins that come after as well. Otherwise, we would live in defeat. If someone were to believe that Christ’s sacrifice only counted for sins before they responded to the gospel, then we may as well just give up now, because we know that sin is something we continue to do, even though we are regenerated.

Even though our nature is now in Christ, even though he has reconciled us, even though he has made us alive together with him, yet we miss the mark. What Paul is really talking about in Romans 7 is 2 natures, the new man that is holy and blameless because Christ has made us so, and the old man, who still hangs around. In a sense we are institutionalized to sin. Just as someone in the military for their whole life will inevitably revert, perhaps often, to thinking and doing like a military person. Just as a prisoner who served 40 years behind bars longs for the normalcy of life that was once dictated in every way. So it is that we all, having been institutionalized to sin, even though we are set free from it in Christ, sometimes voluntarily submit ourselves to its bondage for a time.

For those truly in Christ, this should not be the permanent state, but rather something we see as an awful, unnatural state. Let me give you an example. As far as being institutionalized, I was only in the military for 4 years. But being in that environment institutionalized me, even in that short period of time. Marine’s often call each other “Devil Dogs”. Hey, Devil Dog. It goes back to a time of war when the German troops had such fear of the US Marines. The Germans called the US Marines “Devil Dogs, because they never stopped advancing in battle. If they were ambushed, they would advance right into the ambush.

The Marine Corps takes this label proudly, and so Marines will often call each other Devil Dog. So while I was in the Marines, I went to a church and played trumpet on the worship team, and one day, as I came in to practice, another young man, who was not a Marine and had no idea how Marines talk, was there, and I walked in and said, “Hey, Devil Dog”. He looked offended. He didn’t have any idea what I was talking about. So even though I had tried to keep my military nature and my civilian nature separate, I reverted back. I was really embarrassed.

Just in that way, the Christian is now identified with Christ, has a new nature, and yet, remains susceptible to going back to the old ways. It happens to everyone. Many years ago, I was having lunch with my pastor, who had been a pastor for about 9 years at that point, and a profane word slipped out as he was describing a particularly frustrating situation he was in. Of course, he immediately corrected, apologized, and seemed embarrassed.

But here is something important to remember: The reason I remember that lunch and that accidental word by that pastor was because it was out of character, it was not in his normal lexicon to use that word. His identity was in Christ, he was living a life of holiness, the loss of control of his tongue was a surprise to him and me, and evidence of what Paul is really getting at in Romans 7, and that is, that there is a new nature. In Christ, it is that new nature that we identify with, not the old nature, and yet the old nature is still a burden to us, we still live in this body of flesh, and there are times that we allow that old nature to enslave us again, even if temporarily.

A true believer, will, with Paul, delight in the law of God, want to do the good, strive to do the good, every desire is to please God with their life. And yet, the sin nature is still there. But that is not who we are, its who we were, and since who we were in the past still influences who we are today, we do not do it right all the time.

If you have ever done a genogram, I think that’s the word, either for a marriage seminar, or something like that, you know how much your family history affects you today. A genogram is a chart that you can make as simple or elaborate as you want. It is like a family tree that is used to see how past events in your family shape you. If you had a alcoholic father, you would make a note of that and think about how that may have impacted how you live and react today. No matter how much you have committed to yourself not to exhibit some characteristic that was less than godly in your family, you inevitably will be influenced by this. How your grew up, what your family valued, how they communicated, good habits and bad habits, all still bear weight on your actions and your worldview today.

You may have noticed that some people had such a miserable childhood and family life that they have steadfastly declared they will do better with their own marriage and family. And that is a noble commitment. But even the best still sometimes revert to the old ways. The father who said he would never lose his temper is pushed to the limit and regretfully misses the mark. The mom who was going to always be there, no matter how long it takes, to listen attentively to her children, gets distracted with the things of life and regrettably falls short.

But that doesn’t mean they are not a different person than they were in their family of origin, it is just the fact that it is pretty much impossible to escape all the tendencies we have inherited.

So we need to know our identity in Christ. We are a new creation, we are redeemed, we are made holy. We are justified, we are sanctified and being sanctified. And because we are that new person, when we do sin, our reaction ought to be like Paul’s: “I’m shocked!”

I want to do good and do evil instead, i want to do good, that is my desire, but I don’t do it. And as Christians, our desire is to please God, but we often miss that mark. It does not change the fact that we are a new creation, but does show us that our salvation, our sanctification, is not complete yet. But we can know and say with Paul confidently, I know that I will be delivered from this body of death.

Second point: Delight in God’s law: Psalm 119, longest Psalm. Entirely about the law of God, and rejoicing in it.

Psalm 119:1–8 ESV

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me!

Psalm 19:7–11 ESV

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

How do we keep ourselves from sin? Well, if we are to try, we must know God’s will. Now, today, a lot of people will tell you they know God’s will. They will say that God told me this or that, sometimes they will even tell you what God wants you to do. And this is an interesting thing. You see, on the one hand, if someone is receiving some kind of direct revelation of God, they must be a prophet. Now we know that God never makes a mistake, so whatever they say must be true, right? Well, be careful with this.

How many times I have heard a well-meaning Christian say to another “I have a witness in my heart that your spouse is going to be saved this year”. Or, God is telling me that you are going to get that job. Or, The Lord wants me to tell you to do that thing that I have been telling you to do. (example)

Well, scripture is clear. If someone claims to speak for the Lord, and makes a specific prediction and says “the Lord Said”, or some variation of that, and their prediction lands flat, you are not supposed to listen to that person or fear them. In fact, to be frank, a lot of that is just wishful thinking or worse, manipulation.

we all have our pet topics. How many people have told their pastor “I feel the Lord is telling me you are to preach on…” And it happens to be their pet topic. Look, nothing wrong with making suggestions, but let’s not say the Lord is speaking through us when it is likely just our own hopes or preferences that we are listening to.

Now, sometimes, it is meant simply to be encouraging. “The Lord told me to tell you…”. Now, I may be off topic a little bit here, but are you sure it is the Lord, or is it just a conclusion you came to as you were thinking about things? And perhaps it is meant to encourage me, but how can I know if it is you speaking your will or God speaking his through you? But if you want to encourage me, tell me something we know. Tell me a truth about God according to scripture. Encourage me with His Word, because I delight in it!

A lady named Ruth gave me a coffee mug a few years ago, and I look at the scripture on it often: 1 Cor 15.58, “Stand firm. Let nothing move you,., always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

I sent this to someone who needed encouragement:

Philippians 4:4–9 ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

What should we delight in? God’s word. From the Psalmist to the Epistle writer, men of God have understood that the best source of truth, the thing to be most delighted in, is the Word of God. the reformers had a term: Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone. We don’t need someone’s warm fuzzy feelings or anything else to encourage us. We have God’s Word. We can always say to one another, God’s word says. But we need to be careful that we don’t take the role of conduit for God if he has not appointed us as a prophet.

Many famous people in ministry today declare boldly what God is saying to them or through them, and here is the problem: If it doesn’t jive with the Word, it doesn’t jive. God does not make mistakes. I remember when I was at Bible college, a fellow student couple went to a special speaker and they came back so excited. This was a so-called prophet. “He spoke a word over us!” this couple said.

He had told them they were going to have a thriving children’s ministry. I remember they didn’t really like kids, and they didn’t have kids, and didn’t really want kids, but they were so excited at this word from the Lord. And yet, the short version of the story is this: He was there to be equipped for pastoral ministry and is now a laborer. no children’s ministry, no full-time ministry at all. So much for the prophetic word.

Delight in God’s Word. I remember another pastor of mine once, a solid teacher of the Bible, and he started his message something like this: Today, I am going to tell you God’s will or plan for your life. I was listening, I was surprised that he would go out on a limb so much, but his sermon was not about any specific individual thing, but about how God has already revealed his will for each of us through scripture. We need nothing else.

If the Bible says what God’s will is, that is enough. 1Thess4.3

1 Thessalonians 4:3 ESV

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

There are other passages that tell us what the will of God is; let us look to those, not someone who says they speak for him in our specific case.

Last point: Remember that your deliverance is assured.

May I say again, I am speaking here of the truly converted. How can you know you are truly converted? Are you being regenerated? How can one have the assurance of salvation? Well, here I give some credit to RC Sproul. He was often asked this question. If the Bible says some will say Lord Lord and he will say I never knew you, if scripture says that some are deceived, how can I be sure of my salvation? And RC Sproul answers this question by asking these three questions: First, do you love the Lord perfectly? He said in all his years, only 2 people answered this one affirmatively. So they either misheard, or misunderstood, or were truly deluded. But all of us must say, “no, I have not loved him perfectly”.

The next question he asks is this: “Do you love the Lord as well as you ought to?” And again, the honest answer must be no because we know we ought to love him perfectly. So again, the answer is normally no.

Finally, he asks this: “Do you love the Lord at all?”

And if you love the Lord at all, that is a pretty good indication that a person is being regenerated, because scripture is clear that no one seeks God except those whom he draws to himself. And if he has drawn you to himself, you will have some love for him. Now, RC does not mean here that you love something about Christ. “I love that he was a carpenter” Or “I love that he went against the grain” or “I love that he hung around the regular folks”.

No, not do you love anything about Jesus, but do you love Him? AT ALL? Do you love the Son, do you love the person? Do you love the Father and the Holy Spirit? Is there any love in you at all for the Lord? And if there is real love, that in any way manifests itself in a desire to know him better, to serve him better, and to love him better, than you must have been drawn to Him.

I heard John MacArthur years ago lamenting about the “seeker sensitive” approach to church. This is the philosophy that you need to make your church all about making things welcome to unsaved guests, or seekers, who may enter your building.

From this, we have churches with coffee bars, and comfortable seating. Some churches removed the word church from their title, or make no reference to the denomination they are part of. Some even removed the cross from the building so that no seeker would come in and feel uncomfortable. Songs with good doctrine, such as hymns, were scrapped for vapid songs that if you heard on secular radio you would just think it was a pop song or a love song. The sermons were reduced to motivational messages, with no mention of sin, or hell, or a proclamation of Christ crucified. This continues today in many churches. The idea that we have to get people in the door and to stay by making them comfortable, and hopefully at some point they will get saved through osmosis.

Among many problems of this approach, MacArthur said, is the misplaced notion that any unsaved person is a seeker. Scripture is clear:

Romans 3:10–12 ESV

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

John 6:44–46 ESV

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.

Now, let’s tie this back to our last point, and then I will try to tie all of this together. Our last point is that we can have assurance of our final deliverance even though we fall short and sin. How? Do you love him at all? Do you have any love for Christ? Any desire to do his will? Any remorse over your sin, not remorse over temporary consequences to sin, not remorse for getting caught, but remorse because you have offended the holy God?

Do you have any desire to love him better? If you do, the only way you could be in that attitude or state of mind is if God had drawn you to himself. When we get to Romans 9, we will look into the idea that God draws people to himself, but not everyone is drawn to himself and saved. This frustrates Christians often, who would like it to be about our power of persuasion, or about our seeker friendly church that made someone comfortable enough to stick around and pay their tithe. But that is not what the bible teaches. The church should be evangelistic, to be sure. And if an unsaved person shows up, we want them to hear the gospel. But let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that any one seeks for God outside of his drawing them unto himself.

Big Idea: Those in Christ have a new nature and must align themselves with it.

So our three points this morning flow together:

What Christians are to do with this passage:

Learn their identity in Christ

Delight in the Law of God

Remember that your deliverance is assured

Learn their identity in Christ Delight in the Law of God Remember that your deliverance is assured

We need to know who we are in Christ, and if we are in him, our new nature and secure future is already completely made holy and righteous, but in the meantime, we are in this body of flesh. But the true believer will delight in the Law of God, seeking His perfect will in our lives not through motivational speakers or life coaches, but through his Word. And we must latch onto the assurance we can have, if we love Christ.

I will finish with this, and I know I used this last week, but it is so powerful. “Who will save me from this body of death?” There was a punishment sometimes used that Paul was familiar with that was likely what he was thinking of here.

Strapped to their victim

The rotting flesh of the victim eventually would kill the person.

Paul feels the old nature is like that corpse, and he desperately wants to be freed.

Romans 7:24–25 ESV

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.

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