20250810 Romans 7:21-25 The Believer’s Battle Against Sin: Our Great Rescuer

Welcome to Vertical Church

Acts 2:42 LSB

42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

We began our church with the desire to fulfill the mandate of this verse. To devote ourselves to what the early church was devoted to.

Devoted to the teaching of the word of God

Devoted to genuine Christian relationships and the fulfilling of commandment of Christ to love the household of faith

Devoted to the proclamation of the gospel through the ordinances of believers baptism and communion

Devoted to the prayers through singing and public prayer

The 5 Solas - God alone is our source of Salvation

We believe Scripture alone is the Word of God

We believe that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

WE believe that live and exist for the glory of God alone

We are called Vertical Church - we believe that all true worship and living is Vertical, God directed and God focused

With that in mind, Let us worship God

Call to Worship - Psalm 66:1-8

Psalm 66:1–8 LSB

1 Make a loud shout to God, all the earth; 2 Sing praise for the glory of His name; Establish His praise as glorious. 3 Say to God, “How fearsome are Your works! Because of the abundance of Your strength Your enemies will cower before You. 4 “All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name.” Selah. 5 Come and see the works of God, Who is fearsome in His deeds toward the sons of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land; They passed through the river on foot; There let us be glad in Him! 7 He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. 8 Bless our God, O peoples, And make the sound of His praise heard,

Scripture Reading - Genesis 4:3-7

Genesis 4:3–7 LSB

3 So it happened in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 Then Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Introduction: Romans 7:21-25 The Believer’s Battle Against Sin: Our Great Rescuer

The Sovereignty of God in salvation

The responsibility of the believer in salvation.

The power of God in sanctification.

The responsibility of the believer in sanctification.

It with responsibility there is a battle

Have you ever wondered why Paul calls himself the least of the apostles or the chief of sinners?

You are probably more sinful than you think you are

Christ really is a glorious as the word of God says He is

(1) You are married to Christ and receive His Grace

Romans 7:1–3 LSB

1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is master over a person as long as he lives? 2 For the married woman has been bound by law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

Romans 7:4–5 LSB

4 So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

Romans 7:6 LSB

6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

(2) You are regenerated by Christ and clothed in His Righteousness

Romans 7:8–10 LSB

8 But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, worked out in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the Law sin is dead. 9 Now I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was to lead to life, was found to lead to death for me.

Romans 7:14–15 LSB

14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, having been sold into bondage under sin. 15 For what I am working out, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

Romans 7:18–20 LSB

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.

I become the righteousness of God in Him - clothed in the righteousness of Christ while still being sinful

(3) You are justified and sanctified by Christ and will one day be glorified through Christ

Romans 7:21–25 LSB

21 I find then the principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Paul then summarizes chapter 7 with the words, I find a principle, literally, a law or a rule, an absolute truth - Sin is present

You want to do good but sin is present

vs 22 - Paul is talking about his post conversion, not his pre conversion life

And the battle against sin is the battle against the inner man, the born again man, and the sin that resides in our members, in what Paul will call the old man.

The old man vs the new man.

vs 23 - And it is a battle that takes place in the mind

vs 24 - Apart from the righteousness of Christ we are wretched - it can mean afflicted but it can also mean pathetic - if we are honest we are pathetic

The body of death that we carry

v25 - Thanks be to God - the response of every believer

We have a redeemer. We have a deliverer who promises to deliver us fully and finally from the body of death, from this awful, substantive burden that plagues us all our lives.

After pouring out his heart, Paul concludes this section by saying that if we have problems walking in the Christian life, inconsistencies in our pilgrimage, we can look at him. He has the same problems. No triumphalism flows from the pen of the apostle. He was keenly in touch with who he was in his fallen condition, but he was also keenly in touch with who he was in Christ Jesus, who had rescued him from the principle that resides in the flesh.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a WRETCH like me

I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see

Now may the Lord, who is

merciful and gracious, slow

to anger, and rich in steadfast love

and mercy, keep you from despair

in all your troubles and keep you

from idolatry in all your joys.

Amen.