Romans 7:14-25
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Testimonies- I never struggled with that ver ever again.
Testimonies- I never struggled with that ver ever again.
Why is it that we struggle so much with sin?
Why is it that we struggle so much with sin?
Genuine Believers struggle with sin.
We see it with Peter.
We can testify to this in our own lives. I know I can.
Something I wanted to go into a little deeper tonight is the why of that. Why do we struggle so much with the flesh?
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
Romans 6:
So that verse says that something is spiritually true of us.
We are crucified in Him- What does that mean?
the body of sin done away with
no longer slaves to sin.
This doesn’t mean that we no longer struggle with sin. this does mean that the struggle for the believer should be characterized by a constant progression in sanctification.
We are free from the bondage of sin.
Through Christ and the Spirit, we have been given freedom not only from the eternal consequences of sin but from the current power of sin as well.
To where now, we are able through the Spirit to kill sin and live in victory over it.
BUT....
This is something you and I must be ACTIVE in fighting.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Romans 6:
So this may be confusing.
I just said-
You have died to sin. Spiritually, you are now alive in Christ.
Then I read verse 12-
We are told not to let sin reign.
Thats right.
Well which is it?
Are we dead to it or are we going to continue to struggle with it?
Yes. BOTH.
Do we still still struggle with sin as believers? yes.
Will we fail? Yes
Daily.
Why? Because our souls have been redeemed. We are alive in Christ, but we are still bound up in this unredeemed flesh.
This is why believers if we live long enough will still face the reality of physical death, but our Spirit will live on.
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
Our brains, our desires are still living with the realities of our sinful flesh and the sinful world.
Paul goes on to discuss this in chapter 7
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.
The Law is Spiritual- It comes from God and is holy.
Paul is of the flesh sold into sin. That is, Paul’s flesh is still subject to sin.
Its the same thing he is saying further down in the passage in verse 18
“He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
And then Paul deals with the dilemma-
For what I am doing, 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:
That is, Paul desires in His Spirit is to be obedient.
But he finds himself doing the things he hates. (This is why this passage has to be about believers)
But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
Paul recognizes the Law of God is good. He just isn’t.
So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
Paul is speak of two conflicting desires.
Who he is in Christ desires to please Christ and to follow him. His sinful flesh, however, is bund and determined to go against that.
Who I am in Christ- is not the flesh that dwells within me.
Paul isn’t avoiding responsibility. He is simply stating that when he sins, this isn’t who he is or supposed to be in Christ.
For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
Its his sinful flesh that he needs to kill through the power of the Spirit.
Paul concludes this little section honestly.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?
Romans 7:21
There is is this war between desires.
The inner man as Paul calls it- that which is created in Christ is joyfully concurring with God’s Law- that sin is sin.
The outer man- the sinful flesh- is what he is struggling with.
Paul concludes- Wretched man that I am.
He is- We are.
Spiritually- we are one with Christ- We have been raised with Christ- but our flesh is wretched
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 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.
Thanks be to God.
Now Paul is not concluding His argument
We are gonna read some in chapter 8 as well-
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
and we have a job now
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:12