Devotional talk #4 given on July 22, 2010 in a series of 5 talks on the book of Romans given July 19-23, 2010 at the Community Hospital of SDA in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

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Norman McNulty

The Man of Romans 7

All right, well good morning again. Morning. It's, I've been enjoying sharing on the book of Romans all week. We're already on our fourth study. I can't believe it's gone that fast. So we have covered some high points thus far. We covered the power of the gospel the first day from Romans chapter one and what it means for the just to live by faith the next day on Tuesday. We covered the faith of Abraham in Romans chapter four, showing that here is an example of a just man who lived by faith and that it's not just for him alone, it's for us also if we believe the same way Abraham believes. Yesterday we talked about the justified life, what it means to be justified by faith. And Roman six shows us that when we are justified by faith, we are dead to sin. We have been raised up to walk in newness of life the way Christ was raised up from the dead. So that is what we have seen thus far in our studies. And before we get into our study for today, let's bow our heads for award prayer. Father in heaven, thank you for this day and for this opportunity to study from your word. Bless us now as we study from the end of Roman six and Romans chapter seven, may you enlighten our minds as we study. I pray in Jesus name, amen. Amen. Amen. So on the basis of what I've said so far, when we come to the end of Romans chapter six, what we see is that you have two options. Because what Paul has presented in the book of Romans through the first half of Romans chapter six, is the concept of justification by faith. Once he has laid the foundation for justification by faith, he shows that you are either a servant to sin or a servant to God or and righteousness. Now the Greek word for servant as translated in the King James version is actually slave. So your option is either to be a slave to sin or a slave to God and his righteousness. Now being a slave to God is not a hardship. Scripture says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Now, Satan tries to make it appear that being a slave to him is the, is the easy way out and the fun way to go. Did you realize that he's really a hard task master? Yes. Do you realize that he is the one that causes the pain and suffering in this world? And so many times God gets blamed for what Satan does. It's true that God allows things to happen, but Satan is the one who causes pain and suffering in this world. So as we look at the end of Roman six, starting in verse 16, it says, no, you're not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey his servants, you are to whom you obey whether of sin under death or of obedience under righteousness. None of that's this. If you are a slave to sin, the end result is death. But if we are dead to sin and we obey the Lord, that is righteousness. And continuing on in Romans six 18, it says, being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Now, for those of you who who were here yesterday, do you remember what being free from sin can also be translated as in Romans chapter six, verse seven, just yeah, it means to be justified. In Romans chapter six for seven, when you read the marginal reading for freed from sin, it actually means justified. So in Romans six 18, when it says, being then made free from sin became the servants of righteousness, what he's saying is, when you are justified by faith, you're the servants of righteousness. Therefore, if you are justified by faith, you live a righteous life. That's what Paul is teaching. And then he continues on verse 20, for when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. In other words, when you were sinning, you didn't live a righteous life because you were a slave to sin. And then notice again verse 22. But now being made free from sin, and again that means to be justified, being made free from sin and become servants to God or slaves to God, you have your fruit under holiness and the end everlasting life. So notice this, when you are free from sin, you are justified, which means you live a holy life and the end result is everlasting life because of what Christ has done for us. And then with the famous verse in Romans 6 23 that we all know, but now we understand the context better for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ to our Lord. So notice what happens when you are a slave as sin, you get paid and your wages are death. How is it that Satan has deceived so many of us to think that what he has to offer is so much better than God when his pay scale is death, doesn't matter what end of the pay scale you're on with him, it's all the same. It's death. That's what Satan has to offer for us. Now, notice what God offers. We don't earn anything. He actually gives us a gift. Let's God, because we've all sin and come short of the glory of God, however we've studied that we must surrender our lives completely to the Lord, to be and be crucified with Christ. When that happens, God gives us a free gift. And when you consider what God has given up by sending Jesus to this earth, he's not asking a whole lot for us to, to surrender our lives to him. In fact, he's doing us a huge favor because he knows that if we don't surrender our lives to God, the devil's going to give us a pay skill at the end of our lives and that payment is death and the Lord doesn't want us to die. So he says, let me give you a free gift. The only condition is complete surrender to me. And that's what we're gonna look at now in Romans seven, Romans chapter seven, which I, as I said yesterday, is probably one of the most misunderstood chapters in the Bible. And we're gonna look at it from a biblical perspective. What is Paul really saying? And what we're gonna see is that Roman seven does not contradict Roman six. A lot of times people read Roman six and say, oh, being dead to sin. We don't live any longer there. And that's nice, but you have to understand that based on the context of Romans seven. Well, let's see what Paul's really saying in Romans seven, because obviously God speaking through Paul does not contradict himself. The Bible presents a unified theme. So let's start in Romans chapter seven, verse one. Know you not brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he live. Now Paul is writing to the Jews at Rome primarily, and he's speaking to them who know the the 10 Commandments. And he says, the law has dominion over you as long as you live. If you sin, the law's gonna point out your sin. And notice the illustration he uses starting here in verse two. He says, for the woman, which hath and husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives, but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. Now he's speaking of the law of marriage here. And of course the fifth commandment, sorry, the seventh commandment says, thou shall not commit adultery. But what he's speaking here is when you were married. And he uses the illustration of a woman, and he does this for a very specific reason, which you're gonna see a woman marries a man. And now that man becomes her husband. As long as her husband is alive, she is bound by the law of marriage according to scripture, to stay married to him. And Paul is using this as a, an illustration. And he's actually not trying to give a sermon here about faithfulness and marriage, although that's a side point. And it's important. And too many people today don't regard the sanctity of the marriage vow. But that's, this is a side point. But notice what he says. But if the husband be dead, she is loose from the law of her husband. So as long as he's alive, she's bound to be married to him. But if he dies, she can marry someone else. Notice what he says in verse three. So then if while her husband liveth, she'd be married to another man, she shall be called an adulterer. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulterous, though she be married to another man. Why is Paul using the law of marriage as an illustration here in Romans seven? Well, the answer is found in verse four, where for my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that you should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth through unto God. What's Paul saying here? Do you remember what Paul said in Romans chapter six, verse six, when he said, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence forth, we should not serve sin. Do you realize that when we are sinners following after sin, being slaves to sin, we are married to the old man of sin and the only way to be delivered from the slavery of sin is for the old man to be crucified when that old man is crucified. Paul is teaching here, spiritually speaking, we become married to Christ. But here's the key point. Christ does not commit adultery spiritually speaking. So you know what that means? If the old man is still alive, Christ will not come into your life because Christ respects the law of marriage. And, and this is in a spiritual sense, but if the old man is alive, Christ isn't gonna marry you because three people is are too crowded for a marriage. That's that's the bottom line. Three people are too crowded for a marriage and Christ will not marry, spiritually speaking, someone who professes to be married to him, but is still actually married to the old man. And that's why Paul says in Romans six that the our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed. And this also makes sense when it says that we should be married to Christ who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth freedom to God. Remember what we talked about in Romans six verse four where it says that like is Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So Christ is raised from the dead. When we died of sin, we are resurrected to walk in newness of life by the power of Christ. And we are kept in that new walk by being married to Christ, spiritually speaking. And obviously in a human sense we have spouses, but in a spiritual sense, can you imagine a better companion than Christ? Why would you want to give him up for that old selfish man who is your slave master and will beat you down, tear you to pieces, and at the end of your life you will die because you were married to him. Whereas if you surrender your life to Jesus Christ and stay faithful to him, he will give you the free gift of everlasting life. Amen. So why is it so easy for us to want to stay married to the old man? I believe it's because we really don't understand the love and power of God that he has available for us. So let's continue on. Paul says a number of things and what we're going to see starting in verse 14 is the crux of the matter. What we've seen in the end of Roman six, that you're either a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. When you're a slave to righteousness, it means you're married to Christ, which means that you have the best possible companion you could ever have. You live a new life that is dead to sin, and you're basically living as if you're in heaven here on this earth. If you're married to the old man of sin, you're in bondage to sin and you live a miserable life with the end result being payment of death. Notice what Paul says here in verse 14, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now, this is where people get confused about what Paul is saying. People think, oh, Paul is saying that he is carnal sold under sin. So that's the way we all are. Well, it's true that we could be like that. But what does it mean if you are sold under something, if you are sold under something, that means you are a slave. And Paul is saying, when I am carnal, I am a slave to sin. And he just showed in Roman six that if he were a slave to sin, your payment is death Now. Now he's going to explain what it's like to be carnal, sold under sin or being a slave to sin. Notice verse 15 for that, which should I do? I allow not for what I would that do I not, but what I hate that do I? Does that sound like a description of a slave? Yeah, absolutely. Slaves don't get to do the things they want to do and they have to do the things they don't want to do. That's what it means to be a slave to sin. You know in your mind what truth is, what righteousness is, what being a follower of God is like, but you're still married to the old man and so you like Christ, you like what he has to offer. But like we said the other day, there's still that 2% of that old man that gives you just a little bit of enough that makes you want to stay with him. That old man, he lets you eat the way you want to eat. He lets you talk the way you want to talk. He lets you fight back the way you want to fight back. Now, most of the rest of the stuff that he offers you don't like, but that two to 3% you just want to keep. Because if you're married to Christ, Christ would actually help you to be nice to people when you want to fight back. And so you don't want that little part you want, you just want to kind of keep that little little part so that you can be you and you. But then at the end of the day you're like, you know what? I shouldn't have talked back like that. Ugh. But that's what it means to be a slave to sin. You're not surrendered to Christ, you're not married to Christ, Christ not in control of your life. And so you do the things you don't wanna do. And instead of being nice to people the way you want to, you are not nice to them or you don't help out the way you should help out. And so you are carnal, sold under sin. And you know, the Christian Church says, praise the Lord. This is my Christian experience on the way to heaven. And Paul is saying, no, you're a slave to sin and your payment will be death if you live this kind of life. And he's describing the experience he had when he was a slave to sin. Now, yes, he's speaking of the present tense, but by the time he wrote this, he had moved on to victory. So he continues on. If then I do that, which I would not, I consent under the law that it is good now, then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwell within me. And people say, see, you know, sins just in me. And that's what happens. But you know what Paul is really saying when he says, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwell within me. What he's saying is, is that sin is your master. You've surrendered your life to sin. And so sin controls your life. That's all he is saying. You are a slave to sin. Sin is your slave master. So your slave master does in you what you don't want to do and doesn't allow you to do what you wanna do because you've surrendered your life to sin. And he continues on verse 18, for I know that in me that is in my flesh to will is no good thing for to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good, I find not. And here's a de definition of our human flesh. We have a desire when he says, for to will is present with me. That means we have a desire to do the right thing, that we don't have the power to do it. That's human flesh. That's true. And how do we get around that? We see Romans eight, three and four shows us how for what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh. You know the flesh is weak. It knows what it is, right and wants to do it, but doesn't have the power to do it. God's sending his own son and the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, not outside of us, in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Do you realize that we don't have to walk after the flush? Do you realize that we don't have to have sin as our master Christ came to this earth, lived a sinless life, giving us an example of how we can walk in this life in weak flesh if we are married to him who is raised from the dead. And so as we come to the end of Roman seven, come coming on down, Paul repeats the idea about how in verse 20, how it's no more I but sin that Joel that does the sin. And then in verse 21, he says, I find then a law that that when I would do do good evil is present with me. So he's describing someone who knows what is right, but is still married to the old man for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. So this is someone who delights in knowing the truth, but they don't surrender their lives completely. Verse 23. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind in bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. And verse 24, oh, wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. You know, I think all of us can identify with that statement in verse 24. We can all identify with that. But you know, the gospel is good news that we don't have to stay that way. It would not be good news if the power that God offered to us is you're gonna stay a slave to sin for the rest of your life and sin will dictate how you live. But I'll save you anyway. Jesus came to save us from our sins, not in our sins. And you know, it's interesting this, this word wretched comes from the Greek word tah pers. And again, I don't expect you to remember that, but there's only one other place in in all of scripture that that word is found. Do you know where it's found? Revelation three. You think you're rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and know it's not that are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Did you realize that Romans seven describes the legacy in church? Yes. And there's one thing that's different about the Le Sea in church shirts, then Roman seven, the man of Roman seven, knows that he has a problem and he says, I'm wretched. I'm a slave to sin. I do the things I don't want to do and I do the things I don't want to do. The lay a sea in church believes that if they have the Roman seven experience, that's a good thing. So they don't need anything else. They think they have the righteousness of Christ. Praise the Lord. I'm covered with his righteousness, even though I keep sinning. And Jesus says, actually, if you're wretched like Roman seven, you're naked, which means you don't have my righteousness. And so God's people, they hear Christ knocking at the door saying, I stand at the door and knock. Let me come into you. It's not just an outward covering, it's an inward righteousness as well. And God's people say, but no, I already have your righteousness. I don't want that kind of experience. And God is speaking to his people today. He wants us to have the experience of having the righteousness of his life fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And that is the the experience that the power of God is offering to each one of us today. How many of you would like to have that experience with God?

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The Man of Romans 7

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