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June 25 - Romans 7:1-8:17 - "How To Do What You Always Knew You Should"

Phil Campbell mpc 25th June 2006.

Who Am I?

[Short video of Temptation "Who Am I?" segment…]

So did you get it? Who Am I? Born in New York 1949. Piano lessons at 4. 1971, Cold Spring Harbour. Piano Bar in LA.

The answer of course, wasn't so hard. The last bit gave it away. The answer is Billy Joel. The Piano Man himself.

Actually, it's incredible sometime if you ever watch Temptation - some people get the Who Am I? questions with the merest of clues. Which I find very impressive.

Now you may not have realized it, but we're in the middle of a bit of a Who Am I? game here in Romans Chapter 7.

So let me try it on you.

Who Am I?

Now, I'm not hearing any buzzers go off yet; and if they are going off as you look at the words of Romans chapter 7, chances are you're coming up with one of three answers. Two of which, I think, are wrong.

You might be saying, because you've been here a few weeks and you know we're doing Romans and you know who wrote it, you might be saying well it's obvious. It's the apostle Paul.

And at first glance, Romans chapter 7 looks like Paul's autobiography. As if he's talking about his own ongoing inner struggle as a Christian.

Like verse 14. "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."

So you'll press your buzzer and say the apostle Paul.

Which I think is very much like the answer those occasional clowns give on Temptation when they press the buzzer straight away when Ed says Who Am I?, and they say Ed Philips. The point is, when Ed says Who Am I?, he's playing the role of somebody else.

Which I think Paul is as well.

So you'll press your buzzer and you'll maybe say, well it's obvious. It's me. It's every Christian. It's the struggle I face every day. That I don't do the things I should do, and I do the things I shouldn't.

Except somehow, we've got to take seriously the context. And the fact that the struggle Paul's talking about here in almost every verse is the struggle with God's law. Verse 22. "I delight in the law of God in my inner being… but in my members there's another law at work."

The problem being at this point that Paul's spent the first half of Romans saying that the law of God was given uniquely to the people of Israel.

So Who Am I? Well, that's the clue, isn't it?

As we've been working through Romans, we've seen the importance of looking carefully at who it is who Paul's talking to. Because you'll remember that back then there were four distinct categories of people.

And the thing we need to understand to make proper sense of Romans chapter 7 is that the answer to the Who Am I? question when you're reading all the first person "I" statements that fill up the second half of the chapter… is that Paul's speaking not about himself as a Christian. But about himself as a typical Jew. And particularly about the struggle the faithful Jew had as he lived under the holy law of God.

So as we read Romans 7, keep in mind, the answer to the Who Am I? question is, I am a Jew.

Which you'll notice is exactly what Paul says in the very first verse.

Do you not know, brothers - for I am speaking to men who know the law - that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

He's talking to his Jewish brothers. Who know firsthand the law of God. Which the Old Testament is full of. The Law that taught Israel the nature of righteousness. And marked them out as being different. All in the same package. The law that said on the one hand, you shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. And things like you shall circumcise your sons on the 8th day. You shall not wear clothes of mixed fabric. And make sure you put down your tools at sunset on Friday.

The law that we've seen in past chapters that the Jewish Christians don't want to abandon. But instead wanted to impose on non Jewish Christians. As part of the entry requirements.

To which Paul's been saying a very direct no. Not because the law of God is bad. Just the opposite. As we're going to see. But because in the death of Christ… everything has changed.

Set Free by Death

That's the point being made in Paul's little illustration in verses 2 to 4. That laws don't bind dead people.

Now there's an example of that in yesterday's newspaper. One of Queensland's most notorious prisoners, died last week in the secure unit of Princess Alexandra hospital. Which means now, his life sentence is over. And he's no longer a prisoner. The laws claim on him expired… when he expired. Because he was dead, he was free from the law.

In Paul's example, he says, it's like a marriage. He says, a woman is bound to her husband while he's alive. But free when he dies. That's how it works.

Read what he says. Verse 2.

For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

So here's his point. For these Jewish Christians, these brothers who have known the law… they need to know, the death of Jesus means the old marriage is over. And there's a whole new deal. Which he sums up in verse 4. And will you notice, it's not about the law any more.

So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

It's over. Besides which, as a way of making people righteous, the law didn't work. And never did. All it did was inflame things. Arouse sinful passions. Which is the point being made by verse 5.

For when we were controlled by the flesh (or the sinful nature),the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Which sounds like he's saying the law is a bad thing. And he asks that question - is the law sin. But it's not the law that's the problem; it's the people.

Verse 7, he says I wouldn't even have known what sin looked like if it wasn't for the law. The problem was, knowing right from wrong didn't automatically equal doing right. More often the opposite.

In fact, says Paul, and we're into the first person "I" section here… in fact, "I", the typical Jew, I wouldn't have even known what coveting was… we're in verse 7… if the law hadn't said do not covet.

But here was the problem. Here's the Jewish dilemma. Here's what he means in verse 5 when he says sinful passions were aroused by the law. God's law said do not covet. Which means don't envy stuff that belongs to someone else. And he says, sin just grabbed the opportunity. And produced every sort of covetous desire. Sin said, "Mmm, do not covet." Hadn't even thought of that. let's covet something.

Every law God gave to Israel just gave them new ideas for ways to sin.

Which reminds me of an old friend of mine who said he used to work in a microbiology lab. And he said there was a huge sign on the wall that said do not lick your lips. Because apparently if there are microbes floating about, the last thing you'll want to do is lick them off your lips and get them into your digestive system.

Trouble is, Steve says, nobody would have even thought of licking their lips if it hadn't been for the sign. And he said once you've thought about licking your lips, it's almost impossible not to. He said, by the end of the day, you'd go home with chapped lips because you'd been licking them so much.

Same idea with the poor Old Testament Jew.

For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.  For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

The sign that said do not lick your lips just gave me the idea. And I licked my lips. And I died from a nasty case of gastro-enteritis.

So what's the conclusion. The law is holy. The commandment, it's holy and righteous and good. Verse 12. And yet somehow, and it wasn't the law's fault, it produced death in me through what was good. Which at least highlighted and isolated the problem. At least showed up sin for what it was. Utterly sinful. Utterly deceptive. Utterly enslaving. And the human flesh is just no match for it.

And so from verse 14 to 24, it's Paul's Jewish lament. The fact that while they agreed that the law was a good thing, while they knew that the law was a spiritual thing, they weren't able to keep it.

Verse 14. We know that the law is spiritual - but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

How do you fix that?

He says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

Just that sin won't let me do what I agree with. Verse 17.

As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So for the Jew under the law, here's the wrap up. Verse 21.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Who Am I? I'm a Jew caught in the struggle between knowing what righteousness looks like from God's law… and not having the strength to do it. Who will save me?

Certainly not Aussie Home Loans. Verse 25. And a hint of what lies ahead. Who will save this poor Jew loaded down by the holy law that he just can't keep?

Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!

The answer - Uncondemned in Christ, Free to live by the Spirit

And that answer, that solution to the problem, is unpacked in chapter 8. Which is high point of the whole letter. We've had chapter after chapter of the problem. Where we saw that the gentiles might be sinful. But the point was the Jews were just as bad. Even though they had God's law. The problem was, the law just condemned them and brought death.

So here's the solution.

The death they deserve under the law has been taken for them. By their messiah. On the cross. And so the law that brought condemnation has been overturned. By what's called in verse 2 the law of the spirit of life.

Pick up in chapter 8 verse 1. And I'm reading from the ESV translation

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Now do you notice that? At last, the righteousness the law always wanted, the things the law requires… are being met. Not in the people of Israel by the law. But in the people of the Spirit.

Who have their minds set on what the spirit desires. Who are filled with life and peace. Who are not controlled by the flesh any more. But by the Spirit.

Because when that happens, you're life isn't just about feeding your appetites for more all the time. It's not about your craving for more comfort, more stuff, more money, more sex, more success. That's not what drives you any more.

And that's the Christian life. Read from verse 9. Because the point is, every Christian, everyone who's come to that point of faith in Jesus; every Christian has got what it takes to live by the Spirit.

So this is about you and me. Verse 9 - "You, however, are controlled not by the flesh but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." Which is just the flip side of saying "If you belong to Christ, you've got the Spirit." It's a package deal.

Which doesn't mean it's always going to come easy to do the right thing. But it does mean it's always going to be possible. And it fact leaves us with an obligation. To keep on putting to death the misdeeds of the body. To keep on saying no to dishonest practices in your business. To keep on saying no to lust and promiscuity and pornography. To keep on saying no to greed; and that sort of envy that so often creeps over you when you look over the fence at the life of someone else.

Not because you're under the law which led to death. But because you're bearing fruit for life by the Holy Spirit.

Because in verse 15, we're living no longer as slaves. But as sons and daughters. Who call God Abba. Which means Dad. Not living in fear under the rules spelt out by the law. But in harmony with your Father in Heaven. In a way that the Jews never experienced.

Friends, let me tell you, nothing else works. You can read all the self improvement books in the world, they're not going to help. You can observe all your sabbaths and your food laws. You can make a new year's resolution and put the sign up on the wall just like the Jews - do not covet. And as soon as your eye catches it you'll think of something to crave for.

Those Jewish Christians need to realize - and we do as well - that they only way forward is a new heart. Changed by the Holy Spirit.

Because nothing else works.

Now this might sound like complicated stuff. Or so archaic. That we'd be taking all this time splitting hairs over this issue of the Old Testament law.

And yet so many Christians are confused by it. So many churches are ruled by it. So many Christians have confused the categories so much that they might as well still be Jewish.

Go into a Seventh Day Adventist church, and they'll have the time of Friday sunset written on a board on the wall. So they know when to start their Sabbath.

And Paul says to these Jewish Christian brothers who were so familiar with life under the law, he says, "But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

And the new way of the Spirit is our way… as well.