THE LAW OF SIN Romans 7:14-25

Transcription

1 THE LAW OF SIN Romans 7: We are called upon as obedient children not to fashion (model) ourselves according to the former lusts in our ignorance, but to be holy as God is holy (1PE 1:14-16). a. In our ignorance we modeled ourselves in keeping with our lusts. b. Those who know not God are regulated by their lusts (1TH 4:5). c. These lusts are called the former lusts because they characterized our former life "in times past" (1PE 4:2-3; EPH 2:3). d. Being now born again and converted, we are called upon to change the model of their lives. e. But there is a law of sin in our flesh that resists this process. 2. Sin is a law. a. Law A rule of conduct imposed by authority. i. Rule A principle, regulation, or maxim governing individual conduct. ii. Authority Power to enforce obedience. b. Sin reigns (ROM 5:21; 6:12). i. Reign To hold or exercise the sovereign power or authority in a state; to rule or govern as a king or queen. ii. Apart from grace, sin has dominion (ROM 6:14). iii. Dominion - The power or right of governing, and controlling; sovereign authority; lordship, sovereignty; rule, sway: control, influence c. Sin is a powerful, controlling influence that demands our obedience to it. d. Sin is obeyed in its lusts (ROM 6:12). i. Lust - Pleasure, delight; desire, appetite, relish or inclination for something. 1. Lust is coveting which is desiring (ROM 7:7 w/ EXO 20:17 w/ DEU 5:21). 2. All lust is not bad (DEU 12:15; EZE 24:16; 1CO 12:31). 3. Scripture forbids lusting after evil things (1CO 10:6; HAB 2:9). ii. Sin is appealing because of the lust or desire one has for it. iii. In temptation to sin, one is drawn away of his own lust (JAM 1:14-15). 1. The Greek word rendered drawn away is exelko and means to drag forth. 2. This explains the pressure or pull one feels in a temptation.

2 iv. If sin is not to be obeyed, it must be dealt with at the level of the lust. e. This is a governing principle that practices deceit upon those it seeks to control. i. Sin and its lusts are deceitful (ROM 7:11; HEB 3:13; EPH 4:22). ii. Deceive - To ensnare; to take unawares by craft or guile; to overcome, overreach, or get the better of by trickery; to beguile or betray into mischief or sin; to mislead. iii. There are more than just your fleshly desires at work in drawing you into sin. The law of sin works to control your thinking and thus your decisions. iv. It is the nature of deceit to conceal its true intentions and catch you off guard. v. Lust deceives in that it conceals the true nature, cause, circumstances, and consequences of sin. vi. Lust will justify the sin it is drawing you toward. vii. Sin will mislead you into thinking you have no problem with it when you do, so that you continue to make allowances for it. viii. Lust will deceive you by presenting lesser enticements rather than presenting the great transgression all at once. ix. Sin will try to draw you away from holy duties (JAM 4:17). 1. It will press distractions upon you as if they are more important than spiritual duties. 2. This is part of sin s deception that gives it an advantage over you since it keeps you away from those things that work against it. f. In the absence of God s saving grace, sin holds uncontested control over one s life. i. Those who are without grace are helpless servants of sin (JOH 8:34; TIT 3:3; ROM 6:20-22; PRO 5:22). ii. Yet, these servants think they pursue freedom (PSA 2:2-3; 2PE 2:18-19). 3. Paul, a born again, converted man, found this law of sin warring in his bodily members against the law of his mind, which delighted in the law of God (cp. 1PE 2:11). a. The powerful, controlling principle was still in Paul s flesh fighting to control his life. Hence, the believer will have a battle to fight so long as he lives in this flesh. b. Sin in the flesh generates thoughts and feelings that the Christian does not want to have but rather hates. c. Because of this principle, no Christian attains the perfection of holiness that he aspires after (GAL 5:17). d. The flesh serves the law of sin and can do no good. Hence, the flesh must be subdued if a person is to obey God. The Law of Sin Page 2 of 5

3 4. This law of sin brought him into captivity. It was like a chain confining him and holding him in a state of misery from which he yearned to be delivered. 5. Paul did not identify with the law of sin. Rather he spoke of it as the enemy dwelling within warring against him. a. That which dwelt in his flesh drawing him to sin was not he, but sin. b. Thank God we are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit (ROM 7:5; 8:6-9). i. This is how God sees us. ii. The flesh with its indwelling sin no longer defines us. c. It is an evidence of God s grace in us that this law of sin and its lusts are viewed by us as an enemy warring against us! d. For Paul to serve this enemy was captivity and wretchedness. 6. In the context of speaking about indwelling sin in Romans 7, he (Paul) breaks out in longing desire to be rid of it. Unless we long for deliverance we will never have it. This longing will make us watchful for any opportunity to gain the advantage over the enemy and ready for every assistance to destroy it. John Owen 7. With such a powerful, controlling principle warring in his members, how was it that Paul was such an exemplary Christian? He had another law in him, the law of his mind. a. Paul delighted in the law of God in his inward man, which had been renewed by grace (EPH 3:16; 4:24; 1PE 3:4). b. With his mind he served the law of God. c. This law was also a powerful, controlling principle. It was the grace of God reigning in him (ROM 5:21; 6:14). 8. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, Which lusts against the Spirit, the believer can subdue the flesh (ROM 8:9, 12-14; GAL 5:16-17). a. The law of the mind coupled with the Holy Spirit is the more powerful influence in this conflict. b. Hence, the believer is not a debtor to the flesh. He is not bound to obey it. c. He can disallow sin to reign in his mortal body and can force his members to yield as instruments of righteousness (ROM 6:12-14). d. The flesh will not be reformed in this life. i. The sin in our flesh is deceptive and is not to be trusted. ii. Christ said to His disciples in MAT 26:41: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 1. The flesh is weak in the face of temptation. 2. Christ s warning implies the danger of entering into temptation and our need to guard against it continually (COL 4:2). The Law of Sin Page 3 of 5

4 3. If we would overcome sin, we must guard against even the temptation to sin. 4. By watching you learn to recognize the avenues along which sin approaches you so that you may avoid them. 5. By prayer you apply for strength against temptation (PSA 138:3). iii. Therefore, we can make no provision for the flesh (ROM 13:14). iv. We must never underestimate its potential for evil. Paul found in himself all manner of concupiscence (ROM 7:8). v. The flesh must rather be brought under and its deeds mortified (1CO 9:27; COL 3:1-7). 1. Its deeds must be killed rather than spared or negotiated with. 2. We all have all the members mentioned in COL 3:5. 3. We mortify these members because we are dead. We put our position in Christ into practice. 4. Since our affection will be placed somewhere, setting our affection upon things above is a necessary part of mortifying our members upon the earth. a. This world down here is corrupted by lust (2PE 1:4; 1JO 2:15-17). b. Loving the things of the world provides entry points for temptation. c. Our life is above with Christ in an incorruptible world. This is where our identity is. e. The deeds of the body are mortified when we walk in the Spirit. i. Walking is the Spirit is being regulated by the word of God, which is given by the Spirit (1PE 1:21; PSA 119:1-3). ii. We overcome the deceits of sin and its lusts with the truth of God s word (JOH 8:31-32). iii. When the Scriptures are controlling our life, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. iv. The lust will still be present, but it will not be fulfilled. 9. If the evils we feel were not capable of being overruled for good, He (God) would not permit them to remain in us. This we may infer from His hatred of sin, and the love which He bears to His people. John Newton a. God s allowance of the law of sin to be present in us displays: i. His power in maintaining His work in us in the midst of so much opposition. The Law of Sin Page 4 of 5

5 1. This law of sin gives Satan an advantage that he exploits and yet he is defeated. 2. Is there a greater demonstration of God s strength than to see such a pitiful, storm-tossed ship towed past an armada of sins and devils, into God s safe harbor at last? What a tribute to His power for so weak a vessel to foil all the battleships of Satan! William Gurnall ii. His love and mercy in forbearing with us and forgiving us so many falls. b. God s allowance of the law of sin in us causes us to be more beholden to God s grace and mercy (1CO 15:10; PSA 94:18). i. This law of sin reminds of where we would be without His grace and mercy. ii. We want to gain an ability of doing something; and He suits His dispensations to convince us that we can do nothing. We want a stock in ourselves, and He would have us absolutely dependent upon Him. So far as we are content to be weak that His power may be magnified in us, so far we shall make our enemies know that we are strong, though we ourselves shall never be directly sensible that we are so; only by comparing what we are with the opposition we stand against, we may come to a comfortable conclusion that the Lord worketh mightily in us (PSA 41:11). John Newton iii. Paul saw Jesus Christ as His only way of deliverance from the body of this death. Hence, Jesus Christ got all the glory for Paul s Christian life! 10. Does your struggle with the law of sin make you long for a righteousness you have not yet attained in practice? Then you are blessed according to the words of Christ in MAT 5:6: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. The Law of Sin Page 5 of 5