Walking the Romans Road ROAD WARRIORS Romans 7:15-8:2 Before Stewart puts his guitar away, I want him to stand right here.now, Kevin, would you come up here, and stand next to Stewart? OK Now I ll stand right here. I don t know if you have seen this yet, but as I was walking through town on Monday, I saw this advertisement in a theater window: (picture of Minions Stewart (with guitar), Kevin & Bob). Isn t that great? Thanks, guys! The Minions is a movie coming out this summer based on characters from a previous film entitled, Despicable Me. Who knows what a minion is? A minion is a loyal servant of another, usually more powerful being. When I saw the ad in the theater window, I immediately thought of my friends here, and took the picture and then I thought about the part of the Bible we are studying these days. We re doing a study of the book of Romans these days, and in chapter 6 of that biblical book, Paul tells us that we are all minions. Each of us is a loyal servant, or slave of something that is more powerful than us. In Romans 6:19-22, we are told that we are either slaves to sin, or slaves to God. he says, For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. So in chapter 6, Paul says that we are all minions of something or some One. Either sin, which leads to shame and death, or of God, which leads to holiness and eternal life. Last week we talked about how when we come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, we are set free from the slavery to sin, and are God s alone. Throughout that chapter, Paul assures us that the sin that once controlled us has been replaced by the control of God. We are no longer under its mastery. But we pointed out that Paul makes it equally clear that the sinful desires and our old nature will continue to wage war against this new controlling power in our lives. Paul commands us, do not let sin reign in your body, or obey its desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to
sin Offer yourselves to God Those are commands that we must hear and obey as we walk through this life. The victory has been won but the battle goes on. As we move to chapter 7 of Romans, in one way, you could say that we have the Apostle Paul s version of Despicable Me. In his describing of the battle that takes place within us, he gives a vivid image that I think we all can relate to. Follow along as I read his words: (Rom 7:12-13) So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. Paul is asking Is the Law, since it makes me aware of sin, a bad thing? The answer is no! The law of God makes me aware of sin it doesn t cause sin. I don t look in the mirror and blame it for what I see! When I look into the Word of God and it convicts me of sin, I don t blame the book it is simply revealing things as they are! The law of God makes me aware of my sin when I come to Christ, and as I walk with Him. It makes me aware of the parts of my life that need cleansing and attention. Let s continue on in verses 14-20: For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. There is some debate among people as to the nature of Paul s writing here. Is he referring back to the old days, before he was a believer, or is he speaking of his present condition? There are good, scholarly people on both sides of the issue. Those who think that he is referring to his old, life, point out that he says, I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin, and I have the desire to do good, but I can t do it. Those don t sound like the kinds of things that a believer would say. But I think that he s talking about his life in the battleground of the walk of faith. And here s why: In verses 7-13, the verbs are in the past tense, but he changes to the present tense in this paragraph. In verse 7-13, Paul is talking about sin killing him, but in these verses, he s talking about the living, ongoing battle with sin. There are things that Paul says here that simply would not be true of an unbeliever, for example, in chapter 1, Paul describes the lost person as rebellious to God, disobedient, God-haters, inventing ways of doing evil and praising people who are depraved. But in this paragraph, Paul says, I delight in God s law; I agree that the Law is good; I desire to do what is good; and I don t want to do evil.
Each of those lead me to believe that Paul is talking about his current existence the ongoing war in his life as a follower of Jesus Christ. We have this same type of battle within ourselves. The flesh when it speaks to us is trying to convince us that it is in control and it uses any means necessary to keep us from living for God. It tells us God forgives go ahead and sin! It tells us, It s just a little sin; no one will get hurt! It tells us, You re not really a very strong Christian anyway so you d might as well sin! All sorts of lies to keep us in the grip and bondage of a sinful nature that has been defeated and replaced by Christ. Tommy Lasorda was the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in America. He once describes his battle with the inner self: "I took a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, stared at it and said, "Who's stronger, you or me?" The answer was me, and I stopped smoking. Then I took a vodka martini and said to it, "Who's stronger, you or me?" Again the answer was me, and I quit drinking martinis. Then I decided to go on a diet. I looked at a big plate of linguine with clam sauce and said, "Who is stronger, you or me?" And a little clam looked up at me and answered, "I am." Shaking his head, Lasorda chuckle, You know what, the clam was right, I just cannot beat linguine with clam sauce. But the clam was lying! IT WAS NOT STRONGER Lasorda just didn t want to be free from its control more than he wanted to indulge in linguine with clam sauce! The writer and theologian C.S. Lewis put it this way. No man knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good." The more we look into the mirror of the Word of God, the more aware we become of our sin. God's Spirit, through His word, is drawing us to do what we know is right yet we often do not do it. The closer we draw to Christ, the more aware we become of His holiness, and our sinfulness. And suddenly, in our journey along the Romans Road, we find ourselves as Road Warriors! We are surrounded by conflict! There is a war going on inside us! Paul says, in verse 21: So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. This war is between two beings. On one side is our inner being, our inmost self - that true identity as a child of God, that Paul outlined in chapter 5 and 6; dead to sin and alive to Christ. On the other side, our shallow being, if you will the old, sinful nature - it is right there with us. It fights against our identity as a child of God, and tries to make us a prisoner to sin even while we have been set free by Christ. And the war rages within. This leads to Paul s Despicable Me moment. He cries out Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Can you relate to Paul? Have you ever been caught in a place where you knew what God was asking you to do, but you did something else instead? There is a power struggle going on inside. There is a hot zone in our being where the conflict rages. It may be anger. It may be pride. It may be our appetites. In verse 7, Paul uses coveting as an example of sin he was aware of - we want something that belongs to someone else. It s just one example of the sin within that wages war on our identity in Christ. In this passage, Paul is stating that no one can keep God s law the unbeliever can t keep it, but neither can the believer! Paul is emphasizing that even as a believer, I am in myself incapable of keeping the law. Even though there is a new identity in Christ, and a new love for God, and a delight in His law, I am still incapable of keeping it. Before we go any further, let s stop and learn two important lessons from what has been shared so far. The first lesson is this it s not about me! Just like the rest of the Gospel it s not about what I do, or how good I am but about what God in Christ has done! The moment I think that I have defeated sin and I have gotten myself firmly entrenched in holy living I am in serious danger! I have been blinded to the sin in my life PRIDE at the very least! If the apostle Paul confessed the reality of his inner struggle, then friend, you re going to experience it, too! The second lesson is this it s not about me! Don t let Satan tell you that because you have these struggles you are no child of God. That God s grace is limited by your performance. If Paul struggled, we all will struggle! OK - But what do we do now? How do we live in the reality of this conflict? Paul has told us that we are not to offer our members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but here he s saying that there is a law of sin at work among my members! What do we do in the face of this despicable reality? Ah! But there are two cries from the heart of Paul in this passage, aren t there? The first is the Despicable Me cry What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? And then there is another cry not of despair but a cry of victory! Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! It s not about me it s about Christ. There is no hope in me for my salvation, or even for my obedience to God. My salvation is only through Jesus and His death for me on the cross. My victory over sin is only based on His righteousness not mine. It is only when we realize our complete powerlessness in our self that we can fall completely spent and humbled at the feet of Jesus, and allow Him to live His resurrected life in us. We all need to come to the point where we say: "Lord I am unable to do anything for you, but I trust you to do everything in me." WATCHMAN NEE, was a great church leader and teacher who worked in China during the 20th century. During his thirty years of ministry, Nee published many books expounding the Bible, established churches throughout China and held many conferences to train Bible students and church workers. Following the Communist Revolution, Nee was persecuted and imprisoned for his faith and spent the last twenty years of his life in prison, where he died in
1972. He was once staying in a place with some twenty other Christian men. There was inadequate provision for bathing in the home where they stayed, so they took a daily swim in a river. On one occasion a brother got a cramp in his leg, and began to struggle. Watchman motioned to a brother who was an expert swimmer, to rescue the drowning man. But he made no move. Watchman cried out: "Don't you see the man is drowning?" The others shouted at the expert swimmer to rescue their friend. But the good swimmer still did not move. Calm and collected, he remained just where he was. The voice of the poor drowning man grew fainter and his efforts feebler. When the man finally seemed to go under for the last time, the good swimmer dove into the water from the shore, with a few swift strokes the swimmer was at his side, and both were soon safely ashore. Nevertheless, when Watchman got an opportunity, he aired his views. "I have never seen any Christian who loved his life quite as much as you do," he said. "Think of the distress you would have saved that brother if you had considered yourself a little less and him a little more." But the swimmer, said, "Had I gone earlier, he would have clutched me so fast and hard that both of us would have gone under. A drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself." Do you see the point? The Holy Spirit won t live in His power while we are struggling to live in our power. In our own strength we are wretched people. Our desperate actions, our flailing about, will only lead to our defeat. But when we give up the case, then God will take it up. Verse 1 of chapter 8 assures us that There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Through His Son He has rescued us and through His Spirit He is changing us so that we can enjoy Him forever now in this earthly life, and eternally in His presence. It s not about my efforts, but His life, lived in me and through me by the Holy Spirit And that is what we are going to see in chapter 8, and through the rest of this book. There s only one way to wrap up such a discussion the same way Paul did by giving praise to the Lord. Thanks be to God- through Jesus Christ our Lord!