Why Do We Still Struggle With Sin Series

WHY DO WE STILL STRUGGLE WITH SIN?

Romans 7: 14-25 (p786) March 10, 2013

INTRODUCTION:

I think I’ve been fairly clear on the point that when you give your life to Christ and ask for Salvation…it’s a commitment to follow him…you’re not getting your ticket punched to heaven; you’re not getting your get out of Hell free card…You are surrendering “ownership” You are dying, being buried, you are rising to walk in “newness” of life…why.

Because you are a “Born-Again, Spirit-filled, and Spirit-led, adopted child, a co-heir with Jesus of an eternal inheritance…but that doesn’t mean the struggle with sin is over!!! I’ll assure you at least for the apostle Paul and Rick Burdette it isn’t.

Listen….Read text (Romans 7:14-25) (p786)

WOW!!! This is the apostle Paul talking…It is an intimate glimpse into his deepest heart. The man who wrote half the New Testament under the direction of God’s Holy Spirit…The man who planted the foundational churches in the gentile world through His three missionary journeys...says…

“There is a war being waged inside me…In the depth of my heart I love God love Jesus, Love His word, but right alongside that deep love is a selfish nature that wants to be gratified..”

Paul is saying, “When the Holy spirit moved in…He made His home in a very dirty place…And there is a constant battle with the old me you know “The one who likes to set in the Lazy boy eating cheetos!” (Loose paraphrase)

You see “Holy” isn’t God’s Spirits first name…it’s His Job Description…what does God’s Spirit do after he moves into a born again believer’s life? He begins to clean the house…He starts prioritizing the structure so it can be a Temple worthy of God’s presence.

And it’s kinda like the 38 year old guy who gets married for the first time…And his wife tells him to get rid of the “Budweiser lamp” and the “refrigerator held together with duct tape, and the “brown worn out couch”. There’s gonna be a WAR…I promise…(or maybe he’s really smart and jut does it!!)

Even if you have not surrendered to Christ yet…The Holy Spirit may be fulfilling His job description as a way of drawing you to salvation…You see if you are still separated from God, still dead in your sin, still unredeemed and lost…The Spirits job is to show you how lost you are…reveal how separated from God you are, and the Spirit also convicts you of the consequences of staying in that place…

On the night before Jesus was crucified…24 hours before his death for our sins..Jesus looked at His disciples…His closest followers and said, “It is for your good that I am going away…unless I go away, the advocate will not come to you, but if I go I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)

The Advocate…both Paul the apostle and John the beloved reveal…the Holy Spirit is

I A NEW TYPE OF LAWYER

As Jesus finishes up that statement about the Holy spirit…calling Him “The Advocate” he says…”When He comes He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin, and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8)

In our text in Romans 7 the subject is clearly about Sin, righteousness, and judgment...and the apostle Paul’s struggle with it…Let me share with you an important difference between the two passages, both of which deal with Sin…

First of all If you are not a surrendered, Spirit filled and led follower of Christ…and God’s Spirit is working on you…convicting you….cutting your heart…revealing your separation form a Holy God…He’s doing just what Jesus said God’s gift would do!...something He could not do in everyone’s heart while in a body of flesh….this Spirit can go and do this in thousands of people at the same time…This Advocate, Lawyer of God, Comforter, helper, paraclete, Counselor…stands at the courtroom of your heart… and says…Look, see the reality of your sin…you are guilty and worthy of punishment…He’s a prosecutor…The one who does this as an advocate between God and Man…It’s the reason Jesus left His Spirit and filled His people with that power and message…those who are separated and convicted by the Spirit and the truth…listen…Here’s what Peter the Apostle said in the first gospel message for the church are the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:32 -42 (p75)

The promised Holy Spirit…He’s the one working in what you now see and hear...Jesus is Lord! He is the Promised one…You crucified Him (Sin being dealt with) but God raised Him…

When the people heard this they were “cut to the heart”….The Advocate has laid open and bare their sinful hearts…the response “what do we do?”

You turn from your old ways to God (that’s repentance) you are baptized into Christ…for the forgiveness of all that sin and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”