God Will Help Us Live In Victory Over Sin! Series

God Will Help Us Live in Victory over Sin!

The Book of Romans

Romans 7:21-25, Romans 8:1-6

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - July 10, 2016

(Revised December 30, 2020)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Romans 7:21. Last time in this chapter, God's Word spoke to us about our personal struggles with sin. But thank God, we also got to see that Jesus Christ is the answer for our struggles!

*Tonight, we will review what Paul said about our sinfulness. Then in chapter 8 we will see how our God helps us to live in victory over our sin.

*J. Vernon McGee called Romans 8 the high point of this great book, and he wrote that "'we enter this chapter with no condemnation, we close with no separation, and in between all things work together for good to those that love God.' My friend, how could you have it any better than that?

*We find that joy and peace are to be given to God's children in this life. Sin does not have to dictate how we live, because of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives! Up to now, God's Spirit has only been mentioned twice in Romans. But the Holy Spirit is mentioned 19 times in this chapter! (1)

*That's why F. B. Meyer called Romans 8 the "chapter of the Holy Spirit." Meyer described our "new life in the Spirit" as "reinforcements of divine energy" and the "power" for us to do what we could never do in our own strength. And now there is no need for us to live in perpetual self-condemnation." (2)

*God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will surely help us to live the way He wants us to live. So, think about living in victory as we read Romans 7:21 - 8:6.

MESSAGE:

*Have you ever met a true Christian who wanted to disappoint God? No. -- And you never will. All Christians want to please the Lord. All Christians want to live in victory over sin. But how can we do it? How can we live the way God wants us to live?

1. FIRST: WE NEED THE FACTS ABOUT OUR SIN.

[1] AND THE FACT IS, OUR SIN MAKES US STRUGGLE.

*This is God's message for us in Romans 7:21-23, where Paul said:

21. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

22. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

23. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

*Paul reminds us here that the most devoted Christians who ever lived have struggled with sin, and so will we.

*The great Christian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn once wrote that it would be different, if there were "evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." (3)

*Our old sin nature makes us struggle with sin. That's why in 1 Corinthians 10:12 Paul said, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

*Galatians 5:16-17 says, "Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do (or cannot do) the things that you wish."

*1 Peter 2:11 also says this to all Christians, "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul."

*Church: We need the facts about our sin. And the fact is: our sin makes us struggle.

[2] BUT OUR SIN ALSO MAKES US SUFFER.

*We see Paul suffering in vs. 24, where he cried out and said, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

*Our sin makes us suffer. And we need to know this: If we are truly children of God, we will never be happy through known sin. Our sin will always make us suffer, and that's a fact.

*How can we live the way God wants us to live? We need the facts about our sin.

2. BUT MOST OF ALL, WE NEED FAITH IN OUR SAVIOR.

*We need faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! This is God's great message for us in Romans 7:24-8:3. Faith in Jesus Christ was the only thing that could ease Paul's suffering. And he said:

24. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?