I can’t remember when I first learned John 3:16. It seems as if I grew up knowing this verse of Scripture. I heard about a lady who used to make her children memorize a verse of Scripture when they wanted something. One day her daughter said, "Momma, everything I have I have because of Scripture. I look at my shoes and say, there goes John 3:16. I look at my new coat and say, there goes Psalm 23." Not a bad idea actually.
But through the teaching of my parents and through the teaching of my Sunday School teacher and through the preaching of my pastor, I came to realize that I needed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. So one day my Sunday School teacher prayed with me. That morning I walked the aisle, made a public confession of my faith in Jesus Christ, filled out the membership card, was introduced to the congregation, and was baptized a few weeks later. At eight years of age, I was a confirmed, baptized, certified Baptist Christian. I somehow thought that God had zapped me with the magic of His hand, made me perfect, and I would never sin again. I thought I had been so changed that I would never let Him down.
Within hours, I made a mistake that was so obvious even I noticed it. By the time I got home, I picked a fight with my older brother. And immediately after that a demon whispered in my ear, "You must not be a Christian, because a Christian wouldn’t do a thing like that." Too many years later, I learned to my delight, the fact that God doesn’t kick His kids out of the family when they mess up.
For the thirty-five years that I have been a Christian, two things have constantly puzzled me.
1. How much God loves me.
2. How sinful I still am.
It’s been somewhat encouraging to go through life and find other Christians who have felt the same way. In our hymnal is a song entitled "Beneath the Cross of Jesus," and the author says, "...Two wonders I confess: The wonders of His glorious love and my unworthiness." But the most encouraging words I’ve every found are in God’s Word. These are a testimony by someone who undoubtedly was one of the greatest Christians of his day and of all times. This is the testimony of the apostle Paul in Romans 7:14-25. Verses 14-20 are stated in somewhat legal fashion, and in verses 21-25, the same thing is said again in a more philosophical way. Look at it with me.
READ Romans 7:14-25
There are two questions that seem to bother most of us.
1. If I can’t live a perfect life, then how can I know I’m a Christian?
2. If I don’t have what it takes, what does it take?
If I Can’t Live A Perfect Life, Then How Can I Know I’m A Christian
If I can’t live a Christian life, how do I know that I’m a Christian?
People are always asking me, "Just how much does it take? How much good do you have to do to please God? If we can’t do it all the time, how much does it take? If I can’t live a perfect life, how can I know I am a Christian?
In this testimony, we need to ask ourselves something. At what stage in his life was the apostle Paul living when he said these things? Is this the statement of someone before they came to Christ: "I’ve got this war in me, and I can’t win it"? Is this someone who is a brand new Christian, just beginning to take his first wobbly steps and crying out like a baby, saying, "I don’t think I can ever learn to do this"?
You’ll notice in Romans 7 that these two testimonies are stated in two different tenses. When he says, "I didn’t have what it takes to become a Christian," it’s stated in the past tense. He says, "I was..., I did..., I thought..." But when you get to Romans 7:14 where this testimony begins, it becomes present tense.
He begins to say, "I am..., There is no good in me." He’s saying he simply does not have what it takes to please the Lord. He uses words like "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."
These are the words of one of the most committed missionaries the world ever met. These are the words of a man who when he spoke them was undoubtedly one of the greatest Christians of his day and of all times. He spoke these things in the present tense.
Further he said, "I have learned that I don’t have what it takes, because I was wrong about the law, the authority of God. I thought the law was legal." In verse 14, he says the law is spiritual. Paul said, "I thought if I joined a church, kept a few rules, go to a few meetings, don’t do some of those things, do some of these outward things .... if it’s just a matter of legality, then surely God will understand it’s going to be all right. I always lived like that." This man tried hard to live like that. He was a Pharisee. He was sincere and tried hard to live the law as legal.
But he said, "When I found out the law is spiritual, then I realized that I couldn’t keep all of it. There’s no chance of doing it, for what is spiritual is what is inside of you. What is spiritual is what wells from the very deepest part of your heart. I used to think that if I didn’t hurt people, murder someone, or do some of these things, then it would be all right. Now I find the command of God is love, and these outward things are nothing more than symptoms of what’s inside of us. The disease is not in performance. It’s in being."
Paul said, "Now God says, ’I command you to love,’ and I learned what love is. ’Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ By those standards, I find myself falling very short.
Do you remember how Jesus said, "Let me tell you what the law is. You will love your enemies. You will pray for those who hurt you. You will do good to anyone who does bad to you. You will never return evil for evil. If someone hits you on the right jaw, you turn your left to him"? God’s law is an inner thing.
It’s spiritual.
Paul says here, "I’ve learned something about me. There is a part of me that will never be spiritual. "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." Now he’s not excusing himself. He’s not copping out here and saying, "The devil made me do it. I’m not responsible." He’s saying, "There are two natures in me, and one of them will never be spiritual. That sinful nature in me will never be changed. It is there for me to battle for as long as I live. When Christ comes and changes me, I will always have that sinful nature in me. I have to struggle with that.
There’s a part of me that will never be spiritual, not on this earth."
Remember that popular, yet poorly paid poet Anonymous. He wrote these lines:
Within this earthly temple of me is a crowd.
There’s one of me that is humble;
there’s one of me that is proud.
There’s one of me that loves his neighbor as himself.
There’s one of me that loves naught but fame and self.
There’s one of me that feels sorry when he sins.
There’s one that unrepentant sits and grins.
From much undue anxiety I would be free
If only I could decide which one is me.
Have you ever thought, "Will the real me please sand up?" Paul said, "There is a part of me that will never, ever be spiritual."
You Desire The Right Things
Then how can we know that we’re a Christian? Paul said, "For what I want to do I do not do... 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... For in my inner being I delight in God’s law..." Only a Christian would say that. A lost person would never say,
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law..." Someone without Christ does not delight in God’s law or authority.
They delight in their own authority.
They live for their own lives.
They do their own things.
They want only what they themselves in their selfish lives would desire.
They have no sense of "I want to do this."
They don’t want the inner law of God cramping their style and working in their lives.
You know you’re a Christian because of the desire of your heart to please God with how you live and to love Christ with all your heart.
Remember David was not allowed to build the temple. He did everything but build it, but God wouldn’t let him build it. However, God said to him, "David, as far as I’m concerned, you get the credit for it, because it was in your heart."
Go to Gethsemane, and there the disciples could tell that Jesus Christ was as tense, pained, and in as much agony as they had ever seen Him. He went aside to pray, leaving them instructions: "Would you pray with Me?" He came back, and they were asleep. He said, "Wake up. Would you please pray with Me?" He came back again, and they were asleep. The Bible says, Jesus said, "I understand.
I know that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Our God understands. He tells us what really matters to Him. This is not excusing sin. We’ll always pay the price for any sin we commit. It’s built in. It’s going to have its reaction. Every kick that’s wrong will kick back harder.
But the fact is that God understands.
The Psalmist said, "He knows our frames. He knows that we are dust." You can know that you are a Christian, because there is in you the heartfelt desire to please and serve the Lord and to honor Him with all your heart and soul.
And only a Christian would say what Paul said, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" A lost person wouldn’t say that. They might have twinges of conscience every now and then, but they would always say, "I’m a good man, I’m a good woman. I do the best I can. I help people." They would never say, "What a wretched man, what a wretched woman I am!" They’ve never caught a glimpse of the One who really is good, and they just don’t know.
A Christian is one who faces his struggle. She will always fight this inner battle and will always struggle in this civil war within her. A lost person does not have that struggle, because there’s only one nature there. That’s the sinful, destructive nature which takes its toll in a million ways worse.
If I Don’t Have What It Takes,
What Does It Take?
The second question is: If I don’t have what it takes, what does it take?
The fact is: What it takes is knowing that you don’t have what it takes. That’s why the Lord God says pride is probably the most damaging and devastating sin in all the world.
But we as Christians have to admit we have this depraved nature within us that could drag us down. We have to watch it constantly. This dog is always pulling at the chain, wanting to get loose to bite and destroy.
Christians all through the years have known about those two natures. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was probably the greatest preacher of all times. He’s called the prince of all preachers by historians. He said, "Sometimes, I wonder why I don’t believe Christ more. But I’m equally puzzled why I believe Him at all.
I am puzzled by the fact that I do not love Him more. But I’m puzzled by the fact that I love Him at all. I am puzzled that I am not holier than I am. But I am more puzzled that I want to be holy at all. For I know this depraved, sinful nature within me, despite all that the grace of God has done."
Spurgeon said that if you were to unleash this depraved nature within the very person in all this earth, that person would become a worse devil than the devil himself. We struggle with that, and all of us know it’s there. And we can have what it takes when we know we don’t have what it takes to win against that.
You Ask The Right Question
So we say with Paul, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" And when you know you don’t have what it takes, then you ask the right question. You never ask, "What can I do to be delivered from this body of death? What’s supposed to happen? Where can I go? What can I do?" You always ask, "Who?" not "What?" Because it’s only Jesus Christ who can make us the people we ought to be. It’s always "Who." It isn’t "What" or "How." It’s Him.
And you’ll learn that the greatest lie of twenty first century Christendom is that we are people who operate on performance. We talk about performing. We talk about what we do, how we perform, and how we show who we are. The fact is that our whole secret is in experience. It is in knowing the Jesus inside of you. You’ll never be able to do enough to do it. You don’t have what it takes. Quit trying to perform and start trying to know Him, love Him, follow Him, have fellowship with Him, and become more and more like Him. You learn to pray with Paul, "Oh, that I may know Him!"
For you see, nothing is said in the Word of God in first century Christendom about performance. It’s all about experience. It is God’s people saying, "Jesus Christ is in me. The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Romans 7 is about not having what it takes. Beginning in verse seven, the Apostle Paul said, "I didn’t have what it took to save me, even though I tried harder than anyone the world has ever seen." I think he did, but he didn’t have what it took to save him. Then in verse 14, he said, "I found I don’t have what it takes to live a Christian life, because it takes Christ .... knowing Him,
loving Him, honoring Him, and fellowshipping with Him with all your heart and soul."
So there’s the cry of despair: "What a wretched man I am!" And there’s the cry of victory. Strange isn’t it? The cry of despair and the cry of victory are right together. But the fact is the victory is always on the other side of that despair. For if your pride keeps you from that despair, you’ll never know the victory.
If you think there’s good in you, that you can earn the place of God, that you should be rewarded for something, you’ll never get there. But when you say, "What a wretched man I am!" .... on the other side of that is "Thanks be to God .... through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
The cry of despair is the way you go to the cry of victory. Lord willing, in days to come, we’ll look at Romans 8 where he tells us how to appropriate through the Holy Spirit of God more and more of Jesus Christ, for that’s all the Holy Spirit is about. The Holy Spirit of God never calls attention to Himself.
He always points us to Jesus Christ. We’ll learn that there will be less times of saying, "What a wretched man I am!" and more times of saying, "Thanks be to God .... through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
I want you to know today that this whole chapter is saying we don’t have what it takes to save ourselves. Only Jesus Christ can do that. We don’t have what it takes to live a Christian life. Only Jesus Christ living through us can do that. In you inner being, as you work with your spirit and understand it’s not performance, but experience, then you’ll find more victory and less defeat.
Then this Scripture ends with the statement: "So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." We thought we’d solved the problem with the statement just above it, but he says the problem will be with you until you die. A part of the Christian’s life is the struggle with these two natures. To some degree all of your life, you have to keep saying, "What a wretched person I am." But you’ll always be able to say if you know Christ, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
There’s the victory.
