Despicable Me and Amazing Grace
Romans 7:14-25 14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 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. 20 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. 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! 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.
Intro: What was your most embarrassing moment? Hopefully it’s something you can laugh about now, but maybe at the time it actually brought you to the point of tears. I’ve heard several stories from Pastors about times when their tongues got twisted and they said words they really didn’t mean to say. Or they tripped and fell when they were walking up to the platform. One of mine happened in a chapel service in Bible College. I was sitting in the balcony and it was so warm that I had completely fallen asleep. I was kind of slouched down inconspicuously with my head up enough to make me look like a live body sitting there. All of a sudden I jerked awake and my leg involuntarily lifted and came down with a stomp. My friend who was sitting next to me said, “What are you doing?” I had no answer. I was just deeply embarrassed and was wishing that I had stayed awake.
-Well, whatever your most embarrassing moment was, perhaps you can still remember what it felt like as the blood began to creep up the back of your neck and you felt hot all over – maybe even breaking out into a sweat. Even if you were pretty innocent about whatever happened, you still feel this thing called shame closing in on you. You may even secretly hate yourself for letting something like this happen. Now all you want to do is go hide somewhere and not have to face anybody ever again.
-Feelings of shame and embarrassment just give us a little glimpse of what Paul is describing in our passage today. When a person is deeply embarrassed they may feel weak and powerless. They don’t know how to fix their situation. Of course, Paul is addressing something much more serious – the sinful condition of mankind. I do not believe that these verses were a description of Paul’s life after he encountered Jesus. I’m convinced that Paul was remembering what life was like before he surrendered to the Lord and became a new person in Christ.
-Even though there are a lot of nice people in this world, we all need to come to the place where we recognize that we need a Savior. We may have good intentions and really try to do only good things, but for all the good things we might be able to accomplish, we can never do enough to make ourselves right with God. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that sometimes we do not like the person we see in the mirror. We know the dark thoughts we have. We know the words that we mutter under our breath. There are times that we are not very proud of who we have become – petty, self-centered, impatient, unkind, self-justifying, easily angered, even hateful at times. Jesus came so we wouldn’t have to be slaves to these kinds of thoughts and behavior. He came to free us from our despicable selves!
-My prayer for each of us is that through this message we will be able to see ourselves as we really are, and that we will ask God to remake us into who He wants us to be. He wants to give us a new heart, a new identity, and a new beginning!
-Let’s start by taking a look at what may have been Paul’s despicable condition before he encountered the grace of God and found freedom and forgiveness.
I. A Wretch Like Me
(Sinful Nature Living)
1. Unspiritual Me – sold as a slave to sin. Paul has already said that we are slaves to whomever we present ourselves to obey – sin and death or obedience and righteousness. Galatians gives us some examples of lifestyles that are unspiritual, showing slavery to sin:
Galatians 5:19-21 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
-I’d like to comment on how Paul uses the words “spiritual” and “unspiritual” here. Everyone is spiritual in one sense because we each have a spirit. My spirit is immortal, but my body is temporary. But Paul does not use spiritual in a general sense. When he says the law is spiritual, he is saying that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16). There is nothing wrong with the Law – it comes from God and is good! But as for despicable me, I am not spiritual until I allow God to breathe His Holy Spirit into me! I am spiritually dead until I call on Jesus, asking Him to breathe His new life into me and make me a new person.
2. Undiscerning Me – I do not understand what I do. Maybe you’ve heard Bill Cosby talk about brain damaged people and his description of his kids’ response after they’d done something wrong and got caught. He’d ask them, “Why did you do that?” Their answer, “I don’t know.” Watch this clip and see if you can identify with what Paul meant when he said, “I don’t understand what I do.”
3. Unrighteous Me – I know that nothing good lives in me; I keep doing evil
Romans 3:10-12 10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
Jeremiah 17:9 (The Message)
"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.
Jeremiah 17:9 (New International Version)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
-So, this is despicable me without God’s grace: I am unspiritual- I don’t have the Spirit of God in me, leading me, changing me, helping me. I am undiscerning in regards to my behavior – I don’t know! I am unrighteous. My heart is dark and deceitful. No good thing lives in me. Finally, the despicable me is weak, and unable to do the right thing.
4. Incapable Me – I want to do good, but I cannot carry it out (Conflicted Me)
-Again, I believe Paul is describing his life before Christ was in it. He had a deep knowledge of the law. He could not plead ignorant regarding the boundaries that God had given. And no matter how hard he tried, he was incapable of keeping God’s law perfectly.
-Paul ends this bleak description of his life without grace with a cry of despair that may have come from his lips years before when he was a slave to the law and a slave to sin: 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
II. Amazing Grace that Saves
25 Thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord! Jesus to the Rescue!
-Jesus is the answer to our dilemma! The gospel of Jesus Christ gives power to overcome the sinful nature. We don’t have to answer the call of the lower nature any longer – if the Spirit of God lives in us!
1. When we call on Jesus, we come alive spiritually (Ephesians 2:1-5 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved.)
2. Jesus also gives us a new understanding! We begin to understand that unless we offer our lives to Him, we’ll never be able to do the things we know are right. It’s a new understanding of who we are in Him. When we are in Christ, everything changes. Our identity changes because of whose we are! No longer are we slaves to sin because we serve a new Master – Jesus!
3. Jesus gives us a new righteousness! He makes us right with God when we put our trust in Him. He changes our hearts and our nature so that we are not driven by selfish desires and rebellion against what is right.
4. Jesus gives us a new capacity! Before we encountered Jesus, we did not have the capacity to do what was right. No matter how much we wanted to do the right thing, and no matter how hard we tried, we didn’t have the capacity to do good. See, we were not good on the inside, so we really could not expect to do good things. Many people can do some good things, but when it comes to obeying God from the heart and consistently choosing good over evil, we can’t do that unless God changes us and helps us. And He does that when we surrender our lives to Him. This is what the good news is all about!
-The gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful! It is jaw dropping, sin stopping, life changing, addiction breaking, family saving, marriage restoring, sickness healing, and burden lifting! The good news about Jesus is that broken hearts can be healed! Blind eyes can be made to see! Captive, lonely, oppressed and broken people can be set free and find life instead of death - Joy instead of sorrow - Laughter instead of depression - Peace instead of dysfunction - Truth instead of deception! It makes all the difference in this world and in our lives – if we will let it! The key is you’ve got to want it sincerely and be broken enough to receive it on God’s terms. When we come to God in repentance, we are not brokering a deal! We cannot improve on what God has already done! This is not a DIY project! You cannot do it yourself! It isn’t some kind of build your own salvation!
-Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but through Me.” The Bible also tells us that whoever receives Jesus also receives the right to be called a child of God, with all the rights and privileges that come from having God as your Father. And as a child of God, we are given the power to live in a way that brings honor to our Father.
-So Paul is bringing out the obvious fact that without God, we’re all pretty messed up! Despicable without Christ. In comparison to God’s goodness and pure holiness, we are a sorry lot who have missed the mark and can do nothing to make things right. That is, nothing but ask God to have mercy on us and save us from ourselves!
-I’d like to close by playing an old song from DC Talk, called In the Light. I’ve included the lyrics so you can get the full message – we really need a Savior! Let’s listen.
-If you need a Savior, Jesus wants to rescue you from the sin trap you are in. In response to your repentance and faith in Him, He will give you a clean heart and a new nature. He will breathe new life into your spirit by giving you His Holy Spirit. Will you ask Him for this today?
-Now, what if you’ve already accepted Jesus but you feel like Paul’s description fits your life right now? Maybe you still feel trapped in a body of death, as Paul puts it. What should you do?
-Without questioning your commitment to follow Jesus or the sincerity of your faith, all I can tell you is keep coming back to the cross. That is where we die daily to the sinful nature – the old you! That is where we learn humility and repentance as a way of life! You might say, “I’ve tried all that but I still can’t get free!” Let me encourage you to swallow your pride and ask someone for help. Confess your faults/sins to one another so you can be healed! The gospel is powerful enough to change any heart and life! If you haven’t seen the change, then come back to Jesus and lay everything out before Him. What He did on the cross was enough to break the power that sin had over you. You’re not a sin slave any longer! But you might need to humble yourself enough to get help from another Christian. Some things we can handle ourselves, but God gave us a Church family for a reason – so we could help each other grow and stay connected.
-Let’s not settle for a wretch’s life! Don’t live despicably any longer! God’s grace is strong enough to help us overcome the power of sin.
