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Sermon: Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after 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. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin
Introduction:
I tell you this week has been one of those weeks just loaded with troubles, stress, and mistakes,
the devil has really beaten me up this week.
on top of everything else that has happened this week I came down to the wire so to speak on preparing the sermon
I did not have much time with all that I was doing this week and I tried to prepare this message in a rush but I just couldn't get it together
then I realized that I had forgotten the most important part.
I forgot to ask God for guidance.
I forgot the very basic principal of being a servant of God….talk to him…pray.
to ask for his help
I spent all this week being totally frustrated.
Finally last night I broke down and cried out for help from God
And he answered….
He pointed me to Paul.
A man who suffered ship wrecks, persecution, beatings, stoning, and imprisonment.
The one man second only to Jesus that probably shaped the history of Christianity more than any other.
God answered me by saying that I wasn’t alone.
That Paul himself had been frustrated as well.
Frustrated and disappointed in himself.
Paul lays out his disappointment of his present life as a Christian.
He acknowledges that he daily has the opportunity to do good in the eyes of God – he wants to do good in the eyes of God because he is thankful that God brought him to believe in Jesus as his Savior.
However, he is ashamed of where his spiritual life is
verses 14-16
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Paul is confessing that many times he is confronted with circumstances where he knows exactly what the right, God-pleasing thing to say or do would be – but then he’s startled when he does something different than what he wanted to do or says something other than what he wanted to say.
John Ortberg, in his book The Life You Always Wanted, explains it quite well.
"I look in on my children as they sleep at night, [and] I think of the kind of father I want to be. I want to create moments of magic, I want them to remember laughing until the tears flow ... I want to have slow, sweet talks with them as they’re getting ready to close their eyes. I want to chase fireflies with them, teach them to play tennis, have food fights, and hold them and pray for them in a way that makes them feel cherished. "I look in on them," he writes, "and I remember how the day really went. I remember how they were trapped in a fight over [a game] and I walked out of the room because I didn’t want to spend the energy needed to teach them how to resolve conflict. I remember how my daughter spilled cherry punch at dinner and I yelled at her as if she’d revealed some deep character flaw; I yelled at her even though I spill things all the time and no one yells at me; I yelled at her - to tell the truth - because I’m big and she’s little and I can get away with it. I remember how at nights I didn’t have slow, sweet talks, but merely rushed the children off to bed so I could have more time to myself. "I’m disappointed," Ortberg says, "not just with my life as a father. I am disappointed with my life as a husband, friend, neighbor and human being in general
we should all relate to that.
How many times a day do we say something or do something that we know we shouldn’t?
It just bursts from our lips before we can take it back.
Sometimes…maybe I should say a lot of times…
I find myself in the middle of an argument with someone and I start hearing this voice….you’re wrong randy just apologize and back off.
I’d like to say that I listen to that voice all the time, but truth be known, I usually just continue to fight knowing full well that I’m wrong.
There are other times when I know that the second helping of food is no good for me,
But just one look at me and it's clear I just don't listen
So why do we do the things we know we shouldn’t?
if you will look at verse 17 ;
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I want to do right, but I have a natural born tendency to wander off the correct path. There is a part in all of us that are captive to sin,
destined to moral failure .
What’s worse is that this scenario plays itself over and over again in my life just as it did Paul’s .
In fact Paul says he’s even more confused when the situations arise where he can see the harmful effects that wrong actions would bring on his life but he does them anyway.
It’s like a drug addict who knows that another hit will only further destroy him – but he gets high regardless.
these sinful actions run contrary to our true desires
Paul pinpoints the cause of the problem when he says,
verses 18-20
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
You can see the frustration and disappointment that Paul is dealing with here.
Just because you become a Christian doesn’t mean you won’t sin.
Far from it.
In fact you will be tempted to sin probably more than you ever were in your pre-Christian days.
If you have not made that step of faith….Satan doesn’t have to worry about you. You are already his.
But when you cross the line to God’s team…
then Satan is going to do some poking around to see how he can get you back.
How he can beat you.
Don’t ever think that Satan doesn’t know his stuff when it comes to Gods word. Quite the contrary,
he knows this stuff better than any Bible scholar ever will.
Look at it this way. If a football team wants to beat another team. What is the most important thing they can do?…..
Find out as much as they can about the other team.
Study the tapes.
Know how each player on the other team thinks and plays.
Know their plays themselves.
Satan knows what buttons to push to cause us to sin
Since it is satans sins that is causing us all these problems even as a Christian then it also follows that we are all in need of forgiveness even as a Christian.
Since sin is first and foremost a crime against God then it follows that we are in desperate need of forgiveness that only God can offer.
We need to admit that we are daily guilty of sin –
even when we know better,
even when we want to do better.
we still fall short at times
This is an important reminder for us, especially as Christians, because it keeps us from becoming self-righteous, filled with arrogant pride about our goodness.
we need to remember that our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God
Since as Christians we are still sinners we are still in need of the forgiveness that only God can offer us.
Kay Arthur, a Christian author, put it this way.
If you tolerate sin in your life, that sin will not only take you farther than you wanted to go, it will keep you longer than you wanted to stay and it will cost you more than you thought you’d pay.
If we tolerate sin…
if we let it become a habit,
it will destroy us.
2 Peter 2:19
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
simply put
a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
whatever controls his life.
It might be work, food, gossip, jealousy or any other negative thing in our lives that controls us.
How do you identify a negative habit?
Ask yourself…do I find my self doing it even though it is something that I know is physically, emotionally, or spiritually destructive?.
do I consistently do something that I wish I wouldn’t do, but find I do anyway?
Bad habits are like comfortable beds---easy to get into, but hard to get out of.
Do you know when the best time is to break a habit?
As soon as they start.
Once they get hold, it’s harder and harder to break.
Let me demonstrate…
Say one thread is part of a pattern that we have gotten into.
Whether it be a smoke,
a drink,
a hit…
maybe even a jelly donut.
Pretty unnoticeable by itself.
Easy to break by itself.
But what if we added More and more threads each day And then they started to intertwine around each other
what do we end up having?
a cable that will prove too hard to break…
by yourself anyway.
a man by the name of Paul Van Gorder describes it like this.
On a road not far from my home are some trees that are slowly being destroyed by huge coils of ivy. The vines wind themselves like snakes around the trunk. At this point it is impossible to untwist these runners because they are so firmly embedded into the trees. They are literally strangling the life out of those helpless giants. But there was a day when the ivy was a small plant just seeking a little support in climbing. Had the trees resisted these tiny tendrils, they would not be in the state they are today.
So what do we do now?
Let’s go back in time to get a little clue….
After the lord told Moses to tell the Israelites
Numbers 33: 52
52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
He went on to tell them in verse 55:
55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.
So we need to replace the old bad habits with new good ones.
Illustration:
According to a recent Self Magazine article, losing just one dietary bad habit can result in significant weight loss over a period of one year. If you just substitute high calorie offenders for similar tasting, lower calorie choices, the weight loss can still be significant. Give up one teaspoon of cream in your coffee and lose 6 pounds a year, or switch to a similar amount of skim milk and lose 5 pounds. Give up a glazed donut a day and lose 25 pounds a year, or switch to a medium sized bran muffin and lose 11 pounds in a year. Skipping a teaspoon of butter on a daily bagel will leave you 11 pounds lighter at year’s end, or change to a similar amount of cream cheese and drop 5 pounds. Some other items you can drop and save on are a 12 ounce can of soda a day and forget 17 pounds in a year; a 1.2 ounce chocolate bar a day saves you 12 pounds in 18 months. There’s nothing to it but to do it.
It can be done.
Just remember in God’s race, it’s a marathon not a sprint.
In a marathon, runners have some good stretches and some bad.
It’s all part of the game.
However, the runners don’t just quit when they hit that bad stretch.
They just keep running.
This is what Paul did.
He was having a bad time in his Christian life and he did what most of us fail to do. He confessed it and turned to the one person who could help.
verses 21-25
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after 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. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Frustration and disappointments are going to happen.
But we can’t quit.
We have to keep running.
God will help us through it.
He helped me this week…but only when I finally turned to him.
If you need his help with whatever it might be this altar is open.
