THE THRILL OF VICTORY, THE AGONY OF DEFEAT
Romans 7:14-25
I. Paul’s Dilemma, 14-20
A. The Problem Pin-Pointed, (14)
B. The Problem Paralleled
14-17 & 18-20 are parallels
1. Each section begins with a frank acknowledgment of our condition, of what we are in ourselves and of what we know ourselves to be.
2. Each section continues with a vivid description of the resulting conflict.
3. Each section ends with a conclusion about the cause of a Christian’s personal, moral inability apart from the Holy Spirit.
II. Paul’s Deductions, 21-23
A. A Companion, 21
B. A Confession, 22
C. A Captivity, 23
III. Paul’s Despair, 24
IV. Paul’s Deliverance, 25
Two men who lived in a small village got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve. So they decided to talk to the town sage.
The first man went to the sage’s home and told his version of what happened. When he finished, the sage said, “You’re absolutely right.”
The next night, the second man called on the sage and told his side of the story. The sage responded, “You’re absolutely right.”
Afterward, the sage’s wife scolded her husband. “Those men told you two different stories and you told them they were absolutely right. That’s impossible—they can’t both be absolutely right.”
The sage turned to his wife and said, “You’re absolutely right.”
—David Moore in Vital Speeches of the Day
Tommy Lasorda the former Los Angeles Dodgers manager describes his battle with bad habits: “I took a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, stared at it and said, “Who’s stronger, you or me?” The answer was me. I stopped smoking. Then I took a vodka martini and said to it, “Who’s stronger, you or me?” Again the answer was me. I quit drinking. Then I went on a diet. I looked at a big plate of linguine with clam sauce and said, “Who’s stronger, you or me?” And a little clam looked up at me and answered, “I am.” I can’t beat linguine.
In our text, Paul is describing his own personal struggle with sin. This is the most dramatic testimony of Paul’s struggle with sin. We have little difficulty believing that we struggle with sin or that others like Peter struggled, but Paul somehow seems above it all. This is a misconception, as our theology should remind us, and as Paul’s words instruct us. Paul’s struggle is a deeply personal struggle, with sin and with his own flesh. It is a war within. It is a war which results from his conversion, a war which did not exist until he was saved.
I. Paul’s Dilemma, 14-20
A. The Problem Pin-Pointed, (14)
14 ¶ For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Paul has just stated in the previous verses that there is a problem between himself and the Law of God. The problem is not the Law, the problem is Paul.
In 1980 a Boston court acquitted Michael Tindall of flying illegal drugs into the United States. Tindall’s attorneys argued that he was a victim of “action addict syndrome,” an emotional disorder that makes a person crave dangerous, thrilling situations.
Tindall was not a drug dealer, merely a thrill seeker.
An Oregon man who tried to kill his ex-wife was acquitted on the grounds that he suffered from “depression-suicide syndrome,” whose victims deliberately commit poorly planned crimes with the unconscious goal of being caught or killed.
He didn’t really want to shoot his wife; he wanted the police to shoot him.
Then there’s the famous “Twinkie syndrome.” Attorneys for Dan White, who murdered San Francisco mayor George Moscone, blamed the crime on emotional stress linked to White’s junk food binges.
White was acquitted of murder and convicted on a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Nowadays, nobody’s at fault for anything. We are a nation of victims.
—Louis Lotz, Sioux City, Iowa, Leadership, Winter Quarter, 1992, p. 57
B. The Problem Paralleled
14-17 & 18-20 are parallels
1. Each section begins with a frank acknowledgment of our condition, of what we are in ourselves and of what we know ourselves to be.
14, “we know that...”
14 ¶ For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
The word “carnal” means “fleshly”. While the Law would teach man how to live godly, Man’s flesh is only interested in that which is sinful!
Rom 7:18 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.
2. Each section continues with a vivid description of the resulting conflict.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Paul describes the struggle that exists within every believer this evening. The word “allow” in verse 15 means “to know”. Paul is saying that he does not even know why he does what he does!
Rom 7:18 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.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
This is the conflict of a Christian man:
His whole being is set upon the will of God and the law of God. he longs to do good.
He hates to do evil—hates it with a holy hatred.
And if he does sin, it is against his mind, his will, his consent; it is against the whole tenor of his life.
Herein lies the conflict of the Christian.
3. Each section ends with a conclusion about the cause of a Christian’s personal, moral inability apart from the Holy Spirit.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
We may summarize the teaching of these two parallel sections thus.
First comes our condition: I know myself to be indwelt by the flesh, which contains no good but (if I am left to myself) holds me captive.
Next the resulting conflict: I cannot do what I want, but do do what I detest.
Finally the conclusion: if my actions are thus against my will, the cause is sin which dwells within me.
All along, what Paul is seeking to do is to expose the no-goodness of our flesh, to convince us that only the Holy Spirit can deliver us.
II. Paul’s Deductions, 21-23
A. A Companion, 21
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
There is a philosophical conclusion:
“I find”—this is a sort of philosophical conclusion from my experience— “I find it to be a law or “I discover this principle” that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.’
Paul’s discovery is that every time he tries to do the good, evil is always there!
Every good word, every good deed, every good thought, every good motive and every good thing is challenged by evil.
If we are able to any good thing, it is always the result of a battle!
Isn’t it true that when we would do good, there is always the temptation to do evil?
Isn’t it hard to keep your motives pure?
Isn’t it difficult to control the thought processes so that good wins out? Sure it is!
B. A Confession, 22
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Paul now lets us in on a secret concerning himself. He loves the Law!
Whatever God has said in His Word is a delight to the new Paul!
This is true for every saved individual!
If you are saved by the grace of the Lord, you love His Word!
When the Lord reveals His will to you, you are delighted and want to do it with all your heart.
That is a good sign!
A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion. Evangelist Robert L. Sumner tells about him in his book The Wonders of the Word of God. The victim’s face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue. At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had “read” through the entire Bible four times.
—The Wonders of the Word of God, by Robert L. Sumner.
C. A Captivity, 23
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.
Although Paul’s heart is set on doing the will of God, there is another part of himself that fights him at every turn and seeks to bring him into captivity!
III. Paul’s Despair, 24
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Paul’s description of himself! Paul calls himself a “wretched man” Surely, this doesn’t describe the great Apostle does it? I think so!
Some believe Paul is drawing an analogy here. Certain types of criminals were executed by the Romans with special brutality. Sometimes if the man had committed a murder, he was bound hand to hand, face to face with the corpse of his victim and then thrown out into the heat of the Mediterranean sun. As the corpse decayed, it ate death into the living man and became to him, in the strictest literal sense, “a body of death.” Paul sees the carnal believer thus bound to the old nature and truly a wretched man.
IV. Paul’s Deliverance, 25
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.
I want to say something about the role of thanksgiving in victory!
Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Much of temptation comes when we are ungrateful. Eve could have had everything but the fruit of one tree. Many of us dwell on the few things we don’t have and lose the many things we do have.
You want to escape immorality? Be grateful for your spouse!
Count your blessings!
This verse is not a declaration of Paul’s defeat. He is not saying that he will just keep wanting to do what is right in his heart while he keeps doing what is wrong with his body. What he is saying is that he is not giving up the fight!
Let me go back to Greek mythology, to the era of the Argonauts. Odysseus is sailing with his crew on a series of dangerous adventures. One adventure takes them past the island inhabited by the sirens. Now these creatures have the bodies of birds, the heads of women, and very beautiful voices. when the sirens begin to sing, passing sailors are so entranced that they rush toward the island in order to encounter these lovely creatures, only to be smashed to pieces and destroyed on the dangerous rocks and the treacherous surf around the island. This story is where we get the expression, “the siren voice of pleasure.” the hunger for pleasure is so great that we ignore the perils; yet in reaching our desire we find ourselves shipwrecked. (The siren myth is very much like the Teutonic myth of the Lorelei.)
Now Odysseus didn’t know how he was going to get by. There were two ways it could be done. First, by equipment. Odysseus plugged up all of the sailors’ ears and had them lash him to a mast so he couldn’t move.
But somebody came up with a better idea. There was on board the ship a man who was the greatest harp player of them all, Orpheus. (Have you ever heard of the Orpheum Theater? That comes from the Greeks, too.) Orpheus made the most beautiful music on his harp— far more beautiful than the singing of the sirens. Thus as the men listened to the music of Orpheus they were not tempted by the songs of the sirens.
Do I need to interpret the ancient myth? What we need in our lives is a passion for something that transcends all of our other passions. Then we will hear the voice of God and be unmoved by the siren voices of unregulated passion which would bead us to destruction. Then we can satisfy many of those legitimate appetites in their proper order. We need to create a relationship with God that is so strong that it can dominate any other passion of life. This is the road to mastery.
In his book Forever Triumphant, F.J. Huegel told a story that came out of World War II. After General Jonathan Wainwright was captured by the Japanese, he was held prisoner in a Manchurian concentration camp. Cruelly treated, he became “a broken, crushed, hopeless, starving man.” Finally the Japanese surrendered and the war ended. A United States army colonel was sent to the camp to announce personally to the general that Japan had been defeated and that he was free and in command. After Wainwright heard the news, he returned to his quarters and was confronted by some guards who began to mistreat him as they had done in the past. Wainwright, however, with the news of the allied victory still fresh in his mind, declared with authority, “No, I am in command here! These are my orders.” Huegel observed that from that moment on, General Wainwright was in control.
Huegel made this application: “Have you been informed of the victory of your Savior in the greatest conflict of the ages? Then rise up to assert your rights. Never again go under when the enemy comes to oppress. Claim the victory in Jesus’ Name.” Huegel observed, “We must learn to stand on resurrection ground, reckoning dead the old-creation life over which Satan has power, and living in the new creation over which Satan has no power whatever.”
