In chapter 5 we learn that the penalty of sin has been dealt with, and in chapter 6, we will learn that the power of sin has been dealt with.

In chapters 3-5 we have talked about justification; from chapter 6 onwards, we are talking about sanctification.

In chapter 5 we hear about our change of position; in chapter 6 we hear about our change of condition.

Prayer

· Romans 7 is one of the most misunderstood chapters in all of the Bible. So many people interpret it as “there is no way I can live the Christian life! Impossible!”

· Ex. It reminds me of learning to swim. When I was young looking at the deep water made me frightened because I just knew I would drown out there, but then I learned to swim and instead of being afraid, I was excited to get out there. It became an adventure.

· If you are tired of drowning, listen up. These are swimming lessons.

· We are in a great spiritual war, a great war with our flesh, our will, our old nature, but if we can learn to fight, we can defeat the enemy!

Vs. 1

· Paul is first addressing the Jewish believers.

· In fact, the Roman church was founded by Jews who had been converted at Pentecost in Jerusalem.

· They had returned to Rome, and not yet having the Bible, they had slipped back into their Jewish roots, the Mosaic Law.



Vs. 2-4

· A married woman was bound to her husband for as long as he lived or until he divorced her.

· In the same way, the Jewish believers have been set free from the Law.

o Death has brought freedom.

o When they gave their hearts to Christ, they died to the Law and have now been married to Christ.

o Gentile believers were never under the Law (see Acts 15).

o Ex. In the same way that a spouse dies, and we are no longer bound to that marriage, we have been set free, no longer bound, to the Law/religion/legalisms.

· You are now married to Christ, not your sin.

· Jesus married Himself to you. We might use the marriage vows to illustrate: “I, Jesus, take you, sinner, to be My Bride. And I do promise and covenant before My Father to be your loving and faithful Savior and Bridegroom. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish for all eternity."

· Have you given your heart to Christ? Have you really been married to Christ?

· “I, a sinner, take you, Jesus to be my Savior and Lord. And I do promise and covenant before God to be your loving and faithful bride. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish for all eternity."

· Have you done this?

Vs. 5-6

· When Christ died on the cross, the Law and condemnation over you died with Him.

Colossians 2:13-17
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

· At the cross, Christ took all condemnation from Satan, Demons, or even Men. Christ took it all upon Himself.

· We can live in this new freedom we have in Christ. The old nature is dead and we are free from its power.

Vs. 7-8

· The Jewish believers had tried to keep the Law, even as believers.

· Ex. Even today the Orthodox Jew still tries to keep the Law in his own power. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a day to reflect on past sins; however, there is still no sacrifice to cover or put away his sin.

· The Law isn’t sin, but it is the tool God has used for thousands of years to show us just what sin is.

· We wouldn’t know that stealing, adultery, and coveting are wrong if we didn’t have the Law.

· But the Law can’t produce life. It produces death, and this death in our souls was preparing us for the grace and life of Christ.

· The Law produced a longing for freedom!

Vs. 9-14

· What happens is that we look at ourselves and we see how far we fall short of God’s standards: we still covet, we still have lusts, we still don’t love our neighbors as we should.

· We start beating ourselves up over our sin, and we may be tempted to think that the standard is just too high.

· Ex. This is often the struggle for many believers. We get saved and experience life and joy, but as we grow, we become more and more aware of our sinfulness, and the spirit of failure and weakness takes over.

· The Law brings us to a point of despair and frustration, and this is the place where many believers give up and quit.

· The First Covenant was based on rules and regulations, full of “Don’ts.”

· The Second Covenant is based on faith and belief, full of “Do’s.”

o Jesus took upon Himself all your guilt and sin.

o He nailed all your sins to the cross.

o You are living a new law and it is the law of love!

John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

o Think of it this way: every time I love God and people from the heart, I am fulfilling God’s Law!

Vs. 14-18

· The key phrase here: The Law is spiritual.

o The law is spiritual, not fleshly.

o It is a heart matter, spiritual, within us.

· Paul misunderstood this. He thought he could fulfill the Law in his own flesh, by his own effort, by his outward actions.

· Ex. All of us struggle with this misunderstanding from time to time. Some of you come out of very legalistic backgrounds: no dancing, no movies, no pants, “don’t smoke drink or chew, or date girls that do.”

· You can’t fulfill a spiritual principle without the Spirit! This is what we try to do.

Galatians 5:17
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 the things that you wish.

· We had no battles until we became followers of Christ. The unbeliever has no battle because he doesn’t have the Spirit of God living within him.

· But we now have this battle, and we try to fight a spiritual battle in the flesh.

Vs. 19-20

· The Law and flesh are a built in law of failure.

o If you keep trying to live the Christian life by following rules and using your own will power, you will continually fail.

o If we keep trying to apply the religious standards or outward actions as our basis instead of the power of love, we will fail.

o I have a will to change, but I continually fail because I’m trying to change through my own will power. Will power won’t get the job done.

Vs. 21-22

· Ex. Our old man, our old life died at the cross. That sinful man died on the cross with Jesus, and we are carrying around this dead guy all the time, pulling this corpse around. When we choose to live for our flesh, we are resuscitating (giving mouth to mouth) to our old man.

· But now the Spirit has come in and we can now delight in the Law of God, a new Law, the Law of love.

· God’s love has been poured into your life now!

Romans 5:5
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

· Ex. Then because of God’s love you start doing really weird things like helping others, loving children, loving the poor and showing honor to those who don’t deserve it.
Vs. 23-24

· Let’s not minimize the battle going on. You are still encased in your fleshly body.

· You are chained to a dead guy. We are always dragging this corpse around.

· Ex. We still say, “I’m going to lose those 10lbs,” and then go eat a huge ice cream sundae.

Romans 8:23
Not only that, but we also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

· Ex. We say “I’m going to read 10 chapters of the Bible every day” and we sleep in, right?

· We are still trying to live as Paul was, in the flesh, by making vows based on and empowered by our own will power.

· This is a great war, a great conflict! So how do we get set free?

Vs. 24-25

· You are living in your flesh, and you can’t be set free by your own will power!

· As long as you try to deliver yourself, your life will be a defeat.

· Don’t reach in (within yourself) or reach out (to find solace in others), but reach up to Christ. He can set you free!

· Cry out to God for help!

o Whatever your struggle, cry out to God.

o Deliverance only comes through Christ.

o Whatever your addiction, cry out to God.

o Reach up to Christ. Cling to Him and His power!


This sermon was produced at Mountain Springs Church in Colorado Springs, with Senior Pastor Steve Holt. www.mountainsprings.org