Sermon notes March 23rd, 2025

Romans 7

1 John 1:5-10           SET THE STAGE           New King James Version

5   This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 

6    If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 

7   But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

8   If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

9   If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

• In order for us to walk day by day in fellowship with God and with our fellow believers, we must confess our sins: sins of commission, sins of omission, sins of thought, sins of act, secret sins, and public sins. We must drag them out into the open before God, call them by their names, take sides with God against them, and forsake them. Yes, true confession involves forsaking of sins: “He who covers his sins will not prosper: but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Prov. 28:13).
• When we do that, we can claim the promise that God is faithful and just to forgive. He is faithful in the sense that He has promised to forgive and will abide by His promise. 
• He is just to forgive because He has found a righteous basis for forgiveness in the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. And not only does He guarantee to forgive, but also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• The forgiveness John speaks about here is parental, not judicial. Judicial forgiveness means forgiveness from the penalty of sins, which the sinner receives when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is called judicial because it is granted by God acting as Judge. But what about sins which a person commits after conversion? As far as the penalty is concerned, the price has already been paid by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. But as far as fellowship in the family of God is concerned, the sinning saint needs parental forgiveness, that is, the forgiveness of His Father. He obtains it by confessing his sin. We need judicial forgiveness only once; that takes care of the penalty of all our sins—past, present, and future. But we need parental forgiveness throughout our Christian life. When we confess our sins, we must believe, on the authority of the word of God, that He forgives us. And if He forgives us, we must be willing to forgive ourselves, TO KNOW who we are in Christ.

THE BATTLEFIELD OF THE MIND

Romans 7:1-3                                                                                      

1   Or do you not know (ginosko), brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 

• He is going to give us an analogy, something to compare our relationship with the law and our Savior. When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we are dead to the law and allowed to marry another, Jesus. 

2   For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 

3   So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 

• In applying the illustration, we must not press each detail with exact literalness. For example, neither the husband nor the wife represents the law. 
• The point of the illustration is that just as death breaks the marriage relationship, so the death of the believer with Christ breaks the jurisdiction of the law over him.
• Notice that Paul does not say that the law is dead. The law still has a valid ministry in producing conviction of sin. And remember that when he says “we” in this passage, he is thinking of those who were Jews before they came to Christ.
• We have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ, the body we’re referring to is the body of Jesus in death. We are no longer joined to the law; we are now joined to the risen Christ. One marriage has been broken by death, and a new one has been formed. And now that we are free from the law, we can bear fruit to God. In case anyone is struggling with the spiritual content of Paul’s statement on divorce, let’s let Jesus answer this in his own words:

Matthew 19:9                                             New King James Version

9   And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

• Well pastor what about domestic violence, I say get out!!
• In the US there are 16,800 homicides and $2.2 million worth of (medically treated) injuries due to intimate partner violence annually, which costs $37 billion. Get out and get help.

Romans 7:4-5

4   Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 

5   For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 

• The sinful passions expression is our physical members, and when we yielded to temptation, we produced poison fruit that results in death. Elsewhere the apostle speaks of this fruit as the works of the flesh: “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries”       (Gal. 5:19–21)

Romans 7:6

6   But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.  

• Among the many wonderful things that happen when we are converted is that we are delivered from the law. This is a result of our having died with Christ. Since He died as our Representative, we died with Him. In His death He fulfilled all the claims of the law by paying its awful penalty. Therefore, we are free from the law and from its inevitable curse. There can be no double jeopardy.

Romans 7:7

7   What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 

• Paul goes on to describe the important role which the law played in his own life before he was saved. He emphasizes that the law itself is not sinful, but that it reveals sin in man. It was the law that convicted him of the terrible depravity of his heart. As long as he compared himself with other people, he felt fairly respectable. But as soon as the demands of God’s law came home to him in convicting power, he stood speechless and condemned.
• The one particular commandment that revealed sin to him was the tenth: You shall not covet. Coveting takes place in the mind. Although Paul may not have committed any of the grosser, more revolting sins, he now realized that his thought-life was corrupt. He understood that evil thoughts are sinful as well as evil deeds. 
• He had a polluted thought-life. His outward life may have been relatively blameless, but his inward life was a chamber of horrors.

Romans 7:8-9

8    But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 

9    I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 

• Before being convicted by the law Paul was alive; that is, his sinful nature was comparatively dormant, and he was blissfully ignorant of the pit of iniquity in his heart.

 

• But when the commandment came—that is, when it came with crushing conviction—his sinful nature became thoroughly inflamed. The more he tried to obey, the worse he failed. He died as far as any hope of achieving salvation by his own character or efforts was concerned. He died to any thought of his own inherent goodness.     He died to any dream of being justified by law-keeping.

Romans 7:10

10    And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

• He found that the commandment, which was to bring life, actually turned out to bring death for him. But what does he mean that the commandment was to bring life? 
• This probably looks back to Leviticus 18:5, where God said, “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” 
• Ideally the law promised life to those who kept it. It’s like the sign outside a lion’s cage says, “Stay back of the railing.” If obeyed, the commandment brings life. But for the child who disobeys and jumps in to pet the lion, it brings death.

Romans 7:11-12

11    For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 

• Again, Paul emphasizes that the law was not to blame. It was the indwelling sin that incited him to do what the law prohibited.

12   Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

• The law itself is holy, and each commandment is holy, just and good. In our thinking we must constantly remember that there is nothing wrong with the law. 
• It was given by God and therefore is perfect as an expression of His will for His people. The weakness of the law lay in the “raw materials” people, it was given to people who were already sinners. 
• They needed the law to give them the knowledge of sin, but beyond that they needed a Savior to deliver them from the penalty and power of sin.

Romans 7:13-14

13   Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 

14   For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 

• Now he changes to the present tense to describe an experience he had since he was born again—namely, the conflict between the two natures and the impossibility of finding deliverance from the power of indwelling sin through his own strength. Paul acknowledges that the law is spiritual, that is, holy in itself and adapted to man’s spiritual benefit. But he realizes that he is carnal because he is not experiencing victory over the power of indwelling sin in his life.         He is sold under sin. He feels as if he is sold as a slave with sin as his master.

(I’m going to say something that may be shocking to you. I’m going to give you a four-letter word Christians should never use. It’s used so often especially from Christians, we all should all be ashamed), are you ready:

Romans 7:15

15   For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 

• Now the apostle describes the struggle that goes on in a believer who does not know the truth of his identification with Christ in death and resurrection. It is the conflict between the two natures in the person who climbs Mount Sinai in search of holiness. Here was a man trying to achieve holiness by personal effort, struggling with all his might to fulfill God’s “holy and righteous and good commandments”, only to discover that the more he struggled, the worse his condition became. It was a losing battle, and no wonder, for it is not in the power of fallen humans’ nature to conquer sin and live in holiness.
• Notice the prominence of the first-person pronouns—I, me, my, myself; they occur over forty times in verses 9–25! 
• People who go through this Romans 7 experience have taken an overdose of “Vitamin I.” They are introspective to the core, searching for victory in self, where it cannot be found.
• Sadly, most modern Christian psychological counseling focuses the counselee’s attention on himself and thus adds to the problem instead of relieving it. People need to know that they have died with Christ and have risen with Him to walk in newness of life. Then, instead of trying to improve the flesh, they will take it to the grave of Jesus forgetting He didn’t stay there.
• In describing the struggle between the two natures, Paul says, “what I am doing, I do not understand”. He has a split personality, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He finds himself indulging in things that he doesn’t want to do and practicing things that he hates. 

Romans 7:16-18

16   If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

17   But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 

• This leads to the conclusion that the culprit is not the new man in Christ, but the sinful, corrupt nature that dwells in him. But we must be careful here. We must not excuse our sinning by passing it off to indwelling sin. We are responsible for what we do, and we must not use this verse to “pass the buck.” All Paul is doing here is tracking down the source of his sinful behavior, not excusing it.

18   For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 

• There can be no progress in holiness until we learn what Paul learned here—that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. The flesh here means the evil, corrupt nature which is inherited from Adam and which is still in every believer. It is the source of every evil action which a person performs. There is nothing good in it. To confirm the hopelessness of the flesh, the Apostle mourns that although he has the desire to do what is right. 
• He doesn’t have the resources to translate his desire into action. The trouble of course is that he is casting his anchor inside the boat.

Romans 7:19-20

19   For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

 20   Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

• We might paraphrase this verse as follows: “Now if I (the old nature) do what I (the new nature) don’t want to do, it is no longer I (the person) who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” Again, let it be clear that Paul is not excusing himself or disclaiming responsibility. He is simply stating that he has not found deliverance from the power of indwelling sin, and that when he sins, it is not with the desire of the new man.

Romans 7:21-25

21   I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 

22   For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 

• As far as his new nature is concerned, he delights in the law of God. He knows that the law is holy, and that it is an expression of the will of God. He wants to do God’s will.

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 will deliver me from this body of death?

• Now Paul lets out his famous, eloquent groan. He feels as if he has a decomposing body strapped to his back. That body, of course, is the old nature in all its corruption. In his wretchedness he acknowledges that he is unable to deliver himself from this offensive, repulsive bondage. He must have help from some outside source.

Let me tell you what I think Paul may be referring to: 

Certain ancient Roman authorities were infamous for their sadistic manner.

Particularly when dealing with criminals. Most people are familiar with the gruesome and inhumane practice of crucifixion. But many consider another method of punishment even more shocking and appalling— to give or order a punishment or make someone receive cruel or unfair treatment: by Roman tyrants most frequently upon murderers: They shackled the convicted killer to the dead body of his victim. Shackled to his victim, eye-to-eye, hand-to-hand, waist-to-waist, and foot-to-foot, the murderer—still very much alive—was forced to live out the remainder of his life directly bearing the weight and the putrefying stench of the dead body. In time, of course, the rotting flesh of the corpse would become ripe with disease, infecting the killer and leading to a most horrible and grisly end.

• Such vile disciplinary measures typically became well-known in the Roman provinces by design, all the better to keep a foreign populace in check. As not only a Roman citizen from a prominent family but also classically educated, the apostle Paul was likely aware of this, as well as most other Roman laws, customs, practices, and traditions. Indeed, he wrote several of his epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon) while incarcerated by the same government. He had faced Roman punishment on several occasions (1 Corinthians 11:23-28).

 

Romans 7:25

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.

• The burst of thanksgiving which opens this verse may be understood in at least two ways. It may mean “I thank God that deliverance comes through Jesus Christ our Lord” or it may be an aside in which Paul thanks God “through the Lord Jesus that he is no longer the wretched man of the preceding verse”.
• The rest of the verse summarizes the conflict between the two natures before deliverance is realized. With the renewed mind, or the new nature, the believer serves the law of God, but with the flesh or (old nature) the law of sin. Not till we reach the next chapter do we find the way of deliverance explained.

 

 

Romans 8:1-2                                        

1   There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2   For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

 

Romans 12:1-2                                           New King James Version

1   I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 

2   And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

• Total commitment is our reasonable service. It is our reasonable service in this sense: if the Son of God has died for me, then the least I can do is live for Him. “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me,” said the great British athlete C. T. Studd, “then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.”  Isaac Watts’ great hymn says the same thing: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my life, my all.”
• Believers are not of the world any more than Christ is of the world. However, they are sent into the world to testify that its works are evil and that salvation is available to all who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We should not only be separated from the world; we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind, which means that we should think the way God thinks, as revealed in the Bible. Then we can experience the direct guidance of God in our lives. And we will find that, instead of being distasteful and hard, His will is good and acceptable and perfect.
• Here, then, are three keys for knowing God’s will. The first is a yielded body, the second a separated life, and the third a transformed mind.