Wretched!

Romans 7:14-25

We have been going through the Book of Romans for a number of months now, and we still have a ways to go.  Today we are going to continue in Romans 7:14-25 to get a better understanding of the struggle Paul had between his flesh and his spirit.  The apostle Peter said this about Paul:

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. –2 Peter 3:15-16

I think today’s passage could be included in this some things hard to understand category, because Paul describes different things controlling his actions: his mind, his natural desires of his flesh and his sin.  I will try to explain these things using what Paul wrote himself in his letters, what Peter wrote in his letters, what Jesus said to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was betrayed, and what Jeremiah wrote about this subject and what God said of that.

But before I begin let’s take a moment to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the truth found in this passage of scripture and to help us apply it to our lives.

Lord, we pray that you would teach us from Your Word this morning.  We don’t want to distort Your Word, we know it is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”  Teach us today, we pray.

Our passage begins:

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. –Romans 7:14-17

Paul is being very honest here.  He admits that he does not understand why he is not doing what he would like to do.  He also admits that he is doing the very thing that he hates.  If we are honest with ourselves, we would admit that at times we do the things that we hate, and even though we have good intentions of doing things that are good and good for us, we don’t carry through with them. Continuing on with today’s passage:

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. 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. 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. –Romans 7:18-20

Paul’s statement “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” is very similar to what Jesus said to Peter when he found him along with James and John the two sons of Zebedee asleep in the garden of Gethsemane the night He was betrayed. What Jesus said to Peter recorded in both Matt. 26:41 and Mark 14:38 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

As Jesus said our spirit is willing, but our body is weak.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  

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.”—Romans 7:21-25

Paul’s struggles described in this passage in many ways match my own struggles and, to some degree, the struggles of every Christian that I have known since I became one myself.  Even though the wishing to do what is good is present in my mind, what I do at times is the opposite due to the sin nature in my heart, or as Paul puts it “I am unspiritual.”

Now is Paul blame shifting here? Remember, blame shifting is blaming someone else for our mistakes. I don’t this is the case here.  Paul puts the blame where it rightly belongs: on himself and the sinful desires of his weak flesh.  Even though he is talking about himself in this passage, he does not limit this type of sinful behavior caused by the weakness of the flesh to only himself in this letter.  Earlier in Romans 6:19 he writes: “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.”

Paul thought of the natural self as being totally sinful and he seems to think the natural self is beyond the reach of redemption.  He even said so in 1 Corinthians 15:50 where he wrote “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”

Now what Paul identifies as the natural self and flesh and blood not being able to inherit the kingdom of God, the prophet Jeremiah labeled as the heart.

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?—Jeremiah 17:9

Then God speaks in the very next verse and says:

I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.—Jeremiah 17:10

This reference to the heart seems to validate what Paul is saying in today’s passage as he describes the struggle going on between the sinful natural self and his mind.  Martin Luther, in referring to his heart, is quoted as saying “I am more afraid of my own heart than of the Pope and all his Cardinals.” Also, the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon compared the heart in a fleshly body to a compass on an iron vessel.  He said “The compass on board an iron vessel is very subject to aberrations; yet for all that, its evident desire is to be true to the pole.  True hearts in this wicked world, and in this fleshly body, are all too apt to swerve, but they still show their inward and persistent tendency to point toward heaven and God.  On board iron vessels it is a common thing to a compass placed aloft, to be so much away from the cause of the aberrations as possible; a wise hint to us to elevate our affection and desires; the nearer we are to God the less swayed by sinful worldly influences.” 

So too, in this struggle between our mind and our flesh, we will gain victory over the flesh when we walk closely with the Lord and obey His commands.  That is why Paul answers his own rhetorical question in the second part of verse 24 “Who will set me free from the body of this death?” with the first part of verse 25: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Paul also tells how to gain victory over the sinful nature in his letter to the Galatians:

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.—Galatians 5:16

Paul goes on to describe the sinful nature to the Galatians:

For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 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.—Galatians 5:17-21

I dare not try to figure out which sin on Paul’s list that he stumbled in, but I suspect it is one of them. After giving the list of the flesh Paul presents the list of the spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.—Galatians 5:22-25

Paul also wrote to the Corinthians:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.—1 Corinthians 10:13  

So the struggle between Paul’s mind and his sinful nature that he describes in Romans 7 can be seen as a common struggle of every believer, and that is probably why Paul acknowledges his struggle here in Romans 7. But God has provided a way out so that Paul could endure it and so we can endure it.

Now in his second epistle, the apostle Peter tells us that the way out and the way victory is won in this struggle is by claiming and applying the promises of God.  He writes:

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.  I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body… —2 Peter 1:1-13

Apparently, when Paul was not walking in the spirit, he fell into temptation and did the very thing that he hated—he sinned.  So also Peter, when he forgot his former purification from sin, stumbled and fell into sin.  The same is true for us.  Both men knew this.  That is why Paul kept warning the Galatians “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:21) and that is why Peter kept reminding his readers “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body.” (2 Peter 1:12-13)

This is also why I, and the other men who present these messages, keep praying and warning and reminding you of these things.  It is so easy to get complacent and fall into temptation and thus get caught up in sin.  Before we were saved, we were powerless toward sin.  Now, by the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, we can overcome temptation if we want to, and we do not have to fall back into our old way of giving into temptation.  Peter said “if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,” That is interesting.  Why do you think Peter said “in increasing measure” and not just “if you possess these qualities”?  I think the answer is found in the fact that none of these qualities are stagnant and it is easy to fall backward if we are not going forward.  These character qualities are either increasing or they are decreasing.

To explain, I will use the analogy of a barometer.  A barometer measures the atmospheric pressure by how many of inches of mercury is raised in a vacuum tube by the pressure of the atmosphere pushing on the open tube or bowl of mercury.  A barometer can be used to determine if the weather is changing for the good or for the bad by the direction of the change in the height of mercury in the tube.  Now, it is not the height of mercury but the change in the height that is important.  Simply speaking, if the mercury is going up in the vacuum tube the weather is improving, and if it is going down it is getting worse.  So it is with these character qualities, and that is why I think Peter describes it this way. It is not what level of these character qualities that we have obtained that is important but the direction of change that these character qualities are taking either increasing or decreasing. 

The question we need to ask ourselves is “Are these character qualities increasing or decreasing in my life?”  If they are increasing, the spiritual weather is good, and you know that you are in Christ and walking in the Spirit.  If they are decreasing, then the spiritual weather is bad, and you know that you are walking in the flesh.  A similar question that we could ask ourselves related to Paul’s message is: “Is sin increasing or decreasing in my life (am I getting victory over my sin or am I being defeated by it)?” If sin is not decreasing but is remaining the same or increasing, then you are not getting victory and thus not walking in the spirit but are walking in the flesh.

Note that Peter did not say that he never fell and never sinned. (Of course we know by the Scripture record that he did fall into sin even after he was saved.) Paul actually had to reprove Peter for the sin of hypocrisy. This reproof is recorded in Galatians 2:11-21.  But Peter did say, “if you do these things, you will never fall.”

This passage in 2 Peter 1 coincides with what Paul said in Galatians 5:16 “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” Therefore, when we do live by the Spirit that Paul describes, and when we do practice the character qualities that Peter describes, we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature/flesh, and we will not fall into temptation and sin.

Concerning falling, one of my favorite passages is the Jude 24 and 25 doxology. The word doxology means “a liturgical formula of praise to God”. This particular doxology was written by Jude, the brother of James, and it coincides with what Peter and Paul wrote.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. –Jude 24-25

We see that Paul sinned when he was not walking in the spirit, and Peter sinned when he was not practicing the character qualities that he described, and each of us knows that we sin too at times.  My challenge to you is to examine yourselves. See if you are walking in the spirit and possess these character qualities, and determine if they are increasing or decreasing.  If they are increasing, then you can experience the great joy described in Jude. If they are decreasing you need to do as Spurgeon suggested and “elevate your affection and desires to God.”