Headed The Wrong Way

I don't know if you've ever had the unfortunate and horrifying experience of watching someone turn on to a major highway the wrong way to begin the wrong direction and feel that helpless feeling of what do you do. I've seen that several times out here at the intersection of 460 and I-77 you probably have two and most people who do that recognize quickly what they've done back out and they're okay but on two occasions I've seen very tragic circumstances I remember coming back from a Friday breakfast after a men's prayer time several years ago and we were coming down 460 to turn left on the Halls Ridge Road and there was a person right in front of us who was doing the same thing or intended to do the same thing but rather than pulling all the way across to Halls Ridge Road they turned on to 460 going the wrong way. What a helpless feeling it was you know you blow your horn you don't know what to do and and watch them plow right into traffic and an accident happened and thankfully no one was seriously hurt in that one but I'll remember another instance as long as I live driving up on an accident on interstate 77 it was obvious it was a very serious accident one car had been consumed in fire and were obvious deaths involved and the emergency personnel had just gotten there come to find out later it was a dear elderly lady who had come down the road at Gardner wanting to turn left up each mill road went a little too far and turned up the entrance ramp or the exit ramped 460 going the wrong direction and was hit by an 18 wheeler and was tragically killed there are very serious consequences to heading the wrong direction especially in a situation like that and there are very serious consequences to heading the wrong direction in the Christian life as well in your personal experience and you're walk with God had the wrong direction and you're headed for disaster you're headed for failure you may be headed for tragedy in chapter 6 of Romans Paul has described for us what it means for a believer one who knows Christ has saved you to get victory over sin to be able to resist temptation and live a holy life and really have victory over sin and he's talked about the fact that we need to recognize our union with Christ that's where it all comes from that's the power for victorious Christian living and we need to to reckon that to be so to put that in the bank and draw deposits or draw from it that we need to live that way every day and then we need to resolve every day of our lives to yield ourselves to our new master Christ because Paul describes the change that's taken place in salvation as a change in masters that we have been under in the past slavery to sin but we are now a slave to Christ and that change is taking place in salvation that's the means of victory that's how we accomplish victory over sin in our Christian lives he's gonna talk more about that and add a little bit into it in chapter 8 but first of all in chapter 7 he backs up and says no wait a second I know a lot of you are headed the wrong direction and you're trying the wrong way to get victory over sin and you're headed for a disaster you're headed for tragedy and repeated failure in your Christian life if you continue to do that and so you need this warning and so what Paul's gonna do in chapter 7 all of which we will scan this morning is he will explain the wrong way to attempt victory over sin the wrong directions that we often take and that happens all the time Paul will describe it under two categories of wrong directions that we sometimes take there are probably many others but these two could summarize a lot of them the way of the law and the way of self effort two things that people try to develop holy lives righteous lifestyles but which will ultimately lead to failure let's look at what Paul says first of all about the way of the law in the first 14 verses of Romans chapter 7 where we are today Paul describes the way that many people try to live holy lives by keeping the law this was especially true in his day when he was writing to to people many of whom had been in Judaism many of whom were Jews and had come out of that Old Testament worship system and were familiar and comfortable with the law of Moses but the same thing may be true of us today although it may not be the law of Moses there are oftentimes laws that are put on us by well-meaning people that sometimes they give as ways to be holy and there are those who say you can't be holy you can't really live right justly unless you do what I say or unless you do what I do this is the way you study your Bible if you don't do it exactly like I do pray exactly like I do follow the same pattern then you're not really holy or if you don't dress exactly like I do or if you don't listen to the same kind of music I do you got to sing hymns out of the hymnal or you're not really holy or you have to cut your hair a certain way whether you're a woman or a man you got to you look certain ways or do certain things and there are man-made regulations and restrictions and laws that are often placed on people this is the way you become righteous all of those all of them are doomed to failure and frustration so Paul while he's talking about the mosaic law the Old Testament law also would be in our own experience I think referring by way of application to any man-made system of laws that are forced on people to produce holiness they cannot produce holiness so let's look at the way of the law what Paul says about the law first of all in the first six verses he addresses the relationship of the law to the believer the law and the believer and he says basically two things what relationship does the law have to a believer two things first of all we are dead to the law you see that expression in verse four so my brothers you also died to the law so we are dead to the law but I want you to see how he introduces that and explains it illustrates it so let's jump back to verse one do you not know brothers for I am speaking to men who know the law that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives in other words any law civil law any civil law only is in effect over you you are only obligated to law as long as you're alive I mean that's pretty obvious but that's going to introduce Paul's point I remember back in the 70s in the first church that I passed or within a period of two months we had two young men in their teenage years who both died as a result of single car accidents alcohol involved very tragic situations one of them a 19 year old man was really quite a rebel that was always in trouble with the law and had a court case pending but when he died nothing else happened with that obviously right I mean that was never prosecuted nothing because the law only has jurisdiction over you as long as you're alive now that should be obvious but it has application to our relationship to the Old Testament law and Paul's going to illustrate that first the illustration verses two and three he says for example here's his illustration by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage so then if she marriage another man while her husband is still alive she is called an adulterous but if her husband dies she is released from that law and it's not an adulterous even though she marries another man now it is never is not Paul's intent in this passage to to give the full blown all the biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage there are those who take this passage and this alone and say this is all the Bible teaches about divorce and remarriage and it's not it isn't Paul himself teaches some other things about divorce and remarriage it's really not his point to teach about divorce and remarriage here or remarriage of a woman while her husband is still alive that's not his point here his point is to illustrate the fact that death changes the law's relationship to you and it changes your obligation to the law the law is in effect only as long as you're alive that's true with marriage the law of marriage ceases once one of the partners dies that's Paul's point so what does that mean to the believer verse four he makes his application so my brothers you also died to the law through the body of Christ that you might belong to another to him who raised who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit to God so what he's saying is there's a death a death has happened you're the one that's died going back to chapter six remember if you're a Christian you are seen by God as having died with Christ in his death you've been united with Christ and his death so a death has occurred that cuts off that severers the obligation you have to the law because death changes that obligation death changes that relationship and so because you have died in Christ your relationship to the Old Testament law is no longer valid you are no longer under the law because you've died to the law that's what he's saying in verse four so we are dead to the law we have no obligation to fulfill the Old Testament law as a way of living like Old Testament Jews did for instance but Paul says something else about the relationship between the law and the believer not only are we dead to the law Paul says we are delivered from the law you see it there in verse six in verse six he says but now by dying to what once bound us we have been released from the law delivered from the law how did that happen well look back at verse five for when we were controlled by the sinful nature stop right there for just a second you have to understand that in the context of chapter six in chapter six he's described one being under the domination of sin living under the control of the sinful nature that's an unsaved person okay when you were before you were saved outside of Christ he says the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our body so that we bore fruit for death otherwise the kind of lifestyle we would naturally live while we were under the domination of the sin nature was to produce sinful lives that would ultimately lead to death that's a description of where you were before you were saved before you came to Christ but now he says verse six there's the transition point but now now that you're saved in other words by dying to what once bound us in other words our death with Christ again separates us from obligation to to live by the law by dying to what once bound us we've been released from the law so that we serve now here's how we're to live now we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code God has introduced a whole different principle for us to live by Old Testament Jews Old Testament people of God came to Christ or came to God in faith trusted him and they were saved they expressed that faith through the sacrificial system that also had relationship to their covenant relationship to God as a nation but they expressed that in the proper sacrifices and they expressed it in obedience to the law that's how they were to live that is not what God expects of us today to live by the Old Testament law that was for Israel we live by a new principle and that is the inward motivation of the Holy Spirit as he guides us yes through the word of God specifically the commands of Christ in the New Testament as he guides us to live our lives we live by the power of the Holy Spirit now he just introduces that here he's gonna expand on that and develop it in chapter 8 but what he's saying right now has to do with our relationship to the law we are dead to the law we are delivered from the law so the law is not a way of living right just sleep you say well I want to I want to live for Christ so I'm gonna go back to the mosaic law and try to do everything that Moses taught that we should do that is not the way to live the Christian life today so if you try that if you try to do that you're gonna find failure repeated failure inability to do what God commanded his people is real to do you say well wait a second does that mean the law is no good does that mean it has no purpose no no that's just your relationship to the law the law does still have a purpose and notice Paul introduces that in verse 70 says what shall we say then is the law sin certainly not is there anything wrong with the law is the law bad is it simple no no it's not at all what I'm saying Paul says so he shifts here from our relationship to the law's believers to the law and sin what relationship does the law have what place does it still have it does have a relationship to sin and it still has a purpose today in regard to sin and here it is Paul will list four things that the law does in relationship to sin first of all the law reveals sin or seven what shall we say then is the law sin certainly not indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law for I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said do not covet what Paul is saying is the law actually reveals sin it shows us that we are sinners it shows us God's holy standard and thus our inability to keep it there are many who believe that Paul is probably speaking here of his bar mitzvah is his as a Jewish young man 13 years old you went through a ceremony still happens today with Jewish young men if you're if you're practicing Jewish religion a bar mitzvah that's Hebrew for son of the commandment and what would happen would be when you turn 13 you automatically became a son of the commandment you automatically became culpable responsible for keeping the mosaic law that happened automatically you were considered an adult male responsible for the punishments of the law mosaic law when you turn 13 now in order to prepare you for that you did a lot of study of the Old Testament law you went to through a kind of a class where you answered questions to the rabbi and so forth and many think that Paul may be referring to that and that as he studying the law particularly the 10 commandments he might have been feeling like I'm doing okay as I go down through these commandments and then he hit number 10 thou shalt not covet and he lists several ways that we covet neighbors possessions neighbors wife neighbors whatever thou shalt not covet and that hit Paul even 13 years old would have hit him and he realized I'm guilty there and the law revealed his sin that he was guilty of wanting what belonged to others he recognized that you see he says I wouldn't have known what covet this this was except the law told me do not covet and when it said that it awakened in me a realization a recognition of my own sin so the law reveals sin that mean the law is bad no the law is good when it reveals sin the law is doing us a favor when it reveals sin it's like an MRI machine when you get an MRI and that MRI surprisingly turns up a tumor it shows a tumor do you walk out of the doctor's office and you stupid MRI machine you sin for bad MRI machine of course not you're thankful you're grateful that the MRI machine has spotlighted has put the search light on something that's wrong with you and now you can address it the MRI machine showed the disease and it did you a favor in doing so the law shows our disease of sin and does us a favor in doing so the law reveals our sin it shows us that we're guilty secondly the law activates sin now this is a little tricky so follow along with me verse eight but sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment literally using the the law the commandment as a base of operations using the commandment as an opportunity sin now to pursue its own agenda that's the idea here sin seizing the opportunity afforded by commandment produced in me every kind of covetous desire for a part from law sin is dead once Paul says in verse nine I was alive apart from the law but when the commandment came sin spring to life and I died now what Paul saying is this there is a sense in which the law actually activates a response of sin in us that's not the fault of the law there's nothing wrong with the law in doing that it is sin in us that responds to the law in that way it is sin in us that when it hears a command of God our sin nature in us the evil that dwells within us responds by saying huh I kind of like to test that out and make sure or I'm not sure that's true by the way that's always been Satan's approach to temptation that's the way he tempted even the garden he took a commandment of God you should not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which is in the midst of the garden that was a commandment God had given to Eve and to Adam Satan takes that command and says did God really say that you know Eve God really is trying to hide something from you with that command he knows that if you eat that fruit you'll become as wise as he is knowing the difference between good and evil God's really trying to hide something from you Eve and spurred within her a desire to find out what really is behind that command is something being hidden from me is there some secret pleasure that I could experience it's always been Satan's approach to temptation and he still does it today the law of God is good the commandment of God is good but there's something in us Satan uses it a base of operation and he has a base there because of our sin nature and that sin within us that sin nature in us responds to God's law by saying you know I think maybe God's trying to hide something from me I think that might be a good way to leave I think I would really enjoy some secret pleasure that I don't know about if I would do that that's the ultimate point of temptation you know if if you really want to get a path across your yard put up a sign that says keep off the grass right that's the way it works if you if you have an abandoned building on your property and you want to maintain the windows intact the best way to have those windows broken is to put up a sign that says don't throw rocks at the windows because every kid in town will come by and see that sign and that sin nature that is there you see sometimes as adults we become a little better in resisting that every kid who comes that sin nature will respond up and saying okay somebody tell me not to do something I'm gonna do it see if that window will break let's see if I can hit it and all of us to some degree have that same response to God's command because of the sin nature that we have so in that sense the law activates since not the law that is at fault it is our sin nature and the way it responds to the law of God so the law reveals sin the law activates sin thirdly the law condemns sin notice what Paul says in verse 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death verse 11 for sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment deceived me and through the commandment put me to death he's following up on what he just said when the commandment came that principle of sin in me that sin nature in me resisted the commandment wanted to do exactly what I was commanded not to do and when I did it I was guilty and the commandment actually shows that I'm guilty of transgressing a command of God guilty and and worthy of death so the commandment the law actually condemns sin it's the principle we've talked about before and seen before in Romans you don't get a bouquet of roses for keeping the speed limit you get a ticket if you don't keep the speed limit the purpose of the law is to punish to to declare guilty and that's what Paul saying here it it condemned me it it showed that I was guilty of death but fourthly Paul says the relationship between law and the sin is this the law magnifies sin the law really brings out the sinful nature of sin verse 12 so then the law is holy and the commandment is holy righteous and good in other words nothing wrong with the law itself that's holy righteous good the verse 13 did that which is good then become death to me by no means but in order that sin might be recognized as sin it produced death in me through what was good so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful this point released the last part of verse 13 when I violate the command of God when I violate the law God which is good when I violate that and it produces that sentence of death or that guilt that sentence of guilt what happens is that through the commandment sin has been seen for what it really is how ugly how dark how bad it really is it is utterly simple because I am resisting a holy God the more you grow in Christ the more painfully aware you become of your sin the more you grow in Christ the deeper levels of sin you will recognize in your life I'm convinced of that because the more you see the holiness of God the more you see his standards in his word the more you will see different ways in which you do not measure up to that take take any sin you want take the sin of pride you may not go around boasting all the time but watch the ways that pride is manifested in your life when you respond defensively to people when you don't like someone else being recognized above you very subtle ways that pride is still very deep you see the law of God makes sin utterly sinful the more holy we recognize the more we recognize how holy God is the more we recognize our own sinfulness and you know how we recognize how holy God is through his word even the Old Testament law accomplishes that it shows us that he is holy and he has these standards that are absolutely impossible for us to keep on our own that shows how sinful we are so the law magnifies sin shows how dark and deep it really is so Paul concludes in verse 14 we know that the law spiritual but I am unspiritual sold as a slave to sin in other words he's saying as a conclusion to this whole section about the law and that that way of trying to become holy which is a wrong way he says the problem is not with the law the problem is with me the law spiritual it's part of the word of God it's holy the problem is with me I'm unspiritual I have a sin nature in me that resists everything God says that sin nature does that and so the problem is with me not the law I rebel I fight against what God wants me to do because of a sin nature so keeping the law is that the way to become more like Christ and to grow in holiness and righteousness no no no we are dead to the law we've been delivered from the law that's that that relationship has changed completely through our death with Christ the law still has purpose in revealing sin and condemning it showing us how sinful it is but there's something in me that responds negatively even to that holy standard of God and now Paul is going to shift his attention to that and he's going to talk about us he's going to talk about you he's going to talk about me he's going to talk about himself and how we sometimes even if we recognize the law may not be the way keeping the Old Testament law may not be the way to live a righteous lifestyle pleasing to God we may still opt for trying in our own self effort trying better trying harder working harder to try to live more for Christ and the the way of self effort is just as frustrating and just as much of a failure he'll talk about that in verses 15 to 23 before we jump into that and summarize it quickly let me just introduce this section by saying this this passage in Romans has been a subject of great debate down through the centuries actually and there are many who have struggled with trying to fair what is what is Paul really talking about here there are those who say what Paul is describing is really the life of an unsaved person maybe his own life as a Pharisee before he came to Christ and there's some who believe this is talking about unsaved people there are others who say well what Paul's describing here in this struggle with sin could only be true of a carnal Christian and by the way if you have a King James version the word carnal is used in verse 14 but it's an unfortunate translation the word really is unspiritual I think the NIV got it right the law spiritual but I'm unspiritual I'm not spiritual I'm not like God's law and there are those who believe there's this carnal Christian kind of second rate Christian who's out of fellowship with God and who's living in sin just like an unsaved person even though they're really saved and that maybe that's what Paul's talking about I don't think so I believe what Paul's talking about here is the normal experience of every believer who struggles to live for Christ if you try to live for Christ in your own strength and by your own efforts you're going to face the futility and the failure that Paul describes here in chapter 7 it is only as you recognize the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit the resources you have to draw on through the ever present Holy Spirit with you that you will ever have victory over sin in your Christian life now he'll develop that in chapter 8 but first of all he's going to show us this wrong direction this wrong direction of just trying on your own to do it better quickly let me point out to you versus 15 and 16 describe the struggle the struggle verse 15 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 in other words not the law is false I'm failing here does that sound familiar to anybody in this room no personal testimonies necessary at this point but that's not familiar to anybody what I want to do I don't do and what I don't want to do I find myself doing that's the struggle and what Paul is describing here is the struggle that takes place in the heart of every earnest believer who wants to live for God but seems to be unable to pull it off and you know what you should do but you can't seem to get there and you know what you shouldn't do but you seem mired in that that's frustrating that can lead to futility and it comes about as a result of not taking advantage of the power of the Spirit of God in us but this is a struggle that we face trying to do better finding that we just don't do it we don't measure up that's the struggle here's the problem verses 17 to 20 here's the reason why we struggle this way for 17 as it is it is no longer I myself who do it but it is sin living in me 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 verse 20 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 now please be careful with this Paul is not shifting responsibility away from himself Paul is not saying you know I just find I can't do this so I'm going to blame it on something outside my control I got something in me that you know it's just the way I am when made I can't help it so why even try it's always going to be there I'm always going to fail no big deal I can't help it so when made it's my sin nature so just go on sinning and blame it on the sin nature that's not what Paul's talking about what he is talking about is I do have a sin nature in me there is something in me that goes against what I know I should do and what I really want to do but I find that there is something in me sin he calls it in me a sin nature in me that keeps pulling me down keeps pulling me away from what I know I should do and what I really want to do that that's the problem the problem is you still have a sin nature yes as a believer you have a heart that longs to do what God wants you to do but you also have a sin nature that's the problem that's why when you know what you should do you find yourself not doing it that's why when you when you know what you shouldn't do you find yourself doing it because you have a sin nature still in you all of us do so the struggle to do what we know we should do and to stop doing what we know we shouldn't do the reason for that is a sin nature in us and here is the principle that Paul draws in verses 21 to 23 the principle is this he says so I find this law at work and he appears to be using the word law here in terms of a general principle okay this is a law that that works as a principle I find happening here it is when I want to do good evil is right there with me I don't know of any better description of the sin nature or the tendency to sin within us than that verse want to do good but evil is always with me verse 22 for in my inner being I delight in God's law that's the reason why I don't think he's talking about an unsafe person that statement could not be said of an unsafe person in my inner being I really delight to do God's law I want to do what God says that's true of a believer but verse 23 but I see another law another principle at work in my members in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind in other words the law of my mind is that delight to do the things of God back in verse 22 so there's something else in me a principle in me a sin nature in me that actually wages hand to hand combat wages war with every desire of my heart to do what God says there's this battle going on inside and he says and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members so the principle is this you have a sin nature that fights every holy desire and impulse of your heart as a believer to do the will of God and to fulfill the word of God every time you have a desire to do what God wants you to do there's a part of you that pulls back and says no no you don't want to do that here's what you want to do there's a warfare going on inside Paul describes it here as a principle that wages war against my mind which knows what God wants me to do and my desire to do that there's a war inside that's pulling me the other direction so the principle is you have a sinful nature that fights everything you know as a believer you ought to do now Paul concludes this chapter and this is sounding a little depressing at this point we're not going to get the full light of how to overcome this till we get the chapter eight something you got to come back next week but what Paul will do at the end of chapter seven is he will conclude with two two statements verse 24 Paul is at the end of himself he describes it in verse 24 this way what a wretched man I am the word wretched literally means miserable and distressed good way to describe a believer who's trying to do better wants to do better keep failing can't seem to do what he knows he should do does what she knows she shouldn't do what a miserable distressed person I am and notice this cry who will rescue me from this body of death who will get me out of this situation where I have a principle that's operating in my body that's leading me to do the opposite of what God wants me to do is leading me down the path of death how do I get out of this friend this this is a very real transparent honest cry of a believer who knows what to do and sincerely wants to do God's will and is struggling to live it every day feels helpless the end of his own efforts and as long as you keep trying in your own efforts to do better it's exactly where you'll end up so Paul gives us a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel in verse 25 and what he says in verse 25 in conclusion is he anticipates the answer he won't explain fully the answer till chapter 8 but he anticipates the answer to his question who will rescue me from this body of death verse 25 thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord there is a way to have victory over sin it is not through keeping the Old Testament law God didn't design the law for that it is not through your own self effort well I know I failed yesterday I'm just going to try harder today no I won't do it it is through the Lord Jesus Christ and specifically as Paul will develop in chapter 8 a provision he has made for you through the Holy Spirit who is with you constantly to give you the strength to overcome sin and we have to learn how to live in the spirit that's what chapter 8 is about the spirit's role in giving us victory over sin I hate to leave you on such a depressed note so I'll do my best to draw it to a close this way yes what Paul has described here is is a distressing cry of I can't seem to get this right I can't seem to get the Christian life right I'm constantly failing but he does show us the light at the end of the tunnel there is hope there is hope and it's through our Lord Jesus Christ Christ has the answer he can give you victory over sin now you'll never know that till first of all if you come to the no Christ as your Savior that's where it's got to begin so you got to know Jesus as your Savior first if you've never taken that first step of commitment of your life to Christ as your Savior trusting that he died on the cross to forgive you of your sin that's the step you need to take first and when you do that the Lord Jesus himself will come to live with you he will send his Holy Spirit to live with you to be abiding with you continually to give you the strength to live the way he wants you to live and that is the hope for growing to be more righteous more holy more Christ like would you bow with me in prayer father our hearts resonate with the honesty of Paul for we all in this room who no Christ can say with him oh wretched man that I am how do I get out of this failing day after day never really seem to make any progress against sin and and to grow more like Christ how do we get out of this Lord we can resonate with that we can understand that father there is a better way there is a way that you've given us to really experience victory over sin I pray father if there's anyone here who's never trusted Christ that they would begin there with that commitment to Christ as Savior today and if there are believers who are stuck in this frustrating pattern of failure that they would recognize you've given the power to have victory through your Holy Spirit I pray that we would avail ourselves of that wonderful gift to have victory over sin help us to realize today if we're headed the wrong direction in Jesus name we pray amen