Law is no help

We covered verses 9-11 this morning of chapter 7. Last week we covered verses 7 and 8 of chapter 7. So, if you don't have your Bibles open, open up there to chapter 7. Were there any questions from last week that we could maybe answer before we get going this morning? This is some little bit tricky stuff and I want to, as best as possible, keep clear that before we keep continuing on, we don't want to get any muddier if it was something that was muddy from last week. No? Okay.

Let's read, I want to start in verse 4 of chapter 7, because verse 4 communicates to us our identification with Christ on the cross, and because of our identification with Christ on the cross, our separation from the law. And that is what Romans 7 is really centered around. So, chapter 7 and verse 4, let's start here.

Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were a work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we are bound, so that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter. This is what we covered last week. What shall we say then?

Is the law sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law. For I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, You shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law, sin is dead. And I was once alive apart from the law. But when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died. And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me. For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me. and through it killed me."

Tricky stuff there, coming verses 7-11, but we're going to look at it phrase by phrase, break it down as simplistically as we can, and when we do that, I think it actually comes out quite simple. Let's look at a bit of a review first from last week. Until this point in Romans, Paul has used the plural pronoun, we. But now, here in 7, particularly in verse 7 and downward, he switches to the singular pronoun I, me, or my, and if you were to go down and look at all those uses there through the end of chapter 7, it's used over 40 times.

Donna pointed out last week that when somebody is under the law, what happens? Self-focused. Their focus comes on themselves. And that's the whole point of what we're seeing here this morning. This is an example of Paul living his life under the law, trying to live the Christian life through his own strength and through his own effort.

And what happens? Over 40 times we see mentioned, as Donna pointed out last week, that he's referring to himself. So that's what happens when we come under the law of his law of principles. Okay, we're going to view Paul in these verses 7-25 as a believer, reflecting back on his life as a believer. We looked at it last week, we won't go back to it again. There's tons of different interpretations. for this chapter 7. Was Paul a believer? Was he an unbeliever? Was he an unbeliever verses 7 through 13? Was he an unbeliever through 14 to the end? What's going on here? So we're going to take this view, this position that he's a believer all the way through chapter 7 and he's referring to his life as a believer. Review there.

The law cannot bring justification and nor can it bring sanctification. We saw in months past, in chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5, how the law could not bring justification, it can't be saved by the law and nor can you be sanctified through the law. We're seeing that come out here in chapter 7. You need some notes? Okay. I just mentioned a minute ago Romans 7, 7-25 is describing a person who is trying to live the Christian life by the law through their own strength and through their own efforts and that's not what God intends and it brings frustration, it brings discouragement, it brings failure, it brings an extreme self-focus when we do that.

We also pointed out, very important, is that the law is not sin. In fact, the law is holy, the commandment is holy, and righteous and just. And next week, Roger is going to cover those verses for us as we continue on down through 7th. The law isn't the problem, but sin is the problem. And so the purpose of the law was to show us our sin, was to point out, to make the sin nature clear, to put a spotlight on it, as we talked about last week. So the problem is not the law, but the problem is sin. Review it still here through the law, sin is defined.

And we come to understand and recognize the real nature and the real power of sin. That's what it's there for, that's what its purpose is, to show sin to be exceedingly sinful. And so, why in the world would we want to live under the laws? Besides me, but we often times fall prey to living under these legal principles, okay? So, sin is not seen for its destructive force in nature without the law defining it and putting a spotlight on it.

That's kind of the final point where we left off last week. You can get the notes from last week, as I know a number of you weren't here. You can listen to it online. For those that weren't here, you can grab the tape out in the lobby. What's that? We have extra notes, too, if you want. Okay, great. Just let Sue know. Okay, so verses 7 through 11, which is kind of my section here, next week Roger takes over.

7 and 8 we looked at last week were general truths about sin's relationship to the law. We looked at that. the law, and we looked at sin, and what's the relationship between those two, and what happens when sin and the law come together. It shows sin to be exceedingly sinful. And then verse 9 onward, it tells how these general truths affected Paul's life personally. So we start general, then we go specifically How is this affecting Paul's life?

We're going to look at that this morning. And then the rest of the chapter, we're going to even narrow it down even more, where Paul says, the things that I want to do, by golly day, I can't do. What I want to stop doing, boy, those are the very things that I continue to do. So it kind of goes like this, then like this, and then like this. So we're starting large, and we're going to hone in on this thing as we keep going through chapter 7.

So verse 9, where we want to really focus our time this morning, opens up with this phrase, and I was once alive apart from the law. What does this mean? What are your all's thoughts about I was once alive apart from the law? What do you think? Little kid? What do you elaborate about on that for us? So there was, you're talking about before someone is saved, like say my son, Henry's three and Calvin's one.

That's a good thought. I pointed out last week, oftentimes we tell Henry to do something, or we tell Henry not to do something, and often that creates a law for him that he didn't know of previously. And what does that do to what he didn't even know of previously? It makes him want to do what he didn't even know of previously. Yeah, sure.

I've been thinking about that a lot, the past three or four weeks since we've been looking at this, as I tell them, the Tucson Parnak decision. Other thoughts? I was once alive apart from the law. Referring to Paul, what is that? Any other thoughts? Maybe you haven't given this too much thought, and that's fine. Let me roll through some options. Possibilities of what it might be.

Obviously, Paul was not alive before the Mosaic Law was given. So is he saying, I was alive once apart from the Law? Can't be referring to, I was alive before God gave the Law to Moses. That's not an option. Can't be referring to that. Before he was saved, Paul was not alive apart from the Law. Because why? He was a keeper of the Law. That's right. Look back over to Philippians chapter 3 there. Philippians 3, let's just read these couple verses here. 4-9, Paul is describing himself. Now here he's reflecting back on his life before he was saved.

Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more." So if he's saying, if anybody is going to boast about their self-righteousness, or about what they've done in and of themselves, I can do it more than anybody else can, and here's why. He continues on.

Verse 5, circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as a zeal, a persecutor of the church, as a righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. But whatever things were gained to me, those things I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." Okay, so look at the end of verse 6 there.

As to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. So here's a guy that was living under the law. He was in it, he was keeping it, he was a keeper of the law, persecuting the Church of Christ. I don't think this phrase here, I was alive, once alive apart from the law is referring to his unsaved days.

I don't think that could be the case. I didn't put this one up there, but some would say that he's referring to before Bar Mitzvah. At 13, I guess in Jewish culture, was it only the men? Yeah, men. Is that correct? Women. They went through this Bar Mitzvah time and some would say at that point it aroused in him the law.

And so that's what he's referring to here that I was alive once apart from the law, talking about before he went through Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13. I didn't put that in the notes. You might make a note of that, but I don't think that's either what he's referring to. Is Paul referring to his life immediately after he was saved, before he tried to keep the law as a believer?

Could that be a possibility? At some time in Paul's Christian life, he fell back under the law because he describes it here in Romans chapter 7. For when people come to know Christ as their Savior, there's just that excitement, there's that joy, that thankfulness to the Lord for our salvation, and initially that happens, but I think After a period of time, it's easy for believers to fall back under the law of needing to do things in order to stay pleasing to God. I think all of us would agree with that to a degree. So that happened in Paul's life, no doubt about it, because he's writing about that experience in Romans chapter 7. So is that what he's talking about here when he's saying, I was alive once, apart from the law? The same experience that I'm referring to as an option is also described in Galatians 3. Let's look over there as well.

You foolish Galatians, who bewitched you or who tricked you? Before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing that I want to find out from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

So, you know, this is happening in the church of Glacier and in the region of Glacier and the churches there. And the probability is that it happened in Paul's life, and it happens in our own lives. We began by faith, we began by the Spirit, but it's very easy for us that we fall back into walking in the flesh, trying to make ourselves acceptable to God in the flesh, not maintaining the walk of faith.

It's an option. That's what he's referring to. Or, the final option, Does he mean that he was, by faith, walking in the Spirit, spiritually alive, enjoying fellowship with the Lord, not walking under the law? I was alive once, apart from the law. Paul was walking by faith. He's walking in grace, walking in the Spirit. I was alive, spiritually alive, apart from the law. And then, when he shifts from that, and then he walks in the flesh, what do you think happens? he walks under the law. See, he falls back under these legal principles.

Right. Yes. Yeah, that comment is a very good comment, very good possibility would fall under this point right here. That's what, yeah. That's right. And was he living under the law principles at that time? Probably not. I wouldn't think so. Good point.

I think, this is my opinion, I think from the interpretation that I can best see as we go through the rest of the verse and the next two verses, I think that this is the one that is seen clearly. Not that this one isn't true, and not that what Margaret hasn't just said isn't true, I think that certainly can apply, that he was alive, not under the law at that time. Yeah, I think that certainly is an option that can apply. I think, though, as we go through the verses here, this is the one that seems to make the clearest sense in this context and in the continuing context, and also when we go back to the context of Chapter 6, we'll go back there a little bit as well, this is the one that seems to make the most sense contextually. So, back to chapter 7.

For I was alive once, apart from the law. What he's saying here is I was walking in the Spirit. I was walking by faith, living under grace, apart from the law. When the law came in, and I started walking in the flesh, boom, down I went. So in essence, I was doing fine. I was walking with the Lord, and then And then I started walking in the flesh. That's what I think he's getting at here. We'll see it in a little more detail. Okay, so continue on in the verse.

I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died. So when the commandment came, the spotlight of the law came in. That's what we're talking about continuing on from the general principles that we saw last week regarding the law. The spotlight of the law came in, the commandment defined sin, and he became aware of the sin nature and of its power. Again, this is... we're carrying over the points that we looked at last week, okay? Commandment came in, sin became alive. I saw the power of the sin nature for what it really was worth. Sin became alive, at that point I was walking in the sin nature, I was walking under the law, and I died. Now what does died here mean?

Separation, which means... what? Be specific with me. Yes, which is loss of fellowship. So the way I see it working out here is, I was alive once apart from the law, I was spiritually alive enjoying fellowship with the Lord. The commandment comes, in comes the law, puts a spotlight on sin, I fall, pray, I start walking in the flesh, I start walking under the law, I die. Loss of fellowship. So I was doing fine. Everything was fine, and I fall, pray to the law, to the sin nature, I die, there's a loss of fellowship.

Verse 10, and this commandment, we talked about this last week, specifically referring to coveting, desiring, but it also includes other law principles. I think it's talking specifically, but also has a broader application. So this commandment, which was to result in life. Now, the law was to show the glory, the holiness, and the righteousness of God. And Roger is going to unpack that for us a lot more next week. The Old Testament referred to the law as bringing life. Leviticus 18 in verse 5 says, So you shall keep my statutes and my judgments, by which a man may live if he does them.

I am the Lord. The Mosaic Law could never and was never intended to bring eternal life. That point was brought out last week. The idea here is of fellowship. The commandment was to result in or to bring fellowship with God. The Old Testament Law could never bring salvation, we know that. But it was intended to keep the Old Testament Israelites, the Old Testament Saints in fellowship with the Lord. So what was intended to result in life proved to actually result in death. Death meaning separation, death meaning loss of fellowship with the Lord.

So when Paul was walking under the law, even though the law was good, sin took advantage of the law and magnified it, therefore it brought loss of fellowship. For sin taking opportunity through the law, look at verse 11, the problem is sin. Last week we established the point that the problem is not the law, but the problem is sin. So sin taking opportunity through the law, the relationship of sin to the law. Even though the law is not sin, the law and sin have a definite relationship. And that is, the law brings about the knowledge of sin.

We saw that in previous verses. The purpose of the law is to show us our sin. Show man our sin. Sin is aroused by the law in verse 5. We'll go back up to verse 5. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were a work in the members of our body to bear forth fruit." So, sin is aroused by the law. Again, the problem and the issue is the sin nature of mankind. The sin nature sees the law and wants to do what is prohibited. and does not want to do what is commanded.

It wants to do exactly the opposite. Now the point is, remember the point, we're not under the law. As believers, that point was established in verses 4-6. But Paul is saying, this is what happens when we walk under the law. It is showing sin to be exceedingly sinful.

Just to kind of keep the big picture context in our minds. Through the law sin is defined, we come to understand and recognize the real nature of power sin. We mentioned that again earlier on in our review. I read this story and I want to read it again because I know some folks are here that weren't here last week. I thought it illustrated our point really good.

Suppose a man, determined to drive his automobile to the very limit of its speed, If signs along the road would say, no speed limit, the man's only thought would be to press his machine forward. But now suddenly he encounters a road with frequent signs limiting speed to 30 miles an hour. The man's will rebels and his rebellion is aroused still by further threats. Speed limit strictly enforced. Now the man drives on fiercely, conscious both of his desire to speed and his rebellion against restraint. The speed limit signs did not create the wild desire to rush forward.

That was there before. But the notices brought the man into conscious conflict with authority. I think a good little story illustrates the point. The signs weren't the problem. It was the man's desire to drive extremely fast. where the problem was. So, the law isn't the problem. What's the problem? My sin nature is where the problem is.

Again, we know we're not under the law, but if we're going to fall prey to those law principles, it's going to show my sin nature to be extremely sinful, which is what it really is. Make sense? Law saying do this and don't do that. Sin nature says just the opposite. It's opposed to what the law says. Okay, so then back to verse 11.

Sin taking opportunity through the commandment deceived me. and through it killed me. So the idea here of deceived me, that Paul was deceived by sin, he wasn't deceived by the law, he was deceived by sin. I think we need to make that distinction very clear. So sin took advantage and it deceived And sin leads people to the opposite of the law, and this produced the extreme self-focused instead of a God-focused.

We saw that over 40 times. I, me, my, mentioned in chapter 7, verses 7 down to the end. You know, it's interesting, when I was talking yesterday to someone who we were talking about, some of the very legal environments that young people grow up in and then when they leave that and go we were talking about how many young people end up just I mean just going way over on this kind of over the edge yeah yeah out of control because they've been under this strict law for so long yeah that they I mean, it's like all of those things that have been out there, and they were told not to do, they can't wait to do them.

I mean, it's just, it's the flesh, it is the same nature just played out. And we do it as adults too, but it's really, it's so, to me, very sad to see the destruction from a very difficult environment, and what it does, long term. You know, you're describing me. I won't go into all the details. I'll share, for my personal testimony, that's what happened.

That was kind of the way that it happened, and the law showed my sin nature to be extremely sinful. And when I was, as soon as I could get out of my parents' house, I did. The day I graduated, I left. I said, thanks for the graduation gifts and money, and I just, I took off. And it was ten years of just the nature of being exceedingly sinful. It was horrible. I'll spare the details.

But by the grace of God, He started, He pulled me out of that mess. And you know, Romans 7 was one of the main passages that God used to start to bring me out. And here's why. Because I was doing things that I didn't want to do. I knew that they were wrong. But I couldn't stop. I was in such a trap. I was so stuck. There was no hope for me.

And so, somebody took me under their wing and started to try to nurture me along. And the Lord was working. I was becoming relatively open. And I read this, and I'm saying to myself, this is incredible. This is describing me. So the Bible immediately became totally relevant. To where for all my life, the Bible was just this book, which wasn't relevant at all. It had no application to my life. It was just a big book of do's and don'ts.

And then this thing said, for the good that I wish, I don't do. I practice the very evil that I do not wish. Okay, this is talking about me. And it's describing me. It's got to have an answer for me. So then that was it. Everything changed. And I said, I've got to go to Bible school. This thing is that relevant? This has such specific answers for my life? I got to go to Bible school. I did. I said today, October 15th. Yeah, you're right. You're exactly right. Okay. Sin ended up deceiving.

And by it, and through it, killed him. What do you think he's talking about there, killed him? Or how does the KJV read that? Slew. What do you think that means? Any thoughts? Well isn't that the death he's talking about? The separation. Exactly right. So the idea there is, I think, loss of fellowship. You know, through it killed me, again death, meaning separation. I was thinking of Birdman when I read that. Oh yeah, that's right.

By the way, thank you for the personal testimony. You're welcome, sure. When we're walking in the flesh under the law, self-imposed laws, boy, it is a burden. It is a bondage of which God is not intended for us to carry. All of us in this room can attest to that. Wow.

You're tired because you feel like you're just doing all this stuff and it's not working. That's right. But you don't understand, and the Holy Spirit is all the time you know convicting you of that and letting you know that i'm pretty strong-willed and so a lot of times you know i i don't want to hear that i want to keep doing it yeah you're my own strength and finally Yeah. You're exhausted. Sure. Exhausted because of performing. Having to perform. The mindset of performance for God in our own strength and in our own efforts and work.

As believers, God just did not design us. He didn't set us up spiritually as believers to function that way. So it's like we're trying to function and operate in Christian life in a way in which we weren't designed to. And whenever you try to make something work and function in a way in which it wasn't designed, it doesn't work well. So it's no wonder we just burn out and get discouraged and get frustrated and fail, as Paul is describing here in chapter 7.

Okay, I just want to do a summary of all this. Let me just click all this out. We'll just go through it here. This kind of ties all the points together that we've walked through. It starts in verse 9 by saying, I was once alive apart from the law. What has happened is that by faith we're walking in the Spirit, resting in God's grace. Not walking in the flesh under the law. established. Now Margaret's point that could Paul be meaning this, absolutely. Yeah, I agree with that. Definitely could be what he's talking about. Could be both there.

So the commandment comes, sin became alive, I die. So because of falling back under the law, and no longer walking in the spirit, but walking in the sin nature, under the law, we're no longer enjoying fellowship with God. The commandment comes in which is to result in life, the commitment was intended to bring fellowship, but it resulted in bringing death, the commandment came, ended up resulting in loss of fellowship. Sin nature was aroused by the law, deceived, and brought loss of fellowship.

So if we were to look at these verses, I think what he does is that he takes verse 9 and states his point. And then he explains it a little bit more in verse 10 and verse 11. But I think 9 is the main point here. By faith I was walking in the Spirit, resting in grace, not walking in the flesh under the law, but because of falling back under the law, no longer walking in the Spirit, walking in the sin nature, under the law, I was no longer enjoying fellowship with God. And this is walking in the very thing that Paul said we've been positionally separated from in verses 4-6.

What are your thoughts? It gets tricky to know what he's exactly talking about here. Is this making sense? Any thoughts? Any questions? It just shows how easy it is for Paul to do this, with all of the healing, and the time he spent directly with the Lord. I mean, why then, we, in a nanosecond, go right back to the law? That's right. Okay, let's ask some practical questions.

Can anyone relate to, in your own life, what's being described here? If everybody doesn't raise both hands, something's wrong. So, why does this happen in the lives of believers? Why does it happen? Margaret just said it's so easy for us to simply fall back, pray to, you know, under the law, self-imposed law principles. Have the sin nature. Sure. We're not, positionally we're identified with Christ, but conditionally, you know, we have two natures and we're walking down here on the earth and we're bombarded every day. Yeah. The world. Sure. Yeah. And we live in a law-oriented society. Go back to what even when I was in high school, I played the trombone in high school and I enjoyed it.

But if you wanted to get first chair, what did you have to do? You have to work really hard. John's playing baritone and doing musical instruments. You've got to work hard. Not that working hard is wrong, but it's just kind of inbred into our humanity almost. So it's tough.

I also think it's a return to fellowship of what the Lord is even more dear. It grows as we grow along and we recognize the comfort and the love of that fellowship. So maybe it's a little harder for sin to grab us the next time. I don't know. I'm also always impressed with the fact that on those times of separation that the Lord seems to protect us. I mean, I'd look back and say, oh my gosh, they still had me in the sand, but I wandered. Praise the Lord for that. I can't believe I got through it. I did what I did for ten years without more damage and consequences than there were. Oh boy.

Okay, here's a couple possibilities. Maybe there's some spiritually unaware or ignorant of the truths of Romans 7. That's a definite possibility. Why do people fall prey to what Paul is describing in chapter 7? They just don't know. Therefore, they need to know the truths of God's word. As we talked about in chapter 6, it's important that we know this. In the same thing in chapter 7, it's important that we know this. I think that's definitely an option. Praise the Lord that we know it and that we're growing in this knowledge of the truths of our separation from the law through our death with Christ.

Maybe it's just being disobedient. The idea here is being disobedient to faith. Not believing and reckoning on God's Word. Rejecting the Word of God. If we know, this is definitely a possibility as to why we're experiencing what Paul is experiencing in Romans 7. Doing what we don't want to do. Not being able to do what we want to do. We're just not believing in the truths that he's revealed. revealed to us. Sometimes we'd rather be involved in some sort of personal law system.

We feel, we talked about that, we feel more comfortable there. We have the list on the fridge and if we check off that list each day, it gives us a little more personal assurance than simply walking by faith on the grace. So we fall prey to being more comfortable. I think about the flesh less against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.

Sometimes the flesh wins. Yeah. And why does it win? Because it appears to be, at that moment, that appears to be the most attractive option for you. Usually your own self-righteousness. Usually it's been violated in some way, and you react to that, which is all ideal. Sure, that's right.

In a sense, we'd rather be involved in that. It's more appealing to us, and then we're not believing on the truth, and so boy, there we go, down that path. I feel like this war between the flesh and the spirit is instantaneous. I don't have to think, OK, I'm not going to believe that, and then I have the evil thought that goes through my mind, the anger, whatever it might be. It's just all of a sudden it's there, and I'm like, where did that come from? Yeah, we're walking in the Spirit, and all of a sudden, there it is.

And it didn't give us any warning. It didn't say, hey, Jim, in five minutes, I'm going to tempt you to do something. It doesn't function that way. It just, boom, it comes in. Yeah, it doesn't want to... doesn't want it to lay down quietly. It's going down the fight, so to speak.

I have trouble sorting out the personal law system because I've heard a pastor in this church talk about an inner discipline. It's when you try to lay that on somebody else that it's a law. So that always confuses me. Here's the way that I see the law system playing out. The whole thing boils down to, in my opinion, boils down to source. Because for me to say, I've got to read my Bible this much a week, and I've got to make sure I'm giving this much money to the church, and I've got to make sure I'm helping this many neighbors in my neighborhood, and I've got to make sure I'm doing these certain things for my wife each week, and I've got to make sure I'm playing with my kids this much each week in order for things to be okay. If I'm saying I've got to do those certain things in order to maintain my relationship with God, I've just put myself under a self-imposed law.

That's the way I see it. Now, is going to church a bad thing? It's a good thing. Is giving money to the church? It's a good thing. Is helping my neighbors? Is making sure that I'm helping my wife and being to her what I need to be and being to my kids and playing with them? Those are all good things.

So if I'm saying in my mind, by faith, Lord, you know what, I'm trusting you that by faith I'm going to do those things. You see, one was, I've got to do these things in my own strength and my own power to maintain something. The other thought is saying that I'm trusting the Lord and I'm going to do these things because God has given me the power to do them.

This is law. Yeah, totally dependent. This is law functioning in my own power. This is dependent upon God, who's living His life in and through me as I'm walking my faith. Now I'm going to be doing the same thing. One is going to bring me frustration, and discouragement, and failure. What's that? Self-righteousness. If I can carry it out for one week, or one day. Self-righteousness.

Yeah, one's going to be focused on the Lord. Does that make sense? Yeah, Henry's the same way. Poor guy's not even saved yet. Yeah, Gail? I just wanted to say that dependence on the Lord and walking with the Lord and having your right hand over there on that side and your fellowship with the Lord. Sure, that's right, absolutely.

It guarantees peace and rest in the Lord, despite my circumstance. It does guarantee that. It doesn't guarantee any kind of circumstantial change, but it guarantees that peace and rest that we can have in the Lord. Peace that passes all understanding, as I prayed for Fr. Holland and for his family this morning as we got going. That's a great guarantee. Okay, let's see. Okay, let's look ahead, just for a couple minutes here.

How do we get out of this bondage? If we find ourselves in the bondage, how do we get out of the bondage? Is it a what we do to get out of the bondage, or is it a who that gets us out of the bondage? Yeah, we're jumping ahead here, but I wanted to flush this thing out. Let's put some shoes on and walk in these shoes a little bit this morning so we can hopefully this week.

Okay, look at verse 24, chapter 7. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. There it is. That is where the freedom is going to come from. If we find ourselves doing what we don't want to do and not being able to do what we want to do, it's going to be, it's a who. It's the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 6.14, we looked at that several, two months ago or so.

For sin shall not be master over you. Why? So we're not under the law, but we're under grace. Galatians 5, verse 1 says, don't be entangled. Let me go to it. I don't want to misquote it. Don't be entangled or fall back to slavery to the law, is what it's referring to. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Therefore, keep standing firm and don't be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

Kind of the idea there of chapter 3 of Galatians verses 1-3. You began well. Who tricked you? We've been set free. We saw it in verses 4-6. We've been set free from the law of principle. Don't go back into the yoke of slavery from which you've been free from. Romans 8, 1-4. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. We're going to get to that in the weeks to come. 2 Corinthians 3, 17-18. Let's look at that one. 2 Corinthians 3.

Now, the Lord is a spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty or freedom. So, when we're walking in the spirit, when we're walking with the Lord, there's going to be that freedom and not the bondage or the burden that we're talking about in chapter 7. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit."

We're just looking ahead a little bit, and I thought that would be good for us to do. I know we've got less than five minutes, but I want to go through these as well. God's intent for Romans chapter 7. This is our fourth week in it. I think it was important to point out some big principles so that we can look at them, we can talk about them, and continue to think about them as we continue through Romans 7. point to communicate that believers are free from the law and joined to Christ. I think that's certainly one of the big points for Romans in chapter 7.

Also, as we talked about, to show that a man cannot live the Christian life under the law. through their own strength and efforts and struggle and frustration that it's going to bring if we do try to live through our own efforts and through our own strength. Chapter 7, verse 7-24 is not something that God is going to lead us into. There's some thoughts there that we need to go through. Roman 7 experience before we can enter into the abundant Christian life, as chapter 8 describes.

And I don't think that the scriptures teach that. I don't think that Romans 7, 7-24 is something that God would lead us into. If we would say, yeah, God leads us into this, then we say, well, then God leads us into sin. Obviously, none of us would say that God would lead us into that. So we're seeing what it does there. Okay, it shows us our sin, points us to God conforming us into the image of Christ.

Now every believer at times does things that they don't want to do and at times the things that they want to do they can't do. But this is not God's intent for our lives and nor is it God's intent that we remain there. But God will most certainly use these times in our lives for good, as God works all things together for good, and there's no condemnation as we'll get into in chapter 8. God doesn't lead us into chapter 7 and He doesn't intend for us to dwell there.

We're going to get there in a minute. But are we going to experience what is described there from time to time? Yeah. There's going to be things that we want to do and we're not going to be able to do it. There's going to be things that we want to stop. And at that point, it seems like we can't stop it. God's going to use that for our good. But Romans 7 isn't somewhere where God wants us to dwell, or to be hanging out, or to feel like we're stuck in there. Yeah? That's right. Yes. That we don't have to go there. That's right. That's right. Yeah.

It's not something that is prescribed by God. It's not something that God says, you know, it's a prescription for your spiritual growth. You don't have to go through this in order to grow spiritually. That's what we're kind of driving at with that phrase. It may describe what some people go through, but it's not prescribed by God for spiritual growth. They may describe. Did I say prescribe? I meant to say describe. Yeah, yeah, I'm going to clarify that.

They might describe sometimes, you know, but God doesn't say, boy, you've got to go through this in order to grow spiritually. Three more points. Romans 7 is not a place to dwell in or to hang out in. People shouldn't be stuck in Romans 7. And I've, at times, felt that myself. I thought that myself and heard other people say, boy, I just feel like I'm stuck in Romans 7.

Well, that's not what God intends for the Christian life. Watchman Nee wrote a book called The Normal Christian Life. It's an excellent book. And he said that the normal Christian life for so many people, they think the normal Christian life is Romans 7. That's what they think, but that is not God's intent for the normal Christian life. That's not God's intent for believers to be hanging out, or to be dwelling in, or to feel like we're stuck in Romans 7. Romans 7 describes a place where believers will be when we're not walking with the Lord, just to put it quite frankly.

And one more, I think. It's a warning. and what can happen when depending upon legal methods. We mentioned this last week. Paul is giving first-hand personal testimony of his realizations. He's saying, I've been there, I've done that, and listen folks, I don't want you to go there. So it's not like this is a path that we need to take for spiritual growth. All right, again, we can keep hashing these things over as the next four or five weeks continue on as we keep going.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this time. Thanks for your life, which is our life, and thanks that we can walk by faith in dependency upon you. Thanks for the truths, and as we prayed earlier that our Our dependence would be upon you and your Holy Spirit would be reminding us of these things through this week and bringing these things to our remembrance. We pray for Vern and the rest of the service this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.