“Help Me, I’m Messed Up!”
(Romans 7:14-25)
Series: Not Guilty
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Church Henderson, KY
(7-26-09) (AM)
- Take your Bibles and open to Romans, chapter 7.
We’re continuing our series of expository messages, verse-by-verse, through the Book of Romans. Let’s remember the context of chapter 7. Paul has just finished saying that the Old Testament Law cannot save us. We are not saved by keeping the Law. In fact, he has said in the previous verses that the Law reveals our sin, awakens our sin, and magnifies our sin. It’s like a shovel that digs up the dirt within us. The Law actually stimulates our sin nature so that we sin more and more.
Anticipating that he may be criticized or misunderstood, if not accused of “slamming the Law,” if you will, he writes this next section. He personalizes what he is saying. It’s like he’s saying, “Look, if you believe the Old Testament Law was given to save us, then here’s the problem: the Law is good and I am not. Without Christ, without the Holy Spirit, I am in bondage to the Law. I am a slave to sin. Even as a believer in Christ I cannot keep the Law as I should. It’s like I am paralyzed by the Law. I just cannot keep it.”
- Stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
- Pray.
Introduction:
The title of our message this morning is, “Help Me, I’m Messed up!” Do you ever feel that way? That is the cry of the person Paul describes in verses 14-25.
This passage is not so much about the Christian’s struggle with sin as it is about the Christian’s struggle with the Old Testament Law. That is very important though the application is similar. Remember our outline from last week: Chapter 7 is all about the Law. Verses 1-6 describe our connection to the Law, verses 7-13 describe our conviction by the Law then, in our verses today, verses 14-25, we read about our conflict with the Law.
Paul is describing here a Christian who is entirely ignorant of what it really means to be “in Christ” because he is trying in his own strength to keep the Old Testament Law. He is under conviction by the Holy Spirit, who reveals the goodness and holiness of the Law, but the Christian knows he cannot carry it out. He feels condemned, seeing his weakness for the very first time and feeling himself to be an utter failure. He has been trying to keep the Law in his own strength and he realizes he cannot. He cries out, “Help me, I’m messed up” because he doesn’t understand the truth about the Gospel and salvation that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows he is unholy, but he really doesn’t know much more than that. How many people there are like this in Christian churches all across America!
This was my own experience. I made a decision for Christ when I was 15-years-old. Years went by before I really understood what it meant to be “in Christ.” Until that point I was like the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2, a “babe in Christ,” feeding on the “milk of the Word,” but not the “solid food.” And so, as a Christian, I was trying in my own strength to keep the moral commands of Scripture, hoping to improve my situation, hoping somehow to have peace and joy and feel God’s smile upon my life, but I found myself a failure at keeping the Law.
Some years later, I began to get under the preaching of the Word, attending a Bible-believing church, and hearing the Bible expounded more fully. I began to understand some things, but found myself a bit like this man in Romans 7:14-25. I was struggling with the Law, not doing the thing I desired and hating the thing I was doing. In time, I began to understand the full Gospel message and understood that Christ fulfilled the Law perfectly in my place. I had heard that before, but it never really made sense to me before. Now, I saw myself as “in Christ,” delivered from my old position “in Adam.” I understood that God had “set me free” from the slavery of sin. I was now “free in Christ.” I understood that I was now no longer “under the Law,” but “under grace” (Romans 6:14). I began to understand what it meant to be no longer married to the Law, but married to Christ. I began to understand what it meant to be married to the One who perfectly fulfilled the Law for me, married to the One in whom I have complete redemption, the forgiveness of sin, what it meant to wear the righteousness of Christ upon me, to be “dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. Then, peace came.
And now I am no longer trying to please God by good works under the Law, but I am bearing fruit borne of a new relationship in Christ Jesus. I am now walking in newness of the Spirit.
There are three main things for us to consider from our study together. First:
I. How great is our Sin (14-20)
Paul begins this section by saying, in essence, “If anyone thinks he can improve his situation by keeping the Old Testament Law, obeying the 10 Commandments and all the other Jewish Laws of the Bible, then he just doesn’t understand how great is his sin.” The Law is insufficient to save us in any measure, insufficient to justify us and insufficient to sanctify us. Just as we cannot earn our salvation by keeping the Law, so we cannot maintain our salvation by keeping the Law. We simply cannot keep the Law.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
The Law is “spiritual.” That is, it is good, holy, and just. And we are not. We are “carnal.” The word means “fleshy or fleshly.” It is a word contrasted with spiritual. The Law is good and we are not. We are, by nature, sinners sold under sin. I have a sin nature that is forever open to the tyranny of indwelling sin.
The context, along with the use of the present tense and the personal pronoun, “I,” suggests that Paul is describing the situation of a believer, a Christian, either a new believer or a believer who has not yet fully appreciated and appropriated the power of the Gospel. Paul may be describing the case of any Christian in this situation or he may be describing his own experience shortly after his encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road. This person says, “Look, even as a Christian, I acknowledge that the Law is good, but I am not. I am by nature a sinner. I want to carry out the Law, but I cannot. I feel utterly convicted and condemned by the Law. I am paralyzed by the Law.” Then he explains what he means:
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.
I love the way verse 15 begins! “For what I am doing, I do not understand.” Have you ever felt that way? “I don’t know what I am doing.” Do you ever purposely walk into a room and then forget why you went there? Have you ever been talking to someone, you’re not thinking about what you’re saying, the words just keep spilling out, and you just keep digging yourself into a hole?
Many of us can relate to not understanding what we are doing. Paul relates it here to the Christian who struggles with trying to live in accordance with the Laws of Scripture. He says, “I just don’t understand myself. I mean, I know what I should be doing. I want to do right, but I don’t. In fact, what I hate is the very thing I find myself doing.” He continues:
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.
So Paul says, “I believe the Law is good.” He is talking about the Old Testament Law, the moral Law, like the 10 Commandments, “You shall not steal, You shall not lie, You shall not covet,” and so forth. He says, “I believe the Law is good, but I don’t keep it like I should because of my sin. I mean, I really want to keep the Law, but sin within me comes out and I do what I don’t want to do.” Verse 18:
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.
Every Christian has this fallen nature in which “nothing good dwells.” And see how great is our sin? He says, “To will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.” That is, “I really want to do the right thing, but I can’t!” He explains further:
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.
How many of you are familiar with Robert Louis Stevenson’s, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Stevenson’s novel is consistent with much Victorian era morality literature and many scholars believe Stevenson’s story was inspired by this text in Romans 7.
Most of us know that Dr. Jekyll was the good doctor in London. In his basement he experimented with science and developed a potion that turned him into a bad person named Mr. Hyde. Stevenson writes about the struggle of good and evil within each person. A significant point in the story occurs when Mr. Hyde is going home after another night of evil on the streets of London. Usually the potion wore off by the time he got home, but this time it stayed with him longer. As he walked up the stairs to the bedroom, Dr. Jekyll glances in the mirror and sees Mr. Hyde. And he says, “This too was myself.”
In some sense that is what Paul is saying here. This sin nature is a part of us. “This too is ourselves.” How great is our sin and how great is our struggle. This is the second point:
II. How great is our Struggle (21-23)
Hear how Paul describes this inward struggle with the moral commands of Scripture, our inward struggle and conflict with Old Testament Law.
21 I find then a law (more helpful to translate “principle,” or “rule”), 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.
There’s another reason why we may conclude that Paul is describing here the experience of a Christian. He says, “I delight in the law of God.” A non-Christian, an unbeliever, does not delight in the law of God. So he says, I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, my inmost being, but—verse 23:
23 But I see another law in my members (the parts of my body), warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Paul describes this struggle with keeping the Law. He says, I want to do the right thing, but there’s this thing going on within me, this sin nature deep within me. He describes this sin nature as that which “brings him into captivity to the law of sin.”
This word “captivity” comes originally from a word translated “spear.” It pictures two men who are fighting against one another. The one overpowers the other and then points his spear at him and says, “Alright now, come with me. Don’t move or I’ll thrust this spear right through you!”
Paul says that’s what’s going on with him. He says I want to do right, to live right, to keep the moral commands of the Bible, but there is this other principle or law at work in my body. This law wars against me and brings me into captivity like a man pointing a spear at me. It brings me into captivity. I am a prisoner at the point of a spear. I am at the mercy of my captor.
How great is our struggle with keeping the Law! It is utterly impossible. Do you see how wrong is the teaching that is popular is some Christian circles that asserts that it is possible for a Christian to achieve a sense of “perfection” this side of heaven? Some actually believe that it is possible for a Christian to reach the point where he no longer sins again. I’d like to meet someone like that! I would open up here to Romans 7, talk about the greatness of our sin, and ask this person how he defines sin. Our sin nature holds us as prisoners at the point of a spear. We want to do right but we are powerless to do so. Who will deliver us from this imprisoned state? That is the cry of verse 24:
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Paul cries, “Help me, I’m messed up! Who will deliver me?!” Answer:
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.
So here is our third point:
III. How great is our Savior (24-25)
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
The word “wretched” there describes a person at the point of exhaustion. It describes a person who has tried and tried and tried to get peace and is nothing more than utterly frustrated. Paul uses it here to describe the Christian who has tried his level best, in his own strength, to keep the Law. He reaches the point of exhaustion and cries out, “Who will deliver me?” You know, “I can’t do this! I can’t be perfect! Who will deliver me?!” Answer, verse 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.
And there’s a summary of the entire situation. The Christian wants to serve the Law of God, he wants to keep the moral commands of Scripture, but he fails. Because of his flesh, he is captive to sin. He has this sin nature within him. And who will deliver him from this predicament? The answer, “Jesus Christ our Lord!”
And in what sense is he delivered? Certainly not in the sense that he will no never ever struggle with sin again. He is not delivered in that sense. No! He is, however, delivered in the sense that he is fully forgiven of all the sins with which he struggles. He is saved! He is forgiven! That is it! He comes to point of realization that this is precisely what the Gospel is all about. He cannot keep the Law. It is impossible, even as a Christian.
So Paul says, “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Here is a Christian who now understands what the Gospel is all about. He realizes that his acceptance before God is not based upon his keeping the Law, but based upon Christ’s keeping the Law for him! The Christian cannot please God by keeping the Law. He is an utter failure at it. Jesus did it all. He died for our sins and He fulfilled the Law for us.
Jesus paid it all.
All to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow.
Now, Paul says he understands what it really means to be saved, rescued, and delivered from his bondage to sin and the Law. Though he still has this sin nature, he is no longer helplessly and hopelessly stuck in his old position, bound “in Adam,” trying to earn God’s approval. He is free from that impossibility and now and forever seen by God as “in Christ.”
So now he is able to live a new life, newness in the Spirit. Now he is able to live out a life of good works—not good works that he might earn God’s approval—but good works that naturally flow and follow from a grateful heart that is forever forgiven “in Christ.” The ground of his acceptance before God is Christ Jesus. All has all been taken care of in Christ Jesus. How great is our Savior!
- Stand for prayer.
In the next chapter, chapter 8, Paul tells us how the Christian, set free from the Law and sin, can live out the life God has called him to live. But right now, let me ask you, “Have you been set from the Law and sin?” Lost or saved, are you looking to your good works as the basis of your acceptance before God—or are you looking to Christ as the basis of your acceptance? Look to Christ and be saved!
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