Misery Under the Law

Transcript

GR 1435
06/13/10
Misery under the Law
Romans 7:8-19
Gil Rugh

We're in Romans 7 in our study of the letter of Paul to the Romans. And we will be in a section for our next couple of studies, that is the most controversial part of Romans. We want to be sure that we are all together as we move through this section. It has to do with the law, the Mosaic Law; it has to do with Israel; it has to do with believers, the relationship of the Law to those who are believers. Does the Law play any part for Gentiles, or just to Jews? You appreciate the difficulty for sorting through these things for the early church. For some 2000 years up until the time when Christ came God's program had focused in the nation Israel, beginning with Abraham about 2000 years before Christ. The story begins in the account in Genesis 12, the unfolding of the Abrahamic Covenant. God's purposes and plans had been centered in one nation, the nation Israel. He revealed Himself to that nation and through that nation. Now the result of the coming of Christ, His death and resurrection and the establishing of the church in Acts 2, God's plan and program moves out beyond the nation Israel for this period of time to the church, comprised of Jews and Gentiles alike. But as time moved along it became more and more Gentile in its makeup. During this early period of the church, Jews who were saved and Jews who had not been saved but had been attracted to the message of Christ were wrestling with the relationship of the Law to what God was now doing in building His church. And it caused some confusion. And the Apostle Paul repeatedly had to deal with Jews who would come into churches he had established or that he was ministering to through letter. These Jews would try to say that the church had to live under the authority of the Mosaic Law. And Paul wants to be clear that is not true.

And so as he is unfolding the gospel of God through the book of Romans he is constantly drawing attention to the work of God with Gentiles as well as with Jews, emphasizing the fact that Jews who were responsible to the Law are in a certain position. And Gentiles who did not have the Mosaic Law given to them have a responsibility to God as well. For example, the first major division of the book of Romans was dealing with the sin and condemnation of all people. There he stresses both Gentiles and Jews alike. He began with the Gentiles.

Go back to Romans 1:18, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” And what revelation had been given to Gentiles? Well the revelation of creation. Verse 20, “since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, divine nature” and so on “have been clearly seen.” So Romans 1:18-32 shows the sin and guilt of Gentiles who did not have the Mosaic Law. But they are still guilty and under condemnation.

In Romans 2-3:20 Paul shows the sin and guilt of Jews. The Jews thought they were the exception, they weren't defiled sinners like Gentiles. But Paul is demonstrating there really is no difference except that the Jews have an added guilt as a result of added responsibility. God gave them His Law so in verse 17 of chapter 2, “if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the Law and boast in God, know His will, approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, are confident you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness.” The blind, those who are in darkness were the Gentiles. And the Jews thought, we have the Law, we're okay, we need to tell these Gentiles how to live and so on. In verse 20 of chapter 2, “they have in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and the truth.” And yet he goes on to say the Jews don't keep the Law. So having the Law doesn't save the Jews and they can't claim to have kept the Law, so the Jews are condemned. And when you come down into chapter 3 he tells the Jews, we are entrusted with God's word but the problem is, verse 9, “are we better than they? Are we Jews better than they, the Gentiles? Not at all, we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.”

So there are no exceptions. The Jews are sinners just like the Gentiles. Romans 3:19, “we know whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law.” He has just quoted a series of references from the Jewish scriptures showing that “there are none righteous, there are none who do good” and so on. Now whatever the Law says it says to those who are under the Law. Gentiles never were under the Law. We looked at this in our last study. The Mosaic Law was given to Jews, to the nation Israel. He dealt with this in Romans 2 as well, that the Gentiles will be judged apart from the Mosaic Law, while the Jews will be judged in the context of the Mosaic Law. So his concern is that the Jews see themselves as sinners just like the Gentiles are. Verse 20, “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight because the Law brings you the knowledge of sin, but it doesn't enable you to find righteousness by obedience.”

And you'll note the contrast he keeps bringing up. With the Gentiles who didn't have the Law, the Jews who do have the Law—they are all sinners. When you come into the next major section in Romans, beginning in chapter 3 verse 21 and it goes through chapter 5 verse 21, he talks about the righteousness of God provided by faith. And again he clearly makes the distinction—this righteousness by faith in Christ is for the Gentile, it is also for the Jew. The Jew needs the righteousness of God through faith in Christ just like the Gentile needs that righteousness. In chapter 3 verse 28, “we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” Salvation is completely by faith, it is not by faith plus keeping the Mosaic Law. “Is He God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also. Indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.” So you see having the Law doesn't change your sinful condition, being under condemnation of a holy God. And the way you must be saved is no different for a Gentile who does not have the Mosaic Law or for a Jew who does have the Mosaic Law. It is through faith in Christ.

Down into chapter 4 verse 13, as he uses Abraham as an example, the promise to Abraham was to his descendants. That he would be “heir of the world was not through the Law but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void. For the Law brings about wrath.” So you see constant reminder of the place of the Law and the condition of the Jew who had the Mosaic Law, needing to place his faith in Christ alone for salvation.
When you come down to chapter 5 verse 20, “the Law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased grace abounded all the more that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So you see the Law came in and when God spoke and gave specific instructions to the Jews all that happened was that it was more clearly revealed how sinful they were because they didn't obey the commandments that God had given to them. So the very fact they had the Law wouldn't save them because they were disobeying the Law that had been given to them. So that reminder because these Jews were trying to tell the Gentile church at Rome they needed to start keeping the Law if they were going to be saved, if they were going to live a life that was pleasing to God. And he's showing, no, Jews are just as lost as Gentiles, Jews have to be saved the same way as Gentiles. The Law doesn't make the Jews more savable, doesn't put them in a closer relationship and so less guilty before God.

When you come to chapter 6 we've moved into the doctrine of sanctification and how we are going to live as people who have received the righteousness of God through faith in Christ. And how this is all worked out in chapter 6 is we are identified with Jesus Christ in His death so that when you believe in Christ you are identified with Christ, viewed as having died when Christ died. That death breaks the power and control of sin over your life. Then you are identified spiritually with Christ in His resurrection, you are given new life now to live in obedience to Him. So he said in chapter 6 verse 14, “sin shall not be master over you.” Why? For you are not under Law but under grace. You see this whole emphasis. The Law does not bring salvation to you. The Law does not enable you to live a godly life. We have been “set free from the power and control of sin” in chapter 6 and when chapter 7 opened up, the Jews have also been set free from all obligations and responsibilities to the Mosaic Law. Because when a Jew believed in Christ he was identified with Christ in His death. That was a death to the Law. Verse 4 of chapter 6, “therefore my brethren, you were also made to die to the Law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God.” So when the Jew like Paul believed in Christ, all obligations and responsibilities of the Mosaic Law were severed. He now has a new spouse, a new master. Verse 6, “but now we have been released from the Law, having died to that which we were bound so that we now serve in the newness that the Spirit has brought, not in the oldness of the letter.” The letter referring to the Mosaic Law.

Okay with that we come to the section we looked at in our previous study. We have died with Christ, we have been joined to Christ. Jews have had all relationship, all responsibility to the Mosaic Law severed, verse 6 of chapter 7. But in verse 5 Paul made a statement, “for while we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the Law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” Really what happens in chapter 7 verse 7 through the rest of the chapter, Paul is explaining what he said in verse 5. “While we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the Law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”

Now in verses 7-12 he explained the first part of that verse, “While we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the Law.” Wait a minute, that raises a question. Verse 7, “what shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be.” I mean, if the Law aroused sinful passions are you saying that the Law is sinful? And so he explained in verses 7-12 which we have already looked at, the problem was not with the Law. “The Law” according to verse 12 “is holy, the commandment is holy, righteous and good.” Do you know what the problem with the Law was? It was the Jew. Paul says as he speaks identifying himself with the nation Israel because remember the Gentiles never were under the Law. The Law wasn't given to Gentiles, Gentiles never lived under the authority of the Mosaic Law, except for those who became converts to Judaism.

Look at what Paul says in verse 8, “sin taking opportunity through the commandment;” verse 11, “sin taking opportunity through the commandment.” What happened is God gave His Law to Israel, but the Jews were under the control and domination of sin and sin is personified here, ruling and dominating their lives. So when God gave His Law, the response of sin was to rebel against it. So sinful people dominated by their sinful desires and passions disobeyed God. So what is the history of Israel throughout the Old Testament? Rebellion against God. Paul said it was the result of being enslaved to sin. What he is demonstrating here is the point he made in chapter 6. You have to die to be set free from the domination to sin and when you give a perfect, holy, just, good, law to sinful people they break it. They don't obey it because they are enslaved to their sin. So the giving of God's Law to the Jews didn't save them. Well how were Jews to be saved? They were to be saved by faith, that was chapter 4 remember? Abraham is the example. So there is nothing wrong with the Law, the Law was good. The problem was the Jews were enslaved to sin just as Gentiles were. So giving them added revelation from God didn't mean they were now saved. They would have had to obey that revelation from God to benefit from it, but they didn't.

The last part of verse 5 which says that “the sinful passions which were aroused by the Law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” Really, he unfolds the significance of that in verses 13-25. How the Law was working in the lives of the Jews, speaking of himself as an example, when they had the Law. Now if you have studied Romans very much you will know that there is a great discussion about the last part of Romans. Are we talking about Paul as a saved man and the battle between the two natures? Last week we mentioned Renald Showers' book, The Two Natures, and some of you may be reading that. You will find that he takes the view that Paul here is writing as a saved man, and it's a battle between the old nature and the new nature in a believer. The other view is that Paul is writing here and speaking of his situation before his conversion as a Jew in Israel and using himself, but it would be true of the Jews generally as those under the Law.

You'll note verse 5 is talking about the Jews apart from salvation, unsaved Jews. He says in verse 5, “While we were in the flesh, sinful passions were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” Well, to be in the flesh is to be an unbeliever. When we get to chapter 8, verse 6, “the mind set on the flesh is death;” verse 7, “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. It does not subject itself to the Law of God, it is not even able to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him.” So you'll note when he says in verse 5 of chapter 7, “while we were in the flesh or when we were in the flesh,” he's talking about that time before our conversion. And our bodies were producing fruit for death, as he talked about at the end of chapter 6, what went on before our conversion. The parts of our bodies were used for sinful things and the result of that is death.

So verse 5 is talking about an unbeliever. If you have been around Indian Hills a long time you'll know that I have taught this passage a couple of different ways. Whether Paul is talking about the situation of a believer battling against sin or of an unbeliever and his inability as a Jew to please God, the basic point of chapter 7 is clear. All obligations to the Mosaic Law are over for those who have believed in Christ. That is clear. There is no question that believers still have battles with sin, and the scripture is clear on that. The issue is, what is Romans 7 talking about? Back 20 years ago when I taught this I taught that it was a battle between the two natures, so if you get the old tapes you will find that I taught it with the two natures. Since then I have come to a different view. I think it is more consistent that this passage is speaking about Paul and the experience of the Jews in trying to keep the Law and their failure to do that. That's why chapter 8 will make clear that you are set free by the Spirit of God and now live in the power of the Spirit because the Jews never were able to keep the Law. They were deluded into thinking that they could.

Let me give you a few summary reasons and then we'll be doing part of this section and then we'll be doing the other part in our next study and we'll by tying it together. So don't get lost along the way. We will be picking up pieces as we go. But at least three reasons for now before we look at the details in the passage why I think Paul is writing here. He’ll talk about himself in the first person, identifying himself with the nation Israel. And he is writing from how he sees himself as he was now that he is a believer. In other words he is standing here as a converted, saved man, looking back and talking about what it was like as a Jew trying to keep the Law and failing to do so. And you know you get a different perspective once you are saved. A number of you were very religious before you really came to salvation through faith in Christ and you may have been trying to please God, you may have been doing a variety of religious things and maybe thought, I'm doing very well. And I want to please God. Paul wrote about that perspective as a Jew in Philippians 3, “I was born of the tribe of Benjamin and as regarding the Law I was blameless.” Looking at it from where I was as a Jew, I was doing everything that could be expected, I was doing a good job keeping the Law and so on. But you know perspective changes once you are saved. For those of you who thought, I'm doing well, I'm a religious person, I try to do the things that would be pleasing to God and live my life morally, upright and so on. But then you get saved and you look back on that experience and you see yourself as a miserable failure. Right? I wanted to please God but I kept failing. You get a whole different perspective on it. That's what Paul is doing in Romans 7. Now he is standing here as a Christian, looking back on his experience as a Jew and I had a desire to keep the Law and in those days I thought I was doing pretty good, but I look back now and I was a miserable failure. That's a perspective he's getting.

One reason I think we are talking about Paul as an unconverted Jew in Romans 7 is the fact that in the first part of chapter 7 Paul has made clear that he died to the Law when he believed in Christ. He died to the Law, verse 4, “you were made to die to the Law so that you might be joined to another and bear fruit for God.” Verse 6, “you've been released from the Law so you serve in the newness the Spirit brings not in the oldness of the letter, the Mosaic Law.” So that excludes the idea that now Paul, as a believing Jew, would be trying to live under the authority of the Mosaic Law. The end of chapter 7 describes the struggle that goes on in trying to keep the law and failing, but the first part of chapter 7 has made clear no believer in Jesus Christ lives under the authority of the Law. So why would Paul be struggling to try to keep the Law that he died to? Was not to have a relationship with any longer.

Look back in chapter 6 verse 14, “sin shall not be master over you for you are not under the Law but under grace.” So the whole point is that you weren't saved by grace so that you now could live by Law. We've looked at this already in previous studies. But when you were saved by grace you were set free from the power and bondage of sin and the power and bondage of the Mosaic Law. So I don't think Paul could be talking about his struggle now as a believer trying to do his best to live in obedience to the Law.

A second reason I don't think we're talking about believers in their battle between the old nature and the new nature, is it can't be the normal experience of a believer because Gentiles never were under the law. So why would a Gentile believer now be talking about his desire to keep the Law? Gentiles never were under the Law. We keep coming to the same kind of problem Paul is writing to correct in the letter to the Romans, and particularly in the letter to the Galatians. Were you saved by grace and now kept by works? Can you be so foolish? What would a Gentile in the church at Rome be doing trying to keep the Mosaic Law as a believer? So it can't be describing the general experience of a Christian because Gentiles never were under the Law. And so it wouldn't apply to them anyway.

Another reason, it seems to me that the person in Romans 7 is not just a Christian who sins, but the description of the person in Romans 7 is of a person living under the power and authority of sin. Look at the end of verse 14, “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” Well in light of chapter 6, that's not true of a believer. They've been set free from the bondage, authority, mastery of sin. Down in verse 23, “this Law making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.” Well in light of chapter 6 can you say a believer would be a prisoner of the law of sin? The whole argument of chapter 6 was in our identification with Christ we have been set free from the power and domination of sin. So at the end of chapter 7, verse 25, “On the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” It’s just totally contrary to what chapter 6 is all about, that the believer no longer lives enslaved to sin. Back in chapter 6 verse 9, “knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again, death is no longer master over him.” Verse 7, “even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies.” We looked at verse 14, “sin shall not be master over you.” Verse 18, “having been freed from sin;” verse 22, “having been freed from sin.” And now to come and talk about being enslaved, sold in bondage to sin, serving sin. That just doesn't seem to be a possibility for a true believer.

So don't misunderstand. I think believers do have battles with sin. But believers do not live under the control and domination of sin. And one danger I think of taking this passage and applying it to believers, we end up talking to people who say, I have a desire, I want to please Him, but they keep going up to the top and down to the bottom. That's a description of an unsaved person trying to live according to the revealed will of God. It's not the description of a believer. The unbeliever never succeeds. So he's going to make all these resolutions and now he's going to do better, and I know how to do this and now I'm going to do it. We say, you're having the struggle of Romans 7. You're not a believer and that's Paul's argument in Romans 7—I was trying to do what could not be done. And I could have a desire and say I'm going to do it, I know I should do it, it's the right thing to do. But he didn't do it. That's the description of an unbeliever. We have a lot of people who are struggling, I know I'm a Christian and I apply this to us and I'm going to do better, I'm going to resolve to change my life. You have an unbeliever who is going to clean up his life. That's what Paul was as a Jew—I know what the Law says is right and I'm going to do it, that's my desire. Flop right on his face, failure. So there is a danger if we misuse this scripture. We have people walking around who think they are believers who just can't get on top of it. Well according to Romans 7 we're talking about an unbeliever who has no hope of doing what God would have him do because he is a slave of sin.

So what Paul does, we pick up with verse 13, “therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me. May it never be.” That's the second question with the same answer. We had another question in verse 7, “is the law sin? May it never be.” The problem was not with the Law, the problem was sin mastered me and I responded to its authority. So did that which is good become a cause of death for me? Again, there is not a problem with the Law. May it never be. Rather it was sin, the problem is sin. Now it's not sin as outside source here. As we'll see, he'll talk about “it is sin that lives in me, it controls me.” Back to chapter 6, the unregenerate person lives enslaved to sin. The problem wasn't the Law, the Law is good, the problem was sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by affecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful. So verse 13 summarizes what he said in verses 7-12, it was sin that was the problem. But it also leads us into what follows, that really sin was affecting my death. We're talking about an unbeliever, just like we were in verse 5. “While we were in the flesh,” verse 5, “the sinful passions were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” Did the Law become a cause of death for me? Verse 13. “May it never be, rather it was sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good.” We're talking about an unbeliever. So that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful. All the Law could do when confronting a sinful being was to reveal how sinful he was. Because the sinful person is totally enslaved to his sin. So he is confronted with a perfect Law, but he is a sinful being and he rebels.

So he's now going to go on and elaborate on that. So you understand verse 13 is speaking as an unregenerate person. You'll note verse 14 begins with for. You'll note what my life was like when the Law confronted me but sin rebelled against the Law affecting my death and showing me to be a sinner in every way so that sin would become utterly sinful. All that the Law did was reveal how sinful the Jews were. They never could be saved by keeping it, it never was a way of salvation.

For, verse 14, we know that the Law is spiritual. The Law is spiritual in the sense that it comes from God. It is good. Psalm 19 speaks about the fact that the Law is good, it is perfect every way. I Peter 1 tells us that the Law and other parts of the Old Testament, the prophets, were written by men as they were guided and directed by the Holy Spirit of God. So there is no problem with the Law, the Law is spiritual, it comes from God, it reveals the character and mind of God for the Jews. What's the problem then?

“But I am of flesh, sold in bondage to sin.” So Paul here is going to speak of himself in the present tense, we call it the historical present. What Paul does in identifying himself with Israel now speaks in the present tense and he looks back and places himself in that. Like me telling you about a period in our lives when we were living in Pennsylvania I was walking along going to church and I'm coming over the hill and I'm looking at the church building there and I'm a young boy. I'm talking in the present even though I'm in the past to bring it more vividly to us. That's what Paul is doing here. He's going to use the present tense but he's talking as a Jew and how he was as a Jew. And he puts himself in the context of life as an unbelieving Jew before his conversion. I am of flesh. Well verse 5 told us “while we were in the flesh the sinful passions were at work to bear fruit for death.” And in chapter 8 he'll tell us, verse 8, “those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” And according to verse 9 “true believers are not in the flesh”. So to speak of himself as of flesh, he's saying I'm an unbeliever. Here I have a law from God which is spiritual but I am not spiritual, I'm of flesh, I'm a sinful being, sold into bondage to sin. That word sold almost half the times it is used in the Old Testament, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it refers to being sold into slavery. And that's the picture here, sold under sin. We have literally, and some of you have it in your margins, sold under sin. Now into bondage of sin, I was a slave to sin. Here I am living in the flesh, dominated by sin, enslaved to sin and I'm confronted with a spiritual law. I can't keep it, I don't keep it. That's the point.

Back up to Romans 3:9, “what then are we better than they? Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” There we are. All under sin. Back in chapter 7 verse 14, “sold under sin.” Turn over to Galatians 3:22, “but the scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” And he talks about those who were under Law in the context, of course. But that expression, under sin, it's describing an unbeliever in these passages we just looked at. So when you come to Romans 7:14 and he says, “I am of flesh sold under sin,” that tells you to be of flesh, be a person who cannot please God. You were enslaved to your sin so you always serve sin. “There is none who does good, not even one,” as we saw earlier.

So verse 15, what does this mean? “For what I am doing I do not understand,” or that word can be translated approved. “For I am not practicing what I would like to do, I am doing the very thing I hate.” I mean, as a Jewish Pharisee what did Paul want to do? I want to keep the Law. The Jews agreed that the Law was good, right? Any doubt that Paul was striving to keep the Law? In Philippians 3 he says from the perspective of being a Jewish Pharisee “I was blameless regarding the Law.” I was doing as good as could be done in keeping the Law. I was way up here compared to dirty, defiled Gentiles who never even gave it an effort. And most Jews were never as good as I was at keeping the Law. Remember in Luke 18, the Pharisee who came to pray, and what did he say? “I thank you, Lord, that I am not a sinner like other men.” I don't commit adultery, I don't do these things. That was their attitude. I'm doing pretty good.

But now Paul sees it differently. What I am doing I do not understand? Now, putting himself back into that situation before his conversion. “I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I'm doing the very thing I hate.” In reality as I look back I thought I was doing pretty good, but I wasn't. And there were failures, and I was doing the things I didn't want to do and I knew I shouldn't do that the Law said I must not do.

So now verse 15 becomes the key here and he's going to explain that in verses 16ff. “But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law that it is good.” In other words the Law says, don't lie or don't covet. And I don't want to covet. I agree the Law is good. I mean, in trying to keep the Law what was Paul saying? The Law is good, it should be kept. That's what the Jews believe. This is the Law of God, it's a good law, it's a righteous law. So if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. And as the Pharisee, when Paul failed to keep the Law he didn't say the Law is bad. He’s saying, “I'm the one that's bad. The Law is good, I agree with the Law, that's why I was trying to keep it even though I didn't. “

“So now no longer am I the one doing it but sin which dwells in me.” Now sin dwelling in me. You'll note at the end of verse 14, “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin;” the end of verse 17, “sin dwells in me;” verse 18, “nothing good dwells in me;” the end of verse 20, “sin dwells in me.” Paul's problem here is sin. Now sin is personified, but this doesn't excuse him. It's not like sin is an outside force. No. Verse 17, “sin lives in me.” That word to dwell, to live in. Sin lives in me. This is what I am. Romans 5, as a descendant of Adam, we are corrupted beings and sin dominates me from within and controls us and masters us. And even though I have a desire to obey God's law, sin asserts its authority over me.

We see this. Let's use Roman Catholics since we are Protestants. Roman Catholics go to confession. Why? They have a sense of failure, but they agree with what they should be doing. That's what I desire to do but I don't do it. Protestants, the same way. They go to church, they do good things. But we fail, we acknowledge there is a standard. It's not that the unbeliever does not acknowledge certain things are good and certain things are bad. The problem is the control of sin in a life dominates it. So it's no longer I who am doing it but sin. But don't make an artificial distinction here in light of what we've already studied in Romans, that we are guilty. And sin is operating but it is showing it is my master. I always do what sin wants. Even though I have a desire to please God and honor Him as a Jew and keep the Law, sin dwells in me.

Now to put it from the other side, look at verse 18. “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For the willing is present but the doing of the good is not.” Nothing good dwells in me. That's the negative side. Stated positively, “sin dwells in me;” stated negatively, “nothing good dwells in me.” Then he'll repeat “sin dwells in me” at the end of verse 20. In other words, “I am a person under the domination and control of sin.” Paul says that was my situation as a Jew before the Law. Here I am with a desire to keep the law of God and obey it but I am a slave to sin. So in the desire to keep the Law I acknowledge the Law is good but in my failure to keep it, I reveal that I am a slave of sin and ultimately always serve sin.

“Nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh, for the willing is present but the doing of the good is not.” He may be talking about flesh here as his physical body. Either way the point will be the same because he is going to come to talk about the members of our body in verses 23 to the end, as he has in chapter 6, our bodies being used for sinful purposes, our bodies not doing what God tells us to do. Nothing good dwells in me. That takes us back to chapter 3, “there is none good, no not one.” So I'm never doing good because I am a sinful being. So nothing ultimately is ever done that is pleasing to God.

“The willing is present in me but the doing of the good is not.” This is not just true of an unbeliever. Paul, as a Pharisee, had a desire to keep the Law, to obey the Law. That's why he could say in Philippians 3, regarding the Law, “I was blameless.” That's his perspective as a Jew before his conversion. Now as a believer he looks back on his condition as a Jew trying to keep the Law, I always fail. I have the desire but the doing of the good is not there. There is a contrast between this section on the word desire or willing. It is used seven times and there are three different words used for doing or practicing, repeatedly used through this section. I desire this but I did this. So Paul says, “as a Pharisee, as a Jew I desired to keep the Law but I failed to keep the Law.”

“For the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” Some people say that can't be an unbeliever because unbelievers never want to do good. That's not true, they never do good but Paul wanted to keep the Law.

Go back to Acts 22. Here Paul is giving his testimony to the Jews and here is what he says. Verse 3, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel strictly according to the Law of our fathers.” Note, “being zealous for God just as you are today.” That's what I was as a Jew, I was zealous for God. What was he doing? He was persecuting the church, putting people to death. Why? Because they were rebels against the law of God and I am the defender of the Law of God, I am committed to keep the Law of God, I have a zeal for God. But the reality of it as he looks back, I was a failure.

Turn over to Romans 10, we'll just take these verses for right now. Paul will speak about Israel as chapter 10 opens up, “brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify of them that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. Not knowing about God's righteousness, seeking to establish their own they didn't subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” He goes on to show you couldn't be saved by keeping the Law. They are trying to become righteous by keeping the Law. They can't do it. But you see they have a zeal for God, a desire to keep the Law. But they are failures. And that's what Paul is doing in chapter 7, giving his own testimony as he identifies with the Jews. I had a desire to keep the Law, I had a desire to do what would be pleasing to God. But you know what? I kept failing. I had the desire but I wasn't doing it. Why? I'm a slave to sin.

So Romans 7:19, “the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I don't want to do.” Verse 20, “but if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it but sin which dwells in me.” Now again don't make the wrong separation between the “I” and “sin.” I have a desire, a mental desire to keep the Law, but sin masters me, it dominates me. And so I kept failing. Paul is going over the same ground here. Verse 17, “it is no longer I the one doing it but sin dwells in me; “verse 20, “I am doing the very thing I do not want. I am no longer the one doing it, sin dwells in me.” Sin controls and masters the unbeliever. So trying to live a life of obedience to the Law couldn't be done.

That's Paul's testimony. We're not done with it but we won't go any further than this verse. Now again, as we noted when we started, Paul is talking about his situation as a Jewish man prior to conversion. Like other Jews he was trying his best but failing. There is an application for us. We have people who have a desire, they say yes, I'm going to do this or that. They profess to be believers but they are just constantly flopping around all over. And sometimes we take them to Romans 7 and say you're just having a battle between the old nature and the new nature. What you are really revealing is you are not a believer. “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious, those who practice sin are of the devil.” But I have a desire. Doesn't matter whether you do or don't, Paul had a desire to keep the Law to please God. The problem was he failed. Why? He is a slave to sin. But people making resolutions, and I'm going to do better and I'm going to change my life and I'm going to work at it. Then they fail and say, I just can't get on top of it. Well if you are a slave to sin that's what happens. Paul said in verse 15, “I am of flesh, sold in bondage to sin. Sin masters me, it controls me.” Verse 23, when we get there in our next study, “it makes me a prisoner of the law of sin. I do that which is irrational, it makes no sense and I know I shouldn't but I do it anyway.” The whole point of chapter 7 is the only freedom is in Jesus Christ. You can keep trying, you can quit trying. The reality of it is you won't be any different until you are set free from the slavery to sin. We want to be careful that we are not telling people, you probably are a believer, you just have to try harder. Wait a minute, let's just back up. You have a desire, you say you want to but you have a life lived manifesting the mastery of sin in your life. That reveals your true character. I don't say that to be harsh or unkind. I want to tell you about One who will set you free, not because you are going to try harder, you're going to make new resolutions, you're going to commit to do this. We have the whole spiritual reformation movement now where the key is to go back and learn from the mystics and the monks, go back to the 3rd, 4th, 5th centuries and find out how they disciplined themselves. You just don't find Paul doing that. Here is the answer. Here is the problem. You can't live pleasing to God until you are set free by the power of God. That's what Romans 8 will be about. But first he wants to make clear the futility that he identifies with in having a desire to please God and do the right thing, but failing.

We have a salvation that sets us free and that salvation is faith in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for Jesus Christ. Thank you that salvation is by grace through faith. The desire is to do good. The desires of Paul and the Jews to keep the Law always came to nothing because sin is the master, it holds us in its grip, it drives us, it makes our decisions. We are sinful beings. The only freedom is the freedom that is found through faith in Christ. Thank you that it is a genuine freedom, a complete freedom. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.