“The Only Deliverer of the Wretched”

TEXT:  Romans 7:21-25a

REVIEW

1.  There is a struggle: Romans 7 clearly shows us a picture of human struggle.  Knowing that the Law is “holy, just, and good” is not enough.  My problem is that I do not do the thing that I approve of and will to do.  There is a struggle between the “I” that wants to do the Law, and the “Not I” within me, my sin nature, that sins against God.

2.  There is an answer: This passage is not an excuse to give up the fight against sin.  It teaches us that the answer comes from God.

TODAY’S PASSAGE: 

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! …

1.  Who is this man?

The apostle Paul was once Saul, an accomplished Pharisee, zealous for the Law of God, and committed to attack the message of Christianity.  Something happened to him that changed his life forever. The resurrected Jesus Christ met him on the road to Damascus.  He was blinded temporarily and redirected forever.  The man who was persecuting the church, became a sufferer for the cause of Christ, eventually bringing the message of Jesus throughout the Mediterranean world.

That, in brief, is the story of Saul the Pharisee, who became Paul the Apostle.  Our first question this morning, as we look at verses 21-23 of this passage is this: Are these verses also part of this man’s personal story?  Is the one who wants to do the law in what he calls his “mind” or the “inward man” and who finds himself in “captivity to the law of sin” in the members of his body Saul, Paul, or neither?

            There are three theories.  The first is that the “I” is an unbelieving man, and therefore Saul the Pharisee.  After all, he says that he is in captivity to the law of sin.  He must be saying “I am” rather than “I was” to make the story more dramatic.  Certainly a man described as being stuck in sin does not have the Spirit of God in him.  Therefore this must be the old Saul, says theory one. This is apparently the position most frequently held in the early centuries of the church.  The problem here is that Paul himself indicates in other places that he must still fight against sin with a disciplined life of faith (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).  Furthermore, if we have to declare everyone an unbeliever who through a weak holiness strategy finds himself more stuck at the end than he was at the beginning, who can make the cut?

            The second theory says that the passage genuinely describes a believing man, and therefore is about Paul the Apostle, and not Saul the Pharisee.  After all, he says that he wants to do good.  Therefore he must have the Spirit of God in him, because without the Spirit of God, none could truly desire to follow God’s commandments.  This is Paul the great Apostle, says theory two, who like all true believers throughout all their lives face this inner struggle that he describes in this passage.  This view was held by most of the famous Reformation commentators. The problem here is that Saul the Pharisee did seem to delight in the Law in his own mind and spirit, and so do many people who do not embrace Christ as Messiah, and who need to be born again.

            The third theory says that Paul is not describing himself in particular or any one individual.  After all, some of the things that he says in this seventh chapter don’t fit in well with our understanding of either a believing person or an unbelieving person.  Furthermore, “I” can be used in the Bible to mean the whole people of God.  Under this theory, Paul was earlier describing the people of Israel before the Law was given to Moses, then later writing of Israel under the Law of Moses, and finally referring to the church after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  This is a view that has been held by some recent scholars.

            The problem with all of these opinions is that they are aside from the point that Paul is actually making in the chapter.  That may explain why it is so difficult for everyone to agree on the answer to the question.  Paul’s concern in chapter seven and eight is the fight for holiness.  That is an issue for all kinds of people.  Even though the quest for true holiness of life is hopeless without being born from above, still many people who have not yet yielded their lives to Jesus Christ are daily struggling to live a life of holiness.  It certainly was something Saul the Pharisee cared about.  It was also something the Paul the Apostle cared about.  Paul’s point, particularly in chapter seven, is that the Law will not bring about true Christian holiness.  Reliance upon law to work holiness in us has been a temptation for all kinds of people in the past, including Saul the Pharisee.  But that same temptation is still a problem for people with true faith in Christ, and of course, this also would have even been a temptation even for Paul the Apostle.

            The question is this simple: How do we get better?  Are there many ways to get better?  Specifically, what can the law do to make us better?   Don’t forget – the Law is holy, just, and good.  During the month of August I am working on a special project combining my business training and experience and my understanding of the ten commandments as presented to us by the Westminster men.  My thesis is that a serious attention to the Law – specifically the ten commandments – can make businesses more profitable.  Businesses need Law.  Families need Law.  Cities and towns need Law.  Why?  Laws can help you act better, especially outwardly and publicly, provided that the consequences are clear and are serious enough, and provided that there is a decent chance of getting caught.  Of course the one who hears and (at least outwardly) follows the law for this reason is still showing a basic principle of self-interest.  In the case of a business, a well-run incentive system that reflects a realistic understanding of God’s moral Law should be a good thing for long-run business profitability, everything else being equal.  But we yearn for something more than this.  We don’t want to just look better, or even just to act better.  We want to be better from the depths of the inside all the way to the fingertips of the outside. How will we actually be better?  How can we be more and more changed in the fullness of who we are so that we are thinking and living in more God-glorifying ways?

            Paul’s description here of the inner turmoil we face should be sounding somewhat familiar to you.  You want to do the law, yet your sin nature rises up and does evil.  In that battle between your best intentions and your sin nature, the sin nature wins, and you lose.  This much we have studied before, and we know this through experience.  There are two new things in these verses that you need to see – points two and three of the outline.  This situation is wretched, and thanks be to God, there is a Deliverer.

2.  Wretched

            Our problem is not some minor religious difficulty.  It is a wretched problem, and as a result, we are wretched people.  This word is used to describe prisoners of war.  How appropriate!  There is a war within, and we lose.  We are taken captive by our sin nature.  We are led away in chains.  We have no hope and no future unless we are rescued.  Remember, we are talking about being better, not whether we are heaven-bound or not.  Being better is not the way that we get into God’s family.  We are declared righteous only based on the righteousness of a substitute – Jesus Christ.  But we were made not only to be declared righteous, but to actually be increasingly righteous.  As Bryan Chapell has written, “When God removes good works as a condition for his acceptance, he does not remove righteousness as a requirement for life.”  We should be deeply desirous to be more righteous.  If we are not longing for growth in goodness, the Bible tells us to take another look at our wretchedness (see Revelation 3:14 ff). 

            This inner struggle of sin is a body of death chained to our backs.  We have court documents in our hands that say we have been pardoned, but the stench of our continuing in sin bothers us.  That illustration may sound too strong, but “wretched” is the word Paul uses.  If your desire for victory against sin is weak, you need to see how wretched sin really is.  Look at the cross.  See there a body of death that the sinless Son of God worked for your pardon.  This is what it took for you to be right with God.  Don’t you want to thank him with a holy life, or have you forgotten who you are, and what Christ has done for you?  Look in the mirror of your wretchedness, and see yourself rightly (James 1:23-25).

3.  The Deliverer

            Then look beyond your wretchedness.  Behold, the man upon the cross.  I know that it is finished.  There is a Redeemer, and I am delivered from this body of death by His present work for me through His Spirit.  The life that I live, I NOW live by faith in the Son of God (Galatians 2:20).  This is why I thank God and happily call Jesus my Lord – and not just my Lord, but OUR Lord.  This is the resounding answer of Romans 7:25.  How can I be better?  I can only truly be better through Jesus Christ our Lord.

APPLICATION:

Trusting that Jesus is presently working in you as your Deliverer has much to do with the progress of His work in you. If you refuse to believe that He is working in you, then you should not be surprised when you make little progress in the fight against sin.  Look for and expect the work that He has promised to do, and you will see it.  Look up and see the one who is your Deliverer.  Hallelujah!  What a Savior!