Restored Felons

If the Lord’s people would please take their Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 7. If you heard some groans as I introduced Romans 7, it’s understandable we spent six weeks in this chapter the last time we went through it, and it is a tedious even an overwhelming chapter.

And to tackle this chapter in the midst of a flyover, where we’re just kind of touching upon the high points of some of these chapters. As you saw several times, we’ve taken the chapter in full. Chapter 6, last week, we did the same thing. We’re trying to just keep pace.

And as I looked at it, I knew that early in the week, I wasn’t going to get away with even trying to locate a high point of chapter 7. It is an important chapter, even if difficult, and so we’ll take chapter 7 in its entirety this morning, and you just start praying for me now.

As we come into chapter 7, of Paul’s letter to the Romans, we’re not quite halfway in this mark of the epistle. We know for certain that we’re still within the third great section of his writing, sin, salvation, sanctification, where Paul is addressing that subject.

And I say that we know that because of the transition that we see in verse one, that two-letter word or in the New American Standard. This is a continuation of Paul’s discussion. I’ve told you many times that chapters and verse divisions are not inspired. They were added about the 14th century in the New Testament, and because these breaks are not inspired, sometimes they are clumsy and ill-placed.

And such is the case between Romans 6 and Romans 7, because we find Paul really in the midst of an important discussion, almost mid-sentence. We don’t even have to read the entire sentence to see this. In fact, we get the sense from that very first word, or. Or do you not know?

That conjunction shows that Paul is challenging the thinking of the Roman Christians. He’s looking back to his statement of 614 that they are not under law but under grace. And this transition, or do you not know, is a literary device that suggests that they do know, but that their thinking is disjointed, inconsistent, and needs to come into alignment with that truth, that they are now under grace and not law. And Paul knows that he now has to discuss the relationship to God’s law. because a misunderstanding and a misapplication of that principle could have disastrous effects.

It does not sanction freedom to sin. Last week, in our consideration of chapter six, Paul’s introduction to the subject of sanctification, we observed that Paul uses two illustrations. His first was death and sin. And the second was masters and slavery.

And here in chapter seven, he’s still in the midst of a discussion of sanctification, and he employs a new illustration regarding humanity’s relationship to God’s law. This time, regarding the role of God’s law in sinners’ lives. so that we can begin to enjoy this argument in full, we need to take the chapter in its entirety, beginning in verse 1 of chapter 7.

Or do you not know, brethren, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning her husband. So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. 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 at 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 were bound, so that we serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. 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. So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be. Rather, it was sin in order that it might be shown to be sin by affecting my death through that which is good. That through the commandments, sin might become utterly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For that which I am doing, I do not understand. For I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the law, confessing that it is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good, for I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man.

But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Then 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.”

Even at that reading of Romans 7, you’re likely entertaining some very big questions. Romans 7 is a notoriously challenging chapter of Scripture. No other than Martin Lloyd-Jones himself called Romans 7 one of the most controversial chapters in the Bible. Whatever view one may take of it inevitably leads to criticism and disagreement. No other chapter has been more frequently the cause of discussion and disputation and argument. to set the structure and context of this passage, we have to look all the way back to chapter five.

In chapter five, verses 20 and 21, as you might recall, Paul ignited somewhat of a firestorm, and then he immediately moved to extinguish it. In 520, he said, the law came in so that the transgression would increase. But where sin increase, Grace abounded all the more. And then, as I said, beginning in chapter six, Paul moves to extinguish that inferno. And you’ll recall that he does so in verse 14 when he says, are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?

May it never be. But then as he wraps up his defense, that’s when he makes another surprising statement, starts another fire, as it were, that as Christians, we are no longer under law, but under grace. And he says this to provoke thought and discussion. And that discussion began back in 615 through 23, which passage we looked at last week, the very familiar image there of slavery and emancipation from slavery.

And Paul uses that to adeptly explain away any perception of error or inaccuracy. But there, Paul only answers part of the question. How was he convicted of sin? Sin shall not be master over you. is what he concludes and he deals with the other half of that equation as we move into chapter 7. How are we saved? How are we sanctified? And it’s here that he intends to explain that bold statement that we’re no longer under law but under grace. And he does so by reminding us that we have been liberated from the law by death.

He’s still elaborating on the doctrine of sanctification, but here he wishes to explore the role of the law in that process. In this chapter, Paul considers the role of the law with sinners. In this chapter, Paul refers to the law nearly two dozen times. And he’s not contrary to God’s law. He has no harsh or graceless sentiments toward it. He will go on to acknowledge that the law in verse 12 of this chapter is good and holy and righteous and good.

Paul would have affirmed the psalmist’s statements in the longest psalm of the Bible, Psalm 119.18, open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your law. Or verse 97 of that psalm, oh how I love your law.

The law has its God-ordained purposes. And it also has its limitations. To be sure, just as the law does not save us, I say it all the time, no one was ever saved by law keeping because we can’t keep it. Just as the law does not save us, neither does it sanctify us. In order to help us understand the role of God’s law with sinners, Paul lays out four aspects of God’s law here in this chapter. If you would, let’s go back to verse one, where we look at the first element of God’s law, the reach of the law.

Paul continues his discussion that he began in chapter 6 by posing a thoughtful question here at the start of chapter 7. Since we’re no longer under law but under grace, does that mean that we can disregard God’s law and sin as we please? now that we’re saved? That’s really what’s behind Paul’s question here at the outset of chapter seven. Look at verse one.

Do you not know, brethren, that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? By brethren, he’s indicating that he’s addressing directly his Jewish brothers, those who know and are most supportive of God’s law. and probably most susceptible to try to seek to be saved and sanctified by that same law. And so he asked that rhetorical question, do you not know? Such a foundational statement. The law has nothing to say to a dead man. If a maniac driver goes off a cliff and dies, the police officer attending the scene doesn’t issue that dead man a ticket for speeding. The law is for the living. It pertains to those who are alive. It has jurisdiction over them.

That’s Paul’s point. Glance, please, if you would, at verses two and three, where he says that the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living. Paul is citing biblical principle here that marriage is a covenant that is in effect for the life of both parties, husband and wife. A person who breaks that covenant commits adultery. Plain and simple. Only death breaks that bond so that if a spouse dies, then and only then is the surviving spouse allowed to remarry.

Why is Paul telling us this? Because it illustrates an important point for Paul that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. In verse four, Paul simply indicates that a death has occurred. Because of that, there is an end to the jurisdiction of the law. But the law didn’t die. We did.

And he reminds us that as believers in Jesus Christ for salvation, we died. Remember? Romans 6, 2, how shall we who died to sin still live in it? We died with Christ. When he was put to a violent death, We, by faith, were put to death with him. And just as the death of a spouse releases the surviving spouse from the marital bond, so also our death with Christ releases us from the dominion and the condemnation of the law. It’s a simple point. We may still be brought under conviction by the law, We may identify that something that we’re doing is sinful because of the law, but we can’t be brought under condemnation, the sentence of death. In our death with Christ, we’ve been released from our former relationship with the law, and just like that surviving spouse, we have been joined to another, says Paul, to him who was raised from the dead, that is to Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Everything has changed. Verse 5, glance if you would, Paul looks back and says that in our flesh, the law exposed our sinful passions, our sin nature and its evil inclinations. And all that we could do was to bear fruit for death. In our unsaved state, that’s all we were doing was producing death upon death.

But now that we’ve died with Christ, verse six, we’ve been released from the law so that instead of bearing fruit for death, we may now bear fruit for God by serving in the newness of the Spirit. We no longer live under the impossible burden of trying to live up to God’s law in order to be saved. We’re saved. And dying with Christ by faith, we are now indwelled by the Holy Spirit and empowered to please God by His grace. We have a new relationship that enables us to bring forth fruit, good fruit, wholesome lives, lived to the glory of God. Whereas we used to live lives that produced an evil crop, now we have been justified by faith in Christ to live productive, fruit-bearing lives.

Well, that stirs an interesting challenge by the apostle. And what he addresses in verse 7 is not his question, but a question that someone could pose in light of our death to the jurisdiction of the law, is the law sin? It’s a fair question, even if abrupt.

Paul takes up this question, what is the purpose of the law? Beginning in verse seven, where we have not only the reach of the law, but the purpose of the law. Paul knows that some of the things that he’s already said about the law could be misconstrued. In 520, he said that the law came in so that transgression would increase. In 614, you’re not under law but under grace. And as recently as 75, sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in the members of our body.

So the question is at least reasonable, is the law sin? But Paul answers quickly and forcefully, as he’s done throughout this impromptu Q&A, may it never be. No, the law is not sin. It is a false conclusion to say that God’s law is in any way sinful. It is not sin. It does not produce sin or lead to sin.

Paul says that quite the opposite is true. Notice, please, the balance of verse 7. On the contrary, he says, I would not have come to know sin except for the law. The law has its role, but it is not the execution of sinners, not the role of the law. The apostle tells us there that sin is in the world and that we are naturally given to it. We just don’t know it as sin.

Not without a clear declaration from God’s law. Without law, we have no idea what the moral standard is and how woefully short we fall of it. God has made his righteous moral standard clear through his law. He tells us what it is. And while we cannot be saved by law keeping, we can be informed. We can be convicted for transgressing those standards. Notice the way that Paul expands this thought.

I would not have known coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet. Until Paul opened up his Bible and read those foreboding words, he had no idea that desiring other people’s things was wrong. Sinful. Paul elaborates on that battle with sin in verses 8 through 11, and he says first in verse 8 that sin was a greedy opportunist. That’s the way I would characterize it. Just as sin always does, it festers and grows and looks for occasion. This covetousness of which he was ignorant as sin, it was rampant in his heart. He just didn’t know it was sin yet. It had a foothold. And when provoked, it produced in him, he says, coveting of every kind. The law stirred or aroused this sinful inclination. Let me show you how the human mind works.

If I were to tell you Please don’t think of a pink elephant. No. I said please. Please do not think of a pink elephant dancing in the playground. Please don’t think of that pink elephant dancing in the playground, carrying a suitcase. Please, I’m asking you nicely, please do not think of a pink elephant dancing in the playground, carrying a suitcase, wearing a sombrero. Don’t think of that. Don’t think of that pink elephant dancing in the yard, wearing a sombrero, carrying a suitcase, wearing army boots. Don’t think of that.

You see, once confronted with the idea that coveting was sinful, Paul couldn’t get it out of his mind. Paul found himself powerless not to covet. Covetousness erupted in his heart. And he says in verse 8, apart from the law, sin is dead. Without an awareness of a moral standard, sin lies relatively dormant. It’s not that Paul’s deeds weren’t sinful. But until he knew the standards communicated by God’s law, it was ineffective, dead. But once those standards were known, his sin-sick heart was stirred to disobey even more vigorously than before.

He says it this way, sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. He, in verse nine, he wistfully looks back at his younger life as a boy. I once was alive apart from the law. And what he points to there is not a good thing.

He was blissfully ignorant of the law against coveting. He was free to covet all he wanted because he didn’t know it was sin. Without knowledge of moral boundaries, right or wrong, there was no guilt. There was no shame. He was, as he characterizes, alive apart from the law, or so he thought.

But get this from verse 9, sin became alive and I died. What was up to this point a smoldering deadness, now was stirred to a violent and suddenly he knew how wrong and how doomed he was. Once Paul knew that coveting was sinful, he knew of God’s moral standard over the desires of his heart, and he knew that he was in deadly peril.

The commandment, he says in verse 10, which was to result in life. After all, do this and you will live. That was practically the understanding of the Jewish people from their Old Testament. All we have to do is obey this command and we will live. It was supposed to result in life. But it brought nothing but condemnation and misery.

Paul says, it proved to result in death to me. Paul knew that if he would only obey that commandment, he could attain to eternal life. But following this command was harder than he thought. In fact, he discovered it to be impossible. And he says in verse 11, sin deceived me. Sin deceived Paul into thinking that he could obey God’s command.

This is perhaps the deadliest deception of all. That we can be or become good enough to earn our salvation. And until Paul was dramatically saved, Paul believed that lie. He was doing all that he could do, and probably in his heart of hearts, he believed that he had done enough to be saved. And that was his undoing. He says that through that deception, it killed him. The law then is not to blame for his condemnation. Paul admits it was his own sinful heart. It was him, not the law, that was sinful. And it was sin, not the law, that brought deadly consequences.

And he concludes his defense of the law in verse 12 by declaring that the law is holy and righteous and good. The law is holy. It’s holy because it proceeds from a holy God himself. It reflects God’s divine character and attributes. Not only is it holy, but it’s righteous. God’s law is just and fair and reasonable. God’s law is holy and righteous and Paul says good. It’s not evil or sinful. It’s good and its purpose is good. It’s for sinners good because it details to the sinner what God’s moral standard is.

Where are the guardrails of life? What is sinful? What is right? How are we supposed to live? The law was only pointing out our sin. There’s nothing wrong with the law. So we have the reach of the law, that it is only for the living, It no longer has dominion over those who are dead. We see the purpose of the law that it is not for sinful purposes, but for the purpose of pointing out sin. And thirdly, we come to the limits of the law. Could the law in any way be blamed for our sin? After our inclination to sin, this becomes our top priority. Looking for someone to blame, right? We can’t wait to blame someone else for our misdeeds. Maybe the law is to blame. Paul wonders out loud.

This is the question that he takes up in verses 13 through 23. So we have the reach of the law, the purpose of the law. Here we see the limits of the law. And as I’ve already indicated, this chapter, chapter seven, is a notoriously difficult chapter. And this particular section, 13 through 23, is what renders it such. This is the difficult part. And the difficulty of this chapter has to do with discovering or assigning the statements to some person.

Who made these strong statements? Is this individual a Christian? Is this some unnamed believer? Is it Paul? Certainly Paul is writing, but to whom is he referring? And one of the biggest challenges of all is that Paul almost exclusively uses here present tense verbs. He’s describing not who the person was, but who the person is.

That’s a challenge. As we might expect in such a controversial section, there are a variety of perspectives. Some say that it’s an unsaved man that’s speaking. Some say that it’s a saved man, and others say that it’s a saved man who’s just very immature. One of the reasons that people think that Paul is quoting an unbeliever here is some of the shocking language in this section.

I am of flesh. Sold into bondage to sin, verse 14. Sin indwells me, verse 17. Nothing good dwells in me, verse 18. I practice the very evil I do not wish, verse 19. Evil is present within me, verse 21. Wretched man that I am, verse 24. A Christian can’t say these things. But there’s plenty of language in the passage to suggest that the individual is saved. I am not practicing what I would like to do. Verse 15, he agrees with the law, confessing that it is good. Verse 16, the wishing to do good is present within me. Verse 18, and given all of that, there are a great many suggestions as to the identity of this person. At least nine of them. Listen to a short list.

Some say that it’s a non-Christian Jew in his own words. Others say that it’s a Christian’s assessment of a non-Christian, a Jew. Some say that it’s a fleshly Christian really struggling, I mean really struggling. Some say that it’s a Christian who’s essentially losing in this battle of sanctification. Some say that it’s an immature believer.

Some say that it’s Paul himself detailing his own experience. Some say that it’s the experience of every believer, even the most mature Christian. Paul, some say that it’s Paul referring to his pre-conversion experience in real time. This is what he’s experiencing right now. And number nine, Paul is looking back on his pre-conversion experience as a Christian.

We’ll figure it out along the way. First of all, the section is clearly autobiographical. Paul uses the first person pronoun at least 25 times. I am a flesh. Nothing good dwells in me. In my flesh, Paul speaks. Paul is speaking for dramatic effect in that first person plural, first person singular, and he considers the totality of his life.

He’s fully aware of the grace of God, but he’s also fully aware of the sinful condition in which he was once trapped. Paul began his testimony in verse 7 through 11, and there he told of how he became aware of sin, its nature, its condemnation. I would not have come to know sin except through the law, he says. And then in verse 9, sin became alive and I died. He’s giving us his testimony. He’s telling us there of his awareness of the nature of sin, and it brought with it the sentence of condemnation and death.

But that’s all that Paul shared thus far, that he was convicted by the nature of sin. But here in verses 13 through 23, Paul completes his testimony. He tells us how it was that he was turned from sin and brought to life. begin with verse 13, he’s hearkening back to that moment when the law had achieved its purpose in his life. It convicted him.

It made him fully aware that he was under condemnation, that he would face eternity in hell if he wasn’t turned from his sin. And Paul explains that it was not the law that had become the cause of death, rather it was sin. Sin was what was imparting death.

To illustrate this, imagine driving on a rain-soaked road, a rain-soaked windy mountain road, and there are all kinds of signs interspersed, warning you of danger, even flashing lights, big bold letters. And imagine Now, and some of us won’t have to imagine, imagine now that you’re exceeding the speed limit by, say, 20 miles an hour. Sure enough, your car skids off the road and into a guardrail. To blame your accident on the warning signs or even on the guardrail would be equivalent to blaming God’s law for our death.

Utterly unreasonable and foolish. The law has its limits. It could not kill. It can only condemn. It did not cause Paul or anyone else’s death. Death could only be accomplished by sin. And everything else in this entire section explains that one thought. It was sin that proved to be Paul’s undoing. It was sin, not the law. Nevertheless, the law was the tool that God used to reveal the utter sinfulness of sin. That it brings nothing but condemnation and death.

Paul adds proof to that statement in verse 14. He’s already declared that the law is holy, righteous, and good. Here he calls it spiritual. Stands over against his own flesh. which is unspiritual, to which he adds that he is sold into bondage to sin.

Adam’s sin, which we learned about several weeks ago, we’ve already learned, plunged the entire human race into sin, imparting to us a sin nature. Look at the dismal report of verse 15. That which I am doing I do not understand, doing the very thing that I hate.” This presents a detailed picture of bondage to sin. Just as a slave might want to be emancipated, he can’t escape his slavery. Paul admits that he could not but sin. He was locked in.

But if possible, there’s a silver lining to this. Verse 16, if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the law, confessing that it is good. He confesses that the nature of his deeds are contrary to what is written in God’s law. He acknowledges that God is right, that he is wrong. And his conclusion in verse 17 is that he is a sinner.

Sin, which indwells me, is the active participant. There’s nothing inherently good in him. He may desire to do what’s good and right, but he’s powerless to do it. He’s recognizing here his sin nature. He’s recognizing his need of salvation. And this leads him to provide that summary in verses 21 through 23. I find then the principle that evil is present within me. He possesses a sin nature, and he recognizes the nature of God’s law as well, that it is inherently good. But that doesn’t resolve the inner conflict. Deep within, there’s a war raging, and he’s a prisoner of the law of sin.

But what Paul is also doing here in this section is showing that if this was true of him, it’s true of everyone. So here Paul takes us back to the crucial moment of his life when the law had completed the job. exposing his sin for what it was, and here for the first time, having been brought to life by the agency of God himself. Paul saw himself for who he was, a sinner. And by God’s grace, Paul saw himself as vile and hopeless. The law had done its job in bringing him to conviction, to that realization of hopelessness and wretchedness.

So Paul shows the limits of the law by detailing the account of the role of the law in his own life. And so the answer to this apparent conundrum, is this person an unbeliever, or is this person a Christian, becomes very clear. What Paul is referring to throughout this lengthy section, 13 through 23, really amounts to the moment of regeneration.

I would describe it like this. I would describe sin and our sinful condition as the darkest of dark, pitch black, shrouded by a completely opaque, utterly black canvas. Overwhelming darkness. And then in contrast, I want you to picture heaven, and the glory of God, and an equally overwhelming light, and yet there’s a separation of that canvas.

And then think of that moment of regeneration for the sinner. It’s like a pinprick in that black darkness, like a single distant star in the night sky, that steadily grows, dispelling the dark and increasing in brightness. The individual in that moment of regeneration instantly stands between two worlds, just as the individual in this section. It’s a world darkened by sin, but it’s a glorious world of salvation. And at that instant, we’re no longer considered an unbeliever. It’s the regenerated soul that we’re considering.

That’s the explanation to the language of this section. And that is really proven, undergirded by the fourth and final observation that we can make of the role of God’s law with sinners. Look at verses 24 and 25. where we have the cry under the law. The reach of the law, the purpose of the law, the limits of the law, the cry under the law. Verses 24 and 25, we come to that fourth element, where Paul demonstrably cries out, wretched man that I am. This is still the voice of the apostle speaking, still looking back, reviewing his own conversion, but this is the eventual cry of every sinner who is drawn by God’s grace. What must I do to be saved is the sinner’s plea.

That word wretched stuns us, doesn’t it? I recall several years ago hearing of a change in some of the newer hymnals. The first line of that great old hymn, Amazing Grace, had been altered. Instead of acknowledging that God’s grace had saved a wretch like me, they replaced it with a softer word, soul. It saved a soul like me. which just happens to be wretched.

But for Paul, it was important for him to recognize this utterly wretched condition in which he suddenly found himself. A sinner in bondage, wholly dependent upon God’s grace. His was a cry of grief, a cry of desperation, a cry of repentance. And in his despair, Paul cries out, who will set me free from this body of death? He knows that he has nothing in himself to commend himself to God. Only something outside himself can have a positive and saving effect. And the answer suddenly floods his mind.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is he who will set me free. Would you humble yourself before the throne of God? Merciful God, we thank you and praise you for your giving of the law, that you had a purpose in giving it to begin with. Lord, we thank you that as long as we are alive, that law pertains to us. It may not ever serve to save us. It certainly cannot. That’s not the role of the law. There’s no way that we could ever attain to all the things that the law commands.

Lord, we thank you that the law does its job in exposing our sin, revealing to us our wretched condition, warning us of the impending death that is there for all sinners. Lord, we thank you for the cry under the law that we all have to come to a place in our life where we realize that we are utterly wretched and bound for hell unless God, by his grace, should save us. And Lord, we thank you for the truth of this passage that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who has been sent for that very purpose. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, he will set us free. Lord, if there is a single person here who does not know the salvation that you have offered, who does not know the liberation, the freedom from sin, the freedom from the condemnation of sin, Lord, we pray that you would have your way with them. Bring them to repentance. Break them. Make them to seek Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only hope for sinners. We thank you and praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.