We come now to Romans 7, a chapter
which many have felt to be almost superfluous.
Perhaps indeed it would be so if Christians
really saw that the old creation has been
ruled out by the cross of Christ, and
an entirely new creation brought in by his
resurrection.
If we have come to the point where
we really know that, and reckon on that,
and present ourselves on the basis of that,
then perhaps we have no need of Romans
7.
Others have felt that the chapter is in
the wrong place.
They would have put it between the 5th
and 6th chapters.
After chapter 6, all is so perfect, so
straightforward, and then comes breakdown, and the cry,
O wretched man that I am!
Would anything be more of an anticlimax?
And so some have argued that Paul is
speaking here of his unregenerate experience.
Well, we must admit that some of what
he describes here is not a Christian experience,
but nonetheless many Christians do experience it.
What then is the teaching of this chapter?
Romans 7 has a new lesson to teach
us.
It is found in the discovery that I
am in the flesh, that I am carnal,
and that in me, that is in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
This goes beyond the question of sin, for
it relates also to the matter of pleasing
God.
We are dealing not here with sin in
its forms, but with man in his carnal
state.
The latter includes the former, but it takes
us a stage further, for it leads to
the discovery that in this realm too, we
are totally impotent, and that they that are
in the flesh cannot please God.
How then is this discovery made?
It is made with the help of the
law.
Now let us retrace our steps for a
minute, and attempt to describe what is probably
the experience of many.
Many a Christian is truly saved, and yet
bound by sin.
It is not that he is necessarily living
under the power of sin all the time,
but that there are certain particular sins hampering
him continually, so that he commits them over
and over again.
One day he hears the full gospel message,
that the Lord Jesus not only died to
cleanse away our sins, but that when he
died, he included us sinners in his death,
so that not only were our sins dealt
with, but we ourselves were dealt with too.
The man's eyes are opened, and he knows
he has been crucified with Christ.
Two things follow that revelation.
In the first place, he reckons that he
has died and risen with the Lord.
And in the second place, recognizing the Lord's
claim upon him, he presents himself to God
as alive from the dead, and he sees
that he has no more right over himself.
This is the commencement of a beautiful Christian
life, full of praise to the Lord.
But then he begins to reason as follows.
I have died with Christ, and am raised
with him, and I have given myself over
to him forever.
Now I must do something for him, since
he has done so much for me.
I want to please him and to do
his will.
So after the step of consecration, he seeks
to discover the will of God, and sets
out to obey him.
Then he makes a strange discovery.
He thought he could do the will of
God, and he thought he loved it, but
gradually he finds he does not always like
it.
At times he even finds a distinct reluctance
to do it, and often when he tries
to do it, he finds he cannot.
Then he begins to question his experience.
He asks himself, did I really know?
Yes.
Did I really reckon?
Yes.
Did I really give myself to him?
Yes.
Have I taken back my consecration?
No.
Then whatever is the matter now?
The more this man tries to do the
will of God, the more he fails.
Ultimately he comes to the conclusion that he
never really loved God's will at all, so
he prays for the desire and the power
to do it.
He confesses his disobedience, and promises never to
disobey again.
But he has barely got up from his
knees before he has fallen once more.
Before he reaches the point of victory, he
is conscious of defeat.
Then he says to himself, perhaps my last
decision wasn't definite enough.
This time I'll be absolutely definite.
So he brings all his willpower to bear
on the situation, only to find greater defeat
than ever awaiting him the next time a
choice has to be made.
Then at last he echoes the words of
Paul, For I know that in me, that
is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
For to will is present with me, but
to do that which is good is not.
For the good which I would, I do
not, but the evil which I would not,
that I practice.
Many Christians are suddenly launched into the experience
of Romans 7, and they do not know
why.
They fancy Romans 6 is quite enough.
Having grasped that, they think there can be
no more question of failure, and then to
their utmost surprise, they suddenly find themselves in
Romans 7.
What is the explanation?
First, let us be quite clear that the
death with Christ described in Romans 6 is
fully adequate to cover all our need.
It is the explanation of that death, with
all that follows from it, that is incomplete
in chapter 6.
We are as yet still in ignorance of
the truth set forth in chapter 7.
Romans 7 is given to us to explain
and make real the statement in Romans 6
.14 that sin shall not have dominion over
you, for ye are not under law, but
under grace.
The trouble is that we do not yet
know deliverance from law.
What then is the meaning of law?
Grace means that God does something for me.
Law means that I do something for God.
God has certain holy and righteous demands which
he places upon me.
That is law.
Now if law means that God requires something
of me for their fulfilment, then deliverance from
law means that he no longer requires that
from me, but himself provides it.
Law implies that God requires me to do
something for him.
Deliverance from law implies that he exempts me
from doing it, and that in grace he
does it himself.
I, where I is the carnal man of
chapter 7 verse 14, need do nothing for
God.
That is deliverance from law.
The trouble in Romans 7 is that man
in the flesh tried to do something for
God.
As soon as you try to please God
in that way, then you place yourself under
law, and the experience of Romans 7 begins
to be yours.
God knows who I am.
He knows that from head to foot I
am full of sin.
He knows that I am weakness incarnate, that
I can do nothing.
The trouble is that I do not know
it.
I admit that all men are sinners, and
that therefore I am a sinner, but I
imagine that I am not such a hopeless
sinner as some.
God must bring us all to the place
where we see that we are utterly weak
and helpless.
While we say so, we do not wholly
believe it, and God has to do something
to convince us of the fact.
Had it not been for the law, we
should never have known how weak we are.
Paul had reached that point.
He makes this clear when he says in
Romans 7 verse 7, I had not known
sin except through the law, for I had
not known coveting except the law had said
thou shalt not covet.
Whatever might be his experience with the rest
of the law, it was the tenth commandment
which literally translated is, thou shalt not desire,
that found him out.
There his total failure and incapacity stared him
in the face.
The more we try to keep the law,
the more our weaknesses manifest, and the deeper
we get into Romans 7, until it is
clearly demonstrated to us that we are hopelessly
weak.
God knew it all along, but we did
not, and so God had to bring us
through painful experiences to a recognition of the
fact.
We need to have our weakness proved to
us beyond dispute.
That is why God gave us the law.
So we can say reverently that God never
gave us the law to keep, he gave
us the law to break.
He well knew that we could not keep
it.
We are so bad that he asks no
favor and makes no demands.
Never has any man succeeded in making himself
acceptable to God by means of the law.
Nowhere in the New Testament are men of
faith told that they are to keep the
law.
But it does say that the law was
given so that there should be transgression.
The law came in that the trespass might
abound.
The law was given to make us lawbreakers.
No doubt I am a sinner in Adam.
Howbeit I had not known sin except through
the law, for apart from the law, sin
is death.
But when the commandment came, sin revived and
I died.
The law is that which exposes our true
nature.
Alas, we are so conceited and think ourselves
so strong that God has to give us
something to test us and to prove how
weak we are.
At last we see it and confess, I
am a sinner through and through, and I
can of myself do nothing whatever to please
God.
No, the law was not given in the
expectation that we would keep it.
It was given in the full knowledge that
we would break it, and when we have
broken it so completely that we are convinced
of our utter need, then the law has
served its purpose.
It has been our schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ, that he himself may fulfill it
in us.
In Romans 6 we saw how God delivered
us from sin.
In Romans 7 we see how he delivers
us from the law.
In chapter 6 we were shown the way
of deliverance from sin in the picture of
the master and his slave.
In chapter 7 we are shown the way
of deliverance from the law in the picture
of two husbands and a wife.
The relation between sin and the sinner is
that of master to slave.
The relation between the law and the sinner
is that of husband to wife.
Notice first that in the picture in Romans
7, 1-4, by which Paul illustrates our
deliverance from the law, there is only one
woman while there are two husbands.
The woman is in a very difficult position,
for she can only be the wife of
one of the two, and unfortunately she is
married to the less desirable one.
Let us make no mistake, the man to
whom she is married is a good man.
But the trouble lies here, that the husband
and wife are totally unsuited to one another.
He is a most particular man, accurate to
a degree.
She on the other hand is decidedly easy
going.
With him all is definite and precise, with
her all is vague and haphazard.
He wants everything just so, while she accepts
things as they come.
How could there be happiness in such a
home?
And then that husband is so exacting, he
is always making demands on his wife, and
yet one cannot find fault with him.
For as a husband he has a right
to expect something of her.
And besides, all his demands are perfectly legitimate.
There is nothing wrong with the man, and
nothing wrong with his demands.
The trouble is that he has the wrong
kind of wife to carry them out.
The two cannot get on at all.
Theirs are utterly incompatible natures.
Thus the poor woman is in great distress.
She is fully aware that she often makes
mistakes, but living with such a husband seems
as though everything she says and does is
wrong.
What hope is there for her?
If only she were married to that other
man, all would be well.
He is no less exacting than her husband,
but he also helps much.
She would then marry him, but her husband
is still alive.
What can she do?
She is bound by law to the husband,
and unless he dies, she cannot legitimately marry
that other man.
This picture is not drawn by me, but
by the Apostle Paul.
The first husband is the law, the second
husband is Christ, and you are the woman.
The law requires much, but offers no help
in the carrying out of its requirements.
The Lord Jesus requires just as much, yea
more.
But what he requires from us, he himself
carries out in us.
The law makes demands and leaves us helpless
to fulfill them.
Christ makes demands, but he himself fulfills in
us the very demands he makes.
Little wonder that the woman desires to be
freed from the first husband, that she may
marry that other man.
But her only hope of release is through
the death of her first husband, and he
holds on to life most tenaciously.
Indeed, there is not the least prospect of
his passing away.
Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot
or tittle shall in no wise pass away
from the law, till all things be accomplished.
The law is going to continue for all
eternity.
If the law then will never pass away,
then how can I ever be united to
Christ?
How can I marry a second husband, if
my first husband simply refuses to die?
There is one way out.
If he will not die, I can die.
And if I die, the marriage relationship is
dissolved.
And that is exactly God's way of deliverance
from the law.
The most important point to note in this
section of Romans 7 is the transition from
verse 3 to verse 4.
Verses 1 to 3 show that the husband
should die, but in verse 4 we see
that in fact it is the woman who
dies.
The law does not pass away, but I
pass away, and by death I am freed
from the law.
Let us realize clearly that the law can
never pass away.
God's righteous demands remain forever.
And if I live, I must meet those
demands.
But if I die, the law has lost
its claim upon me.
It cannot follow me beyond the grave.
Exactly the same principle operates in our deliverance
from the law as in our deliverance from
sin.
When I have died, my old master's sin
still continues to live, but his power over
his slave extends as far as the grave
and no further.
He could ask me to do 101 things
when I was alive, but when I am
dead he calls on me in vain.
I am forever freed from his tyranny.
So it is with regard to the law.
While a woman lives, she is bound to
a husband, but with her death the marriage
bond is dissolved, and she is discharged from
the law of a husband.
The law may still make demands, but for
me its power to enforce them is ended.
Now, the vital question arises, how do I
die?
And the preciousness of our Lord's work comes
in just here.
Ye also were made dead to the law
through the body of Christ.
When Christ died, his body was broken, and
since God placed me in him, I have
been broken too.
When he was crucified, I was crucified with
him.
God's purpose in uniting us to Christ was
not merely negative.
It was gloriously positive that ye should be
joined to another.
Death has dissolved the old marriage relationship so
that the woman, driven to despair by the
constant demands of a former husband, who never
lifted a little finger to help her carry
them out, is now set free to marry
the other man.
Who, with every demand he makes, becomes in
her the power for its fulfillment.
What is the issue of this new union?
That we might bring forth fruit unto God.
By the body of Christ, that foolish, sinful
woman has died.
But being united to him in death, she
is united to him in resurrection also.
And in the power of resurrection life, she
brings forth fruit unto God.
The risen life of the Lord in her
empowers her for all the demands God's holiness
makes upon her.
The law of God is not annulled.
It is perfectly fulfilled, for the risen Lord
now lives out his life in her.
And his life is always well-pleasing to
the Father.
What happens when a woman marries?
She no longer bears her own name, but
that of a husband.
And she shares not his name only, but
his possessions too.
So it is when we are joined to
Christ, when we belong to him, all that
is his becomes ours.
With his infinite resources at our disposal, we
are well able to meet all his demands.
Now that we have settled the doctrinal side
of the question, we must come down to
practical issues, staying a little longer with the
negative aspect.
What does it mean in everyday life to
be delivered from the law?
It means that from henceforth, I am going
to do nothing whatever for God.
I am never again going to try to
please him.
What a doctrine you explain, what awful heresy,
you can't possibly mean that.
But remember, if I try to please God
in the flesh, then immediately I place myself
under the law.
I broke the law.
The law pronounced the death sentence.
The sentence was executed.
And now by death, I, the carnal I,
have been set free from all its claims.
There is still a law of God.
And now there is in fact a new
commandment that is infinitely more exacting than the
old.
But praise God, its demands are being met.
For it is Christ who now fulfills them.
It is Christ who works in me what
is well pleasing to God.
I came to fulfill the law, were his
words.
Thus Paul, from the ground of resurrection, can
say work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling.
For it is God which workers in you,
both to will and to work, for his
good pleasure.
It is God that worketh in you.
Deliverance from law does not mean that we
are free from doing the will of God.
Certainly does not mean that we are going
to be lawless, very much the reverse.
What it does mean however, is that we
are free from doing that will as of
ourselves.
Being fully persuaded that we cannot do it,
we cease trying to please God from the
ground of the old man.
Having at last reached the point of utter
despair in ourselves, so that we cease even
to try, we put our trust in the
Lord to manifest his resurrection life in us.
The sooner we too give up trying the
better.
For if we monopolize the task, then there
is no room for the Holy Spirit.
But if we say I'll not do it,
I'll trust thee to do it for me.
Then we shall find that a power stronger
than ourselves is carrying us through.
We see the law and we think that
we must meet its demands.
But we need to remember that though the
law in itself is all right, it will
be all wrong if it is applied to
the wrong person.
The wretched man of Romans 7 tried to
meet the demands of God's law himself, and
that was the cause of his trouble.
The repeated use of the little word I
in this chapter gives the clue to the
failure.
The good which I would, I do not,
but the evil which I would not, that
I practice.
There was a fundamental misconception in this man's
mind.
He thought God was asking him to keep
the law, so of course he was trying
to keep it.
But God was requiring no such thing of
him.
What was the result?
Far from doing what pleased God, he found
himself doing what displeased him.
In his very efforts to do the will
of God, he did exactly the opposite of
what he knew to be his will.
Have you discovered the truth of that in
your life?
It's no good merely to discover it in
Romans 6 and 7.
Have you discovered that you carry the encumbrance
of a lifeless body in regard to God's
will?
You have no difficulty in speaking about worldly
matters, but when you try to speak for
the Lord, you are tongue-tied.
When you try to pray, you feel sleepy.
When you try to do something for the
Lord, you feel unwell.
You can do anything but that which is
related to God's will.
There's something in this body that does not
harmonise with the will of God.
At last, he discovers there is no use
in his making up his mind anymore, and
he cries out in desperation, a wretched man
that I am.
Like a man who suddenly awakes to find
himself in a burning building, his cry is
now for help, for he has come to
the point where he despairs of himself.
Have you despaired of yourself?
Or do you hope that if you read
and pray more you will be a better
Christian?
Bible reading and prayer are not wrong, and
God forbid that we should suggest that they
are, but it is wrong to trust even
in them for victory.
Our help is in him who is the
object of that reading and prayer.
Our trust must be in Christ alone.
Happily the wretched man does not merely deplore
his wretchedness.
He asks a fine question, namely, who shall
deliver me?
Who?
Hitherto he has looked for some thing.
Now his hope is in a person.
Hitherto he has looked within for a solution
to his problem.
Now he looks beyond himself for a saviour.
He no longer puts forth self-effort.
All his expectation is now in another.
At the time when the epistle to the
Romans was written, a murderer was punished in
a peculiar and terrible manner.
The dead body of the one murdered was
tied to the living body of the murderer,
head to head, hand to hand, foot to
foot, and the living one was bound to
the dead till death.
The murderer could go where he pleased, wherever
he went he had to carry the corpse
of that murdered man with him.
Could punishment be more appalling?
Yet this is the illustration Paul now uses.
It is as though he were bound to
a dead body and unable to get free.
Wherever he goes he is hampered by this
terrible burden.
At last he can bear it no longer
and cries, O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me?
And then, in a flash of illumination, his
cry of despair changes to a song of
praise.
He has found the answer to his question.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.