ROMANS 7:7-25 WHO TO DO GOOD2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 7:7-25 Who To Do Good

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. We're here this evening in Romans chapter 7, and we'll be finishing out the chapter starting in verse 7, but let's begin our time together reading verses 7 through 12. Romans chapter 7, verse 7 says...

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead."

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Verse 10. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me. Therefore, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good.

Olivia, if I could ask you to do me a favor and turn off the fans. It's the second switch from the door because I'm getting the strobe light effect here. I don't know if it's visual for you guys, but for me, I'm like, you guys are all dancing. It's crazy.

So this evening as we look at Romans chapter 7, it's a continuation of course of the things that we've been studying, looking at Paul has been building this case about being justified by faith, how we are declared not guilty and declared righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. He's kind of moved on into sanctification, which is that

cleansing, where we are cleansed, where we stop, you know, some of those sinful practices and we begin to be more and more like God and we begin to follow God in the way that he has called us to. And so there's this sanctification process that is going on. And as he's been talking about that, he's gone into the subject of the law. And so we talked about the law last week and how the law is not able to

be the solution for the problems that we have. Now, as he goes on now in chapter 7, verse 7, through the rest of the chapter, we're going to be seeing that he continues to make that case and to help us understand what the law is for and what it's really all about. And so the title of the message this evening here in Romans chapter 7 is, Who to Do Good? Who to Do Good?

The title of the message is Who to Do Good. Now I know some of you are thinking, don't you mean how to do good? No, I don't mean how to do good. I mean who to do good. And hopefully you'll understand that as we work through the passage together. So there's four points I'd like to share with you out of this passage. The first one is found in the verses we read, verses 7 through 12. And that is that the law is good.

If we want to do good, we first understand that the law is good. Now Paul begins verse 7 with a question. He says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Now he's asking this question because he's countering himself based on the things that he has been teaching. In verse 6 here in Romans chapter 7, Paul said, we have been delivered from the law.

And Paul has been making the point that

Just as, you know, when a woman who is married, when her husband dies, she's released from the law. He says, we have been delivered from the law through death because we have identified with Jesus Christ. We were crucified with him upon the cross as we believed in him. We identified with him. Our body was put to death at the same time that his was. And so we have been delivered from the law.

And so then he goes on to ask the question, though. It's kind of like, you know, imagining someone opposing Paul or questioning what he's teaching. And so the person might say, well, are you saying then that the law is bad because we had to be delivered from it? Are you saying that the law is sin because it was something that we had to die to? And Paul goes on to answer that and say, certainly not. And so Paul's not saying that the law is bad.

Although the need was there for us to be delivered from the law, it's not because of the law that that deliverance was required. He continues on in verse 7 to say, on the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law.

And here he begins to explain to us what the law is about, what it's for. And we've been seeing Paul talk about this for several chapters now. Back in chapter 3, verse 20, Paul said that by the law is the knowledge of sin. He says nobody will be justified in the sight of God by the deeds of the law. But instead, the law gives us the knowledge of sin.

And to help us understand that, Paul gives an example from his own life. And sometimes we forget this, but Paul the apostle was a sinful man, just like the rest of us. He had sinful desires. He had sinful cravings. He had struggles with his flesh, just like the rest of us. And so he gives us himself as an example. He says, I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet.

And so he says, the law is good. It's not sin. It's through the law that we know sin. And he says, let me give you an example. He says, my own self. I wouldn't have really paid attention to covetousness. I wouldn't have known what covetousness was. I wouldn't have cared about covetousness in my life, except for the law said, you shall not covet.

And because the law said you shall not covet, Paul's basically saying, I had to think about covetousness and I had to examine my heart and I had to consider, am I covetous? And then he comes to the realization, well, yeah, there is an issue of covetousness in my heart.

And he says, I wouldn't have known that unless there was this law that said, you shall not covet. Now this law is found in Exodus chapter 20, verse 7. It's part of the Ten Commandments, where God says, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant or female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.

And so Paul is confessing, he's admitting, there's this issue of covetousness where I see what other people have and there's this craving for it, there's this longing for it, and I wouldn't have recognized that as an issue in my life unless I'd read Exodus 20, 17, unless I had known the Ten Commandments, unless I had known the law that was given through Moses.

And so he goes on in verse 8 to say, but sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead. And so he says, okay, the law is not bad. It's used to bring the knowledge of sin, for example, covetousness in my life. And then he goes on to say, so here's how it works though. Sin takes opportunity by the commandment.

And so sin sees the commandment and that sin produces in me, Paul says, all manner of evil desire. And so he's pointing out the issue is not with the law, but the issue is with sin. And so sin takes advantage of the commandment and it produces in me these evil desires. It stirs up within me. We talked about this a little bit last week as well, because in verse 5,

Paul talks about sinful passions which are aroused by the law. And so the law arouses, it stirs up these sinful passions. And once again, as I did last week, I would pray again, Lord, help us to get this through our heads. Because there is this tendency for us to kind of be drawn towards legalism. Now you could think about legalism in reference to the Old Testament, right?

You could think about it as the law of Moses, which primarily that's what Paul is dealing with here. But as believers today, we also can consider legalism in a whole variety of ways. We have this tendency to build up these traditions and we hold to them as if they were God's laws.

And so we begin to follow these traditions, these laws, and it's easy for us to build our own system of what we think God expects or God wants or what will be pleasing to God. And so we do that, you know, by whether we...

do it intentionally to start out with or not, but we kind of like get caught up in this idea of like, I have to do these things in order to be able to be pleasing to God. I have to do these things in order to be accepted by God or forgiven by God. And so we have this legalistic standard, this system of legalism that we develop.

And again, it could be tied to the Old Testament. It could be tied to other things. It could be tied to things that people have told us or things that our parents taught us. There's these things that happen in our lives where we try to follow and we try to keep rules and regulations. And we need to get this through our heads because so many times we think that a law is the answer, that a law is a solution to our problems.

But what we need to understand is that laws do not produce holiness. In fact, laws produce the opposite. Because of our sinful nature, our nature rebels against instruction, and it craves what is forbidden. For example, today there was signs on the rose that they were reserved for

And yet, surprisingly, not everybody is in the front row. That was the only row that wasn't reserved, but everybody sat in the other rows that were reserved, right? Now, not to pick on people, but I think Harvey was the first one to do it. He just said, that's a dumb rule. I don't need that. Or maybe he said, ooh, this row is extra attractive. This one's reserved. I want to sit there.

I was in the back watching Javier slightly amused because he walked to one side of the sanctuary. Oh, it's reserved. Walked to the other side. Oh, that's reserved. So his solution, he picked up the sign, took it to the back, and then went and sat where the sign was. It's not reserved anymore. I moved the sign. For years, you guys know, we had the last row of the sanctuary reserved, right? It said, you know, reserved for those with special needs, right?

It was super hard to enforce. Everybody who wanted to just sat there and be like, okay, I'm sorry, this is reserved, you know, for people with certain situations. They need to be up and most people just walk. Yeah, I don't care. I'll sit there. It doesn't matter.

Right? So for a while, we tried also to kind of move people more towards the front because, you know, on a Wednesday night, it's just a handful of us. And so, you know, it's kind of weird to have everybody in the back row. And then, you know, 50 feet later, there's Jerry teaching all the people in the back row. And so we would block off the aisles. And that didn't really seem to have an effect. People would just climb over the chair that we used to block off the aisle and sit in the row that they wanted to sit in. Right?

So there's this thing that happens in our hearts where when we see the rule, we see, you know, the law, we see the sign or whatever, and it kind of stirs up within us this desire to do things that we probably wouldn't have cared about before. There's another good example. It's a hotel.

in Texas called the Flagship Hotel. And as they, you know, first built the hotel, they were concerned about people fishing from their balcony. And so it was built right on the Gulf of Mexico. And so they had this concern. They thought this isn't going to be good, you know, because it could hit people down below them, you know, if they're up high. And so they put signs up in the rooms that say no fishing from the balcony.

But it didn't seem to work, and they found people fishing from the balcony. And not only did they find people fishing, but they had to spend a lot of money continually replacing windows in the lower floors because people would cast out their line, and if it didn't go far enough, then, you know, the weight would come back and hit the window. And so they were constantly breaking windows and replacing them and spending lots of money and trying to figure out, well, how can we stop people from fishing from the balcony?

Well, what they ended up doing is removing the signs. It was kind of accidental. But when they removed the signs, it was surprising. Everybody stopped fishing from the balcony. They didn't really think of that themselves. They only thought about fishing from the balcony because there was a sign that says, no fishing from the balcony. And so when they stopped having the signs up, then people didn't even think about it. And they didn't have any more problems with people fishing from the balcony.

That's the idea. The law stirs up these desires. Don't touch, then we want to touch it. Don't go there, then we want to go there. If there's no sign, we probably wouldn't even go there. It wouldn't even matter, right? The seat wouldn't be as attractive if it wasn't forbidden. But what happens is the law stirs up within us, Paul says, all manner of evil desire.

Verse 9, he says, He says, He says,

You're not supposed to do that. Oh, now Paul says, I died because sin revived. And now I have this sinful desire. Verse 10, the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. So the commandment is good. The commandment is designed to bring life, but instead it brings death, not because of any fault of the commandment or

but because of my sinful nature. Verse 11, for sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it killed me. Sin takes occasion by the commandment or takes advantage because of the commandment. And notice what sin does. Sin deceived me, he says, and it killed me.

So our sinful nature is the problem. The problem is not the law. The problem is our sinful nature. So going back to his original question in verse 7, is the law sin? Paul says, no way. And now he's pointing that out. He's establishing that truth, saying, look, the problem isn't with the law. The problem is with us. The commandment is designed to bring life, but it brings death because sin is

My sinful nature deceives me and kills me. I like the way Warren Wiersbe talks about this. He says, instead of being a dynamo that gives us power to overcome, the law is a magnet that draws out of us all kinds of sin and corruption. So the law draws out of us. It's like a magnet. We're like attracted to it. Oh, and so it draws out of us power.

evil, corruption, sinful desires. And so the law is good, but it's our hearts that are sinful. Verse 12, therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. So again, he's making the point, the problem is not the law. The law is holy. The commandment is good. The problem is not with the law. The problem is sin.

And so how are we to be good? Paul is going to answer that question at the very end with a who. Who shall deliver me? And that's why I say who to do good. How to do good is really a question about who can deliver us so that we can do good. The law is not the answer for us to do good. Even though the law is good, the law is not the answer for us.

And the reason why the law is not the answer for us, Paul's been talking about already, but he'll continue to discuss in verses 13 through 17. And here we have point number two. So the first point is that the law is good. Second point, sin produces death through the good law. Sin produces death through the good law. Verse 13, has then what is good become death to me?

Certainly not. Now again, you see Paul kind of imagining some adversaries, you know, contradicting or questioning what he is teaching. And so he's answering those questions ahead of time. So has what is good, that is the law, become death to me? And he says, no way. Certainly not. And I like the way that David Guzik describes it. He says, the law is like an x-ray machine.

It reveals plainly what might have always been there but was hidden before. And he says you can't blame an x-ray for what it exposes. So the x-ray machine shows what's really there. You go in, you have a broken bone. The doctor gives, you know, the instruction for an x-ray. You go, you stick your hand in there. The x-ray machine goes. Now the x-ray machine didn't break the bone.

It didn't cause any of the problem. It just reveals, it shows the problem that is there. And so the law hasn't become death. It's good, but the real problem is sin. He says that continuing on in verse 13, he says, but sin is,

So he says, here's the real problem. It's not with the law. That's good. That hasn't become death to me. What's become death or why there is death is because of sin. Now he says sin, that it might appear sin. And we get another insight here into the purpose of the law.

It's so that sin can appear as sin. Remember what he just said in the previous verse or verse 11. He says, sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me. One of the core elements of sin is deception and not about deceiving other people, but deceiving myself. Sin deceives me.

Sin makes me think I can get away with things that are wrong. Sin makes me think there are no consequences to things that are wrong. Sin makes me think, well, whatever is convenient for me to think so that I can indulge my sinful nature. But sin needs to appear as sin because what our sinful nature does is it presents things to us as if they're not sinful.

You can kind of go back to the Garden of Eden, right? And see how the serpent presented the fruit to Eve. It didn't appear as sin. It appeared, oh, this is a good decision. This is something that's desirable. It's gonna make me wise. It's gonna be tasting really good. There is this appearance that was different than its actual nature. And so what the law does is it breaks through the deception, right?

Sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good. You know, we have a really hard time grasping the idea that sin is sin. Not usually with other people's sin. We can look at someone else's life and say, oh yeah, that's bad, that's sin. But in our own life, we have a hard time grasping the idea that what I love so much or what I'm doing or the things that I'm practicing is

a lot of times it's hard for us to really realize, to really recognize that is sin. Now, with as difficult as that is, can you imagine how hard it would be without the law? If there wasn't a standard to say, this is right and this is wrong, we would have no hope of ever recognizing something that is sinful, something is destructive or deadly.

There's a strong deception that comes along with sin. And that's why the law is necessary because it breaks through that deception. Even with the law, we still get deceived. We still have a hard time grasping the truth. But the commandments bring clarity and the law reveals our heart. And so the law is given so that sin might appear sin because it produces death and we can see the destruction. Sin through the commandment becomes exceedingly sinful. Verse 14 says,

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Paul says we know that the law is spiritual. The law is spiritual, which means that it's not about the external. It's about the heart. If you think about the religious leaders of Jesus' day, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, they made the law about the external.

And so they had their laws upon laws upon laws that were all built upon God's law. All about the external, all about the things that you had to do to keep the law. And Jesus, he taught something quite different than what they taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7, right? He said, you've heard it been said, you shall not commit murder, right? But he says, look, if you hate your brother in your heart, right?

Well, you're guilty of it. The law is about the heart. It's not just about the final act of putting someone to death, but it's about the issue of the heart. The other famous example that he gives is if you look at someone to lust after them, you've committed adultery in your heart. It's not just about the actual action, the final deed, but it's about the heart and what's happening within leading up to that. The law is spiritual.

It's about the spirit. It's about the internal. It's about what's going on within. It's not just about keeping yourself from the final act, from the outward action. He says the law is spiritual. It's of the spirit. It's dealing with the attitudes. It's dealing with the heart. But he says, I am carnal. I'm fleshly. I focus on the outside. I focus on what's going on because I have this sinful nature.

The idea of being carnal, it's a way to refer to the sinful nature. And that's why he says, sold under sin. He says, I'm carnal, I'm fleshly, I'm sold under sin. I have this sinful nature. And so there's this struggle that goes on. The law is spiritual, but I'm not spiritual. I'm carnal, Paul says. Now, he's not saying he's sinful.

rebelling against God and running away from God, but he's acknowledging there's a sinful nature that I have and there's this struggle that happens as a result. The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. David Guzik says, he is like a man arrested for a crime and thrown in jail. The law will only help him if he is innocent, but Paul knows that he is guilty and the law argues against him and not for him.

When you're arrested, maybe I shouldn't say when, if you are arrested, the law is on your side if you're innocent. But if you're guilty, the law is against you. And that's what Paul is saying. The law is spiritual, but I'm carnal. The law is against me because I'm not spiritual.

I am sinful. I'm sold under sin. I have this sinful nature. Now, as Paul is talking about this and in the following verses as well, if you will listen to some teachings about this verse,

chapter, or if you'll read some commentaries or different scholars approaching this chapter, there's a variety of viewpoints on what Paul is actually talking about as far as the timeline and when he's describing himself in this situation. You'll notice that Paul is talking about himself. He says, I am carnal. And so he's putting himself in the midst of this discussion and

But many people wonder, well, when is he talking about in his lifetime? And so some believe that Paul is talking about his life before Christ.

That is before the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus as a Pharisee, as one who knew the law and sought to follow the law and practice the law that, you know, he's describing himself in that situation. And so he's talking about people in general before Christ, some would say. Another group would say he's talking about those who are believers. And so they would say Paul is talking about himself at the time that he's writing this.

And so Paul writing this right now says, I am carnal sold under sin. And, you know, the struggles that he's about to describe, they would say that's happening in his life at that time. And so he is writing about the present as he is a believer in Jesus Christ. And there's a kind of a debate that goes back and forth about whether or not he's talking about a believer or whether he's talking about someone who is not yet a believer.

As I look at this, though, I kind of go to a different option, which is what Paul is writing about is not so much about whether or not, you know, a person is saved in this condition, but he's talking about legalism. He's talking about trying to become righteous, that is, have a right standing with God, trying to be sanctified, trying to, you know, be approved to God or clean up our life by laws, by legalism.

And so when you look at it as legalism, that can happen at any time. There are unbelievers who are legalistic. They try to follow religion. They try to follow laws. They try to follow whatever system that they've learned or adopted or made up in order to present themselves to God. And they think, well, I have a security in heaven or I'm able to be there because I've done this, I have this, or whatever their system is.

But also as believers, we can develop a system of legalism and we can try to approach God on the basis of our performance and how well we do and we try to earn forgiveness, we try to earn blessing and grace and whether we're believers or unbelievers, legalism is not the answer. At any time, legalism will produce the struggles that we're about to read here in the Apostle Paul. The

Bible scholar Griffith Thomas said it this way. He says, it describes a man who is trying to be good and holy by his own efforts and is beaten back every time by the power of indwelling sin. He says it thus refers to anyone regenerate or unregenerate, that is believer or unbeliever. But it's this idea, and I like the way he describes it, trying to be good and holy by our own efforts, but beaten back by the power of indwelling sin.

And in that way, we, I think we could all relate. I know I can relate. Trying to be good through my strength, through determination, through rules, through regulations, and that experience of being beaten back because of the power of indwelling sin. And so as Paul talks about this idea of the law and sin, he says, sin produces death and

Through the law. The law is good, but it's the sin problem that stirs up these passions and desires. And so Paul then goes on in verse 15 to say, And so Paul is saying, I don't understand what's going on. I don't understand what I do. There's a struggle within. There's a struggle that's happening in my life that

And I can't figure it out. I don't understand it. The things that I will to do, that is, the things that I want to do, I don't practice those things. There are things that I want to do that I don't do. How many believers can relate to that? Does that sound familiar? I want to read the Bible, but I don't find myself practicing it. I want to have a good attitude, but

But for some reason, I have a bad attitude. I want to behave this way. I want to have these things. I want to be a good this or a good that. I want to work this way. I want to live that way. I want to serve in this way. But I don't understand because as much as I want that, I don't find myself practicing that. What I want to do, I don't practice. And then he goes the other way. And what I hate, that's what I do. Just let's do a quick survey, okay, by a show of hands. Anybody ever do things that they hate?

We all do. You better raise your hand, guys. Come on, be honest. I wish I didn't talk that way. I wish I didn't think that way. I wish I didn't behave that way. The things that we hate, we find ourselves doing those things. And so Paul says, I don't understand this. I want to do things and I don't do them. I hate to do things, but those are the things that I do.

What's going on? Why am I behaving this way? Why is there this contradiction between what I do and what I actually want to do or don't want to do?

Now jumping ahead a little bit into the book of Galatians chapter 5 verse 17, Paul gives us a little bit of insight to help us understand. In Galatians 5 17, he says, for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. Paul explains, here's why there's this battle. Here's why there's this contradiction. Because you have a sinful nature, the flesh,

Again, Paul said, I'm carnal, sold under sin. Not that he was living in outright rebellion, but he still had a flesh. He still had a sinful nature, but he also has the spirit. And so there's this battle. They're contrary to one another, the flesh and the spirit. And so there's this battle that takes place. And the end result is you do not do the things that you wish. So everything that you want to do, even though it might be good, you don't want to do.

You don't always practice those things. As much as you want to, you don't always. And things that you hate, things that you wish you never did, those things you find yourself doing because there's this battle. And so he says, I don't understand. Why is there this battle going on in verse 16? He says, if then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So again, he's talking about this battle in relationship to the law. So he says, if I do what I don't want to do,

Then I agree that the law is good. Makes sense, right? Next verse. No, I'm just kidding. What he's saying is, look, the problem is not that you don't agree that the law is good, right? So Javier saw the sign. He said, that's a dumb law. Let's move that sign to the back. It's not a good law. It's a dumb rule. It doesn't make sense. It was funny when people first came in. I won't name names, but Jeff was among them.

There was a lot of standing around, like trying to figure out, well, what should we do? Jeff suggested, well, let's just wait outside until other people go in and that row is filled. And then we can go in and sit down and we can sit towards the back. Is it a good law? We like to try to find out, right? Why shouldn't I do that? But here's what Paul's saying. If you don't want to do something, but you find yourself doing it, you agree that the law is good. So this says you shouldn't do this. And you're like, yeah, yeah, I don't want to do that.

But then you find yourself doing it. So you are expressing an agreement. You agree that the law is good. Now, some laws you ignore because you don't agree with them. You say, that's a dumb rule. That's a dumb law. Cast it out. Throw it out. Speed limit 45. I know it's safe to go way faster than that in this area. That's a dumb rule. I'm going to go the speed that I want to go. We hate following dumb rules, right?

We would be, if we were honest, you know, yelling at people all the time, you're not the boss of me. You don't get to say what I do. But Paul's saying this isn't the case with the law of God. You do the things that you don't want to do. You agree with God about what's good and what's not good. And you still, even on those parts that you agree, sure, there's probably some that you disagree with.

with God about. But even on the parts that you agree, where you and God are in alignment, that's bad. I don't want to do that. God says I shouldn't do that, and I don't want to do that. But then you find yourself still doing it. So Paul says the issue is not that the law is dumb. The law is good. You agree that the law is good, and yet you still do what you don't want to do. You do stuff you don't want to do, not because it's a dumb rule, not because the law is bad, but

but because of something else. Verse 17, he says, but now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So I agree with the law and I don't want to do the things the law says I shouldn't do, but I still find myself doing them. So he says, well, if that's the case, it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. Now, Paul's not saying, so I'm excused from all sinful behavior. He's saying,

There's a battle within. I have a new nature in Christ that has desires to please God, to walk with God, to do what God's called me to do. But then there's also this sinful nature and there's this battle within. And so I don't understand what I do because the things I don't want to do, those things I do, and the things I don't want to do or that I do want to do, I don't do those things.

And what is this about? Why is this? And again, Galatians 5.17, the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. They're contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. There's this battle within because of your new nature in Christ and your old nature. Now, Paul has made very clear previously in Romans, you've been set free from the law of sin and death. You've been delivered from sin.

But as we've been talking about, although you've been delivered from sin, the death blow has been given. The sinful nature is not dead yet. God calls us to behave in faith. The just shall live by faith, knowing that the sinful nature has been given the death blow, but we still have the sinful nature to contend with. And so there's this battle within. Sin dwells in me, Paul says. And so there's this struggle. How can I do good then?

The law is not the answer. Even though the law is good, even though I agree that the law is good, sin produces death through the good law. Sin produces death through the law that I agree with that it's good. So how am I to do good? How can I do good? How can I do what is right? Well, Paul goes on to prove that

Even once more, the law is not the answer. Verses 18 through 23, we have point number three, and that is that the law does not help you perform what is good. The law does not help you perform what is good. Verse 18 says, "'For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, "'nothing good dwells. "'For to will is present with me, "'but how to perform what is good, I do not find.'"

Paul says, for I know that in me nothing good dwells. I know this, Paul says. I would ask you to consider, do you know this? Do you know that in you nothing good dwells? That is in your flesh, in your power, in your nature, in your strength, there is nothing good. Is that something that you know? Here's an easy way to tell if you know that. Are you ever disappointed in yourself?

Are you ever disappointed when you give in to sin? Shocked? I can't believe I would do that. When we're in that shocked state, we're thinking, I can't believe that. It's because, well, there was within us this thought that I would never do that because we didn't know in me nothing good dwells. We need to recognize that our sinful nature is sinful and you and I are capable of anything.

because of our sinful nature. In me, nothing good dwells. This is something that you need to know. And again, Lord, help this get through our heads. We can't trust in ourselves. We can't trust in our strength. We can't trust in our resources or our determination. He says, in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. So how can we do good?

If nothing good dwells in me. He says, for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. The desire for good is there. I have that desire. I want to do what's good. I don't want to do what's wrong. That's present with me. That I have. I have the desire. But what I can't find is how to perform it. How do I make it happen? And Paul's making the point here that the law is not the answer.

So many times we think that the law is the answer. So I have a desire to do what's good. And so I make a law. I make a rule. If I make this a rule, then I have to do this. And we do this all the time, right? Not just with religious things, but you know, with our finances, with our eating habits. It's like, okay, what I got to do is I got to make a rule. I have the desire. I want to be this skinny. So I'm going to make a rule. Not going to eat donuts.

But then even though I don't even like donuts, I don't really eat donuts. But as soon as I make a rule, I'm not going to eat donuts. Then all of a sudden I want donuts, right? The desire is there, but how do I perform that? How do I make that happen? All the wanting in the world doesn't help you actually perform what is good. But then we think, well, what if I really, really, really, really, really, really want to do good? Then I'll be able to do good, right? I just need to want it enough.

What if I make a really strong New Year's resolution? You know, one that really sticks. Figure out a way to make this law stick. Then I'll do good. But Paul says, in me, that's in my flesh, nothing good dwells. I can't find a way to perform what is good. I don't find the answer for how to do what is good.

I like this quote from C.S. Lewis. He says, no man knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good. If you want to know how bad you are, try really hard to be good. And when you try really hard to be good, then you start to realize nothing good dwells within me. You start to realize how bad you are. Verse 19, for the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

Now again, Paul is describing this battle within. There's good that I want to do. I want to be a good parent. I want to be a good spouse. I want to be this. I want to be that. I have the desire. I want to be a good witness. I want to serve this way. I want to have this kind of walk with God and this kind of discipline in my relationship with God. The good that I will to do, he says, I don't do. So as much as I want to do it, I don't do it.

But the things that I don't want to do, the evil I will not to do. Things I recognize are sinful. Things I recognize are wrong. I don't want to do them. But he says, I practice those things. And again, there's this battle between the flesh and the spirit. They war against one another. Paul says, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Verse 20. Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

Kind of a repeat of what he said just a few moments ago. And so I have this struggle. I have this battle. And when I find myself doing the things that I don't want to do, I recognize it's because there's this sinful nature and there's this battle between them. He's not saying I'm not responsible for my sin, but he's saying there's this struggle. There's this sinful nature that's a reality in my life.

David Guzik puts it this way. He says, You have a new nature. You have to own up to your sin. You have to recognize this is your sin. This is your desires. This is part of your sinful nature. But it doesn't come from who you really are in Christ Jesus. And so you are called to live by faith and recognize that the death blow has been given to that sinful nature. And so you are called to live by faith.

And so you're to pursue the things of the Lord and not to live in submission to your sinful cravings. Verse 21, he says, I find a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. He says, I find a law. He's not talking about the law of God now. He's saying, look, there's a law. I can't break this law. I'm subject to this law. Evil is present with me. As much as we wish evil wasn't present with us, this is a law.

It's an unbroken law. Evil is present with me. Even though I'm one who wants to do good. And so I want to do good, but this evil is present with me. Sometimes we can look at someone who's in a situation. There's a real struggle in their life. And we can think to ourselves, you know, the problem is you don't really want to be free. We can think to ourselves, you don't really want to do good. You don't really want it that much. You don't really desire it that much. But that's not necessarily true.

Paul says, even I want to do good, but even though I want to do good, evil is present with me. As much as I wish the sinful nature was completely away and done with and I didn't have to think about it or do anything about it, as much as I want that, I find that evil is present with me. Evil is present with you even when you want to do good. Even when you want to do what's right, evil is present with you.

What Paul is making sure we understand here is that I am the problem. You are the problem. It's not with the law. It's not with God. Evil is present with me. Verse 22, he says, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. I love the law of God, Paul says. I read it and I like it. I agree with it. I rejoice over it. I study it, but I still have this issue of evil.

He says in verse 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. So there's two laws. There's the law of God. I delight in that, Paul says. I rejoice in that. I think that's great. But then there's this other law in my members, in my flesh, and it wars against the law of my mind. My mind rejoices in the law of God.

But my mind and my flesh are fighting. They're warring against one another. And it brings me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. There's this battle that takes place. So how can I do good? How can I do what's right? The law is not the answer, even though the law is good. The law doesn't help you perform what is good, even if you want to really, really, really badly.

The law can't help you perform. All the wanting and wishing and desiring in the world can't help you perform. So how can you do good? Who to do good? Not how to do good, but who to do good. Verse 24 and 25 bring us to the final point. And that is Jesus delivers you to do good.

The answer is not a how. It's not a formula. It's not a system. It's not a list. It's not a bunch of rules. It's not regulations. The answer is not how. It's not a procedure. The answer to this battle that rages within us, to this war between our mind and our flesh, the answer is who? It's Jesus.

In verse 24, Paul says, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? He says, O wretched man that I am. There's the law of God. There's the law of sin within my members. And I'm sure you can relate. That is super frustrating. And so it brings Paul to this point where he's frustrated and he cries out, O wretched man that I am.

The word wretched speaks about being exhausted through hard labor. He's at the end of himself. He's worked hard. He's tried hard. He's tried everything to resolve this problem. And he comes to the end and says, oh, wretched man that I am. Legalism will exhaust you trying to do good by keeping laws. It's super frustrating. You'll come to the end of yourself and you'll say, oh, wretched man that I am. But then he says, who will deliver me from this body of death?

Again, you see, it's about who, not how. The law cannot deliver you. The law cannot provide justification. It can't make you righteous before God. You can't be declared not guilty before God by the law because you are guilty. That's what the law is there to prove, that you are guilty. So justification, it's not going to happen by the law.

and sanctification for you to become more like God, to help you walk and grow in your relationship with God. The law is not going to help you with that. Now, again, we need to get this through our heads because a lot of times we think the law or making up a rule in our lives is the answer to our situation. It's going to help us become more like God or draw near to God or receive blessing from God or receive forgiveness from God. We think that the law is an answer.

But it's not a how, it's not a list, it's a who that can deliver us. You can't deliver yourself. Paul says, I know that in me nothing good dwells, right? You can't deliver yourself. Paul has been referring to himself over and over and over again throughout this time. But now he's looking outside of himself. Who can deliver me from this body of death?

I'm not going to look at my body. I'm not going to look at my strength any longer for deliverance. Deliverance must come from outside of me. Who will deliver me from this body of death? I'm stuck. There's a law. There's this battle. There's this war. The things that I want to do, I don't do. And the things that I don't want to do, I end up doing those things. Who can deliver me from this? Who can rescue me from this? And so he gives the answer in verse 25. I thank God.

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul says Jesus is the deliverer. What the law is powerless to do, God did by sending Jesus Christ. That's what Paul's going to say in the next chapter, in Romans chapter 8. By Jesus, you can be justified. You can be declared righteous. You can be declared not guilty before God by faith in Jesus Christ. By Jesus, you can be sanctified.

You can grow in your relationship with God. You can be set free from sin. You can be set free from those things in your life. You can be delivered from issues. You can grow. You can become more like God by Jesus. It's through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Justified, that's when you believe in Jesus Christ. Sanctified, that's as you walk with God. As you walk with him, he does this cleansing work. He does this cleansing process.

And ultimately, you will be glorified by faith in Jesus Christ. And that's the promise of a complete deliverance. That is that you will have a new body, that you'll stand before God in absolute perfection without the struggle of sin. But in the meantime, going back to Romans chapter 5, where grace abounds, sin abounds much more. And so we have deliverance through Jesus Christ and

Not just the promise of what is to come, but right now, yes, we still struggle. Yes, there still is that battle within and the things that we don't want to do, we find ourselves doing and the things that we want to do, we don't do those things. And so we sin, we fall short of the glory of God. But where we sin and as much as we sin, grace abounds much more. And so deliverance comes not by keeping the law, not by living in absolute perfection, but

It comes by faith in Jesus Christ and the abundance of grace. And until that day when you stand before God in absolute perfection, you're gonna sin. You're gonna fall short. You're gonna miss the mark. You're gonna do the things that you don't want to do and you're not gonna do the things that you do want to do. But grace abounds much more. And so what you should do when that happens, when you lose that battle, when you lose that war, is you need to get back up

and go back to Jesus Christ and grace will abound much more. Every time you fall short of the glory of God, get back up and get back to following Jesus. Get back to walking with Jesus and grace will abound much more. And Paul says in Philippians 1.6, you can be confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ. You're a work in progress, right?

And until that work is complete, you're going to fall short. There's going to be a battle. And the solution is not the law. And that's why this is so important because so many times we see those issues. We see that struggle. And so we think the law will fix it. I'm going to make a law. I'm now going to live this way. I'm going to make a solemn vow. I'm going to promise really hard. I'm going to be really disciplined. And I'm going to try to fix this. And then we get really frustrated because...

Still, we do the things that we don't want to do and we don't do the things that we do want to do. So what are we going to do? We need to look to Jesus, to run to Jesus over and over and over again, believing God at his word that where grace abounds or where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. I don't know if I've been saying it backwards, but I'm just recognizing in my notes. It says where grace abounds, sin abounds much more, but that's backwards.

I hope I didn't say it backwards. Well, I know I just did right now, but I hope I didn't say it before. Now, let me just set the record straight. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. Yes, you're sinful, and yes, sin abounds in your life, but there's much more grace from God to you. So he says in verse 25, So he kind of goes back now and sums up and reminds us, okay,

I thank God through Jesus Christ. I have deliverance. I'm set free from the law of sin and death. But then there's still the struggle. And with the mind, I serve the law of God. I delight in the law of God. I want to do good. But with the flesh, the law of sin. And so Paul's saying, I'm running to Jesus. I'm turning to Jesus. And Jesus delivers me. But that doesn't mean that there's no struggle. That doesn't mean that there's no battle.

A walk with God is really a walk of faith because you have to believe that even though you don't see yourself in your perfect condition, that he will finish that work. That grace does abound much more than your sin. That you can keep coming back to God. And even though there is this battle, you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. And you have been given life.

David Guzik says, Paul doesn't pretend that looking to Jesus takes away the struggle. Jesus works through us, not instead of us in the battle against sin. He works through us as we walk with him. He works through us as we run to him. He works through us as we believe in him and trust in him and call out to him. And it's a process. And over the process of time, he's working through us. And so you desire to do good. You desire to be good. You desire to walk with God.

The question is, how can you do that? Paul is making the point here, the law is good, but it's not useful for helping you be good. The whole point of the law is to reveal sin. And so sin produces death through the law. Even though the law is good, sin produces death through it so that you can recognize that is sin and I am sinful. The law doesn't help you perform what is good.

Although we think it will, and we're always convinced, if I just had a law, if I just made a rule, if I just took it serious enough, then it would really help me do what is good. But the law is not going to help you do what is good. It's only Jesus who can deliver you to do good. And what does that mean? What does that look like? He's going to deal with that more in the next chapter. And so we'll continue that in the next couple of weeks. But let me read a quote from Warren Wiersbe to kind of finish up and

Help us understand a little bit about what it means that Jesus delivers you to do good. Here's what Warren Wiersbe says. He says, Keep your love relationship with the Lord alive and exciting, and you will have righteousness instead of wretchedness. Keep your love relationship with the Lord alive and exciting, he says, and you will have righteousness instead of wretchedness. You could try to come up with a list of rules and regulations, but he says, look, just focus on your relationship with Jesus.

Love Jesus. When we're struggling with sin, we need to love Jesus. When there's this battle that's going on, we need to love Jesus and focus on relating to him and focus on walking with him. And as we do, he will produce righteousness. There will still be wretchedness, but where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. But as we continue to walk with him, he will bring us to completion. He will do the work in our lives. And so who to do good? It's Jesus.

There's nothing good in me. I can't say how to do good because then that would mean, well, that's, it's up to me. It's up to my performance. All I can do is cry out to Jesus and trust in him. And as I cry out to Jesus and trust in him, he's going to cause grace to abound much more. And he's going to work righteousness in me instead of wretchedness. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your grace in our lives. That grace abounds much more.

Even though we're sinful, even though we have this battle and this continual struggle, I pray that you would help us to trust in you, to believe you at your word, Lord, that we would let you do the work in us that you desire to do. Lord, we all, I think, have experienced the concept of legalism where we become frustrated with ourselves because we can't keep the laws, the rules, the regulations that we set for ourselves.

We get frustrated because we do the things that we don't want to do and we don't do the things that we do want to do. Lord, I pray that you would help us in that frustration that we would follow the example of Paul. As we see our wretchedness, as we come to the end of ourselves, that we would cry out with that frustration and then look to you and thank you through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so Lord, draw us near to you. Help us to walk with you and deliver us. Deliver us, Lord Jesus.

Not because we're worthy, not because we've earned it, not because we deserve it, but just because you're gracious towards us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.