← ArchiveWhen in RomansWhen in Romans: The Struggle is Real (Romans 7:14-25)DateMarch 3, 2024SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextRomans 7:14–25Passages in this sermonRomans 71:21Romans 1:2010:18John 327:06Romans 836:09TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00We'll be right back. We'll be right back.0:30I want to welcome everyone who is new, those who are watching online, and I also recognize1:00that some of you are new to Christianity, or maybe you are new to the church, and you are here today thinking, what have I walked into? So let me describe that. Really, we gather at this church around the word of the Lord. In a moment, we're going to all open our Bibles to Romans 7. Some of you are going to click your Bibles to Romans 7. Because we believe fundamentally that the word of God is living and active.1:30It is sharper than a double-edged sword. It pierces the very division of soul, spirit, joint, and marrow. Why do we rest on the word of God? Because the word of God, through the Son of God, changes lives. So when we open the Bible shortly, we do so because we believe that God wants for us something1:55more than we could ever want for ourselves. So that's a pretty big intro. So for our non-new people, if we can let everyone know how excited we are that they're here with a big hallelujah today. Hallelujah. Which means, let us praise the Lord. Romans 7, this morning. What we will read shortly in Romans 7, verse 14, is one of the most vulnerable and dramatic2:18monologues that we will find in all of Scripture. This is written by a man named Paul, one of the greatest Christians of all time. If you know anything about Paul, he had a ticket to throw people in jail. He was going north to Damascus and along the road from Jerusalem to Damascus.2:44He would find people of the way and he would throw them in jail. Because at that point, they were not called Christians. They were not called Christians until Antioch, later on. And suddenly, something happened on the road. So by the time Paul doesn't even make it to Damascus, by the time he gets halfway to Damascus, he goes from being an enemy of the way to a follower of the way. This is the man who wrote Romans chapter 7 in the entire book.3:15Paul ends up taking at least three missionary journeys. We know that he founded and planted at least 20 or more churches, and he wrote over 23% of the New Testament. And if you missed all that, hear this. Other than Jesus Christ himself, Paul is a big deal to the Christian faith. You won't find anyone else other than Jesus Christ that is a bigger deal than Paul.3:44So let me say this. If even the greatest saints struggle in life, then you are not alone. And I am not alone. Now, Romans chapter 7 can be read historically in two ways. There are two historical interpretations. Some read this, and it will make sense shortly. And they see this as Paul before he comes to faith.4:12So they see Paul struggling here in Romans 7. What I want to do, I do not do. And what I do not do, I want to do. And let me remind you, there's going to be a lot of do's and do's. Go ahead and snicker now before I read the word. We're going to say the word doo-doo. Just get it out. But there's a struggle of what Paul wants to do, he does not do. And what he does not want to do, he does.4:41Some read that and say, well, that's before Paul came to faith. There's a second interpretation that would say, no, this is Paul through faith saying that he still wrestles because he is not complete yet in Christ. Both are accurate, but I believe that the latter interpretation is the reminder that when we try to live life in our own steam, in our own strength, you will struggle.5:02And even the greatest saints struggle. And I believe that Romans 7, verse 14 is a beautiful gift. Because it's a reminder, if you have ever struggled in life post-Jesus Christ, you are not alone. You don't get kicked out of faith because you struggle.5:29Because even the greatest saints struggle. And sanctification is a gradual process. It's a gradual process of failing in the flesh and being sanctified in the spirit. Someone described you and my sanctification this way. They said it's like falling down an escalator and still being carried to the second floor. It's us falling down and the Holy Spirit saying, I got you. I got you.6:00Today's message is called, The Struggle is Real. The Struggle is Real. Now, we've already snickered. We've passed that point of our maturity. So now, verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am of the flesh, sold as a slave to sin. Verse 15. I do not understand what I am doing. Because I do not practice what I want to do.6:28But what I do, I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. So now I am living, no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that no thing good lives in me that is my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.6:55Now, if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this law at work. When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. For in my inner self, I delight in God's law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind7:19and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with my mind, I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.7:45Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ. Oh, wretched men and women that we are, that today we can stand upon your word, we can stand upon faith, we can stand upon the cross and proclaim again with full hearts and renewed minds, thanks be to God for your son Jesus Christ.8:14Lord, we have heard your word. May we not be hearers only, but may we live out your eternal truths. This is our petition, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Today we look at several struggles, and the first is in verse 14, the struggle of ontology.8:34Paul says, For we know that the law is. Ontology is the long scientific word, theological word, for the study of is, or I am.9:02It's the study of being. And Paul recognizes this from the very jump. Paul realizes that because Yahweh and his word is holy, that we can recognize something about God himself. Paul says, we know that the law is spiritual. And when Paul understands that the law is spiritual, then he understands what about himself?9:29That I am, I am flesh. Said in another way, the struggle of ontology is, when you understand that God is holy, when you understand who God is, and you realize that you are not God's. And that is an ontological dilemma. You might not have ever used those words in your life,9:58but that's what happens when we realize that God is beautiful and he is holy. And deep down, we know that God is holy. If you say, well, pastor, I didn't know that. You do now. You say, well, what happens to those that never hear the word of God? Romans 1.20 says that even the invisible attributes of God are made manifest in creation. Why? So that no one is without excuse.10:26There's something in what we see that tells us something about our creator. And that is enough to say, God, you are something that I am not. Because if God is the creator, what does that make you? I'll say it in the negative. You ain't the creator. If God is, we are not. And Paul is wrestling out loud with that dilemma. The spiritual nature of God's goodness creates an existential crisis in our life.10:57How can we who are not God, who are not perfect, who are fallen people, be in the presence of a God who is holy? Paul says, God, I know that your law is spiritual, but I am of flesh. I do not understand what I am. This is the struggle of is-ness. God, you are and I am not. What is my hope?11:26And Paul calls the struggle flesh. Now, he's not specifically talking about your epidermis. Paul's use of the word flesh, meaning the sin nature that lives within us. Paul's use of the word flesh here is that which is not holy. That which is not edifying. And Paul realizes that he is not good. This is not the only time in Scripture.11:55Remember the young man that comes to Jesus and says, Tell us, good teacher. And Jesus says, That's curious. Why do you call me good? Because no one is good except the Father. Really, Jesus is pressing in upon this young man and saying, Are you calling me God? Because when we recognize who God is, then we realize we are not. If you've ever read the Chronicles of Narnia,12:24there's a conversation between Lucy and this animal, Mrs. Beaver. And Lucy realizes that there's this Christ-like figure, the lion, which is biblical, the lion of Judah called Aslan. And when she realizes that the lion is a lion, she's terrified. She realizes that she's not a lion and he is. And so she asks, Well, is he safe? The struggle of ontology.12:55I shall fear rather nervous about meeting a lion, which I think is the right position to feel when you're meeting a lion. But then Mrs. Beaver says, If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either brave than most or they're just silly. If there is anyone here who can appear before a holy God without trembling and fear, you are silly or foolish.13:25And then Lucy says, Well, is he safe? She wants affirmation. There's a struggle. I realize that who Christ is and who I am are not the same. And here's the response. Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course he's not safe. But he is good. He is the king, I tell you. This is Paul wrestling out loud that God is good. And because I am not good, I don't know if it is safe for me to be in his presence.13:55And if you feel like that today, if you say, Well, Pastor, that's me. I am terrified about being in the presence of a holy God one day and standing before his throne. I need help. Paul would say, Well, read verse 24. Because the answer to your fear of God's holiness is to cry out, Oh, wretched man that I am. If you cry out to Jesus now, he will hear your prayer.14:24The struggle of ontology is found in the cross. You don't have to fear the presence of God if you are made right through the blood of the Lamb. Verse 15. Paul says, But I don't understand what I am doing. Because I do not practice what I want to do. But I do what I hate. For if I do what I do not want to do,14:52I agree that the law is good. So Paul says, I don't know what I'm doing. He says, in verse 18, he says, The desire to do what is good is within me, but there is no ability to do it. Verse 19, he says, I do not do what I want to do. And again, he says, verse 20, What I do not want, I am no longer the one. Verse 22, he says, I delight. Paul is using this language of another struggle.15:23It's the struggle of desire. It says, what I want, I do not do. What I do not want, sometimes I do. There is a struggle within every one of us. And when you come to faith in Christ, one of the first things that God changes in your life is your desire. Because Jeremiah says that God takes your hard heart,15:52the heart of stone, the heart that can't feel, the heart that is callous to the ways of the Lord, and he takes it out. God is the first cardiologist. And he gives you a new heart, a heart of flesh, a heart that is sensitive. Does anyone, have you ever felt that before? For those who have come to faith, do you not understand that when you have come to faith,16:20your heart changes? It's as if the things that you could not see, now you see in vivid color because God has given you new desires. But Paul says, listen, although he has given me a new heart, sometimes that heart still wants to revert back to what it used to be. And that's a good reminder for all of us. Because if you are able to live in sin, and if you are okay with living in sin,16:50and your heart is unchanged to the fact that you are living in sin, I would say you don't know Jesus. Because that is what a hard heart looks like. You say, pastor, I don't like to hear that. Good. Because I would rather you be upset at the truth than you die and go to hell because I patted you on the back. Right? God wants us to know that we are callous to him. If we are okay in our sin, God is not okay with our sin.17:20And if you are okay with sin, that's a likely reminder that you are not okay with God. Church, we need new desires. And even for the person of faith, there are moments when you desire what is not the will of God. If you've ever felt that way. If you've ever felt, well, what I want to do, I know that God doesn't want. And what I don't want, I know that God wants. You're not alone.17:49So what is the answer? Salm once said, early church father, if you have ever struggled with a desire for things of the flesh, listen to this prayer. Oh Lord, our God, grant us grace to desire. Right? The language of want. Grant us grace to desire thee with our whole heart. Because where does desire begin?18:17In the heart. With our whole heart, that so desiring we may seek, and seeking we may find thee, and finding thee we may love thee. And in loving thee, we may hate those sins from which thou hast redeemed us. May we love the things that God loves. And may we hate the things that God hates.18:46And if you've ever struggled with that reality, you are not alone. But may you pray that prayer, God, let me love what you love, and let me hate what you hate. And Paul would say, welcome aboard. Paul would say, I've been there. And you know what happens when we pray the prayer, God, let me love what you love. Your heavenly father who gives good gifts is not going to turn his deaf ear to you. When you say,19:16God, let me love the things that you love. God is going to say, Josh, I thought you would never ask. Of course, I want you to love what I love. May we desire an increasing measure. May our wants become his wants. May our loves become his loves. And may our hates become his. Hates. Now, don't be fooled. If you, if you think, okay, once my heart is right, then everything else is good and gravy.19:46Well, it's not so easy, is it? Look at verse 15 again. Paul says, I do not understand what I am. Okay, let's go back to Romans chapter seven. Verse 15. I know sometimes we have different translations, so that throws us off. For I do not understand what I am doing. So not only do we need the right heart, but we need the right hands.20:15Now, Paul says, sometimes when your heart is right, your behavior is wrong. Because we are not yet perfect. And I would argue that for the person who doesn't struggle at all, I have not met in this world. We, we all struggle with doing what we know is right. Paul, Paul says it. He says, I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.20:45So this is a good reminder for those of us who are impatient because we see other people around us and they are living in sin. When we look in the mirror, maybe we should be more patient with them than we think we should. Because I would argue in the word of God that none of us are yet perfected. So if you don't have your stuff together, be careful of searching for the speck when we still have the log that is blinding in us.21:14Now, does that mean that we just avoid behavior? Absolutely not. Paul is struggling out loud and he's saying we should practice righteousness. We should practice doing good. And the struggle to do good is rooted in the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let me just ask for a moment of confession.21:43Does anyone here ever struggle 100% of the time doing exactly what God commands all the time? Am I the only one? Anyone else struggle with that? Let me just break it down. Jesus sums up the entire Bible, the entire word in two commands for those of us who are simple minded. He said, I will sum up the whole Bible. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. You got it? And then when you practice that perfectly, I'll give you one more.22:13Love others as yourself. Anyone struggle with just those two? God wants us. God wants us to struggle because not to give up, but he wants us to continue to fight the good fight of faith. Listen, if your hands in here are not clean, hear the words of Alexander Strzok. He said that love can only grow if it is rooted in the soil of true obedience.22:40Love can only grow if it's rooted in the soil of true obedience. May our hearts and our hands be his today. But there's not just a struggle of ontology. There's not just a struggle of desire. There's not just a struggle of practice or behavior. There's also the struggle of hypocrisy. Struggle of hypocrisy. Look at verse 19 and forward.23:10He says, I do not do the good I want, but I practice what is evil. That's behavior. Because I do not want to do. That's desire. Look at verse 21. So I discovered this law. What I want to do when is good, evil is present. For in my inner self, Paul is now looking inward and he's saying, oh no. I am the hypocrite. There's a struggle of hypocrisy that we must all battle.23:40Now, what happens when you realize you're doing things for God, but your heart's not in it? See, Jesus reminds us that he doesn't simply want your behavior. Because it's possible for us to externally do things with our hands for God, but our hearts not be God's. It's okay, pastor. So then I'll just have the right heart and I don't have to have clean hands. Well, that's the other part.24:10You can have the right heart and not have the right doings. Now, hypocrisy, being a hypocrite was a good thing early on. The word hypocrisy was the word that Greek actors would use when they would wear a mask on theaters. So it was a good thing because if you wore a mask, that meant that you were in the leading role, right? The scrubs didn't wear the mask. The scrubs were the ones that had to hoist the curtains.24:38Those who wore the mask were the chief actors. It was a good thing. It was good because everyone in the audience knew that the person who wore a mask was playing a part. It was good because they knew that the hypocrite was doing a good job at playing the part. But then hypocrite began to change because somewhere along the lines, it went from acting on a stage to now us acting as if God would tolerate our charades.25:01And Paul says it does not work that way. You cannot wear a mask before the Lord and play a part. Church, here's the danger. You and I can wear a mask today and you and I would not know the difference.25:29I can wear a mask or I can do good and you don't know my heart. But the Lord does. You can do good today and I do not know your heart. And so we can receive accommodations to each other because we don't know the true implications of what we do. But God knows us intricately.25:57What happens in church if we, like Paul for the very first time, realize that in our inner self there is a struggle? Verse 23. I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war. If you have ever looked in the mirror and said, God, I don't like what I see.26:22What is the answer? Paul teaches us and shows us what to do with the hypocrisy. Bring it to the light of Jesus Christ. And when we bring the darkness of our sin to the light of Jesus Christ, when we take the mask off, there is healing and forgiveness on the other side. Because one day God will take the mask off.26:51May we struggle in the spirit with hypocrisy and bring our lives to the light of Jesus Christ. John 3 says it this way. Anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God. For all who wear the mask today, bring it to the Lord.27:16Bring it to the Lord. Maybe you read all this and you just, I'm frustrated. If Paul is a hypocrite, if Paul is not doing everything that he should, if Paul is struggling with who God is and who he is in light of God's glory, if Paul is struggling with wants and desires, then what good do I have? And maybe you are frustrated.27:46Well, that's my next point. The struggle of frustration. Verse 25. 24. Paul says, What wretched man that I am. I believe Paul is echoing for all of humanity this frustration. To say, God, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. One scholar called this verse the most sorrowful cry ever uttered by any human being.28:14This is the exclamation of frustration and anguish, not just by Paul. Not just this apostle alone. This is the cry for every sinner who has ever realized that they have sinned in the presence of a holy God. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hands. But if you have given your life to Jesus, do you remember the day that you first realized that you were a sinner?28:44Do you remember that? I'll never forget where I was sitting in that church. I thought that I had been set up. I thought that someone had told that pastor every sin I had ever committed. But that pastor had no clue. He didn't know I was a hypocrite. But you know who knew the true Josh? The Holy Spirit. And when I realized my sin, the only thing I could cry out would be verse 24.29:14God, what wretched man that I am. What hope do I have? That was the day I came to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. The day I realized that God, without you, I am not right. And I need you. That cry is terrifying and freeing at the same time, isn't it? When you take the mask off, you realize that God is going to see you as you are.29:43But when you take the mask off, you realize that God has already seen you as you are. And there is cleansing and there is healing when we come to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, wretched man that I am. But this is not only a cry for sinners pre-Jesus. This is the cry for all who have come to faith and are now spiritually sensitive.30:10Because the conundrum of faith is that the closer you get to Jesus, the more you realize that you are not like him. Does that make sense? Am I alone in this? It's like the more that we get to the light of Jesus Christ, the more we realize that we are dark. It's like God keeps opening closets in our life. I'm like, where did that come from? And the more we realize, oh, wretched man that I am.30:41But the more that God opens the dark closets, the more light that comes in. Oh, wretched man that I am. And Alexander White describes this frustration, this spiritual frustration in this way. He said, Believers are perfect as to their justification, being made right. But their sanctification has only begun. So some have experienced more soul trials after their conversion than when they were awakened in a sense of their lost condition.31:11Alexander White is echoing what many of us feel. That the more God awakens our soul to his glory, sometimes the more frustrated we become. Oh, wretched man that we are. Who will rescue me from this body of death?31:38Can I give you one more struggle? Okay, I'm not asking permission. I'm going to give you one more struggle. Verse 25. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The final struggle for all who have believed in Jesus by faith will end in glory.32:02It will end in glory. Yahweh never intended for you to struggle alone for your eternity. The struggle might be real, but it is not an isolated struggle. God does not want you to struggle alone. And the beauty and the power of the gospel is that by faith, the future, eternal life, has now invaded the present.32:25The rewards of the gospel, the justification by faith, has invaded the present. Because today, we are not yet perfected. But the Spirit is giving you a foretaste of glory divine. The future has invaded the present. The struggle will end in glory.32:55In Christ, and I'm going to look forward to next week. Look at chapter 8, verse 1. Paul is struggling. He's struggling out loud. The struggle of ontology. The struggle of desire. The struggle of doing. The struggle of practice. The struggle of the flesh. The struggle of hypocrisy. And then in verse 1 of chapter 8, he says, Because the struggle will end in glory, therefore, there is now no condemnation.33:23For who? For those in Christ Jesus. Church, if you are in Jesus Christ, the struggle will end in glory. There's no other conclusion. Because the Holy Spirit will lift your head and sanctify you until God calls you home. And if you have been found in Jesus Christ, you will never be lost again.33:53That is the glory of the gospel. Church, in Christ, there is now no condemnation for those who struggle. Thanks be to God. Through Jesus Christ. In Christ, there is cleansing. Today, for anyone who has sinful hands, thanks be to God in Jesus Christ.34:16Church, in Christ, there is hope for the one whose heart is impure. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. And in Christ, the one who is playing the hypocrites. There is light and cleansing in Jesus Christ.34:42Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. The struggle is real. But there is a remedy. God sent his only son, Jesus, to be the rescuer for the hypocrites, for the sinners, for the dirty, for the impure. God sent his one and only son to live a sinless life, to die on the cross.35:11He rose again in three days. And whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Thanks be to God. And if that's you, if you're here and you are living in sin, maybe you're okay with your sin because you are not okay with God. Would you confess today that you're a sinner? And would you cry out to the Lord?35:40Just a simple prayer. Oh, wretched man that I am. God, save me. I believe in your son, Jesus. I trust that he died on the cross for me. And today I will follow you no matter what it costs. If you pray that prayer, you will never be the same again. And if you pray that prayer today, I beg you to highlight Romans 8, 1.36:09That there is now, therefore, no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, may we never ignore our sin. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, may we never give up fighting against our sin. The struggle is real because it is a struggle that we now fight through the Holy Spirit.36:38And if you think that you're alone, remember, church, remember that Satan himself shadowed Jesus Christ and tempted him and begged him, turn the stones into bread if you're hungry. Just food. Cast yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple. God will protect you. If Jesus himself was shadowed by the adversary, what makes you and I think that we will not struggle?37:08Fight in the Holy Spirit. And because of what Jesus did on the cross for guilty sinners, our current spiritual frustrations should cause us to long even more. We should leave here today saying, God, come quickly. God, I'm tired of the flesh. But until you return, sanctify me more today than I was yesterday.37:36And God, if I fall down in the flesh, help me stand in the Spirit. Thanks be to God. The narrow road in Jesus is not without dust and it's not without sweat, but it's worth it. Because the narrow road leads to everlasting life.38:02What wretched man that I am. Church, who will rescue us from the body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, because he will rescue us. Father, when we struggle, you are here.38:28Father, when we struggle, you are here.← Previous in When in RomansWhen in Romans: Life and Death (Romans 6:1-11)Next in When in Romans →When in Romans: God Did (Romans 8:1-11)More sermons on Romans →
