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Romans 7 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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0:00So, [music] in the previous chapters,
0:03in chapter 6 specifically,
0:05we looked at Paul clarifying
0:10was he in all suggesting that because
0:13grace came, sin could continue? And he
0:15answered that [music] abundantly, "No."
0:19He answered this by establishing that
0:21whomever you present yourself slaves to
0:23obey, you are the one you are the slave
0:25of the one whom you obey, whether of sin
0:28leading to death or of obedience leading
0:31to righteousness.
0:32And he gave us the emphatic command, "Do
0:35not let sin reign in your mortal bodies
0:39[music]
0:40that you should obey its lusts."
0:43Because if you obey its lusts, then you
0:45[music] are going to be its slave, and
0:48that still leads to death.
0:51So, Romans 6
0:53>> [music]
0:53>> is establishing that the reign of sin
0:56has to be broken. Nobody's going to be
0:58perfect, but the reign, the habitual
1:02reign of sin, must be broken in our
1:05lives. And that is how we know
1:08that we have
1:09come under the dominion of Christ is if
1:12that's happened.
1:14Romans 7 continues the thought.
1:18In the previous verse he says, "For the
1:20wages of sin is death, [music]
1:23but the free gift of God is eternal life
1:25in Jesus Christ, our Lord." Romans 7:1,
1:30"Or do you not know, brethren, for I am
1:33speaking to those who know the law
1:36that the law has jurisdiction over a
1:40person as long as he lives?"
1:45Now, in Romans 6 he told us that the
1:47answer to sin is to die to it.
1:50So, now he's saying that the law has
1:54jurisdiction over you as long as your
1:56carnal man lives.
1:59In Romans 6:7, he said, "He who has died
2:03is freed from sin."
2:06So, if you haven't died,
2:09you're still under the law. If you
2:10haven't died in repentance, [music]
2:12you're not freed from sin. If you have
2:15died, you know it because you're free
2:17from sin.
2:19He says,
2:21"Or do you not know, brethren, for I'm
2:22speaking to those who know the law, that
2:24the law has jurisdiction over a person
2:28as long as he lives?"
2:31And then he's going to use a metaphor to
2:33show this to us. "For the married woman
2:37is bound by law to her husband while he
2:40is living. But if her husband dies, she
2:43is released from the law concerning the
2:46husband."
2:47So then, if while her husband is living,
2:50she is joined to another man,
2:53she shall be called an adulteress. But
2:56if her husband dies, she is free from
2:58the law, so that she is not an
3:00adulteress, though she is joined to
3:03another man.
3:05Therefore, my brethren, you also were
3:07made to die
3:09to the law through the body of Christ,
3:12so that you might be joined to another,
3:15to him who was raised from the dead in
3:18order that we might bear fruit for God."
3:22So, everything he's saying about
3:23marriage here is just a metaphor to
3:26describe our relationship with Jesus.
3:28In the equation, he's saying,
3:31"A lady who's married to an old husband
3:34can't go marry another one. And in the
3:35same way, you can't go marry Jesus as
3:38long as you're still married to your sin
3:40nature."
3:42But just like if her husband dies, she
3:44can marry another man, so if your sin
3:46nature is put to death in repentance,
3:49you can now marry the Lord Jesus. It's
3:51that simple.
3:53But the death of the reign of one man
3:56allows for the marriage covenant
3:59to the Lord Jesus
4:01to come afterwards.
4:02That's what he says. Therefore, my
4:04brethren, you also were made to die to
4:07the law. Now, how did we die to the law?
4:10We died to that by which we were held.
4:13The law attached to our old man.
4:17As long as our old man lives, we're
4:19under the law.
4:21Right? That's what he said. So, we died
4:23to the law by dying to the man whom the
4:26law has jurisdiction over.
4:29And placing him under the atoning
4:31sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Therefore, my
4:34brethren, you also were made to die to
4:37the law through the body of Christ, so
4:39that you might be joined to another, to
4:42him who was raised from the dead, in
4:44order that we might bear fruit for God.
4:49For while we were in the flesh,
4:52while we were in the flesh,
4:55the sinful passions which were aroused
4:59by the law
5:01were at work in the members of our body
5:04to bear fruit for death. So, he says
5:07we're supposed to bear fruit for God,
5:08but now there used to be a time
5:11when the exact opposite thing was
5:13happening. We were bearing fruit for
5:15death. Now, we're going to bear fruit
5:16for God.
5:18Now, how does the law arouse your sinful
5:20passions?
5:24He says that your sinful passions were
5:26aroused by the law. How does that
5:27happen?
5:29Whenever
5:31God's authority is exerted in our life,
5:34our
5:35automatic response is rebellion.
5:39If somebody says
5:41to a child, "You can go outside,
5:44but don't go off the porch."
5:46They pretty much ignore the porch
5:48immediately and go right to the edge
5:49because they want to go off the porch.
5:53When the law says don't touch, we want
5:55to touch. When the law says don't taste,
5:57we want to taste. When the law says
5:58don't look, we want to look.
6:01So, the law excites
6:04the unbroken
6:06rebel
6:07inside of us. Boundaries, limits
6:11arouse rebellion.
6:13Isn't this how it all started in the
6:15Garden of Eden?
6:16You can eat of every tree in the garden.
6:19There's just one you're not allowed to
6:21eat from.
6:22That was the law of life. That was the
6:23law of God.
6:25And so, what was the one tree they stood
6:27at the base of and talked to a snake
6:29about eating from?
6:31The one and only tree. And the devil
6:33comes in and exaggerates, "Is it true
6:35that God said that you couldn't eat of
6:37any tree in this whole garden?" No, we
6:39can eat of all the trees. It's just one
6:41that we're not allowed to eat of.
6:44So,
6:47while we were in the flesh,
6:51the sinful passions, which were aroused
6:53by the law, were at work in the members
6:57of our body to bear fruit for death.
7:01We were producers.
7:04We were begetters.
7:06We were parents of sin. We were parents
7:09of death
7:12in the lives of those around us.
7:15But now,
7:16now, so there's a while we were in the
7:18flesh, but now,
7:21we have been released
7:24from the law, having died to that by
7:29which we were bound.
7:33What is What did we die to
7:36by which we were bound?
7:38The sinful nature.
7:40Do you not know, brethren,
7:43that the law has jurisdiction over a
7:45person as long as he lives?
7:47So we died to that which the law had
7:50power over.
7:52We died to that rebellion that the law
7:55excited.
7:57So now we can say with the psalmist my
7:59boundary lines have fallen in pleasant
8:01places.
8:02The Lord says don't go off the porch and
8:04we say, I really like this porch.
8:07The Lord says eat from every tree not
8:09that one. We say, let's focus on the
8:11garden we can partake of because we've
8:12spent enough time eating from the tree
8:16that brings death.
8:18But now we have been released from the
8:19law having died to that by which we were
8:22bound so that we serve
8:25in the newness of the spirit not in the
8:28oldness of the letter. Now the word he's
8:29using here serve
8:31is a powerful word.
8:33You may think it means to mop the floor
8:36in the fellowship hall after church or
8:38to pick up the chairs.
8:40When a mess is made, that's not what it
8:42means. To serve is to be like a slave.
8:45>> [snorts]
8:45>> To make our whole life God's servant. So
8:48he says,
8:49now now we serve
8:53not
8:54in the oldness of the letter but in the
8:57newness of the spirit.
9:00So here we have the old way of doing
9:02works and the new way of doing works.
9:05The old way of doing works is external
9:08obligations trying to be good enough to
9:10merit God's grace.
9:12The new way of doing works, we're still
9:15serving, we're still participating,
9:17we're still involved,
9:19but it's coming from the newness of the
9:22spirit. God's changed our desires.
9:25God's changed our affections. God
9:28stirred something inside of us to do
9:31what is right. He's working in us to
9:33will and do his good pleasure. That's
9:35the newness of the spirit.
9:38What shall we say then? Is the law sin?
9:41May it never be.
9:43On the contrary, I would not have come
9:45to know sin except through the law,
9:48which again tells us that its central
9:50purpose was to bring about the knowledge
9:53of evil.
9:54For I would not have known about
9:56coveting if the law had not said, "You
9:58shall not covet."
10:00Now, he would have had coveting in his
10:02life,
10:03but he wouldn't have known that it was
10:05coveting
10:06except the law told him not to do
10:07something that he didn't have the power
10:09to stop doing.
10:10But sin, taking opportunity through the
10:13commandment, produced in me coveting of
10:17every kind.
10:19For apart from the law, sin is dead.
10:23Sin only gets power in rebellion against
10:27the law that tells us not to do it.
10:30Right? So, the law is powerful,
10:34but sin is powerful because of the law.
10:37I was once alive apart from the law, but
10:41when the commandment came, sin became
10:43alive and I died. So, he's saying there
10:46was a time where I thought I had it. I
10:47was good. But precisely when God told me
10:50what my limits were, that's when I felt
10:53like I became aware of sin. Sin came
10:55alive. I wanted to cross the boundaries.
10:58I wanted to break the rules. I wanted to
11:00rebel.
11:03He must have been a teenager at some
11:04point.
11:06And this commandment, which was to
11:08result in life, proved to result in
11:11death. So, the commandment of God, which
11:14you might have thought would have
11:15brought about life, it actually brought
11:16about death.
11:18Made him feel condemned. Made him feel
11:20evil
11:21because it was confronting the
11:23rebellion.
11:27For sin, taking an opportunity through
11:29the commandment, deceived me
11:32and through it killed me.
11:36So, that's a different kind of death
11:38than the death of repentance.
11:40That's the death that we're living in
11:41before repentance. Repentance is dying
11:44to death.
11:45But, this is living in death.
11:48This is sin killing us, killing our joy,
11:51killing our honesty, killing our love,
11:54killing our truth.
11:57So then, the law is holy and the
11:59commandment is holy and righteous and
12:01good. Therefore,
12:03did that which is good become a cause of
12:06death for me?
12:08May it never be. Rather, it was sin
12:12in order that it might be shown to be
12:14sin by affecting my death through that
12:18which is good,
12:20so that through the commandment sin
12:22would become utterly sinful.
12:26So, he's saying the problem wasn't
12:28really the law. The problem wasn't the
12:30commandment, the boundary that God gave
12:32in my life.
12:33It was really sin.
12:36But, the commandment helped me see how
12:38sinful sin really was.
12:41If I didn't know better, I'd just go on
12:44sinning. Ignorance is bliss.
12:46I needed to feel the guilt. I needed to
12:49feel the shame. I needed to feel the
12:51weight of what I was doing. And all of
12:54that would point me toward the weakness
12:57of my body like Abraham discovered in
13:00himself, and it would also point me
13:01toward the strength of God's grace
13:05to to work in me through the newness of
13:07the spirit.
13:09Now, Paul's going to talk about the
13:11tension between two natures.
13:15And he's going to help us understand how
13:17to win.
13:19And he's still
13:20it's still on his heart and mind to
13:23answer the question, should we go on
13:25sinning so that grace may abound? And
13:27he's still answering, "May it never be."
13:30Okay? So, here he says,
13:33"For we know that the law is spiritual,
13:37but I am of flesh,
13:41sold into bondage
13:44to sin.
13:47For what I am doing,
13:51I do not understand.
13:54For I am not practicing what I would
13:57like to do,
13:59but I am doing the very thing
14:02I hate.
14:05But, if I do the very thing I do not
14:08want to do,
14:09I agree with the law,
14:12confessing that the law is good.
14:17So, now, no longer am I the one doing
14:20it, but sin, which dwells in me.
14:25For I know that nothing good dwells in
14:28me, that is, in my flesh.
14:33For the willing is present in me,
14:36but the doing of the good
14:39is not.
14:43But, if I am doing the very thing I do
14:46not want,
14:48I am no longer the one doing it, but
14:50sin,
14:51which dwells in me.
14:55I find then the principle that evil is
14:58present in me,
15:01the one who wants to do good.
15:04For I joyfully concur with the law of
15:07God in the inner man, in my mind.
15:11But, I see a different law in the
15:13members of my body, waging war against
15:16the law of my mind,
15:19and making me a prisoner of the law sin
15:23which is in my members.
15:25Wretched man that I am,
15:28who will set me free
15:30from the body of this death?
15:36Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ
15:39our Lord. So then, on the one hand, I
15:43myself with my mind am serving the law
15:46of God, but on the other hand, with my
15:48flesh, the law of sin.
15:52So, listen to what Paul is saying.
15:56He is tying everything he's saying here
15:59to what he said
16:01in the previous chapter of Romans 6.
16:04And he's showing
16:06that we have a carnal nature.
16:11And that we must tolerate in our
16:13awareness the coexistence
16:16of two dynamics inside of us.
16:19There's a flesh that is always in
16:22rebellion.
16:24And if you obey that flesh, you're going
16:27to become the slave of sin.
16:29You're going to become the slave where
16:32sin leads to death.
16:35But there's something else inside of us
16:37that wants to do the will of God. That
16:40wants to serve the law of God.
16:43That wants to please him.
16:46And we've got to learn which of those
16:48two voices is going to win.
16:51It's not a matter of willpower. He
16:53thanks God that he can get the victory
16:56through Jesus Christ. It is in
17:00the commitment of the old man to death
17:02and to burial. It is in the rising
17:05of the Holy Spirit in the newness of the
17:08spirit.
17:09That's the only way. It's through Jesus
17:12Christ. That's the only way we can put
17:14the old man to death, and it's the only
17:16way we can see the new man come alive.
17:19>> [snorts]
17:19>> And if Paul, here as an apostle, if he
17:22ever stops the fight,
17:25if he ever stops dying daily, if he ever
17:28stops putting that old man in the grave,
17:30if he ever stops dying to that by which
17:32he was enslaved,
17:35it's going to go bad just like that
17:37>> [music]
17:37>> because there's a war still going on in
17:40his members.
17:41There's constantly a voice rationalizing
17:44disobedience.
17:46There's constantly a narrative
17:48explaining away responsibility.
17:51There's constantly a whisper that puts
17:54all the onus on others, on life, on God
17:57even,
17:59and and leaves [music] us scot-free.
18:02And then there's this desire to say,
18:04"No, Lord.
18:06I'm not going to let this [music] war in
18:09my members overcome what God has done in
18:12my soul, in my spirit." So, that man has
18:16got to die, as he said in the first
18:18verses,
18:19so that we are freed to be married to
18:22the one through whom we can keep that
18:25man dead, and we can bear fruit to God.
18:28If we don't die to the old man, we can't
18:30marry the new man, Jesus Christ. And if
18:33we don't [music] marry the new man, we
18:34can't bear fruit to God cuz the source
18:37of our power over the old man is not us,
18:40it's not will, it's not even knowledge
18:42in our minds, it's the Holy Spirit, it's
18:44the newness of the spirit, it's the
18:47grace of forgiveness, it's a grace of
18:49God.
18:50That's the only way.
18:52And so, the next chapter,
18:55he's going to really elucidate what
18:57[music] this looks like to gain this
18:59victory over this man.
19:01This man that he's still fighting.
19:04He says, "I know that in me, that is in
19:06my flesh, nothing good dwells." This
19:08isn't a problem. Sin is not a problem of
19:12something I did. It's a [music] problem
19:13of something that lives in me.
19:16So, repentance is not apologizing for
19:18something I did. It's dying to who I am.
19:22It's dying to the inner rebel in me. And
19:25dying doesn't mean that he ceases to
19:27exist.
19:28>> [music]
19:28>> It means he ceases to control.
19:31It means he ceases to be master.
19:34It means death shall no longer have
19:36mastery, shall no longer reign in my
19:39mortal body so that I would obey its
19:42lusts. I hear its voice, but I don't
19:45obey its lusts
19:46by the grace of God.
19:49>> [music]
20:00[music]

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