Romans 7:1-25
Key Verse 7:25a

  "Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

 In the previous passage we learned that we died to sin but are alive to God in Christ Jesus. After justification through faith, we became instruments of righteousness instead of wickedness and servants of God instead of sin. As a result, we received eternal life as the gift of God. Today’s passage deals with our spiritual growth. Romans chapter 7 can be divided into four parts: (1) Freedom from the law (1-6), (2) nature and function of the law (7-13), (3) spiritual struggle against sin (14-24), (4) victory in Jesus (25). The gist of this chapter is that we are free from the law and therefore we have to live under the grace of Jesus. We cannot save ourselves by keeping all the requirements of the law. We cannot overcome our sinful nature by our super human efforts and will power. We have to come to Jesus and listen to the Holy Spirit to have a victorious spiritual life. Let's study Romans chapter 7 to learn how our faith can grow. May God bless us to serve in the new way of the Spirit. I pray that we may bear fruit to God by feeding God’s flocks with joy and love in the new semester.

I. AN ILLUSTRATION FROM MARRIAGE (1-6)

In this part Apostle Paul explains our freedom from the law through an illustration from marriage.

First, you also died to the law (1-3) Look at verse 1. "Do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to men who know the law--that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?" Paul is speaking to those who were once observers of the law but who are now Christians. What are the limits of the law’s authority over a person? The law has authority over a man as long as he lives. The law cannot punish the dead person. Many violent criminals bypass the law’s authority by their suicides. The believers in Rome knew the authority and the limits of the law very well. Therefore, Apostle Paul speaks to them in terms of the law. After justification, many young believers think that they have to keep all the law and become perfectionists to maintain their salvation. They suddenly began to point out other’s weaknesses and try to correct all the problems saying, “Why is my Bible teacher not perfect in everything?” They began to condemn everybody starting from their parents. They acted as if they were religious cops like the Pharisees to enforce the requirements of the law. This is a trap for us to fall into. But Paul explains that we don’t live under the law any more but live under the grace of Jesus by giving an example of the law of marriage.

 Look at verses 2,3. “For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.” Here Paul gives an illustration from marriage to the believers to help them understand that they died to the law and live under the grace of Jesus. Apostle Paul used the law of marriage to explain our new relationship with Jesus after our justification. Everyone understands the law of marriage very well because each of us has a dream to have a wonderful marriage. Singles have a rosy picture of marriage dreaming of a beautiful wedding in the future while couples have a practical experience of marriage with cold reality. Some pros said, “Marriage is a battle ground of two powerful characters.” In any case marriage is a marriage and it is instituted and ordained by God. It is good to marry. In this example, one woman married Mr. Law. Before they were married he used to say many sweet things to her, “Oh, honey! You are the most beautiful woman I ever met. You are my inspiration and my hope. The world has no meaning without you. Thinking of you is like swimming in the deep ocean.” But after the honeymoon was over, he never had another kind word for her because he discovered her weaknesses daily. He began to demand her to be perfect in everything. As soon as he came home from work, he began to condemn her. “Where is my dinner? How come you did not clean the house today? Look at the dust on the bookshelf. Why did you not manage our family budget? Did you wash my coffee cup? It is not clean. What did you do all the day long?” Poor Mrs. Law. She worked hard all day long, but she still could not please her nit-picky husband, Mr. Law. She is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. She thought about an alternative. How could I end this miserable marriage? If she tried to marry another man while Mr. Law was alive, Mr. Law’s brother, the honorable Judge Condemnation, would call her an adulteress, and her story would be published in the newspaper and posted in the popular Web-site called “www.adulteress.com.” Then her life would be worse off than before. So she decided to stay with Mr. Law as long as he lives. But if Mr. Law dies, she is released from her marriage vow to him and is free to marry another man. Spiritually speaking, all believers were released from their demanding husband, Mr. Law and they married another man, Jesus Christ called Mr. Grace. As a result, we also became Mrs. Grace. Her life with Mr. Grace was like a dream. Even though she burned the supper, Mr. Grace would say, “That’s all right, honey. I like my food well done. You are too beautiful and precious to me to worry about food.” The new life with Mr. Grace brought her new meaning and joy and happiness.

 Like Mrs. Law, we were bound to the law. But as hard as we tried, we could not satisfy the demand of the law. We feel like walking on the ice carrying food tray on one hand and a cup of coffee on the other hand. The more we tried not to spill the coffee, the more we felt insecure and fearful of failure. Finally, we gave up trying. Like most of the divorced and broken homes of our generation, we failed to please Mr. Law and could not meet all the demands of the law. We were subject to God’s condemnation. But we have good news from Jesus Christ our Lord.

 Look at verse 4. "So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God." In this verse Paul explains that we are freed from the demands of the law through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, Paul doesn't nullify the law; instead, he explains the relationship between the law and grace. When Paul said, "died to the law," he meant that when Christ died on the cross to save us from our sins and guilt, we also died with him. Thus we are set free from bondage to the law. And when Christ was raised from the dead, we were raised also. In this way, we have an inseparable relationship with Jesus Christ. (Ro 8:38,39) We no longer belong to the law but belong to Jesus, our bridegroom. As you know, marriage requirement commitment. In the same way we need a solid commitment to Jesus to grow spiritually.

 But many people are not sure about their new life in Jesus. Also, they do not make a commitment to Jesus. For example, one young man was saved by God’s grace and God established a Christian family for him. When he was asked in his wedding vow, “If it is God’s will, will you establish one of 10,000 house churches faithfully?”, he said, “yes.” He made a commitment to campus mission before God. But as soon as he received God’s abundant blessings like children and a good job, he left campus mission.  This happened because he did not have any commitment to Jesus. He is a man of no commitment. Such people cannot grow spiritually because they will hop from one place to another without any commitment. They will be like rolling stones that gathers no moss. We must have a blessed assurance that we divorced Mr. Law and married Mr. Grace. We must make a new life commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the parable of marriage, we learn that we must make a life-commitment to Jesus when we want to grow spiritually. We feel sorry to see so many people who do not commit themselves to anyone or anything. Psalm 1:4 says that they are like chaff blown by the wind. Let's make a deep commitment to Jesus so that we can grow in Jesus and bear the fruits of faith.

Second, we might bear fruit to God. Look at verses 4,5. “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death." The union with Mr. Law produced death in our bodies but the union with Mr. Grace produced the spiritual fruits. We must know that God saved us through his Son's blood so that we might bear fruit to God. Verse 4b says that God saved us in order that we might bear fruit to God. What is the fruit of the new union with Jesus, our bridegroom? Galatians 5:22 and 23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” When we lived with Jesus, our inner person was changed and we began to bear spiritual fruits that will last. A man of anger was transformed into a man of gentleness. A man of hatred was transformed into a man of love. A man of critical mind was transformed into a man of grace. Look at verse 6. "But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." This is a story of Apostle Paul. Under the law, he did not bear any fruit. Rather, he became a violent man and an enemy of God without knowing the way of peace. But under the grace of Jesus, he became one of the most fruitful servants of God in the world mission history. Why? He served God in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. To be a fruitful servant of God we must live under the grace of Jesus not under the law.

II. Faith grows through spiritual struggles (7-24)

This part shows us that our Christian life requires a constant spiritual struggle to grow in faith. Let’s examine how we can win in our spiritual struggle and have a holy life of mission in Jesus.

First, Paul's struggling with sin. Many people expect no more struggling after conversion. People declare a complete freedom by saying, “Now I will have a struggle-free and trouble-free honeymoon with Jesus. I don’t have to struggle any more. I am free from sin and law.” Contrary to their expectation, there is more struggling than before because spiritual growth requires spiritual struggle. M. Moses Chang told me, “The more God’s servant struggles, the greater he or she will be.” I accepted his sage deeply. I guess he struggled most to survive in UBF spiritual training. I remember that his spiritual name had been changed starting from Stone Chang to Precious Chang to Shining Chang reflecting his spiritual growth respectively. Though S. David Brogi became the most peaceful man among us, he used have a nickname “a man of struggle.” Everything seemed to be a struggle to him starting from marriage to fishing. After each struggle, he grew spiritually. Finally, he became a man of peace in Jesus. This was Paul's problem also. Scholars still haven't decided whether this struggle occurred before or after Paul's conversion. Nevertheless, it is interesting to know what made Paul struggle most. Look at verse 7. "What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.'" Here Paul says that the law is good, but the demand of the law makes man rebellious, and it makes sin seize the opportunity to enslave man. This means that the function of the law is good. It reveals the standard of the holiness of God. It also reveals what sin is. Only problem is that we cannot keep it. Here we have to redefine the role of the law. Galatians 3:24-25 says, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” The role of the law is to lead us to Jesus Christ by reminding us that we cannot keep all the law. We know this reaction very well. Genesis 4:7b says, "But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door." Romans 7:8a says, "But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire." In verse 9 the same idea is repeated. In the movie "The Dirty Dozen," the prison chaplain asked, "What is your last word?" The murderer, sentenced to death by hanging, repeated, crying, "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it! It just happened!" He did not mean to do it, but he murdered someone because he was seized by the power of sin. It's hard for anyone to struggle with sin. But the Bible encourages us to struggle with sin to the end. Hebrews 12:4 says, "In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."

 Look at verse 8 again. Paul's specific spiritual problem was covetousness. The tenth commandment, "Do not covet," is somewhat different from the others because it concerns the motives of the heart. It is easy to overcome visible sin but hard to overcome the invisible sin like covetousness. Nobody knows when we covet someone’s shining car like Anthony’s Nissan Altima. So we try to suppress our covetous desire by saying, “Do not covet. That is not my car.” The more we try to restrict our desire, the more we covet. But we know in our heart that it is wrong to covet. But we cannot stop coveting. Here comes our spiritual struggle. Instead of restricting our desire with human efforts, we must come to Jesus and overcome sin by faith. When Paul heard, "Do not covet," he really wanted to be a sacrificial servant of God, overcoming his selfish human ambition. Paul could not bear himself because of his conflicting personality. He felt that his personality was struggling with sin. He kept on struggling with his sin of covetousness. We call this the spiritual battle, or the good fight. Here we learn we should not give up our struggling with sin. If we give up our struggling with sin, we become like dead fish floating downstream. Paul struggled with sin to the end. Thus he became the everlasting champion in the spiritual battle. M. Sarah Chang received a lot of training as a young missionary candidate. She struggled a lot to overcome her many desires. One day she asked to M. Samuel Lee, “Do you know when our struggle with sin will be over?” He said, “It will not be over until your body is dead.” So she said the other day, “Do not give up and struggle with sin to the end. You will be glorious in the end.” She is right. We should not give in to sin but overcome sin by the power of Jesus. Everything that has life in it struggles. Spiritual struggle brings spiritual growth. But our struggle should be based on the law but the grace of Jesus. In the 21st century it is not easy to struggle with sin because sin is no longer sin. But we must listen to Jesus and live by faith listening to the Holy Spirit.

Second, two spiritual principles at work for us. (14-24) Look at verse 15. "I do not understand what I do. For I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do I do." Paul really did not understand what he was doing. He discovered that when he did something, it was not he, but sin living in him that did it. Look at verse 17. "As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me." In the course of struggling with sin, Paul grasped a spiritual secret-- that the power of sin is working in all men. Read verse 18. "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I can not carry it out." Paul wanted to do good. But he found that he had actually done what he really did not want to do. He acknowledged that sin was reigning in him, and that he was utterly helpless. Man is man because man has the most splendid dreams that he wants to fulfill; man has the highest desire to do good. But the total depravity of man does not allow him to do so.

 Look at verse 17. "As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me." He confesses that there is nothing good in him. He has the desire to do what is good, but he cannot carry out that desire, for he is under the control of sin. At the moment he wanted to do what was good, the law of sin in him was like a crouching lion ready to pounce upon him. (Ge 4:6,7) He confessed in 21a, I find this law at work." Here the word "law" means "principle" or "power of sin." He said in verse 21b, "When I want to do good, evil is right there with me." And in verses 22,23 he repeats the same idea, "For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body..." In the end, he realized that there were two powers or two principles within him. Verse 21a reads, "So I find this law at work." In verse 22, "the law of God" refers to God's power. In verse 23, "another law" refers to the power of sin which lived in him secretly. Read verse 23. Paul was caught between the Law of God and the law of sin that waged constant war within him. What Paul needed was God's help.

III.  Jesus Christ, the only Savior (25)

 Look at verse 25. "Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." Paul was a fine-looking Pharisee, but he felt that he was the most wretched man in his inner person. He felt that he was carrying the body of death. So he cried out in verse 24, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Paul was totally helpless. This was his cry that he could not save himself by keeping all the law. He experienced death in his body under the law. But there was a way when he looked at Jesus. He could find rescue in Jesus. Paul simply believed in Jesus and was freely justified to be a righteous child of God. Then he could become a servant of Jesus Christ. This was the secret that had enabled him to really grow in Jesus. This is our cry for help. We have to recognize our helplessness and turn to Jesus to win the spiritual battle. In today's passage we learn that we must have an assurance that we are justified freely by our Lord Jesus Christ. So we must commit our lives to Jesus only. We also learn that we must never give up the struggle with sin. If we give up struggling, we become slaves of sin again. Most importantly, we learn that we should not struggle with men only, but with God. May God bless you to struggle hard with God so that you may grow in faith. Let’s read the key verse 25a.