The Battle Within: A Message from Romans 7
Picking Back Up in Romans Today we are going to pick back up in our series in Romans 7. We were in that but last week we had a Mother's Day message so we took a break from that. Today we're going to pick back up. We're in Romans chapter 7. We're going to read beginning in verse 13 of Romans 7.
Inviting You to Stand with Me I do invite anybody that would like to stand with me today as we go to the word of God. I'll give you a moment to find that in your Bible if you got your phone. Again, that's Romans chapter 7. We've already talked about the other verses in Romans 7, and we're going to wrap up chapter 7, and Lord willing flip to chapter 8 next week. But today, we're in Romans chapter 7, and we're beginning there in verse 13.
Reading the Scripture There the word of God says, "Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not. But sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good. So that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin. For what I am doing I do not understand. For what I will to do that I do not practice. But what I hate to do that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For the will is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 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. Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."
A Prayer Before the Message Thank you. You may be seated. God, thank you for your word. And God, today as we talk about this battle that's within us as believers, God, I just pray you work inside of our hearts, God, to mold us and to shape us more and more into your image to be helped to live more and more for you, Jesus. And God, if there's one in need of salvation, I pray today would be the day that they place their full faith and trust in you, Jesus, as Lord and Savior of their life. We love you. It's in Jesus name we pray. All God's people say, "Amen." Amen.
Paul's Honest Talk About the Inner Battle Paul, he's talking about a battle that we have. A battle that we've got on the inside, the battle within. What I believe Paul's talking about here is for us who have trusted in the Lord that we have this desire to live for the Lord, but our flesh sometimes we sometimes give in to our flesh and we sometimes struggle living for God the way we want to.
Have You Experienced This Battle? Have you ever had a battle like that? Have you ever battled as a believer on the inside? Have you ever had a battle where you want to live a certain way for God, but on the inside you're struggling because of your flesh? Have you ever been in that battle within? Maybe you're dealing with that battle within today. Maybe today you're a believer in your battle with the flesh. Maybe today you're a believer, but you got something in your life that you know does not need to be there because you know it's sin. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sin. Amen. Amen. The Holy Spirit, if you're truly saved and you got something in your life that doesn't need to be in it, God will let you know.
Two Categories of the Battle Paul, he kind of breaks down this battle in two categories. In this text here in Romans 7, one thing he breaks it down to is the fact that sometimes we struggle to do what we want to do.
Struggling to Do What We Ought to Do Do you ever struggle to do what you ought to do? Do you ever have times where you got some way you want to do something for God and you don't do what you want to do? The flesh keeps you from doing what you know you ought to do for God. It says in verse 15, "For what I am doing, I do not understand." Anybody ever feel like Paul where you do something, you're like, "I don't understand. I don't want to do this. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do that I do not practice." In other words, Paul, what I believe he's saying is, you know, something in his life, he wants to do this thing. And I believe by the context of the passage, he's talking about things of God, serving God. He wants to do this thing, but he doesn't do it. I love that Paul is so vulnerable and willing to admit it because a lot of times as believers, a lot of times in church life, we're not willing to be honest. Well, Paul, who wrote a large part of the New Testament under the inspiration of God, he's being real. He's being honest and he's admitting that he struggles to do some of the things that he ought to do that he wants to do. He says goes on to say in verse 19, for the good that I will to do, I do not do. And again, I believe he's talking about some good things for God that he wills to do, he does not do.
Paul's Vulnerability as a Believer Now, we don't know exactly what Paul is talking about. And I'll say this, I never knew Paul from a human standpoint, but I, like you have read the word of God. I have seen how just through the word of God, how God worked through the Apostle Paul. I believe Paul probably from human standards did a pretty good job compared to most of us living for the Lord. Amen. But Paul understood he was still a man. Paul understood he still had flesh. Paul understood he still was not perfect. Sometimes we want to elevate people. We want to elevate people to be almost superhuman. But Paul was saying, "No, I'm a man just like you." Paul was saying, "I struggle just like you." I don't know exactly what Paul willed to do that he did not do. Maybe it was prayer life. Maybe he wanted to pray more and he found himself again. And when we read through the scriptures, we can tell Paul was a praying man. Amen. But he knew he needed to do better. Maybe he wanted to meditate on the word of God more or for that matter write the word of God. We know he wrote about half the books of the New Testament with the inspiration of God. But maybe he said, "Man, I didn't do this thing with the word of God and reading the word and pouring in the word like I wanted to." Maybe he had disciplines he wanted to witness more. Now, I don't know about y'all, but when I think about Paul, I think about possibly the greatest soul winner ever. But maybe part of his struggle is I can do better with witnessing. I want to witness more, and I had this plan, and I did not do it. I don't know the exact things that Paul willed to do for God that he's referring to that he didn't do. But have you ever been like that? Have you ever had times where you willed and you wanted to do something for God? Maybe you wanted to pray more. Have you ever wanted to pray more and maybe in your mind you're specific with what you want to do? I remember times when I'd be like, "Man, I want to block out the whole day and pray." And then I remember thinking, "I didn't do it." Now, what's interesting about prayer is every time I feel in my heart every time I have blocked out significant time, maybe it's like 3 or 4 hours one day, maybe it's an hour, I don't know. Not that it takes time, but I'm just saying there's something about connecting with God when we sit there and we don't rush it. Every time God does something and I kind of say, well, what's wrong with me? Let me shake myself. Why am I not doing this more? Like, why am I not taking 3 hours today when I go home? Hey, by the way, we can do that, right? Most of us probably don't work when we go to church after church on Sunday. And maybe today if prayer is one of the things you struggle with, maybe today could be the day you block it out. What about have you ever set goals with reading the Bible, reading the word of God, and you don't do what you will to do? You know what I mean? Anybody been there? Maybe with evangelism. Maybe you're like, I want to share the gospel more. And you look back and you say, if I'm being honest, I haven't shared the gospel with anybody all year. I hope you have. We need to get the gospel out there.
The Second Struggle: Doing What We Hate So one thing that Paul's talking about is his struggle with doing what he wants to do. The other category I would say Paul's talking about is where he struggles doing what he knows he doesn't want to do. Do you ever struggle with doing what you don't want to do? Do you ever struggle with doing something that you know is sinful? Watch what it says in verse 15. It says, "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. Then he says, but what I hate, that I do." And then it goes on to say in 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. Paul's getting really real here. Amen. He's admitting that he does things in the flesh that are evil, that he hates. When I read that, what it sounds like to me is Paul saying, "I struggle with sin." See, Paul's got this battle that every human being has.
None of Us Are Perfect Has anybody as a believer ever lived perfectly? Have any of y'all? Anybody? Raise your hand. I haven't either. I told y'all this a while back. I did meet a guy that said his wife does. I say I bet you if you ask her, she would say, "No, she's not perfect." He's like, "No, she's perfect." I'm like, "She must be an amazing woman." But I don't believe any of us are perfect. Now, I don't say any of that to say we shouldn't need to be living for God. So, this is not a message and this is Paul's intent here is not to say, "Oh, it's okay if you're doing evil." No, that's not what Paul's intent is. Paul's just being real that we got flesh and there's a battle that we have and we got the enemy and we got to be on guard.
Paul's Cry: "Oh Wretched Man That I Am" Verse 24, I love how honest Paul is. He says, "Oh wretched man that I am." You know, there's another part of the word of God where Paul says, and I'm paraphrasing, "I am the chief of all sinners." Paul understood how sinful he was. A lot of times we can have a tendency to point fingers and say, "Look at their sin." But what we need to be looking at is ourselves. Amen. Paul said, "Oh, wretched man that I am." He didn't say, "Oh, look how wretched that person is." He was looking this up and he said, "I am the chief of all sinners." And again, when we read all this in my heart of hearts, knowing the rest of the New Testament that we read about Paul, I believe in my heart of hearts that Paul really walked with God well compared to probably any one of us. But he's just being real. He knows he's still wretched compared to a holy God. He knows he's still like the Bible says, like filthy rags. You know, Paul understood he was far from perfect and he understood that he struggled with the flesh.
The Danger of Letting Sin Reside Now, here I don't know what Paul's referring to when he says, "I hate the things I do that I hate and the evil that I do, I shouldn't do. Why do I do it?" I don't know what Paul is referring to. Maybe he's referring to something where his mind is in his thought life. Maybe he's referring to something he does. And I believe it is something he does, too. But this is the reality for all of us who are believers. We've all had times we do things that we know we ought not do. Amen. Amen. We've all had times that we mess up. We've all had times as a believer that we've sinned. But something we should take away in this text that we read about in verse 20 is when you keep doing what you shouldn't do, you are living in sin. We're not meant to live in sin. We're meant to live for God. But when you keep doing that thing you know you ought not do that the Holy Spirit's preaching on you about, you're living in sin. Verse 20 says, "Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me." A lot of times, maybe you've been guilty of doing this yourself. Maybe you've seen somebody do it. A lot of times, human nature can be that if we do this thing that we know is wrong one time, say, "Well, I did it once. Why not do it again?" And then you do it a second time. And then before you know it, you say, "Well, I've done it twice. Is it really going to be that big deal if I do it again?" And besides, will anybody even catch me? It's not about somebody catching you. It's about honoring God and living for God. Well, you got to be careful. If there's something in your life today that you know you ought not do, if there's something that the Holy Spirit is pricking on you that is sin that's in you, we got to be on guard because we don't want to let sin reside inside. Don't let sin reside in you. If we let sin reside in us, it leads to all kinds of darkness. It leads to consequences. It leads to problems. I wonder today, are you here and you're a believer and maybe you've got a habitual sin in your life? Is there something in your life that you know it doesn't need to be there? Is there some sin that's in your life that's residing, that's sitting, that's staying within you? It says in verse 23, "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity." If we let sin reside, it'll hold us captive. If you as a believer let sin reside in you, you will be miserable because that's not who you're called to be. That's not who you're meant to be. Has anybody ever dealt with that in your life as a believer where you're letting some sin stay in your life and you're miserable? Galatians 5:1 says, "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Sin will get you tangled up if you keep on in whatever it is that might be in your life right now that you know is sin and you know it and God's convicting you of it. If you stay and let it reside, it's going to tangle you up. It's going to be like you're in prison. Even though you're not in physical prison, it'll be like you're in prison and you can't break free.
Practical Help for the Battle If you got some sin that's there that you know doesn't need to be there, I pray today that you would ask God to help you break free. You know, there's we have a battle and we can't do it on our own. We need help. Amen. One thing I think about about the battle within between the flesh and living for God is I think about how much of a blessing it is to have a true accountability partner. Has anybody ever had an accountability partner? Someone that's there that you know you can trust in confidence. An accountability partner doesn't mean you hear all the problems you go out telling everybody at church. That is awful. But and you know, I know we're laughing, but the reality is people do that far too often. Like when somebody is confiding in you, we don't need to go and tell their business to everybody. When they're talking about a struggle that they've got, pray with them. Love them. Help to counsel them biblically, but don't go off telling everybody their business and starting a gossip thing. And if somebody starts gossiping you about what somebody's struggling with, stop them in their tracks. But one thing that'll be a blessing and can be a blessing for that battle that we've got is if you got a brother in Christ or you got a sister in Christ that you know loves you and cares about you and has your back that you could have that person to talk to about this is something I'm struggling with and they can pray for you. Another thing I think about if you got a battle, a battle within right now that you got in your life, something on the inside, something where you're wanting to live for God, but the flesh is keeping you from living the way you want to. Another thing I think about is fighting back with scripture. You know, when I think about the battle of the flesh, I think about the devil. We got flesh, but I think about how the devil will try to tempt us, right, to sin. You know what Jesus did when the devil tried to tempt Jesus from doing his mission for God? Remember well Jesus prayed. So that's one thing. Fight back with prayer. We read about that in all of that discourse. But also when the devil tried to tempt him in the desert right before his public ministry kicked off, Jesus fought back with the word of God. So one thing I think about is fighting back with the Bible. If you're in a battle and you're struggling to live for God the way you know you ought to or you got some sin, have some good fighting verses to fight back with, commit some verses to your heart that help you fight back. If you need help finding fighting scriptures, if I can help, I would. If you want to go to your Bible and find some good scriptures, if you want to go to chat GPT, whatever, find some good scriptures to fight back with and write them on your heart. And when you're tempted to sin and not live for God, say the word of God back. Another thing is fight back with prayer. Jesus fought back praying so hard that his sweat was like blood because the enemy was trying to get him to not go to the cross. And he fought back with prayer.
The Hope and the Solution But this is the thing. When we don't let sin reside, we're going to be helped to live for the Lord. This battle that Paul's talking about, it's a battle that we have on the inside that ultimately we don't want to let Satan win. We don't want to be living in sin. When we don't let sin reside, we're helped to live more and more for the Lord. Something beautiful happens when you don't give into sin. Maybe there's some sin you got today in your life and today God's going to convict you about it that doesn't need to be in my life and you ask God to help you and God helps you. When you get that sin out of your life, something beautiful happens. You find you start to live for God. You turn from living for sin and living for the world to living for the Lord. Whether it's someone who holds you accountable and helps you, whether it's fighting back with prayer, whether it's fighting back with the word of God, we are going to be helped to live for the Lord when we don't give into sin. If we stay on in sin, sin is winning. Listen, if you've got a sin right now that you know has got you captive if you stay on in it, you're letting the enemy pull you that direction and pull you away from God. And that's not how you're going to find joy. That's not how you're going to find peace. Paul knew he was a sinner. He knew that he needed help. He knew he couldn't win this battle on his own because he was a better man. He said, "Oh wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Paul understood that only Jesus could help him. You heard a testimony from Kevin about Jesus, him giving his life to Jesus and in time God broke him free from depression. Praise God. If you got some struggle in your life, give it to Jesus. Give it to the Lord. God can break you free, too. God, we love you. And I do just thank you for your word.
