I invite you to turn with me tonight to Romans 7. Romans 7, as we read together verses 7 through 25. 7 through 25, looking really at then the summary, verses 24 and 25, in connection with Lord's Day 6 of the Heidelberg Catechism. When you have found Romans 7, please also turn to page 13 in the back of the Psalter Hymnal to Lord's Day 6. Questions and answers 16 through 19. Please respond what we believe with the words of these answers. Lord's Day 6, question 16. Why must He be truly human and truly righteous? God's justice demands it. Man has sinned. Man must pay for his sin, but a sinner cannot pay for others. Why must he also be true God? So that by the power of his divinity, he might bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. And who is this mediator, true God, and at the same time truly human and truly righteous? Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God. How do you come to know this? The Holy Gospel tells me God Himself began to reveal the Gospel already in paradise. Later, He proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law. Finally, He fulfilled it through His own dear Son. In that Lord's Day, flowing naturally from Lord's Day 5 in question and answer 15, which it asks, what kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then? He must be truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures. That is, He must also be true God. Romans chapter 7, beginning in verse 7, as we now give our attention to the reading of God's holy word. 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. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire for apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Did that which is good then become death to me? By no means. But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment, sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual. But I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do, and if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my simple nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord so that I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. There ends the reading of God's Word. May He add His blessing to it tonight. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, what makes good news truly good? Well, the fact that it answers to, that it overcomes, that it provides a solution for bad news, right? And that is now where the Catechism, summarizing the clear teaching of Scripture, that's where the Catechism now leads us from the bad news of our sin, misery, and desperate, hopeless condition to the good news of the One we need. To the good news of the One who alone is able to rescue us and to restore us to fellowship with God which we desperately need. And the Catechism now identifies this good news by name. Our Lord Jesus Christ. He and His saving work is the Gospel. We know that Gospel means good news. He and His saving work is the good news that answers to the bad news of ourselves and our sin. Now, broadly speaking, the whole Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament, as answer 19 says, is called the Holy Gospel, the holy good news. And rightly so, beloved, because from Genesis to Revelation, from beginning to end, the Bible is of Jesus Christ, not always by name, of course. In the Old Testament, in shadowy form. But from beginning to end, it is of Jesus Christ and His saving work. It is of God's answer, His good news answer to sinful man and man's need for salvation. And this Gospel message, in answer to sinful man, beloved, is declared briefly, yet clearly, by Paul when he says, What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? The bad news and then the good news. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul declares the bad news in and of himself. And also here we notice that he declares the reality of that ongoing tension between the sinful nature and the new life. And while he confesses his hopelessness in himself, at the very same time, it is a cry for deliverance. A cry pointing to the confident hope that He has, not in Himself, but outside of Himself. It is a cry, a panting for help from the only one that He has been brought to know by faith who can, who has, and who will deliver Him. Paul makes it clear here that there is a warfare. And ordinarily, when two sides engage in a warfare, Neither side really knows who's going to win. But Paul makes it clear that there is a warfare and we may be confident that the victory is certain as Paul declares the believer's good news of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus Christ, first of all, as the only deliverer, as the only Savior, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, the only deliverer given by God. We quoted from John 3.16 last week. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. Therefore, we can confess confidently as we do in answer 19. We can speak of the Father and His own dear Son. And then in answer 18, who was given to us. Paul knew full well that though he was hopeless in himself, that God had provided the One in whom He and we with Him might have perfect confidence because He alone is not only given by God, but He alone is qualified. He is qualified to be our mediator and deliverer. Paul calls Him Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, we're familiar with that title. But that title is packed full of information. Jesus Christ our Lord. And first of all, Paul points to the fact that He was truly human. Question 16 again. Why must He be truly human and truly righteous? God's justice demands it. Man has sinned. Man must pay for his sin. But a sinner cannot pay for others. Now, Paul calls Him Jesus. We know very simply that Jesus means Savior. But at the very same time, Jesus was His personal name, His earthly name. Paul points to His humanity. Now, even though throughout history many have denied, there have been many heretics and heresies coming from those heretics that have denied either the humanity or the deity of Jesus. Notice, the catechism does not ask if this is true of Him. It does not ask if He is truly human and if He was truly righteous. It does not ask if He was truly divine. But it assumes it because of the very clear testimony of Scripture. Scripture testifies to the fact that Jesus was both truly human and truly divine. And the Catechism will deal in that more in detail later. The Church, in history, dealing with those heretics, formed her creeds, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, in which we give testimony to our triune God, and each of them specifies, especially, the humanity and the deity of Jesus Christ. The Church has formed those creeds for our confident confession based on these facts of Scripture. Paul points to the fact that he was truly human. God's justice had a claim only on the human nature, not on the sin, not on the animal nature, not on the angel nature, but only on the human nature and only one who is human and sinless. We know would be able to satisfy that justice. But Jesus was also qualified because he was also truly God. Number 17, why must he also be true God? so that by the power of His divinity He might bear the weight of God's anger in His humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. As true God, He is righteous, but also His divine nature provided the strength that Jesus needed in order to suffer everything necessary in His human nature. In His human nature alone, He would have been too weak. He could not stand up under the weight of God's anger and wrath. But His divine nature strengthened His human nature to be able to bear the weight of God's wrath and to earn for us and to restore to us, to give to us freely righteousness and life. He is the only deliverer given by God who is qualified to be our mediator and deliverer and who also was identified throughout the Scriptures. Question 19 again, how do you come to know this? The Holy Gospel tells me God Himself began to reveal the Gospel already in paradise. Later, He proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law. Finally, He fulfilled it through His own dear Son. Paul not only calls Him Jesus, but he calls Him Jesus Christ. That's not His first and last name. It's His personal name and it's His official name, His title. He is the Messiah. Paul points to this one as the Messiah, the one who was promised already in the garden when God spoke of the seed of the woman. He points to Jesus as the Messiah who was pictured, portrayed, along with His work by the sacrifices and ceremonies as God gave visual instruction to His people of what we desperately needed and of what the Messiah would provide. He is the one who was preached of, proclaimed by the patriarchs and prophets like David and Isaiah and Amos and Micah to mention a few. And finally, this one was revealed in the flesh when Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and walked this earth, was crucified, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven. And therefore, Paul also calls Him Lord, Owner, Master, the One who by His work purchased Paul, the One to whom Paul belonged, which was good news for Paul and for all believers. Secondly, in the midst of the spiritual warfare. Beloved, the spiritual warfare which Paul experienced, and that's when we need this good news, most desperately. Paul experienced the spiritual warfare as a believer. Now, Romans chapter 7 has always been a chapter of conflict. Those who want to argue, well, Paul is talking about one before he is born again. And as we fully believe, Paul is talking about himself as one who has been born again. That follows the flow of his argument in Romans, talking in the early chapters about the wickedness of mankind, and then about justification through Jesus Christ alone. Comparing what we have in the first Adam versus what we have in the second Adam. pointing to the fact in chapter 6 that we are no longer slaves of sin, but servants of righteousness. Paul experienced the spiritual warfare as a believer. Indeed, in this chapter, he makes some shocking statements about himself. Listen again, beginning at verse 14. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do, for what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And picking up at 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 cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do, no, the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. he makes some shocking statements about himself that of course would cause some to say, well, how could he be a true believer then? Yet he is able to make those shocking statements along with confidence that he has expressed earlier in this book, chapter 5, verse 1. Including himself, he says, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 6, verse 4. We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Chapter 7, verse 22, For in my inner being I delight in God's law. He makes some shocking statements about himself, about the sin he struggles with, but at the very same time, he was confident of salvation. He was confident of a new life, of new desires, of a new allegiance. However, this new life awakened in him the truth of his natural sinful self. And of a sinful warfare doing battle inside of him. A battle, beloved, that is foreign to unbelievers. As we have said before, they don't care. They're not paying attention. All of this stuff means nothing to them. This is a battle that is foreign to unbelievers, those who are sold to sin, yet not knowing what sin is, as Paul makes clear, beginning at verse 7. What should 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. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, Produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. What he means there is apart from law, one does not even know what sin is. One does not even know that they are sinful. He goes on, Once I was alive apart from law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. Paul recognized the spiritual warfare, the conflict that was within him when he says in verse 21, So I find this law at work when I want to do good. Evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. In the end of verse 25, 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. Beloved, Paul recognized the spiritual warfare, the conflict that was within him. And he experienced it with personal distress, frustration. What a wretched man I am. He cries out in misery. he cries out in agony with discontentment because of the hard truth that he now sees in himself knowing full well what Jesus Christ has done for him. Knowing as he has said before that he is justified that he has peace with God. Yet seeing the wretchedness of his life because of the continual sin that he struggles with that animates him that is carried out through his physical body. He was still subject to the ravages of sin and death in the physical body in this life. As someone has said, from the day that we are born again, we have to carry around this putrefying, dead old nature that gets in our way, makes us sick, and brings us to all kinds of wicked circumstances. Indeed, we have new life in Christ. To be sure. And that means that the old nature, beloved, is dead as a master over us. But it is still active. It is still fighting within us. And when temptation arises, the sinful flesh wants to feed itself. It wants to satisfy itself. It wants to indulge in sin. It wants to ensnare us in besetting sins that we cling to, that we secretly enjoy, whatever they might be. And the temptations to these things always seem to grab our attention. And Paul recognized that in his own life and therefore he is grief-stricken at his own sinfulness because of his giving in to what he knows is sinful instead of following the obedience that he knows is glorifying to God. Beloved, Paul's example of groaning demonstrates how to view the sin that we still struggle with. Paul is to be a picture of you and I and how we view the sin that we still struggle with day by day. Only the believer will know the anguish of godly remorse for sin like Isaiah in Isaiah 6 verse 5 when he was brought face to face with the holiness of God and all he could do was cry out, Woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. Or David in Psalm 22, verse 6, when he says, I am a worm and not a man. I am nothing. Our sins, beloved, though forgiven and though we have the assurance of that forgiveness, and therefore our sins, the struggle that we are engaged in is not to depress us. Because indeed we are forgiven, yet the sins that we continue to struggle with are to bother us, are to trouble us deeply as we know how terrible it offends God. And as we consider the awful price Jesus paid for, we are to be angry with ourselves because of sin. We are to be motivated to put it away in the strength of the Holy Spirit. But oftentimes, we are more bothered by the physical troubles of this life that come upon us than our sin, aren't we? Oftentimes, the physical troubles of this life that we struggle with bother us more than the sin that we commit. Yet, beloved, that ought not be. Like Paul, we are to see ourselves as the chief of sinners, the very worst. Recognizing how far short of God's glory that we continue to fall and to be always conscious of the spiritual warfare within us, being actively engaged in it. Yes. We are to be engaged in the warfare. We are to be on the front lines, as it were, of that struggle that is within us, equipped by the Holy Spirit who is in us, who, as John says, is greater than He that is in the world. We are to be engaged in the warfare. Not giving in to the law of sin. Not throwing up our hands saying, well, oh well, I can't do anything about it anyway. I'm going to sin. So I might as well give in to it. Not letting go and letting God, as some say. That's not what the Bible teaches. God calls us to put off the old nature and to put on the new nature. To press on for the prize. To clothe ourselves with the armor of God. He calls us to be engaged in the warfare. Not giving in. As well, not indulging us in sin. Especially thinking, it's okay, God will just forgive me anyway. Beloved, that's self-deception. That's false assurance. And that may very well be evidence against being born again. Instead, we are called to engage in the warfare, fighting against sin, fighting against our sinful nature. This warfare is not to be ignored by us. And beloved, this warfare cannot be overcome by some good spiritual how-to book. And there will be no such thing as achieving the victorious Christian life as far as eliminating this struggle and overcoming sin in this life. Instead, we are to recognize that the battle grows more fierce. And again, that's not to depress us. That's not to cause us to be down and to give up. Instead, because of the good news of Jesus Christ, that is to cause us to dig in our heels in the strength of the Lord. The truth is, the battle grows more fierce as we grow in faith. Satan turns up the heat against those who have faith in Jesus Christ. As one writer says, sanctification is the process of coming increasingly. We know that it's the process of the Holy Spirit cleansing us from the pollution of sin. And included in that is, as this writer says, it is the process of coming increasingly to see how sinful we are so that we will depend constantly on Jesus Christ. And he goes on, the Christian life, not just a period in that Christian life, not just a week or a month or even a year or two, but the Christian life in all of its entirety is a warfare against our inherently sinful natures as well as a warfare against external forces, he says. Beloved, though as we grow in grace, we may very well sin less. Maybe sin less frequently, possibly. Even though that may be true as we grow in grace, even the most godly saint among us is never sinless on the side of glory. And even for the most godly saint among us, the struggle does not grow weaker as we grow. But it grows stronger. Because Satan will continue to attack with more fierceness as we grow. And we are never to let our guard down, but as Peter says in 1 Peter 5, be self-controlled and alert your adversary. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour him. Resist him. Resist him. Be engaged in the battle. We are to go on fighting. We are to go on struggling against sin with the tools that God has given to us first of all, first and foremost, the means of grace. Our God has promised us that as we come together in corporate worship and gather together around the preaching of the Word and the sacraments, He has promised to meet us here. It's a guarantee from Him. He promises to nourish and strengthen the faith of His people. But also, He has given to us the tool of prayer. We have direct access to God's throne of grace at every moment. He also surrounds us with each other. With Christian brothers and sisters. Christian fellowship. Admonishing and encouraging one another. And as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6, we are to clothe ourselves to put on the full armor of God and to be engaged in the spiritual battle and to do so with confidence. Again, beloved, the spiritual warfare is not to drive us to give up. But instead, we are able to face it with confidence because of the good news of Jesus Christ. It is that good news that strengthens us to stand in the battle. That strengthens us to go forward in the battle. Why? In the third place, for a complete, a confident victory. Paul knew that in his own strength he was destroyed. But notice his doxology of praise and thanks came quickly after his complaint because he knew full well where this needed deliverance came from, from the triumph and victory of Jesus Christ, which alone gives us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. As Paul knew that in Christ he would one day be rescued never to sin again. And beloved, that gave him encouragement today. That gave him encouragement for this life because in Christ Jesus, he had deliverance already from the penalty of sin. Now we need to notice that Paul is looking here indeed for future deliverance. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Who shall deliver me from this life in which I struggle with sin over and over constantly. He's looking for future deliverance, yet this future deliverance is founded on what we already have in Jesus. As he said in Romans 5, verse 1, we have been justified, we have peace with God, the judgment and the wrath of God against our sin has been removed, never to count against us again. And beloved, what a blessed assurance as we engage in the struggle, as we are frustrated by our own sin, yet we may know that our sin will never count against us again. Because we have been delivered from the penalty of sin. But also Paul had the confidence that he had been delivered from the power of sin. As we read this chapter, and as he talks about the sinful nature, and it seems as if he almost feels like a slave to it still, it may not seem like he was delivered from the power of sin. but sin's power to control the believer so that you and I can only sin and nothing more, that power has been broken. As he says in chapter 6, we are no longer slaves to sin. We are not constantly defeated by sin. And the proof that that power has been broken, beloved, is the spiritual warfare itself. Again, the unbeliever doesn't care. The proof, as Paul would say, was his desire to do good and his desire, his hatred, to do what is evil. And as well, we know the power has been broken. As Paul says in Romans 6, we are under grace. And in the strength of the Holy Spirit, we are able to, we don't always in this life, but we are able to offer the parts of our body to Him as instruments of righteousness. Paul's confidence was having deliverance from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin. And therefore, he knew that he would one day also have deliverance from the presence of sin that he was struggling with. That was Paul's goal here. To be forever delivered from committing sin. To be forever delivered from offending God. To never offend God again. And that is to be our desire, beloved. A desire which won't be fulfilled until death to this life. It won't be fully fulfilled until death or until Christ's return. Yet, we can have encouragement today. In Christ Jesus, we have joy of this certainty. And the joy of the Lord, beloved, gives us strength to fight and to endure, knowing that as believers, we are under the protection of God. And we face troubles and struggles with sin under His protection with the confidence of the firstfruits of the resurrection, Jesus Christ Himself. Because He rose again, we have confidence and certainty that we shall be delivered from this body of death. And one day we shall be raised and made like unto Christ's glorified body for a complete victory. A complete victory to be enjoyed forever. Today, with confidence of salvation, we are called to hate sin. To hate sin. And to fight against it. Knowing that this struggle is temporary. Knowing that it will end in victory as this body of death will be defeated forever. But we know that apart from Jesus Christ and the deliverance that He brings, that this body of death will lead only to eternal death. But for those who by the grace of God trust in Him alone, we are set completely free, as the Catechism says. We are made right with God forever. Beloved, what good news. You know, in this life, good news only lasts for a short time. But this good news of Jesus Christ is good news for today. It's good news for tomorrow. It's good news forever. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we give You thanksgiving and praise for Your Gospel. For the good news of Jesus Christ. We know that it's only by Your mercy and grace in our lives and by the faith that You have given to us that we can even understand this. That we can even understand, as Paul says, the sin that we continue to struggle with, yet having confident hope in Jesus Christ alone. And Father, we thank You and praise You for the assurance that You have given to us that our sin, past, present, and future, will never count against us in Your sight. Because indeed, we are righteous in Your sight both now and forever. But at the same time, by Your Holy Spirit, we pray that You would continue to work in us a hatred for sin. And a love for righteousness. A love for that which pleases You. Father, give us strength in the battle. Lead us and guide us until that day when we can sing, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun. We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. We thank You for that hope. We praise You for that certainty in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.