Well, if you're visiting tonight, we're working through the book of Romans, and tonight we come to Romans chapter 7, verses 7 through 12, and the next time is the complex section. So not that a lot of them are complex, but next time there's a discussion about just who is speaking here, Paul as the old or Paul as the new, and we'll look at that next time. But tonight I want to first look at verses 7 through 12. 7 through 12 of Romans chapter 7. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means. Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said you shall not covet but sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness for apart from the law sin lies dead i was alive once apart from the law but when the commandment came sin came alive and i died the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me for sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good may the lord bless the hearing tonight of his word when it comes to the bible's description of our need and what we think or how we think the christian ministry should go we pretty much have everything backwards i've come to learn that as i hinted at this morning whatever jesus did in the ministry most likely along the way would be an incredible offense to us in some way shape or form somebody would be very mad and maybe a lot more of us than we think remember the rich young ruler the rich young ruler comes to jesus wanting eternal life and so he uh he comes running to jesus and he he does everything that is remarkable he uh remarkably respectful he bows the knee he comes running and he addresses him and he says good teacher what shall i do that i may inherit eternal life you know how much we pray for that in the life of the church that people would come and that they would be respectful and that they would desire life and that they will listen respectfully and and that they will be open to the message we pray for that don't we we want that we invite our neighbors with that kind of goal maybe you have children running from the faith and or maybe you have a friend down the street good people but are making bad decisions in life and be honest what would be your worst nightmare if you brought them to church your worst nightmare would be if pastor gordon that day is in a bad mood and is going to be critical and hard and talking a lot about hell and judgment and destruction and wrath that old kind of hellfire thing and you think if my son or daughter heard that and you brought them in under that kind of sermon, there's no way they're going to respond. Aunt Joan, who's leading the lesbian life, if she hears that, forget it. Forget it. She's done. We are in conflict a bit with what we think is the answer and how we think it should be when in fact we know that when we open up Jesus on the pages of Scripture, What he is doing just doesn't fit at all our definition of niceness. At all. It just doesn't fit. He is often combative. He is often condemning. He is often direct. Whatever he does is the exact opposite this morning like we saw of what we would expect. And we see it no greater than with the rich young ruler. This respectable man is willing to listen to Jesus. He bows the knee, and we'll get to the real problem here in a minute. He bows the knee, and he does everything that we would dream of. You want eternal life, says Jesus? Here's the law. Keep it. Well, I'm doing fairly well at that. Really? I tell you what. Go sell everything you have and give to the poor, then come follow me. You imagine the rage in this church if I did something like that, you know? If your son or daughter came and that was the message, even worse, in that particular case, the guy walked away sad. And you think of the disciples standing there thinking, Lord, you're teaching us to be fishers of men. You're letting them get away. It doesn't work. You can be assured, when it comes to the Christian ministry, at times you may be irritated with the preacher because what he is doing and what he is saying is so backwards to what you think is going to work. I assure you of that. I think it was George Whitefield who said, it's a poor sermon that doesn't make you offended with yourself or with the preacher. Remember that. I begin there because this backward nature of our understanding of ministry is what Paul is explaining to the church in Rome. Think about it. The way we think to deal with the non-believer is to make them feel comfortable, to not be too pressing, to be kind, to be nice. And the way we think we have to deal with the believer who's out of line is just to whack them upside head with the law. And Paul's done the opposite. When it comes to the believer, he has presented this gracious ministry and you know what he's been saying to motivate new obedience. He has not been attaching curses. He has not been saying, do this and live like we've considered. He's been preaching radical free grace. And the way he's been motivating the obedience is to say, look, you're free. Jesus died for you. And because he died, you died. And now you are set free. So, you think and reckon to yourselves this new life, just like the Lord has given it to you, just like he has reckoned to you and given you and imputed you this righteousness and now has reckoned to you dead to sin. So, you think of yourself that way. You learn to think of yourself that way and put into practice in life that kind of mentality. That'll work. That'll work. Live out who you are as no longer condemned. And that anticipates what he's about to say in Romans 8, verse 1. There is, therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And so he's been explaining now the Christian's relationship to the law. And he made that amazing statement in Romans 6, verse 14. Dear Christian, you're not under the law, but you're under grace. But anyone hearing that, anyone hearing that has a real concern. Any Jew hearing that has a real concern. Paul, you have completely devalued God's law. In fact, you've been saying that we need to be freed from the law. What do you mean by that? You're sure making it sound like the law is evil. and paul is dealing with this tonight this is the single great thing he's answering because he knows that the message of grace no longer being under the law but under grace it's going to be really confusing for people and so essentially what he's doing in verses 7 through 12 is explaining purposes of the law purposes of god's use of the law and so what he does here is describe this but I want you to see how he does it. He does it by getting very personal. He does two things tonight. He describes himself in the first person. And he describes, really, if you will, what life was like without the law. And then he describes what life was like with the law. And basically, it could be summarized this way. When I was ignorant of God's law, I really felt good about myself. I had a lot of positive self-esteem. But when I finally heard the law and it started working in me as God intended for it to work within me, I lost all of that positive self-esteem. And that is exactly what the Lord desires to happen to us, by the way. That we would lose our positive view of ourselves. And that we might, as already having been considered, it's not just about making us feel better about ourselves. It's about bringing an end to us. It's about completely bringing an end to the old Adam and raising you up brand new in Christ. And that's what Romans 6 has been all about. But Paul's whole point now in Romans 7 is that now that we've been set free, let's look back at the law and see what was the intention of it. And he raises some very important questions. And that's where we pick up in verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. You hear the objection. If the law was originally given by God, Paul, come on. I mean, and no one could ever do enough to please God as you're saying, why then did God give the law? It sounds useless. This doesn't make sense, Paul. is the law not sin in your theology and from here out uh paul outlines some different uses or purposes of the law to demonstrate that the law is not some great evil but it actually does some very purposeful things for us maybe not the kind of things we like but some very purposeful things for us and notice how he does it look at verse 9 he says this in verse 9 i was alive once without the law but when the commandment came sin revived and i died and the commandment which was to bring life i found to bring death for sin taking the occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it, killed me. That is the version that I read. Your version of the ESV tonight says, I was alive once apart from the law when the commandment came. Sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. This is such an important verse because it really does describe what has to happen to somebody. And Paul gets really personal. Notice he uses the first person here. And notice what he says. I was alive once. I was alive once without the law. And Paul is saying this. What does that mean? Paul is saying, well, I used to go through life having really good, great thoughts of myself. I used to think very highly of myself. Every Christian looking back can say this. There was a time in your life when you didn't see anything. If you could use Paul, Paul would say, well, I rose every morning and I got out of my bed and I was about my business and it would have never occurred to me that anything was wrong with my life. I was going about my business and I had no idea that I was headed for hell. No idea. There was a time in my life when I thought everything was fine. My life was together. Overall, I was a good person. Surely I never murdered. I never committed adultery. I was honorable. I was a hardworking citizen. I was a loyal citizen of Israel. I lived a good life, a moral life, an honorable life. And Paul even would go further in the book of Philippians, didn't he? Any of you think you've really lived? I've lived better than every one of you. If anyone else thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I've got it more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Listen to this. Concerning the righteousness which is by the law, blameless. I was alive. In my own estimation, is what he's saying. I had climbed the ladder to God and then he says something powerful tonight at the end of verse eight for apart from the law sin lies dead i was dead i didn't see anything paul was saying there was a time i didn't see a lick of a problem in my life not one now this is important because essentially what paul is saying here is that apart from god doing something apart from god revealing something apart from god really putting a spotlight right on into the heart you will never naturally come to the conclusion that you are a sinner nor will you want to deal with the problem sure we know that the law is written on the conscience i asked my daughter the other night at the dinner table i said how do you know you're a sinner she goes well dad my gut tells me i thought that was good but ultimately i had to say to my daughter that really won't bring it out because you're going to push that away remember what jesus said in john 3 everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed you know why people don't come they don't want to have the spotlight put on the life so there is this this drive in us to stay away because ultimately we don't see things the way we should we don't want to believe we're that bad john described the complexity of this problem in his little epistle in 1 John, which we know well. Remember what 1 John says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then he, notice the sandwich here. If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Isn't this just the reality? You know, you look back over times and things your parents said to you or things that you have to deal with as parents. This can be any age, but a mom comes to a son or daughter and addresses the sin, and what's the typical response? The first response is anger, isn't it? The first response is resentment. The first response is don't judge me, as we always hear I'm not doing that and you get the rolling of the eyes how many grandparents have talked to a grandchild about you know abandoning the church and they haven't been attending for years and the minute it's raised what do you get you guys are just of that old school you know you guys are just of the old generation I don't need to hear that I can be a Christian and not go to church. Father tells a daughter they shouldn't be dating a young man because there's no fruits of being a Christian. Light has no fellowship with darkness. And what happens? The pressure is not to say anything because you feel you're going to lose the relationship, don't you? It's hard. It's a very hard phenomenon. How do you balance dealing with this? And it's sad because we stand back and we say, don't do it listen don't you know the story of the prodigal son who ran all the way we don't want you to end up in the pigsty and then come to yourself we don't want you to wreck your life and then come to yourself listen now this is paul i was alive without the law i didn't see anything and now you understand what jesus was in a fight over in the gospel ministries he was in an all out fight with an entire nation of people who thought they were alive without the law in other words what happened he didn't come petting the sheep what did he do he had to be confronted and they were furious at him because this man is telling us to repent what does he think he is and you can appreciate the struggle of the Christian ministry. I'm convinced that what we want from the pastor is to be a nice guy. I want to be a nice guy. I want to be liked. I've always been amazed that no qualification of ministry has ever been that the pastor be liked. But I want to be liked. You see the problem? We all want a fun-loving guy that doesn't press much. And you can get that. One pastor was preaching from this section on Romans and he was preaching on law and sin and a woman walked up to him after the service and she held up his thumb and index finger. Hmm. What do you mean by that? You made me feel this big tonight. And the pastor said, man, that's way too big. That's a great line. I wish I was that witty. Then he got serious. That much self-righteousness will take you to hell. People become very content under ministries that don't press their life. But it does nothing for your soul. And if you notice what Paul is saying here, under that, you can remain alive. This is what the religion of the Pharisees, you can remain alive without really receiving the law. And you can never come to an end of yourself thinking you're doing fine. And that's my greatest burden for gospel ministry. I love all of you. And I want all of you to be in glory. But I know that at times it's going to be pressing. And it has to be. Charles Spurgeon, you know, once said, we ought to preach so as to make every sinner tremble in his seat. If he will not come to the Savior, he ought at least to have a hard time of it. While he stomps away mad, I'm afraid that we sometimes preach smooth things so soothing and agreeable that we do not set before men their real danger as we should. He says against these people, We ought to thunder day and night. Let us plainly proclaim to them that the unbelieving sinner is condemned already and that he is certain to perish everlastingly if he doesn't trust in Christ. Have we lost that today? Have we lost that? Paul says, there was this time in my life I felt really good about myself. And he was a Pharisee. And Paul now explains what true Christianity did to him. You know what it did? It made him feel not so good about his life. And that's a fight. Because Paul understood that what has to happen to someone is that they have to completely die to themselves and be raised brand new. You have to die. We've been saying this in Romans over and over. the very thing he is describing. And the question that Paul is setting before us is how do you think that happens? If you could be alive in your own estimation tonight, thinking everything's great, how do you die? And Paul has been describing this radical grace, looking at the wonderful implications for Christianity, but take a step back, how do you get there? The question is how then in the world do you get people to see? How do you get people to get people to see what's really going on on the inside when they're in such denial? And Paul says, you know what? God does have an answer for that. God did give something for that. If someone is dead to their sin and they can't see it, in other words, they can't see their sin, how do they become alive in seeing things as God sees them? Paul describes the day he woke up. Remember the day you woke up? One day, He says, I heard. He spoke. Don't get me wrong. God had always spoke. He always had spoken His Word. But one day, I heard His law. And then I begin to really feel the demands of it. Look at verse 7. What shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means. Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. i would not have known what it is to covet if the law had said you shall not covet paul gets really personal here i learned what i refused to see and the law opened it right up that my whole life had demonstrated covetousness when i never saw it before and all of a sudden I saw so clearly that which I refused to see. And I heard God's law and you know what? God took that law and it started working the way God intended for it to work in the pit of my heart and guess what happened? Sin came to life in me. Verse 9. Sin came to life in me. The commandment, finally, after all of these years revived And I was in the pigsty, and all of a sudden, like the young prodigal, I came to myself. And I began to realize what the righteous demands of God's law required of me. And guess what happened? I died right there. Paul's saying, I recognized I was under the sentence. Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything. written in the book of the law. And I was totally lost for all of these years and I didn't see it. And then he goes on. Verse 8 says, the law started doing something I never expected. The law started arousing sin in me. I didn't even know it was there. All of a sudden, this stuff started coming alive. And it was like up in Linden. Every year in that parsonage lawn, there were moles in that lawn. And I fought those moles and I fought those moles. And I thought I had them beat because it was winter. And then the sun came out. And those things chewed up my whole lawn. And I always thought the law is just like that. The law hit the ground and all of a sudden there came the moles right out of the ground. That's our hearts. The law hits our hearts and it all just bubbles out. It arouses sin right out of its dormancy. And that's why, beloved, we read it. That's a very important purpose of why we read it. You see why I said sometimes what's backwards to us, why are you reading that old law? Because, well, this is God's instrument to do something. To bring an end to people and what? Make them ask a certain question. We'll get at here in a second. And so he says in verse 11, my sin took occasion by God's commandment and it killed me. In other words, I was living a total life of deception. I saw it, a total life. I was deceived about my life. I loved my sin. And the truth of the matter was, no matter how hard I tried to be accepted by God, all of a sudden I realized the awful weight of it. I am done. You see where he's come? when the law was set before the rich young ruler who had the same problem, and I heard a pastor one time preach that it's the rich young ruler, Paul. I don't know how you can make that. There's a connection, I guess. But when the law was set before the rich young ruler who had the same problem of covetousness, and Jesus said, keep it all, then come. And the rich young ruler walks away sad. You know what you have the picture of there? You have a picture of Jesus confronting a man who thought he was alive. And he had not been beat down enough. And now you can understand the difference of the two questions. What were the difference of the two questions? The rich young ruler comes to Jesus and what does he ask for? Eternal life. Two verbs. What must I do to inherit eternal life? The men in Acts, when the gospel was going out, did they ask that question? What must I do to be saved? Two totally different things. It's a very important distinction. And Paul here is developing this. Paul says, I know, this is why Paul will say, I know nothing good dwells within me. And the evidence that he has died, when you come to an end of yourself, you now understand how beautiful the last chapter is when it's describing this new life that when Jesus died, you died, and when He rose again, guess what happened to you? You rose up brand new. You're an entirely new creature. Old things have passed. That's what has to happen. It's not just moral renovation. You have to completely die and be raised up brand new. And the reality is tonight is you know that a genuine and sincere conversion of one's life has occurred when someone is willing to hear God's description of how debased and sinful and bad your life really is. Some won't. They want everything nice and neat. But that's not reality. And it is true. You really do have to hit the bottom of the barrel and come out an entirely different person. So, an important challenging question tonight as we conclude this sermon. Maybe you say, well, I've hit the bottom of the barrel and I see how bad I am. And I say, I'm glad you got there. You're in the position to be lifted up. Jesus has come to me. All you who are weary and heavy laden take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart. He'll raise you up brand new. I pray that everyone here has known what I've described, that you see your sin and you understand. You understand what Paul has been describing here. That one time you went through life. You didn't see anything. But God in His mercy gave the law to bring it into you that you might ask what must i do to be saved and you have tasted and seen that the lord is good and you see that's why paul answers this objection the law is not evil we'll look at another use of the law which guides our lives that we might live thankfully we'll look at that but right here he answers this immediate objection in verse 13 it is good the law is not evil it's good the commandment is holy but verse 13 that sin appears to be what it really is in me producing death god gave this law god gave this commandment to bring an end to my own righteousness and that's why paul will say the jews didn't submit to this they didn't submit to wanting to bring an end to their own righteousness to have the righteousness of another who is Jesus Christ. Paul's explaining this tonight. I love verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. He is the answer. It is then and only then that the person and work of Jesus Christ, as you look to Him, as you trust Him, You are delighted with that life and you see that in coming to Him, He is your life. May we be thankful that He cares to do this in the ministry of righteousness. Let's pray tonight. O Lord, our God, we are thankful for what You have done in giving us Your law. Yes, You have searched us and tried us and shown us what offensive way is within us. And You have led us in the way everlasting by announcing to us the righteousness of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank You for doing this. And tonight, if there's any here, Lord, who still fight against this, show them that there's no freedom in trying to attain this themselves. May their eyes be fixed upon the Savior. It is there that our joy is complete. It is there that we have true peace. It is in him that we are brand new. In Jesus we pray these things. Amen.