The problem of spiritual conflict by examining the nature and function of various "laws" as described in Romans 7. It contrasts the Mosaic Law, which reveals sin but offers no power to overcome it, with the internal "law" of sin that inclines individuals toward evil. The message highlights the law of God as the only source of true freedom and power, operating in the mind to enable believers to do good. Ultimately, it emphasizes that while the law exposes sin and its consequences, only the law of God, through Christ, provides the strength to live a victorious Christian life, freeing believers from the bondage of sin.
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we have already decided that these three chapters, which form as it were the crooks of the Holy Pistle, chapter six, seven, and eight, fall into five definite sections. In chapter six we have the verses one through eleven, and this study we call the principle of spiritual life. We talked about the commencement of that life, We talked about the confession of that life and we talked about the challenge of that life, the principle of spiritual life. Chapter six, verses one through eleven.
Our second section runs from verse twelve to the end of chapter six, that is verse twenty-three. And here we have what we called the possibility of spiritual defeat. And last Thursday night we talked about this and we saw that spiritual defeat is not infrequent. There were four reasons given in the verses. First of all, the body is mortal. Secondly, the enemy is strong. Thirdly, the flesh is insistent. And finally, the choice is ours. And all too often, we make a wrong choice. So, spiritual defeat is not infrequent. The second thing we noticed in the verses thirteen and fourteen that it is not inevitable, because God promises it that sin shall not have dominion over you.
And so we saw that God's promise proves that spiritual defeat is not infrequent. We saw that the believer's position emphasizes this. We have died with Christ. We are not under law but under grace. We have risen to walk in units of life. We also saw that individual response determines the inevitability of spiritual defeat. If we are going to walk our own way and do our own things, then we are going to continue to be defeated. The third thing we noted in the chapter was this, that that spiritual defeat, which is not infrequent and which is not inevitable, is not inconsequential.
It is a very costly thing to continue to live a defeated Christian life. We noted, according to the chapter and verse fifteen, that this defeat cannot be excused. It comes as a result of commitment on the Christian's part. It is contrary to all teaching, verse seventeen. It has been costly in the past. verses eighteen through twenty-two, and it will prove more costly in the future because the last verse written to Christians in that chapter is, for the wages of sin is death. And we reminded ourselves solemnly of the fact that it is possible for a Christian to die before his time.
To the Corinthians Paul wrote, For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. Now we come to chapter seven, and those of you who did, as I asked and read it, and noted the references to law, maybe underlying them, you will have discovered that there are four different kinds of law mentioned in this chapter. By the way, I hope you had an afternoon nap, because tonight is going to be heavy sledding. This is not an easy chapter, and I think we're going to begin by reading these twenty five verses and our topic tonight is the problem of spiritual conflict.
We've talked about the principle of spiritual life, we've talked about the possibility of spiritual defeat, and now we're going to talk about the problem of spiritual conflict. Now it's here because this is the chapter in which Paul says, For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good I know not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now that's part of the seventh chapter. Let's not read the twenty-five verses here.
because I don't want to keep you too long tonight. Let's read excerpts from the chapter, verse one. And interestingly enough, you might like to notice that we have a reference to the law no less than fifteen times in the first sixteen verses. So we're going to talk first of all about what is called the law. And then we're going to talk about what is called in verse twenty-one A law. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Then we're going to talk about the law of God. It's mentioned in verse twenty-two.
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. And then finally in verse twenty-three, the law of sin. 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 all wretched man that I am. We still haven't started to read the chapter yet. Not at verse one anyhow. Let's begin now. Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law. How that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth.
But if the husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, so she will be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh... The motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held.
that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law. For I had not known lust, except the law had said thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in thee all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once, But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment deceived me, and by it slew me.
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do, that which I would not, I consent unto the law, that it is good. Fifteen times in sixteen verses we read about the law.
Now let's just think about this for a little while and if my time runs out then I'll have to take Thursday night and finish chapter seven. But you know the problem of spiritual conflict is found here and the first thought that occurs to me in connection with conflict is the inward conflict that a man must have had in trying unsuccessfully to keep the Lord. Now what is meant by this expression the Lord? Well the Jewish law is referred to and the Jewish law really was, it was in three parts.
There was the moral law which we find in the Ten Commandments. There was the ceremonial law which we find in the rites and the ceremonies. And there was the civil law which had to do with Israel's national life. The moral law was a very personal thing. The ceremonial law was a religious thing. And the civil law was a national thing. And perhaps all of these are involved in this expression that Paul uses in Romans chapter seven when he makes reference to the law. But you know, in the final analysis, good and holy and wonderful as it was, the law was a defeated thing.
Now when we come to that which is referred to as a law in verse twenty one, we find that this is a disturbing thing. I find a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now haven't you discovered that law? Haven't you found that to be a fact? When you want to do good things, evil is there constantly pulling you in the wrong direction. Why, the youngest member of my congregation here tonight knows that it's not easy to do a good thing. And I've reminded some of you before that when we tell our children it's just as easy for you to do the right thing as it is to do the wrong thing, we're not being truthful with our children.
It's easier for them to do the wrong thing than the right thing because, like their parents, and their parents before them, they've been born with a bias toward evil. We have a bent toward that which is sinful and wrong because we've been born in sin and sin has been born in us. That's why we were not very old when we told our first lie and practiced our first act of deceit. So this law called a law in the chapter is something that we have already discovered. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Now if the law is a defeated thing, that which is called a law is a disturbing thing. that I cannot want to do good without evil immediately putting out its tentacles and seizing me and dragging me in the wrong direction. A very disturbing thing. But certainly that which is called a law is as much a fact as that which is called the law. Now when we come to the law of God that is mentioned in verse two, this is a delightful thing. I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
The law of God is a delightful thing. When we come to the law of sin in verse twenty three, that is a degrading thing. 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. And because it makes a slave of a man, it is a degrading thing. Now that which is called the law involves in large part a man's memory. The Jew had to know what the Ten Commandments said. the Jew had to memorize these things, thou shalt, thou shalt not, so that he knew the standards that were put before him and the line to which he was to hew.
The law then, that which is a defeated thing, involves in large part a man's memory. Now that which is called a law, which is a disturbing thing, involves in large part a man's motivation. When I would do good, evil is present with me. I have a motive that would move me in this direction, but immediately evil begins to take over so that I'm not able to carry this thing that I want so much to do, put it into effect and to carry it out. Now that which is called the law of God, which is a delightful thing, involves in large part a man's mind.
because it says here, it is warring against the law of my mind. Now this is in keeping with the tenor of Scripture, because the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And I've told you before, you are not what you think you are, but what you think. You are. Now that's the reason why our minds are so important, and we must be very, very careful. about how we use the mind. Now when evil thoughts come to you, that is not sin. Somebody has said, you cannot prevent the birds from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from making a nest in your hair.
And the thought is when the devil brings evil thoughts to you, as indeed he will, that's not sin. But when you begin to develop them or to To nurture them, that's when sin comes into the picture. And it's all a matter of the mind. Let me remind you again. You're not what you think you are. But what you think you are. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is thee. Now the law of God operates in the mind because that's where doing begins. You sow a thought, you reap an action. You sow an action, you reap a habit.
You sow a habit, you reap a character, you sow a character, and you reap a destiny. It all starts with beginning, it begins with thinking. And that's why the law of God takes over, as we let it, in the realm of the mind. This then is something, this delightful thing, that involves in large part a man's mind. When we come to the law of sin, which is a degrading thing, we see that this involves in large part a man's members. It says, it brings me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. So we have a man's memory, a man's motivation, a man's mind, and a man's members.
When I was a little boy, I used to sing a chorus with other little boys and little girls. Be careful little hands what you do. Be careful little hands what you do. There's a father up above looking down on you in love. Be careful little hands what you do. Be careful little feet what you do or where you go. Be careful little feet. It's all a matter of the members and the law of sin operates right there in the members. All right. Now what's the result of the first, the law? I'll tell you in a word it is fear.
The law said, Thou shalt, thou shalt not, and it promised punishment for want of keeping the law so that the Israelite under the law was constantly in fear of the consequences of breaking the law. So the result of that defeated thing, the law in the heart of a man was fierce. Now what was the result of that which is called a law in the heart of a man? That disturbing thing when I would do good, evil is present with me. Well, the end of that is frustration. A man wants to do good and finds he can't because of evil in his heart and in his life. And so the end of that law is frustration.
What about the end of the law that is called the law of God? The end of that law is freedom. Did I ever tell you in the words of one of your own poets what freedom is? Frost suggests that freedom is feeling comfortable in your harness. That's beautiful, you know. That's real good. It's not having the rain thrown upon your neck. and having all control and discipline removed so that you could go away and do just what you like. That's not freedom. That's not liberty. That's license. And such a man is not free. He is bound by himself and his own wicked heart and wicked habits.
When the law of God is operative in the mind of a man and in control of him, that man is a free man. The end of that law, the law of God, is freedom. What about the law of sin? Well the end of that law of course is failure. Utter and absolute and desperate failure. Now again we'll go back and notice what is said about the law at least in the first few verses of this chapter seven. Now it occurred to me as I was studying the chapter that there are four very obvious things about the law. That which we said is a defeated thing.
That which we said in large part involves a man's memory. That the end of which we suggested is fear. First of all, you will notice it is identified by three things. We don't have to be in doubt as to what Paul was referring to when he says fifteen times in sixteen verses the law, the law, the law. He so clearly identifies it. First of all, by its content. Look at verse seven. What shall we say then is the law of sin, God forbid. I had not known sin, but by the law. I have not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet.
Now immediately that law is identified by its content. What was it that said, thou shalt not covet? the Decalogue. What's the Decalogue? That's the Ten Commandments. So immediately you can identify what is in Paul's mind in this chapter when he refers to the Lord. He's thinking especially of the Ten Commandments. It's identified by its content. He quotes it, Thou shalt not covet. It is also identified by its nature. Look at verse twelve. It says the law is holy. It says the law is just.
It says the law is good. Look at verse fourteen. It says the law is spiritual. Now obviously he is referring to that which came from the hand of God to the Jewish nation. This is the law to which he is making reference. He identifies it by its content. and he identifies it by its holy, just, good and spiritual nature. And then he identifies it also by its function, because in verse thirteen he says, sin, that it might appear sin, working death in thee by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
When I read the Ten Commandments, When I study the law, then I am immediately brought face to face with the things that are in opposition to the law, and I see that what sin is, and I see how vile and how desperate a thing it is, and it is the function of the law to make sin to be an exceedingly sinful thing. That then is the identification in these verses of the law. So we needn't doubt what is meant by the law. It's identified by its content, by its nature, and by its function.
Now that law which is identified for us in these verses is also illustrated for us. In the first five verses we have the illustration of marriage. And two things become apparent in these five verses, and one is the binding character of marriage and of the law as so illustrated. And then we see also the temporary character of marriage because death terminates it. And so is illustrated for us the temporary nature of the law. It's good and just and holy and spiritual, but Temporary.
Now we're no longer under the law. Because the function of the law has been fulfilled. The exceeding sinfulness of sin has been revealed. And now those of us who are saved by the grace of God, the word of God says, are not under law but under grace. And we've read that in chapter six. So, marriage is a binding thing. God intends it to be... to lapse throughout life. But it's a temporary thing in as much as death necessarily brings marriage to an end and the one, the partner who is left is free to marry again.
It's a beautiful and very telling illustration of the Lord. So here it is, its binding character and its temporary character illustrated for us in the first five verses which speak about marriage and the binding of a woman to her husband until the death of one or the other. Now when we come to verse six and we read through verse thirteen we find that this law is identified, it is illustrated, but also we find that it is inferior. Now as we read through here we see that the law which made demands upon men and women, supplied no strength to make it possible to carry those demands out.
And so, according to verse six, we have been delivered from the law. That law which is good, that law which is wholeness, that law which is just, and that law which is spiritual, we have been delivered from it. Now, doesn't that sound strange? God should have given the law to his people and bound them by that law down through the centuries, and then suddenly a moment comes when he delivers people from that law. Look at what verse says. Verse six says, But now we, that is Christians, we who know the Lord Jesus, we who trusted Christ, we are delivered from the law, that being dead, wherein we were held.
Now there was a time when we were in sin, there was a time when we were dead in sin, there was a time when we were lost in sin, there was a time when we were living our own lives, but suddenly, through the death of Christ, we find ourselves dead in Christ. That's the message of chapter six. And being dead in him, we are dead to that by which we're held, and now we are delivered from the Lord. Now that was only necessary because the law was inferior. Good though it was, holy though it was, just though it was, spiritual though it was, because it supplied no power to make it possible for us to keep the law, it was an inferior thing.
And we've been delivered from it. You will also notice that although we have been delivered from it, We are to keep respect for it. We are not under law. But that doesn't mean to say we can flout the law, because the basis of Christian conduct can still be found in the law. And we have been delivered from it, are to keep respect for it, because it condemns sin, and it exposes sin, and what was demanded of the Jew can become for us a guideline. as to what is expected by God of us. If God said to the Jew, thou shalt not covet, then surely being in Christ with all the power and sufficiency that Christ supplies, we certainly ought not to be guilty of covet.
If the word of God to the Jew said, thou shalt not kill, then we who have so much of sufficiency in the Lord Jesus certainly ought not to take life. And so as we go down those Ten Commandments, we can see that they were expected to keep them, with no power supplied to them outside of themselves. God certainly could not expect less of them than He expects of us, who have all that we need in power, of power in the Lord Jesus. But the law then is inferior. Now in verses fourteen, fifteen and sixteen... we see that it is insufficient. Verse fourteen, it's insufficient against the carnal nature.
We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. The law is insufficient against the carnal nature. It makes its demands, but it supplies no strength. Look at verses fifteen and sixteen. That which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. The law is insufficient, not only against the carnal nature, but also against a weak intent. Against a weak intent.
It's been said that the road to hell is paved with good intention. And how many times do we intend to do this and intend to do that and intend to do the other, but we never carry out those good intentions? The law was weak. It was insufficient against a weak intent. Again, when you go back to verse fourteen, you can see that the law was insufficient against a lust estate. It was because Paul by nature was lust. that the law was insufficient for him. How can a lost man really do the will of God?
We wakened up to that when we found out we were dead in trespasses and in sins, and a dead man cannot serve God. We trusted the Lord Jesus and were born again, and now a brand new viscerant life opened up in front of us. We're no longer under the law. Now there are still three other laws to go, and I have just about five minutes. Let me make a reference to this that is called a law. In fact, let me read to you about it. Verse seventeen. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, for I know.
that in me that is in my flesh, notice that bracket there, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but out of a form that which is good, I find not. For the good I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find in it all, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now there are three things that are obvious to me as concerning this which is called a Lord. First of all, it tells me that I have a tenant. By nature, I have a lodger living in my life.
Sin the dwelleth in me. You know, those of us who are inclined to look upon ourselves as such good people, and there may be someone here, and you're not sure whether you're born again or not. Maybe you don't know whether you're saved or not. Well, I would plead with you, not to go on in a state of uncertainty, because you can know that you are saved. Now, Paul is speaking of himself in a natural condition here. And he says, although I was a religious man, although I studied at the feet of Gamaliel, although I persecuted those that I thought were heretics, although I did this, did that, did the other, and was looked up to by all of my colleagues, sin was living in me.
And that's true of every man and every woman by nature. Sin lives in us. When we're talking to the boys and girls, we sometimes remind them of that fact. Even little boys and girls, sin dwells in their hearts. We say to the boys and girls, do you know that your heart is black with sin? I used to sometimes preach from little wordless books. How many of you remember the wordless book? Put your hands right up, let me see. My, how that's been used. A black page. What did the black page tell the boys and girls? That's how your heart looks. That's how your heart looks. Blackness, darkness. We tell the boys and girls, Jesus is the light of the world.
He's knocking at your heart's door and he's saying, let me come in. Now, light and darkness can't live together. If you let Jesus come into your dark heart at the front door, what has to happen to your sin? Well, it has to go out of the back door. Light and darkness can't dwell together, but even little boys and little girls have hearts by nature that are black with sin. If that's true of little children, how much more true must it be of those of us who are adults here tonight and still not so. And yet we sort of hope... that one day God's going to forget the blackness of our hearts and the darkness of our hearts and let us into heaven in spite of that because we did a good thing here and a little good thing there and because we weren't as bad as some of our neighbors.
You know, it really doesn't make sense. It really doesn't make sense. If sin dwells in you, how do you expect to carry that sin into heaven? You can't do it. You've got to get rid of that sin. If you've got to get to heaven... And if you're not sure whether or not that sin is gone, will you stay behind? Let's talk about it. You won't be the first one to do that today. And it would be just a wonderful thing if tonight, as well as this morning, we could sit by your side and talk to you tenderly, lovingly, and from the Word of God about these things, because we do care. We don't want you to go on with a dark heart. We don't want you to go on with a black heart. We want you to know what it is to have your sins washed away.
By nature Paul described himself as a man who had a tenant in his life and that tenant was sin. Now he goes on to say, not only did I have a tenant in my heart, but I had only one tenant. I know that in me That is in my heart, dweller, no good thing, he says in my flesh. You see, he's emphasizing what I just said. If sin is dwelling in you, good can't be there as well. You don't have two tenets in your heart, you only have one. There's either sin there or there's Christ there.
Either Christ is in you or sin is in you, either you're in Christ or you're in sin. I know we talk about the propagate and we talk about the harlot and we talk about these unmarried people who live together as living in sin. But you know some of us moral people who are unsaved, all of us moral people who are unsaved, we are living in sin as much as they are. Except they live on the dirty side of sin, of the road of sin and we live on the clean side. It's the same road and it's a destination. is the same, it leads in the same direction and the same horrible judgment and eternal destruction.
I have a tenant in my heart by nature, says Paul. He's called sin. And I don't have any other tenant. I've only got one tenant. Good doesn't dwell in me. There's no good thing in my flesh. And then he says a third thing. That tenant in me is a tyrant. It brings me into thraldom and bondage and captivity. I'm an Englishman. You don't know that, of course, because I don't have an accent anymore. My wife tells me. I can remember the days when I used to sing if an Englishman, along with the Scotsman and the Welshman and the Northern Isle of the...
rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves, Britannia never shall be slaves. I think that song somehow has disappeared out of the British repertoire. We used to say so boastingly, the sun never sets on the British Empire. It's nearly set on the British nation, I'm afraid, and one wonders what's going to happen to it in the next couple of years. Britons never shall be slaves. I used to sing it so lustily, and yet there I was, along with a countless thousands of other Britons, slaves to ourselves and slaves to our sin and slaves to the things that bound us so tightly.
Every man and woman by nature is bound by the tyrant that's the tenant in his life. I want... But I can't perform, says Paul, by nature. I loathe, but I still do the things that I abominate. Obviously, he was a man in captivity, but no more than you and I in the same natural condition. A law. When I would do good, evil is presently. Now there are two other laws, the law of God and the law of sin. But my time is gone and so I'm going to finish right at that point and it gives me an opportunity to plead with you just to search your own heart and find out whether perhaps it might be possible that after all you're not saved and tonight you ought to get saved.
Shall we bow in prayer and we'll listen again while the organ is played then our service will be over. Our Father, we thank thee for the assurance in thy words that the Lord Jesus has delivered those of us whom he has saved by his grace from the law, with its insufficiency, its inadequacy, with its demands and its want of strength to carry them out. so that now we have a personal Savior who has replaced a tyrant in our hearts and who enables us to do the things that are good that we want to do, to live the life that is right, that we want to live.
So that whereas once we were so desperately defeated, now our lives are delivered and we are happy in the Lord Jesus. We thank thee so much in his name.