Inner Confliction & The Gospel – Part III
Part 3 of the “Inner Confliction & The Gospel” sermon series. This week is an exegetical sermon on Romans 7:13-25 reviewing the 12 reasons for believing this passage is talking about the experience of a Christian and then talking about both the dangers and the need for introspection. This sermon was originally preached by Pastor Duane Smets on May 5th, 2007 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
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:: The Resolved Church :: May 5th, 2007 :: Pastor Duane M. Smets
Inner Confliction and The Gospel – when sin gets the upper hand
Romans 7:13-25 (Part III)
introduction
Read text and pray. Father God you are a father. The father of all. A good heavenly father. Father us today and teach us about this passage as we attempt to work with it’s words and to deal with our hearts and this life. Would you cause your Spirit to work in us in a way that we would be opened up to the glory of the gospel and find all our peace mercy and joy in the grace extended to us in Jesus. Amen.
Last week we had my long-time friend and surfing buddy, who became my brother in-law, lead us in a day of worshipping God through song. There are times in a life of a church when you simply have to sit back and worship. It was good to do that. The two weeks before we were studying the same passage we are studying again this morning, Romans 7:13-25. And in those two weeks we looked at twelve reasons for why this passage can only be talking about the experience of Paul, and us, sometime after becoming a Christian. Now I’m not going to go back through all those reasons today. I checked and they are online at itunes, so if you missed those sermons, you can go there.
What I want to do first today is to go back through the passage and point out a few things, now that we have an established position on who it’s talking about. Because otherwise, if you don’t, then when you’re reading through it you are like, “what, who’s he talking about now?” So you almost have to know who you think this passage is talking about before you can even begin to kind of take it seriously.
And then we are going to spend a significant about of time today talking about introspection, since that is the final and chief applicational theme here. We already looked at the themes of seeking happiness and the theme of the Christian life being war in our other weeks. So this week we’ll focus on introspection.
This passage as a post-Christian experience
Verse 13 (re-read)
This is about the law. We know he is talking about the law becaue that was the whole subject in the verses before this passage (the role of the law) and because verse 14 begins with the words, “for we know that the law…” So how does the law function in the life of the Christian? It help show us our sinfulness. Look at verse twelve again. “In order that sin might be shown to be sin and through the commandment become sinful beyond measure.”
That may not sound like a good fun thing. But it is. One of the reasons why we read the Bible as Christians, where God’s law is found, is because by doing that we come to see and know more sins or the depth of sin inside us which we may have not realized was there. And that is good. Coming to know that is good. Why?
Look at the phrase that is there “might become sinful beyond measure.” What does that mean? How can sin become more sinful? What does it mean for something to be sinful beyond measure? Just think about it for a moment and follow Paul’s reasoning and his view of God.
Who is beyond measure? Where does right and wrong come from? Who or what is sin against? God. At the beginning of this book, Romans, Paul said “what can be known about God is plain…his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature (beyond measure), have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made…so (none) is without excuse (Rom 1:20).”
Here at The Resolved Church we have talked much about sin, not being so much this violation of some moral, abstract code…but a personal wronging against the from who all that is good and holy and right and true comes from. The best definition of sin is “not glorifying God as we ought” because that is what we were made to do. We were made to worship God.
God is beyond measure. That is actually one the classic arguments for the existence of God. That God is the greatest of all possibilities and since it is greater to exist in reality rather just in the imaginiation, God must exist. If all of you are like what the ______! That’s cool. It’s not my point or purpose today to explain the ontoloigcal argument for the existence of God. My point from Romans 7:13 is that the law shows us the depth of our sin, that it is beyond measure because it is against God.
And once you know that, once you see yourself in relation to God, then you feel sick and then the salve of the gospel can come and minister to your soul. So the more you know of your sin the more of the love and grace and the compassion of Jesus Christ will become a deep experiential reality to you. The cross of Christ will overwhelm your soul that Jesus died for you and your sin.
Verses 14-15 (re-read)
Look at that phrase “sold under sin.” This is an intense picture. I doubt any of us here can even have the slightest idea of knowing what it is like to be a human that is sold. To be a prisoner of war taken away against your will and sold away for money to be a slave. That is the picture here.
There have been times in human history, like the first century when this was written, when people were sold away into slavery. And this still goes on. Women in our culture and time are sold into prositution by their pimps, kids are sold into the military as soliders in Uganda and Darfur. The black culture in America lives with a history and identity as a people who were sold.
I don’t think every parallel that we could make from that analogy is intended…but what is intended is that it is bad. The idea is that it is not who we are intended to be. God made us in his image. Beautiful creatures that have bodies and minds that are able to reason and be imaginative and can talk and think and sing and to know God and his glory. But because of sin we all get sold away and lose or forget our identity as children of the great King of the universe.
Now, this side of coming to know Jesus, we experience freedom from our slavery. True joy enters into us. But then we have experiences where we fail and it seems we have been sold back into slavery all over again. Our old life is still there, it didn’t totally disappear magically.
Then look at verse 15 again, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want but I do the very thing I hate.” After becoming a Christian, for a season everything is new and exciting and God grants you a period of time in your walk with him when you encounter the gospel and then “sin gets the upper hand.” And you sit down, feeling utterly miserable and you have that quiet conversation with God in your head…”What is wrong with me? Why did I do that? Why do I keep on doing that? I hate this.”
You see, I don’t think when Paul says, “I do not understand my actions” that he is saying that it is just a mystery. That he doesn’t know what is happening or that he is not responsible. No he knows very well. It is sin and the conflict between the desires of the Spirit of Jesus in us as Christians and the desire of the flesh contaminated by Satan that is in us as well as Christians. He knows he blew it and it is his fault. I don’t think he is saying “It is just too confusing and it is hopeless.” I think when he says, “I do not understand” what he is saying is, “This is so frustrating!” “I wish I wasn’t this way.” I think he is saying the same thing he says later in verse 24 when he says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me (from this conflict, from my perpetual failing)?”
So many times I have heard people who have failed in some way spiritually and aftterward they come and talk to me and they say things like, “Man, I just don’t get it. I just keep on doing what I know is wrong and I can’t help it.” That’s not what Paul is saying here. He is not using sin in us as Christians as an excuse. He means I don’t understand as “I don’t like it” not “I can’t help it.” Do you see the difference? Okay, let’s move on.
Verses 16-23 (re-read)
There are just a things I want to point out from these verses. One is the overarching theology of sin in Christians that is here. Notice in verse 17 where it says “it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” And then notice that same phrase again in verse 20, “it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me.” And then again in verse 23, “the law of sin that dwells in my members.”
That phrase “sin dwells in me” is key phrase. The Greek word for “dwells” here is oikos which means house. So if we wanted to be super literal we would say “sin that houses in me” or to be a little looser, “sin that has made its home in me.” In the Bible the human person is sometimes compared to that as a house, a place of living. And the theology of sin here is that it has made a home inside of every human.
When we come to know Jesus and that he died for our sin and rose again we are promised that our houses will not eternally go up in flames…and what happens is that the gospel of Jesus comes and lays a new foundation in us and a new house is being built…a gospel house. That is why Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell, or house, in you richly” and why 1 Peter 2:5 says, you “are being built up as a spiritual house…through Jesus.”
So let’s kind of draw out the analogy of indwelling or housing sin in us: our lives become totally corrupt because of sin, houses of sin, but then Jesus happens and at he is so bright and so glorious and so wonderful that when he comes in and lays a new foundation and shows us the architectural plans for what he has in store…that for awhile we don’t even notice that there is still a bunch of rotten wood and walls with chipped paint and whole and broken light bulbs…we just moved so all this is fresh, our old place looked like a train wreck after we moved everything out.
The main point is that there is indwelling sin. Not that we are hopeless. If you rip the parts out that say, “it is no longer I who do it but sin” and “I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out” and detach them from the theology of indwelling sin that is here then yes, what you get it hopelessness.
With “it is no longer I who do it” you get some sort of weird mult-personality disorder where I’m Duane but there is also I “Frank” and “Dave” living in me. And with “I have the desire…but not the ability” you get “oh yeah, that sounds good but I don’t feel like doing it, so I’m can’t do anything.” And neither of those conclusions are right.
Paul is not saying as some have tried to make him say that there are two dogs, one white dog and one black dog living in us and they are fighting and sometimes the white dog wins and sometimes the black dog wins. No. That is not it. What he is saying is that indwelling sin, is foreign to who we really were made to be, it is part of our slavery, of being sold into sin. “It is no longer I who do it” is the I as a Christian, I am not acting out of following Jesus when I sin, I am following the old master of sin.
And when he says, “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” He is not saying we are just stuck and that is that. You have to read what comes before that phrase. He says, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For I have the desire…” So he already qualified the kind of ability he is talking about…the ability of the flesh.
And as we have talked about before, “flesh” is not just skin and bones but the whole old way of thinking before Jesus, where sin has corrupted all our thoughts and emotions and actions. Of course flesh has no ability, it is corrupt. As he says in the next chapter “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8).”
We are going to get into ability a ton when we get to Romans 8, so I’m going to stop right here and just say don’t take select phrases out of this chapter like “It is no longer I who do it” and “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” and turn them into excuses for your sin, to say “I can’t help it.” You are doing violence to the Bible if you do that.
I have couple final thoughts from the last few verses but before we finish off with them, what I want to do is talk about the theme of introspection here. Because vereses 18-20 are really the core of where the introspective analysis of inner conflict comes from.
Introspection
Do you guys know what introspection means? I took Amy too see Damien Rice last week for our six year wedding anniversary, we love him, it was an awesome concert. Anyway, he was introducing one of his songs and he said something along the lines of “you have to be a sort of be introspective person, familiarly aquainted with depression to get this song, which none of you here in San Diego may understand since it is sunny here all the time.” He might be right about introspection and depression, but not everybody is happy here in San Diego even though it is sunny a lot of the time huh?
What is introspection? Here is a definition: The contemplation of one’s self including your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Introspection is a self-reflective exercise. And by that definition this passage in the Bible has got to be one of the most introspective portions in all of Scripture.
Now, I think on the whole, our culture or generation seems to be a very introspective culture. Maybe it is just me since I like movies like Eternal Sunshine, Fight Club, and Waking Life and I like musical artists like Damien Rice, Bright Eyes and Ryan Adams. So if you are not a particularly introspective person that’s okay…my wife isn’t. But some you are and some of you are too much and some of you are not and you need to be more so.
So let me talk freely for just a few minutes about introspection because some introspection is necessary to have a real and true faith but introspection can also turn into a deadly trap that can destroy faith.
Let’s begin with the positives and the need for introspection. Here are what I see as the positives. I don’t see how you can live a life that is truly honest with the world we live in or how you can truly grow and have changes take place in your life unless you have periods of introspection. Obviously you can live in this state where you are always thinking about who you are and what you are doing and feeling or you would never get up or move or eat or work or do anything. But at the same time it is so easy just to get caught up in the motion of life and never stop to think about yourself and how you are doing and what’s going on.
So the positive is that through introspection you can come to know who you really are and begin to deal with things. And if you are being truly introspective, as we’ll talk about in a minute, then you’ll end up finding the gospel of Jesus and in it the meaning and purpose and satisfaction worldview and answers and community that we long for. And that is really good because Jesus is really good and there is nothing better than the heart truly finding it’s home in following Jesus.
Here are the negatives. There’s a lot more negatives…perhaps because introspection can often become one of the chief devices that Satan and his demons like to use going all the way back to the garden of Eden. Like anything that is really good it can become really corruptible. Jesus is the best and is ultimate reality but there is more askew, more lies running around about Jesus in our day than anything else.
So some dangers. The biggest danger of introspection is that you can get stuck. It is narcissism at its best, where like the greek god, narcicuss, who began looking at himself through the reflection in a pool of water got stuck doing that forever and ever. Sometimes looking internally can be like getting lost in a maze, where you don’t know which way is up or down or left or right. You can get fixiated on an emotion to the point in which it seems there is no way out.
Introspection run rampad is where you become completely self-absorbed, you are always the victim, the only that matter is what you feel and think and you think you are simply being honest because it is what you feel. The problem is that is not true honesty. Real honesty is not just paying attention to where you are at but it is considering all possibilities of what can be known.
For example, I might say, “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out” and say I am simply being honest and I don’t want to do anything I do mean and so I am just stuck. But that is not real honesty, because real honesty would consider the other words around that text and would consider other truthful things that I may not feel but could eventually. Real honesty is not just being honesty with yourself but with reason and truth and the world around you.
This is why introspection often leads to depression because you cannot fix yourself. Only Jesus can take us and truly move us from a point of spiritual inability to a place of spiritual enablement. We can’t think or feel our way out of our problems. The only answer is to follow Christ. That is the difference between gospel introspection and futile and vain introspection. Gospel introspection takes work because you are looking internally to see your sin so that you might follow the savior and be happy. Futile and vain introspection looks internally to lick its wounds vie for attention so that other will lick them with us.
Sorry that is kind of gross. But I mean it. Evil introspection is powerful and deceptive. When I hear a sad song I am drawn in. I want to be sad then because it sounds like in some weird way that such a thing would feel good. But it doesn’t. It is a deceptive lie. What we are wanting is for other to look at us and how sad we are and then feel bad for us. Ah, there is difference. Gospel introspection is not so. We look internally like David and realize that things are not right and then we look to Christ and realize his glory and sufficiency for us. And then we fight for joy.
That where introspection leads…to the themes of the other two weeks where we talked about this passage, to a pursuit of joy and to a fighting for it. And that takes work. Not to earn salvation but to reap the fruit of joy.
Okay, that’s enough I think on introspection. I don’t want to get stuck there. So let’s finish up and look at the last verses and talk about Jesus some more.
Verses 21-25 (re-read)
Notice the result of Paul’s introspection. It did not result in wallowing but in a crying out for deliverance and in a resolute determination to follow Jesus. “Thank be to God for Jesus” and so I will follow Jesus and serve him with my mind, putting my confidence and trust there in the gospel and though my flesh serves sin, it will progressively done away with as my embracing of Christ in my mind sinks down more and more into my emotions and my life decisions and actions. That is the progression all sin as well as all delight begins in the mind. Thought precedes action and affection.
So let’s conclude by looking at Jesus, his introspection. If what I am saying is true then we should find that type of introspection in Jesus, correct. Granted he did not have any sin but we would expect him to display some self-reflective honesty and then out of that a pursuit of God and not a wallow in darkness, right?
Let’s go to Mark 14:32-42. This is the night of Jesus arrest which end up with him getting crucified. Read text. Jesus was God and so he knew all things. He knew all that was about to happen to him. The gospel of Luke when it tells this story says that when this happened Jesus was sweating drops of blood, which medical doctors today say can happen to people in moments of extreme stress. Jesus here looks internally at who he was and what he came to do, and he confesses it to God, and then he rises and goes to be crucified. Why? What brought him through?
Our last verse for today, Hebrews 12:1-2, listen, “Let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely (sound like indwelling sin?), and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the found and perfecter of our faith, (here is the answer for what got Jesus through Gesthamene) who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Did you hear what brought him through? “For the joy that was set before him.” For joy, for the joy of pleasing God and bringing him glory he battled through and laid down his life for us. There is no way that was easy. There has never been anything harder that a human has done. But Jesus fought for joy. He looked internally and then looked to the cross.
That is the answer for us and our lives. Where are you at? Do you feel weighted down? Look to the cross? Do you feel lost and confused? Look to the cross. Do you feel conflicted and frustrated? Look to the cross. Do you feel aimless and numb? Look internally and then look to the cross. Do you feel excited and strong? Build your life on the cross.
Conclusion
That is the conlcusion for today. We are a church plant which means we are on a mission to be driven by God’s glory, to be gospel centered in all things, and to build a city within this city. How do we do that, by giving God glory through recognizing that everything is about him and being honest about our faults and failures before him. By embracing the gospel of Jesus and building our lives upon the foundation of the house he lays inside us. By living lives within this city where we have compassion on those who are lost in the myriad of introspection and in love telling them to repent and embrace Christ.
For the kids…here is what today’s sermon is about. It is about realizing who you are and that realizing who you are can be kind of messy. But you need to know that you are a unique person who God made especially for the purpose of being most happy by loving Jesus. And loving Jesus is not always easy, but if you honest and you trust and follow him you will be okay no matter what.
Let’s pray.
