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>>[music] >>Welcome to day four of our look together through Romans chapter 7 in
our daily drive time devotions. We're looking at our relationship as believers
in Jesus Christ to the law. We looked yesterday at the fact that I have to
understand the law and what it really is, that it is good.

But also in Romans chapter 7 verses 15 to 20 we see that I also have to be
honest about myself. Remember yesterday we talked about the fact that the law is
spiritual. Well, Romans 7, 15 to 20 reminds us that we are unspiritual.

I can't win in my battle against sin and my desire to grow as a Christian if I
try to make the law less than it is, try to make it un-good or unspiritual. But
I neither can win if I try to make myself more than I am, somebody who can do it
on my own strength or energy. Now Paul is writing, as he writes the book of
Romans, a letter that will change history.

And as he writes that letter he talks about the spiritual attack that Satan
brings into all of our lives as God is changing the history of our lives. It
might be right now you recognize Satan is attacking you because he fears the
result of your faith. You're under attack not because you're so weak but because
of the fact that you might become so strong in faith.

And Satan hopes that by defeating you he will defeat many, many others. I've got
to tell you at the very beginning as we look at Romans 7, 15 to 20 that there's
a lot of disagreement about these verses. People wonder because of certain
things that Paul says, certain phrases he uses, is Paul talking about himself
before he was a believer or after?

Is he talking about somebody different? Is he talking about somebody from
history? Well, without going into a lot of technical details, I'll tell you what
I believe.

I believe that Paul is talking about his struggle with sin beginning before he
became a believer and continuing after. He's talking about himself because he
uses the pronoun "I" again and again and again throughout. He's also talking
about the common experience of us all.

Anytime you come to moments of disagreement with scripture, I think it's
important, as I study God's word, to always make the best, most common sense of
it. And as Paul talks about "I" and his struggles here, that's the best, most
common sense. If you want to do further study in this, you're going to see
there's a few phrases that Paul uses that you think, "How could he have said
that before, now that he's a believer?

" And I agree with that. There's a few things that make me scratch my head a
little bit here. But the most best common sense to me is that Paul is talking
about the spiritual experience that we all have in trying to grow in Christ.

I believe you'll recognize yourself as we look at these verses. Paul's story
here is everybody's story. It's the story of Adam and Eve.

It's the story of Paul. It's the story of us. Paul's description here is
somewhat of a legalistic Christian, any of us who try to live the self-powered
Christian life.

And as he talks about the self-powered Christian life, he reminds us that the
problem is within us, not within the law. He talks about the confusion that he
has because he's unspiritual. In verse 15, he expresses that confusion by
saying, "I don't understand.

" Verse 15 reads, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do
not do. But what I hate, I do.

" To be a slave to sin at any moment means that sin is dominating my life. And
Paul is talking about that experience here with this cry, "I don't understand
myself. " You know, it's okay to admit that.

It really is. I don't understand why I did that. I don't understand why I'm
acting the way that I am.

It's important even to admit that. If you have a car that has a problem and you
don't know how to fix it, the best thing to do is to say, "I don't understand
how to fix that. " I want that car in the hands of somebody who does understand
how.

If you pretend that you understand, you're just going to do worse damage. The
question isn't whether you understand yourself or not. The truth is we all come
to these moments where we say, "I don't understand what I do.

" The question isn't whether you understand yourself. That's the question of
psychology, and it will never be answered. The question is whether you put
yourself in the hands of a God who does understand you.

That's the question of theology, and you can find the answer to that question
because God does understand. Paul talks about the fact that I'm unspiritual, and
he says that's scene number one in the fact that I don't understand in verse 15.
And then in verses 15 to 17, rereading that first verse, he says, "Not only
don't I understand, I can't control my actions.

" Verse 15 again, "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 sin living in me.

" He talks about two problems here. Problems are going to probably sound very
familiar to you. What I want to do, I don't do.

What I don't want to do, I do. We all have this inner resistance to the right
way of life. We start a day saying, "Today things are going to be different.

" And we end the day saying, "Well, nothing's changed. " Do you have to live
with that frustration gap, that gap between what could be and what you are? Can
things change?

Paul says that they can. God says that they can through Jesus Christ. By the
way, Paul says, as he talks about the fact that we can't control our actions,
this very feeling of struggle that we have is agreement that the law is good.

The struggle wouldn't be there if we didn't agree somehow internally that what
God says to do is the right thing to do. The problem isn't the law. It's me.

We live in a day where some people want to solve problems by changing the law.
Now, some laws are poorly written. I'll agree with that.

But isn't it just possible the problem's not with the law? It's us. It's us.

Paul says, "I don't understand. " Number two, he says, "I cannot control my
actions. " And number three, he says in verses 18 to 20, "Here's why I'm
unspiritual.

I don't have the power to change. I see this, but I don't have the power to
change this. " Verses 18 to 20, "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is,
in my sinful nature.

For I have the desire to do what's good, but I can't carry it out. For what I do
is not the good that I want to do. No, the evil that 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.

" Now, Paul is not blaming sin for his actions there. He is owning sin. He's
being real about the fact that sin lives in him, and he doesn't have the power
to change his life on his own.

He's saying here that the law of sin is like the law of gravity. It inevitably
drags me down. And if that's the only law I have in my life, I am inevitably
going to be drugged down.

It does not have to be the only law. If you've ever done anything you didn't
want to do, and who hasn't? Who hasn't?

Verse 20 says, "That is proof positive that you have a problem you can't solve
on your own. " If you've ever done anything you didn't want to do, we can't
solve the problem on our own because it just continues. Now, tomorrow we're
going to talk about the solution.

But first, you and I have to be honest with God about our confusion. And I would
like to take a few extra moments in our prayer today. I would like to read for
you in prayer a paraphrase of Romans chapter 7 verses 15 to 20 from the message
paraphrase.

And as I read this, let's affirm to God in our hearts and minds this truth, this
honest truth about ourselves. You might even pray this back to God. God, what I
don't understand about myself is that I decided to act one way and then I act
another, doing things that I absolutely despise.

So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it,
it becomes obvious, God, that your commands are necessary. But I need something
more. For I know the law, but I still can't keep it.

And if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I
obviously need help. I realize I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I
can't do it.

I decide to do good, but I really don't do it. I instead decide to do bad. I
decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway.

My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone
wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. And then not praying
from the paraphrase now, but just your heart to God.

Jesus, I don't want to live there. I don't want to stay there. And that is not
the life that you have made me to live.

Through the freedom of grace, through freedom from the law, through the power of
your love and your spirit, something new and different can happen in my life.
God, help me not to be a person who settles for frustration. Help me instead to
be a person who lives out, who lives out looking forward to the victory that I
have in Jesus Christ.

A person who instead of living with frustration, lives by faith. Lord, I can
only do that one day at a time, one moment at a time. Help me to choose that
this day, this moment, in Jesus' name.

Amen.