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Romans Himself an “Incongruous Compound” of Good and Bad Mixed Together

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Romans Himself an “Incongruous Compound” of Good and Bad Mixed Together bad part of him is always holding the good part of him back. He calls “The Life-Long Struggle” // Romans himself an “incongruous compound” of good and bad mixed together. 7:1–25 // Romans #14 So, Dr. Jekyll, being a chemist, develops this potion that separates the two parts of him so that the good part only comes out by day and ● One of our members told me his one is a lady he’s been sharing the bad part only comes out at night. The good guy is Dr. Jekyll; the with for months. bad is “Mr. Hyde,” whose name derives from the word “hideous” or ● She told him, “I just don’t understand the Bible. It’s too “hidden.” (So, he’s got only good and only bad, operating all by confusing.” So he recommended she start listening to The Whole themselves.) Story sermon series. ● After listening to 4–5 sermons, she texted him: “J.D. said I’m The problem was that the evil part of Dr. Jekyll was far more evil supposed to tell someone if I accepted Jesus. Well, I did, so I’m than he had imagined. Mr. Hyde’s every thought was centered on telling you.” himself. He is spiteful, angry, vengeful and petty. He steals, lies, ● How to let us know your one has come to faith manipulates and even murders. Dr. Jekyll said, “I was tenfold more wicked than I ever thought.” Journal: pic of notes And Stevenson, speaking through Dr. Jekyll, explains, “I discovered Romans 7: In Romans 6 Paul began the discussion of why Christians through this process that man is not truly one, but two… It wasn’t still struggle so much with sin. Many Christians ask, “If Jesus and his that I was a hypocrite… both sides of me were completely sincere.” resurrection power have taken up residence inside of me, why do I still struggle with those same old temptations? Why don’t I love God That explanation probably resonates with a lot of us. Many of us feel more? Or, love to pray more? like we are an incongruous compound of completely opposite people. Paul talks about his own struggle with this in Romans 7. It’s one of Anybody relate? There’s a part of me that wants to do the right thing the most encouraging chapters in the Bible, I think. Paul’s account and another part that doesn’t want to do it at all. reminds me of a classic book I read many years ago by Robert Louis Stevenson called Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They say the definition In Romans 7 chapter Paul talks about his struggle both pre-Christ of a “classic book” is a book everybody’s heard of but nobody’s read. and after being saved. This is one that is worth reading, because it is inspired by the struggle Paul describes in Romans 7. Tim Keller has an outline for this passage that I just don’t feel like I can improve on, so if it’s alright with y’all, I’m just going to use his.1 In the story, this Dr. Jekyll, a fine, upstanding citizen, is frustrated He says this chapter basically divides into 3 sections: because it seems inside of him is a bad part and a good part, and the ● Vv. 7–13 describe the battle we can’t win; 1 Tim Keller, Sermon on Romans 7:1–25, part 1, Redeemer Presbyterian, NYC 1 ● Vv. 14–25 describe a battle we can’t lose; enough student, a good mother, a successful businessman, or ● And vv. 1–6 give us an analogy that shows us how to make the hatever.) transition between the two. In Christ’s death, you died to the law, which meant you died to your I’m going to read verses 1–6 first, simply because they come first in keeping of the law as the basis of your acceptance, and now you’re the chapter, but I’m not really going to comment on them until the married to him, so… end because they really are Paul’s answer to his own dilemma. (Now, let me warn you: These first verses are going to sound weird You (now) belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that and even a little random, but it’s actually quite brilliant, and I’ll show we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful you that at the end. I just don’t want you to worry if in our first pass passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for through this you’re confused.) death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the 7:1 Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and Spirit and not in the old letter of the law. sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives? 2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her That’s section 1, and we’ll come back to at the end. husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she is married to another But let’s keep moving on to vs. 7, to discuss: man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to I. The Battle We Can’t Win (vv. 7–13) another man, she is not an adulteress. (Everybody turn to their neighbor and say, “I have NO IDEA what point Paul is trying to make 7 What should we say then? Is the law sin? (Paul here again picks up here.”) the objection that he knows his religious, Jewish readers would be raising: “Paul, you are hard on that law--saying that it ‘arouses sinful 4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in passions’ and that it “multiplies sin” and we need to ‘die to it’--You relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong really think the law is bad, don’t you?) to another. (OK, here’s his point: pre-Christ, we were married to the law. The law, he has explained in Romans, is whatever standard you Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were think proves your worth and gains acceptance. not for the law. ● The law’s first purpose is to reveal how sinful we are. You were married to that--it was the center of your life. It was how ● It’s like a mirror that shows us how far we fall short of God’s you established your identity, what told you things were going to be standard of goodness. ok in the future, how you felt about yourself. It could have been a ● Imagine if you had a full length mirror at home that that had religious law--you were a good enough Christian; or it could have an outline of you at your ideal build and weight, so that every been that you built your identity on the fact that you were a good time you looked into it, you’d see the difference between 2 what you should be and what you are. (I need to move more o But then, something in the 10th commandment, “Thou shalt of this up here.) not covet,” gripped him. ● Or, even worse, imagine you had a filter on your camera o Because that command has nothing to do with external where every time someone took a picture of you, the filter obedience--it foces on the heart. superimposed a silhouetted outline of you at your ideal o Again, coveting means you are dissatisfied with what you weight. have. You look enviously at what other people have and wish ● That’s what the law does: Here’s what you should be—now you had it. compare that to what your heart actually is. o And Paul started to realize that even with all his external conformity to the other commandments, his heart really For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had broke this one. not said, Do not covet. o In fact, as Martin Luther pointed out, this is the ● (Coveting, of course, is wanting what somebody else has and commandment behind all the other commandments feeling like you can’t be satisfied until you have it.) ○ Why do we steal? Luther asked. We covet what someone ● The law said, “The righteous heart, the healthy heart, is a heart else has. that doesn’t covet. ○ Why do you lie? Quite often it is to obtain something you want but can’t get with the truth—So, for example, you 8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the exaggerate your accomplishments or cover over faults to commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart gain approval. Or, you lie to obtain a position or an from the law sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but advantage that you want but couldn’t get with the truth. when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again 10 and I died. Coveting this things that you don’t have compels you to (Thus) The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death lie.
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