In the sermon titled 'Oh Wretched Man that I Am!' delivered by Scott Brown, he explores Romans 7 and touches on Romans 8 to explain the complex relationship between the law, sin, and grace. The sermon emphasizes the role of the law as a spiritual guide that reveals sin and convicts believers, yet also directs them towards thanksgiving for Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Scott Brown outlines four lenses through which Paul views the law: esteem for its goodness, frustration with sin, realization of internal sin, and relief through Jesus Christ. He argues that the Christian life involves an ongoing struggle with sin, rejecting the notion of sinless perfectionism. The law acts like a spiritual body scanner, exposing sin and guiding believers to live according to the Spirit. The ultimate solution to sin's problem is found in Jesus Christ and the empowering work of the Holy Spirit, which enables believers to walk in newness of life.

And please open your Bibles to Romans 7 and find verse 12, Romans 7, verse 12. Romans 7, verse 12, this is the inerrant, all sufficient, sweeter than honey, word of God. Therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not, but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good.

So that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing I do not understand. For what I will to do that I do not practice. But what I hate that I do.

If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells for to will is present with me but how to perform what is good I do not find for the good that I will to do I do not do but the evil I will not to do that I practice now if I do what I will not to do it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me I find in a law that is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man, But 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. Oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did.

By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for your word.

We pray that these words would shape our souls, that they would lead us in the paths of righteousness for Your name's sake. Pray, Lord, that You would give us all understanding of our lives and the importance and the role of grace and the law at the same time. Lord, come and shepherd your flock today in these things. Amen. Please be seated.

As we've said before in chapter seven, the apostle is defending the law. In chapter six, the apostle was defending grace and what it means to stand in grace. And so in chapter seven, he turns to the law and quite a bit of it is about the struggle with sin. And then in chapter eight, you have this great victory of Jesus Christ. And I think these chapters, they should all be understood together because you cannot fully understand the grace of chapter six and the glory of chapter eight without first understanding the problem of sin and the importance of the law in chapter seven.

And I like the way that our confession, the Baptist Confession of 1689 talks about law and grace. This is the sort of the theological category of these verses. It makes it very clear that the law and the gospel sweetly comply with one another. And so here in this passage, what is it saying? There's so much complex language.

This is why Peter said, sometimes Paul is hard to understand. But what this passage is saying is that though the Christian stands in an everlasting cascade of grace, The Christian will always be dealing with sin, always. And this makes it very plain that the higher life, the this ascended life that's far above all other believers is an illusion. That sinless perfectionism isn't. It doesn't exist.

And God, and that's because of our nature with original sin, and also the use of the law as God uses the law to teach us who we really are, to convict us of our sins, and to redirect us into obedience. And in this passage it's so clear not just directing into the conviction of sin but also into thanksgiving for the sacrifice for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we spoke earlier in the chapter about being married to Christ, and the truth of this passage is that the true Christian will always be married to Christ, And we serve in the newness of the Spirit. And yet we still have a struggle with remaining sin. You have an outline in front of you.

I wanna give you four lenses through which the apostle Paul wants us to see the law of God and our sin and the first is to esteem to esteem the law of God to respect the goodness of the law that's in verses 12 through 14 and then Paul's frustration that his frustration over sin 15 and 16 we can all relate to that And then this realization of the heart of the matter, the real internal problem, and then finally the relief. The relief of thanksgiving, because there is a deliverer from remaining sin. And that's in chapter, or verse 24, all the way through Romans chapter eight. We'll just very barely touch on Romans eight this morning and we'll continue to develop over time. So this is the way I've divided the flow here.

There are many different ways I found to divide this up. Romans seven stirs up our understanding of sin. The law is like a warning sign, it's like a searchlight, it's like a probe that goes into, as the writer of Hebrews says, that penetrates into the inner being. The law's a little bit like a spiritual body scanner. If you go through the line in TSA, they use millimeter wave cameras that see right through your clothes, actually, not into your innermost being.

You have thermal imaging cameras. You can know the heat of an object you have you know some of you use you know infrared temperature thermometers for grilling you can you can point it at the surface of the grill and you can know the temperature The law is a little bit like that. Surgeons use endoscopes and fiber scope cameras to go inside of your body and they can, with fiber optics and cameras, they can look inside of your blood vessels and in your organs and they can see actually what's going on and actually do surgery. And sometimes do surgery from thousands of miles away. This is the penetrating factor of tools that we have, but the law of God is like a tool like that.

The law of God looks inside. The law of God teaches us what's really going on in our lives. And what's so, I think, helpful about this is that these verses really teach us what it means to be a Christian, and what it means to be a person, and what it means to be a person, and what it means to be a sinner, and how to understand yourself. And for the Christian, He's not completely released from sin. The power of sin has been broken, praise the Lord.

We've all known that. But the normal Christian life includes a continuing struggle with sin. And I don't, I haven't known very many, maybe I've known of two people who weren't disappointed with their sin and their life as a Christian. They were sinless perfectionists. Maybe you've known them.

They say, I haven't sinned in seven years. There's someone in this church who said that he knows someone who told him he hasn't sinned in 20 years. That'd be fantastic. But What the law does is it reveals your sin to you, and that's what this passage is speaking of. And we've been talking a lot about the proper use of the law.

The law is good if one uses it rightly. And we've talked about the three divisions of the law, the moral law, the ceremonial law, and the judicial law, and it's very important that we ask the right questions about how to interpret those. And We've talked about how the law of God demonstrates the righteousness of God. So therefore the law is like a mirror. We talked about that the law of God convicts of sin.

In other words, it's like an alarm bell. We've talked about how the law constrains sin. It's like a curb on a street or a traffic barrier. It's a fence, it fences you in to do the things that are right. The law of God is like a rule of life.

It's a guide to show you what's pleasing, that the law of God illustrates the love of God. And you could say that every law of God is a little letter of love from God. And of course, the Apostle Paul also made it very clear the law is a tutor to bring us to Jesus Christ. And we also know that James said, "'No one can keep the law. "'If you've broken one law, you've broken them all.'" So this is our dilemma.

And this text here that we're in, I think it illustrates how the law is like an alarm, it's like a probe, it's like a laser imaging system, you know, it looks deep within you, and it's also a guide. But the Apostle Paul, all through this section, it comes out, he believes the law is good, that he needs it. Even though it exposes his sin, he realizes that he needs it. Even though he's been delivered from the condemnation of the law, he's not been delivered from the consultation of the law. And it's a very important point.

Now, also the big question here is, is this a passage about a Christian or a non-Christian? And because he says, oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death. And he uses language that could make you think that he's talking about his life as a non-Christian. Well, of course a non-Christian has no constraints of sin. And so all these things are easily true of a non-Christian.

But the primary weight of evidence for this view is his statement of being sold under sin, because that's used in another place pretty clearly of an unbeliever. And sinless perfectionists use this verse to prove that they can completely conquer sin. And, you know, they're keeping, trying to keep from ruining their winning streak with sin and you know the Keswick movement the higher life movement the sinless perfectionist movement but I think this is talking about a Christian because of the personal pronouns that really, Paul's telling his testimony. He's talking about himself, and then he moves right in to Romans chapter eight, he says, well there's therefore now no condemnation. I think it's a running discussion of the same thing.

In verses seven through 12, he's using past tense pronouns. In verses 14 through 25, all present tense pronouns. And so I think it's an illustration of what Paul says in 1 Timothy 1.15 when he says that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. I am chief, not I was chief, I am chief. And so I think the whole context argues that this is the struggle that we have with sin.

And this is a Christian who sees holes in his holiness. Okay, there's a book by that title that Kevin DeYoung wrote, The Hole in Your Holiness. It's a good book. But this is a passage about the Christian who wants to change, who's not satisfied. And we were praying just before the service this morning and one of the men said, he said, it's like there's a horse here and you can fall off on the right side or the left side.

On the left side of the horse you can say, My sin is no big deal, it's forgiven. I can do whatever I want. On the right hand side, it's the person who is completely unraveled by their imperfections and their sins, and they can hardly hold their head up and they're always discouraged about themself. But I think the Apostle Paul brings the right balance of delight in the law of God, a sense of the greatness of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to make you free from the law of sin and death, and just the power of the gospel, at the same time, this healthy right desire to obey the Lord. I think the balance is here in all of this difficult language.

And Paul also is, I think he's answering the question, is the law unnecessary? And here in chapter seven he's saying no, the law is not unnecessary at all. And preaching the law is not legalism, it's actually faithfulness according to what the scripture says. Okay, so these five lenses that the apostle wants us to see in the law of God and of sin. And the first lens is esteem.

This is his respect for the law of God. It's the goodness of the law of God. He says in verse 12, therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death in me? To me, certainly not, but sin, that's the problem, that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

In other words, it's good that your sin is revealed to you as exceedingly sinful. And we see this in operation. The Word of God is living and acting active and more powerful than a two-edged sword and it's piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and there's nothing hidden from his sight. So this is the penetrating function of the law of God. Now, maybe this is completely obvious to everyone, but I mean, this means that God wants to change us.

He wants to change me. He wants to change you and he wants to He wants to help you break old patterns. He wants to help you alter old ways of thinking that always lead you in the wrong direction. And he wants to correct our wrong ideas about life. And that's why the apostle here, he's agreeing that the law is good.

He wants to change you, but there's a struggle with that change. And then in verse 14, he makes this kind of summary statement, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. There's so many things that we could say about this, but here's one. Reject your quest for your best life now because you're always gonna be struggling with sin. I hope that's not discouraging to you, but it's just the reality.

It's what the Apostle Paul is saying and that's not to deny that there's there's there's growth and there's Sanctification and you're not today what you were a year ago or five years ago or 25 years ago You're not that same person. There really is the upward call of God and in the true Christian you're always changing. But the law is spiritual but you're still carnal under sin. Because you have this drone, it's the drone of your soul called the law of God. The drone sees everything that's actually going on and farmers can see what's happening in their fields like never before.

You know, people who replace roofs can go up on the roof without going up on the roof. One of the interesting things that's happened with drones is that it's really enlightened the surfing community because the surfing community didn't understand there were so many sharks swimming around them all the time because they couldn't see them. But the laws like that, the laws like a drone, It sees where you are and it sees what you're doing. It gets above everything and shows you what you need to know. So the second lens that the apostle Paul wants us to look through is this, I'm just, this might not be the right word, frustration.

I think you see Paul's frustration with himself. You know, not only does he respect the goodness of the law, but he is experiencing the challenges of sin, the consternation, the sense of tension that he feels over his sin. Verse 15, for what I am doing I do not understand, for what I will to do that I do not practice, but what I hate that I do. In other words, your willpower isn't enough. Well, later on we're gonna learn your delight isn't even enough, but you need something more.

But his willpower, it isn't just willpower that we need, It's spirit power that we need. There's this gravitational force of sin in our lives and we should be recognizing that and and you know the problem with us is that we are so self-congratulatory, we measure ourselves with ourselves. Or, more common, we measure ourselves with other people. Well, I'm not as bad as them. But here, the apostle, he's just expressing his, it's a kind of inability.

It's not a complete inability because the power of sin has been broken. But it's a kind of inability. We experience this in different ways. One of the ways I'm experiencing this is when I'm racing with my grandchildren on the road. For years, I was able to beat all of my grandchildren in sprint races.

And now, I can't even beat a 12-year-old. And I'm working as hard as I can. Well, there's this gravitational force that's completely, it's not completely unconquerable, but it's hard to beat, right? But there's this, it's just a reality, it's the reality of the curse of sin in the world. And so now I do think the Christian does not have a declining ability to run the race.

I think they have an increasing ability to run the race. And we do bear fruit and we do serve in the newness of the Spirit. So we have something that we didn't have before. And sometimes it's hard to recognize that you have it because you get frustrated and you think, I'll never change. Well guess what, you've already changed a lot.

You've already changed a lot. You know, when we were in men's Bible study, I was thinking about what this is like. And I thought about, you know, the problem of a husband. You know, one of the problems that women have to get married is that not only do they marry a sinner, they also marry a man. And you know most husbands of whom I am chief have experienced this problem.

You say something to your wife and it's discouraging to her, and then she tells you it's discouraging, and then you say, okay, in your heart you say, okay, I'm never gonna do that again. And then you say you do it again. And then you might even do it again. And you know you're the head of the household, But you also know you're kind of a lughead of the household. So this is the problem of remaining sin.

And willpower is not enough to conquer it. There's this process of sanctification that's fueled by the study of the Word of God, the embracing and preaching, the fellowship of the saints, you know, the Lord's Supper, you know, all the sanctifying things that God gives us. It's, there's this whole constellation of things that God gives us to strengthen us so that we don't just stay who we are and be who we were. I'll never forget, you know, when I was in early high school, one of my friends said to me, he said, you've changed, You've changed. Well, he was right, I had changed.

I didn't like the things I used to like as much, and then I began to like them less and less. But Paul, look at verse 15, he hates, he says, I hate that I do it. I hate it. This is the Apostle Paul, okay, the greatest Christian in the ancient world, and he hates what he's doing. Verse 16, the law exposes him.

He says, if then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that is good. Paul's saying, okay Lord, I get it. I know I failed. I see that the law is good. There's a better way, and I want that way.

So the second lens is frustration. This is normal. Again, I think that there are two extremes. Being so frustrated and discouraged about yourself, forgetting the grace of God. And on the other hand, just saying, I can do whatever I want, I'm free.

I'm free in Christ. That's also damaging and heretical. And totally against what the apostle teaches about the law. The third lens, the third lens, I'm gonna call it realization, the realization of the inner problem. Verses 17 through 22, but now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

It's sin that dwells in me. Be careful, this is not the same thing as saying the devil made me do it, But it's sin that dwells in me. You have, we've described this as sort of a terrorist trying to attack your castle to take it over. Ephesians 6 and the whole full, putting on the full armor of God, actually I think describes this, but there's this impulse in your soul. You are a new man, but the impulses still remain.

The reigning power of sin has been broken, but the remaining influence still exists. Now Paul, he's not denying personal responsibility. He's not minimizing his sin. He's not saying it's not my fault, it's just sin. You know, some of you have raised children.

You know, you tell your children, you tell your son not to touch the light socket or the electrical receptacle. And then you know he's looking over there. And so he sticks a fork in it. And you say, I told you not to touch that socket. And he says, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

Well, no, that's not true. I mean, it is partly true, but it's not completely true. Paul is not making peace with his sin. Paul is not giving up either in his war against his sin. He's, I think he's doing what John Owen said.

He said, do you mortify your sin? Do you make it your daily work? Be killing sin or it will be killing you. John Owen writes that in his commentary, commenting on Romans chapter eight. Now, this is just a quick matter of application for local church life, for life with friends, for life in business, for life everywhere.

Your friends will sin right in front of you with the things that they say and maybe even the things that they do and We just need to understand what God understands. He knows our frame. Don't get too upset if somebody steps out of line. I mean, as a brother or a sister, you might go talk to them about it, but the whole world is not falling apart because somebody sinned against you. The whole world is actually expressing its nature and its reality, and you are right there, God is using that in your life to teach you how to love sinners.

Not to make you run away from them, but to teach you how to walk in love with one another. So you have this commanding power of the law, which is still applicable, and the condemning power of the law has ceased. Here's another way to say it. Christ's work for us is complete in justification. Christ's work with us is ongoing and progressive.

And then verse 18, you know, the apostles just elaborating on this, that the Sin is part of him, that nothing good dwells in his flesh. Verse 18, for I know that in me, in my flesh, nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. And this is a dissection of his soul. You know, I've known homeschool moms, you know, to find animal cadavers and dissect them, to teach them physiology. And this is what the Apostle Paul's doing.

He's dissecting his soul and he's the dissection goes down to the root of the problem and that is original sin that he his fallen nature is also present. He's saying sin is part of me and he said my flesh is part of my personal testimony. And you see this competition. And then in verse 19, he mentions the weakness of his will, for the good that I will to do, I do not do. You know, no one is perfect.

No one has a perfect exercising of their will. You know, you can make New Year's resolutions all the time. It's not a bad thing to do. But if it's all willpower, you might find yourself failing in your resolution. Because no one is perfect.

And we need to realize that about each other. No one is perfect. That's why John says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So sin is lawlessness. Sin is so harmful.

And he speaks of it in verse 20 in just the reality of human nature. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin who dwells in me. I read someone, he was a pastor in 1670, he said, I cannot pray, but I sin. I cannot preach, but I sin. I cannot administer, nor receive the Holy Sacrament, but I sin.

My very repentance needs to be repented of. And the tears I shed, and the tears I shed washing in the blood of Christ. What he's saying is that sin, it just runs so deep. Hey, you know how this works, right? You sit down to pray.

I think it was C.S. Lewis or somebody I read maybe probably 40 years ago, I remember this. You sit down to pray. You really want to pray. But there, and then you look over there and the picture on the wall is crooked.

So instead of praying, you know, you go over and fix a picture on the wall. But then you walk by the trash can, oh it's overflowing. So you go and you take the trash out and and then you realize, oh I didn't roll the windows up on my car it might rain so you go outside and you roll up and you didn't pray so you just get distracted you had you willed you willed to pray but there were so many things you know your phone is beeping at you you know you've got three messages and it's already in the morning and you know, there's something so interesting that just popped up on your feed and now you have to do it and so you don't pray so Even even our will Isn't enough Robb Ventura said it like this sin is no longer president but it's present And that's where the distractions come and Then he in verse 22 he expresses his delight in the law for I delight in the law of God According to the inward man. He loves the law just like David who said oh how I love thy lots my meditation All the day David said I will delight in your statutes.

Oh How I love your law, you know, it's This is what the Apostle Paul is doing But we learn again even delight in the law is not enough. Delight is helpful, it's so helpful. If you love something you'll gravitate toward it. That's actually very, very good. But I think the Apostle Paul is even acknowledging even delight isn't enough because of your sin nature.

Verse 23, there's this war going on. You know, 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 its members and then he says oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death so it's willpower is good but it only goes so far delight is good but it only goes so far those things are helpful, we should cultivate both of them. And Paul says, you know, "'Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? You know, I've, someone just reminded me of this, and I've heard it many times, particularly in my youth with preachers. And they would say that, you know, some of the Roman emperors would chain a dead body to a murderer.

And that, of course, that body would rot and eventually poison the murderer and kill him, chained to a dead body. I don't know if this is Paul's imagery, if that's what he was thinking. Who will deliver me from this body of death? And then the fourth lens, relief. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And this is, I think this is the summary of the whole section, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So he's defending the goodness of the law and yet he's proclaiming the grace of God at the same time. This is what we need. We live in an environment where people want to kick the law of God over the curb, and that's wrong. But we have to use the law rightly, And the apostle is teaching us how to do that.

And then the apostle just continues the discussion. The chapter divisions are not inspired. Paul is continuing to, he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Chapter eight verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." So the whole answer to the problem is the Spirit, to walk in the newness of the Spirit, and to continue to walk that way, to set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth, to be filled with the Spirit and to speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord and continuing to consecrate yourself to God, to give your whole life to Him, and then to watch the sanctification that takes place as you deprive yourself of the things of the flesh and as you are filled with the Spirit of God. You know, for the person, on the other hand, for the person who is not born again, The law is a terror.

It's a cruel taskmaster. And the condemnation of the law will damn your soul in hell for all eternity. So the law does have two purposes. It condemns, it condemns the unrepentant and tells them who they really are. They're hopeless without Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

And you, if you haven't, if you haven't come to Christ, Please don't take lightly your condition. Don't take this lightly Because the law will destroy you you will be crushed on that rock. But if you love the law, it will change your life. And it will always lead you to grace. It'll always tutor you to Jesus Christ.

You know, for believers, I think it's such a wonderful argument to block all inlets of worldliness in your life. Block them. Incinerate them. Because you know where sin is forbidden the stimulus for sin is also forbidden. I'm gonna say that again.

Where sin is forbidden the stimulus for sin is also forbidden. I'm gonna say that again. Where sin is forbidden, the stimulus for sin is also forbidden. With each command, there's a positive and there's a negative side of it. With the positive command it's be holy, but the negative is turn away from everything that is unholy and fill your mind up with the things of God.

Solomon in Proverbs 5-8 said, remove your way far from her, do not go near the door of her house. Jesus said if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. So what we have here is really a testimony of the difficulty of life after conversion and but yet at the same time the blessing of God to forgive you of all of your sins and to give you every means, every way to walk your way out of the wilderness by the word of God and by all the ordinary means of grace that God has given, which includes our gathering today as we're brought into fellowship with one another to learn how to love one another, to learn how to together set our minds on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth, and to come and worship God and to set the direction of our life on the things of the Spirit. And let me just wrap up by saying, do all you can to sharpen your will, do all you can to delight more in God, but be filled with the Spirit of God.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Praise the Lord. Would you pray with me? Father, your words are so penetrating. Help us to understand.

Help us to walk in all of your ways. Help us Lord to find all of our ways in you, all of our thoughts in you. We thank you for making such a kind provision for our sins and giving us Jesus Christ and all of his benefits. Amen.