365: Christian Schizophrenia | Dave Sloop

Introduction

Well, good morning. We're gonna be in Romans chapter seven, the latter half of Romans chapter seven this morning. So if you have your Bible and you'd like to turn there, can go ahead and do that. But before we jump into the text today, I wanted to show you a video. This is a video my mom captured. She was babysitting our youngest, Claire, when she was about two years old, and my niece Vivian. And Claire and Vivian, they're the best of friends, but every once in a while, they fight like sisters. And this particular day, my mom happened to catch one of these fights right at the perfect moment, so take a look at this video.

Okay. Isn't that the best? We are forever grateful that my mom captured that perfect moment. She didn't even know it was gonna happen. I want you to watch that video again, but this time, I want you to watch Vivian. She's the one on the left, and I want you to watch kind of the wheels turning in her mind. Try to imagine what it is that Vivian is thinking. You have to watch closely or you might miss it. Let's roll it again. I spent more time on that than preparing my sermon. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

The Struggle We All Know

Paul says, when I find this law at work within me, when I wanna do good, evil is right there with me. Parents, have you experienced this in your kids? Have you experienced it in yourself? I think the truth is every single person here, whether you are someone who's been following Christ for decades or whether you are someone who's not even quite sure what you believe about God, we can identify with much of what Paul says in Romans chapter seven.

I want to repeat some of the things that were just read in our first reading. See if these resonate deep in you. Paul says, I do not understand what I do. The stuff I wanna do, I don't do it. The stuff I hate, that's what I do. I desire to do good, but I cannot carry it out. I find this law at work within me. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Does that resonate with you? My sense is that it does with everybody, and the reason, according to the Bible, that that's true is that every single one of us is, run through with sin. We are all under its curse. Therefore, as a result, we are all rebels by nature. We do not want to do what we're told to do. We have hearts that are turned away from God, and we want to be autonomous. We want to be our own God. We want to call our own shots.

As cute as Vivian and Claire are, do you know what the Bible says about them? They were conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity. They are wicked little things. They are sinners, and it is their nature to rebel—not just against mom and dad and grandma, but against the very God that made them. We are sinners.

Context and Theological Framework

Today, we are in Romans chapter seven, the latter half. And this is a little bit like walking into a really complex movie more than halfway, trying to make sense of it. In order to understand what Paul is trying to say here in the second half of Romans chapter seven, I want to give just a little bit of context. We're gonna have to back up just a little bit.

In Romans chapter three, Paul is going to say that all have sinned. Everybody has sinned. We all alike have gone astray, he's gonna say. And he's gonna say, we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. — Romans 3:23

What does that mean? He would say it this way in Ephesians 2:8-9:

For it is by grace you have been saved, and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. — Ephesians 2:8-9

What is he saying? He's saying, you brought zero to the table. You did not contribute to your salvation. It was not a partnership. It was all grace. It was all him. It started with him. It finished with him. It was not because of good stuff that you did. It was his grace. And the very definition of grace is undeserved, unmerited favor.

Now, here's the problem with that logically. If you're hearing that for the first time, you might think, okay. Well, if his grace is simply a free gift, then what motivation do I have to obey him? In fact, in Romans chapter five, Paul's gonna say,

Where sin increased, grace increased all the more. — Romans 5:20

Therefore, why wouldn't I just keep sinning to get more grace? What in the world is my motivation to obey?

Well, in Romans chapter six, Paul is going to tell us that we are not just saved by grace. He's going to say that we are under grace. That is to say, we are under its control. We're under its power, and that grace is actually going to produce a new obedience in us that comes from the heart. Paul is going to say that that is one of two options available to every single human being on planet earth. You could be under grace, or the other option is we could be under law—that is to say, we are under the requirements of the law. We will be held accountable to whether or not we lived up to the righteousness that is set forth in it.

Not just that. Paul says, in the same way that you're under grace means you're under its power and control, he's gonna say, if you're under law, you're under its power and control. And Paul is going to teach something very counterintuitive here. He's going to say that to be under law does not lead to goodness. You would think that once you got the rule book, once you've read those 10 rules, that it would actually help you be even, if it was just incrementally a little bit better. But you know what Paul's gonna say? It is just the opposite.

He will say, when you see that law, it actually makes you worse. At one point, he's gonna say, when I saw the commandment, every covetous desire was produced in me. I wanted to sin more once I saw the law. If you're a parent, you know what this means. I remember being on a road trip with Sydney and Libby before we had Claire. Sydney and Libby were in the back seat, and they were always fighting. I'm on the road, I would get worked up, just my sin would take over, and I would turn around and I would say, girls, you keep your hands to yourself. Libby, do not touch your sister, Sydney. And I turned back around, be quiet for a little bit. I look up in the rearview mirror, and I would see Libby doing this. Because the moment you say don't do it, there is something in you that says, I wanna do it. I'm gonna push the envelope. That is sin in us. Paul is going to say, the law does not make you better. It's the opposite. It makes you worse. You cannot do it, and that is the whole point. Did you know that? Did you know that the purpose of the law was never to teach us how to do good? It was always to teach us that we can't be good. It was always to expose man's inability to live a life that is pleasing to God. And you and I, we will never reach for a savior until we realize how beyond repair we are. We cannot do it. And so in chapter seven, Paul is going to begin to teach us the necessity of grace. We had better be under God's control because left to ourselves, we will never keep it. It's not just that we can't do it; we won't do it. We have neither the inclination nor the ability to do it. We cannot keep the law. And so Paul says, there is a necessity of grace. We need God to move. And he is going to present himself as the case study for this.

Paul’s Personal Struggle and The Christian Experience

In Romans chapter seven verses seven to 13, you're gonna see Paul using first person language in the past tense. He's going to say, this is the old me. This is me before I knew Christ. And what he's going to teach us is, before Christ, I knew the law, but it made me worse. It stirred up sin in me, and here's the language he uses:

It made sin exceedingly sinful. — Romans 7:13

It drove me to understand my need for a savior. I cannot fix myself. I need someone else to do it. It has to come from outside me, and that was the purpose of the law. But then Paul says something interesting. In verse 14, and this is where we're gonna pick up in just a second, Paul switches. It's still the first person. He's saying, I, me, but it's the present tense. This is the apostle Paul, and he is writing about his experience now.

Paul, in Romans chapter seven, is not just teaching us about the nature of sin in general. Paul is teaching us about the Christian experience of struggle with sin. And this is a gift to you and to me. Because if Paul doesn't write Romans seven, then we have a really difficult time explaining our new nature.

Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come. We have a hard time reconciling that truth with our present experience. Why is it that this new creation still does old stuff that is supposed to be gone? Why is that? Romans seven is the answer. He is going to teach us why we still struggle.

But he's not just gonna leave us there. He's gonna tell us how we can fight well. Let's look at Romans chapter seven, verse thirteen and fourteen.

The Battle Within

He says, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. Paul says, we know that the law is spiritual. In other words, the law is good. He's defending the law here. He says, the law didn't make me bad. The law revealed my badness. It just took the cover off of who I already was, and therefore, the law's not bad. It's good. It's spiritual. God gave it to us.

Through the law, we actually see his goodness, his character, his virtue. — Romans 7:14

Paul says, the law is not the problem. I am. The law is spiritual. I am unspiritual. And then he uses this language:

Sold as a slave under sin. — Romans 7:14

What does that mean? A slave, in a sense, a slave's actions are not his own. When he does something, it is not a reflection of the true desire or intent of his or her heart. Why? Because that slave is carrying out someone else's orders. It's not a reflection of their true desire. They're doing some things sometimes that they don't want to do, they wouldn't have chosen to do. They might even be doing some things sometimes that they don't like at all, but they're slaves and they're under the master's control.

And Paul said, sometimes this is what my experience feels like. Now, this is potentially problematic for Paul. Do you know why? Because just one chapter earlier, in Romans chapter six, starting in verse two, what is he gonna say?

You died to sin. You died to it. — Romans 6:2

He goes on and he'll say, you are no longer slaves to sin. He'll continue and he'll say, slaves shall not be or sin shall not be your master. You are not under its control. And now, in chapter seven, I, present tense, am unspiritual. I, the apostle Paul, the converted, the new creation, the most influential Christian probably in all of history, I am sold as a slave unto sin. How do you reconcile those two things?

Do you know what Paul is talking about here? He is talking about the undeniable duality of the Christian experience. Is Paul a new creation? He is. Does he have a new heart? He does. God has taken away his heart of stone. He's put in him a heart of flesh. He has reoriented Paul's heart to want to love him and to please him and to honor him. God is his chief and number one joy and desire.

Does he have a new mind? He does. In Romans chapter eight, he's gonna say, we have the mind of Christ. Does he have a spirit in him that comes from God? It is the Holy Spirit. And that spirit is accompanied by some power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We're gonna read that in the next chapter too.

Is Paul a new creation? He is a new creation. However, that new creation is in an old body, and that old body has impulses, desires, instincts, and appetites, and it means to get them satisfied. And your body doesn't really care about your new heart. It is not on your same team. You have a new you, but an old shell. And in a sense, this is Paul trying to make sense of these two competing selves. Two "u's," a double u. We all have it.

Now, I want to be clear, these are not equal but opposite forces. You have one nature. In fact, the NIV, which I read from, calls this the sinful nature, and I don't think that's actually good language. And it's not the word that Paul says. The word that Paul used is flesh. You, if you are in Christ, you have one nature. You have one nature, and it is the dominant, true, real you. And then you're in a shell, and that shell is old, and it remembers the old days, and it likes the old stuff, and it has some influence, but it is not the master, and there is a conflict. And this is what Paul is trying to explain.

When he says, it is as if I'm sold as a slave under sin, that is what he means. It, there's gonna be some things that I don't wanna do that I do, and there's gonna be some things that I do that I don't wanna do. Listen to what he says in verse 15: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, that's what I do. It doesn't make sense. If I know that it's bad for me and I don't love it, why do I do it? This is the conflict. Paul, in a sense, is in crisis. He cannot figure it out.

Now, when you are placed in Christ, there are some things that you used to hate that you now love. Namely, you used to not love being in God's presence. You used to not love praying. You used to not love reading your Bible. You used to not love coming to church. And now, because you've been placed in Christ, something changed in the realest part of you. You love those things. It changed. You didn't change that about you. God changed that about you. He gave you new appetites and new desires. But also, there's some things that you used to love that you now hate, namely your pride, your greed, your selfishness, your autonomy, your independence, your lust. You see, those things did not used to grieve you before you were in Christ. There might have been some things you didn't wanna get caught for, but you weren't grieved that you were offending the heart of the creator of the universe. It just didn't bother you. But see, now, there's some things you used to love that you now hate.

Paul says, why is it that I do some of this stuff that I hate and I can't do the stuff that I love? Paul is describing what it feels like to be under bondage to sin, sold as a slave. Can I give you an example of this in my own life? I know for a fact that when I sit under God's word, that if I wake up daily and I enter into his presence and I pray and I listen and I read and I meditate on his word and I memorize it and I hide it in my heart, I know that is the most satisfying thing I can do. And it is the number one thing that will lead to the most predictable result in my life. I become the best version of me. I become the best me. Do you know why? Because I'm cooperating with my true nature.

However, for some reason, often, more often than I'd like, when I reach for my Bible, there's something in me that just recoils. I don't wanna do it. I wanna sleep in. I'd rather check my email. There's something in me pulling me away. Do you know why? Because your flesh is not on your same team. It's you, but it's not you. It's not the real you, and it's fighting against you.

But let's think on the other hand. What about Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Candy Crush, Temple Run? Okay? I know these things are not inherently evil, but I am intimately aware of a part of me that gravitates towards numbing, anesthetizing, disengaging from my thought, from my heart, from my God, from sometimes the people that love me most. I mean, have you guys ever gotten to the other side of like a three-hour just mindless scroll of your phone for no reason and go, what am I doing? It's a waste of time. I hate it. I cannot stand it.

However, when I reach for my phone to open YouTube, my body doesn't recoil like it does when I reach for my Bible. It actually settles in. It goes, yeah, this is what I wanna do. That is your flesh. It is real. It is not the real you, but it is real, and it is an opposing force. And Paul, in verse 16, is going to make this point. He says, if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. Let me tell you quickly what he means by that. The very fact that I'm doing something I don't wanna do is proof that I actually think the law is good. I don't disagree with the law. I agree with it. I think it's beautiful. I just can't do it. I agree with it. It's good. And the very fact that I'm doing something I don't wanna do is proof of that.

Then in verse 17 and following, Paul's going to tell us the reason. He's gonna tell us the reason that we fall into this trap. In verse 17, he's going to say, as it is, it is no longer I, myself, who do it, but it is sin living in me. Is Paul shirking responsibility here? This is a dangerous verse. Is Paul saying, wasn't me? It was my sin? Try that at home, fellas. That does not work. Okay? And by the way, that's not what Paul is doing.

Now, many of you know that Andy Fetzer, one of my best friends in the world, the Fetzer family—one of the biggest catalysts, probably the catalyst for us moving to Roanoke. Fetz and I have just some fantastic memories together, most of them at Young Life Camp. In fact, this is a picture of me and Fetz. We used to do a program at Young Life Camp, meant we dressed up in costumes and we would make kids laugh, that's what we did. This one particular year, we were filming a video. It was hot, was sweaty, we were trying to get ready for kids that were coming the next day. There was this funny video. But I'm in my forties, my back is hurting, I'm tired, I'm irritated, the mustache glue is starting to sting, and I'm just like, looking at Fetz, like, what is our job? What are we doing? We're in our forties dressed like, you know, little elementary school kids on Halloween. But anyway, at this moment of kind of frustration and irritation, we're kind of taking a break. I'm leaning against this banister, and all of a sudden, I don't know how to say this appropriately—Fetz, he let one rip. Okay? He flatulated, and it was a bad one, and normally I would laugh, you know, but I was irritated. I looked at him, and now, by the way, this is my character—Bobby. This is Carlton, Fetzer's Carlton—and I look over at Fetz, and I was like, Fetz, And he looked back at me without skipping a beat, and he said, what? It was Carlton. He's one of the funniest people I know. And I instantly broke down and laughed. That's not what Paul is doing here. He is not shirking responsibility. He’s saying, it was Carl. It wasn't me.

That's not what he's saying. Can I tell you what he is saying? He is saying, there is a real force that is working against you, and it is not the real you. You hear how he separates his sinful behavior from his true identity? It is not a cop-out. Later, he's gonna say, wretched man that I am. He still takes credit for the behavior. It's not a cop-out, but he does separate it, and he gives us permission to do the same.

Every once in a while, you need to look at your bad behavior and say, that is not me. That is not the real me. He goes on. And he says in verse 18, I know that nothing good lives in me—that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is good, and he repeats a lot of what he's already said, but I cannot carry it out, for what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil that I do not want to do, this I keep on doing. Now, if I do not want to do it, is it no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it?

Now, the first half of verse 20, this is a phrase that Paul uses twice. If I do what I don't wanna do, it proves something. In verse 16, here's what it proves. If I do what I don't wanna do, it proves that I actually delight in the law. I actually love it. I just can't keep it. And here in verse 20, when Paul says, if I do what I don't wanna do, it proves something else. It proves it isn't me. It isn't me. It is sin living in me.

Now, can I tell you what I think Paul is inviting us to do here? In a strange way, I think Paul is inviting us to take comfort in our failure. What do I mean by that? Paul is saying, if you do what you don't wanna do, in other words, if you are grieved by your sin, it is evidence that you got a new nature. Do you know why? Because your old nature isn't grieved by it. And even on the heels of failure, if you are experiencing grief, what you can say is, I have a new nature. And you know what that means? It means I'm his because only he can put it there. I belong to him.

Is it possible to live in a state of eternal insecurity if you're not careful? And Paul is saying here, listen, even in your failure, take comfort. Because your failure, when you grieve, is actually evidence that he is in you. You're his. You belong to him.

And then Paul is gonna tell us how we need to fight. In verse 21, he's gonna say, I find this law at work. Now, law is something that just is. This is the way things are. Good luck fighting against the law of gravity. You're gonna lose every time. Paul said, there's a law, and it's inside you, and here's what that law is. When you try to do good, evil's there. It is close by. It is right there. And by the way, this law exists in you forever until the day that you die. Okay? As long as we are in this body, on this earth, that law is there. Sin, evil, it is right there by your side. And so Paul is gonna say, you better learn how to fight because it's not sin's not gonna phase out. You're not gonna graduate from it. So learn how to fight it. And now he's gonna tell us how in verse 23.

He says in verse 22 rather, for in my inner being, I delight in the law of God, but I see another law at work in the members of my body. Paul is saying, this is the real me. I love his law. But listen to where this battle is being waged. He says, it is being waged against the law of my mind, making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work in my members. What is he saying? Where is this battle fought, friends? It is fought here. Paul is saying, if you want to fight your sin, you gotta do it here because what your flesh is gonna do is try to convince you of something. It's not that big a deal. No one's gonna know. It's not gonna change you. No one will find out. Did God really say that? And in those moments, do you know what you need to do? You need to tell yourself the truth.

You know, this is why Paul in chapter six, verse two, he says, you died to sin. And then ten verses later, in Romans 6:11, do you know what he says? Consider yourself dead to sin. It's true. Remind yourself. It is the truth, and this is the way we fight sin. We tell ourselves the truth about who we are. We remind ourselves about the essence of our true and real nature. You fight here. That's number one.

Paul is gonna say in Romans 12, "Romans twelve two," you don't conform to the pattern of this world, but rather you be transformed by what? Renewing of your mind. You take out the lie and you put in the truth. And then here's a second way to fight. He says, what a wretched man that I am. How is this fighting back? Sounds like just a defeatist. What a loser I am. This is Paul just—this is Paul actively hating his sin. What a wretched man that I am. Paul can't stand his sin. He hates it. Do you? Have you made peace with it?

I was at a conference one time, and I heard a guy tell a story about his daughter who was outside. And she was saying, dad, come here. And it was a widowed friend. And he came outside to see who her little friend was, and he got out there, and she said, look. And it was a rattlesnake. And then he looked at us, and he said, some of you have a widow friend. Some of you have a little friend that you're sitting a little too close to, that you're coddling, petting, that you don't understand its danger. In Genesis, God would say to Cain, sin is crouching at your door, and its desire is to have you. It wants to take you out. Evil is in you, and it is not your little friend. It wants to take you down.

We have to hate our sin. But then finally, Paul says, what a wretched man that I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You know what Paul's doing here? He is worshiping. Paul, previously, he reminds himself in his mind of who he is. I'm not a slave to sin. I am dead to sin. That is not who I am. You know what Paul's doing here? He's reminding himself about his Savior. He's reminding himself who his Savior is. And Paul is—he is finding strength in the present moment by reaching into a future promise.

And listen to what that promise is. Who will deliver me from this body of death? It is not a question. It is a certainty. It is a guaranteed deliverance. We have his Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing that he's gonna finish the job. He says, Who will deliver me? Thanks be to God. It's gonna happen. I'm gonna get delivered. In other words, this old body that is just beating me up and not letting me do what my true nature wants to do, I'm not gonna be in this forever. I will be in a resurrected, new body one day, and my new nature will match my new body, and I won't get sick anymore. I won't be tempted to sin anymore, and I will be in his presence forever, forever, and forever.

Paul says, I'm gonna live for that. I'm gonna say no to this body of death today because that's the day that I'm living for, and that day lasts forever. This day is a vapor. Do you hate your sin? We need to hate it, but even more, can I tell you the best antidote to our sin? It is not focusing on the sin and destroying it. It is focusing on the Savior. It is. There's an old Puritan pastor named Thomas Chalmers, and he preached a sermon called the expulsive power of a new affection. And the thesis of that sermon was the way to kill your sin is just to love him more. The more you love God, the bigger he becomes in your life, the less you even want to sin. You don't want to interrupt the fellowship that you have. So Paul would say, beat my body, and I make it a slave so that I, after I've preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. I'm not going to let this old husk, this old shell take me out. I'm gonna focus on the one who saved me.

Conclusion

Let's pray. Father, thank you for a chance to be together to look at your word. Lord, I pray that you'd help us as a congregation to take our sin seriously. Lord, it is only by grace that we're saved, and it is only by grace that we're sanctified. We cannot do it. Even with a new heart and a new mind, we can't do it. We need your grace. We need it every moment. We need you, Lord. We need you. We need you. Amen.