The Law is Good: Romans 7:7-13

I want to begin with two situations in the history of our country that are directly related to today’s text from Romans 7.  The first is prohibition.  Does anyone remember their history in regards to that?  I’ve only read the books, so here is what I have gathered from this period of time in our nation.  A group of folks who had quite a bit of influence and sway managed to get a constitutional amendment passed to ban all things related to alcohol in the U.S.  Now, we know a lot about the effects of alcohol.  We know what it does to people. We know how it kills people.  We know how it breaks up families.  We know how it leads to fights.  We know how it leads to abuse.  We know how it leads to drunk driving and other crimes.  We know this beyond a shadow of a doubt.  So, why is it now legal to drink?  Do you remember why?  Because, interestingly enough, after the production, sale, and consumption of alcohol was banned: IT ACTUALLY INCREASED!!  Think about that for a minute.

Second situation.  This is actually in living memory for many of us.  Not long ago, the U.S. Congress had imposed a 55 mph speed limit maximum on the nation because of a shortage of oil and gas.  Now, that didn’t stop people from speeding, far from it, and that’s not my point. I’ll get to that shortly.  Congress eventually repealed this limit and left it up to the states to impose their own speed limits on highways and thoroughfares.  Montana took an interesting stance.  Because they had so much open highway and so few people traveling on it, they instituted the “reasonable and prudent” speed limit law.  Do you know why it’s no longer in effect and they have posted speed limit signs now?  Because some folks used this as a license to drive over a hundred miles an hour, and the number of traffic fatalities skyrocketed.

In both of these cases, laws that had a particularly noble intent were turned upside down.  They failed.  Why?  Were they bad laws?  I’d argue not necessarily.  The laws in and of themselves were not bad, but the laws could not deal with something that pervades the planet.  The laws were unable to deal with the power of sin, and as a result more harm came about.  So, this begs the question: if the law brings about such things, is the law good?

This is the question that St. Paul now turns his attention to in Romans 7:7-13.  As we turn to this text now, I just want to let you know that I will be focusing on verses 7 through 12, but I have included 13 because it serves as a bridge between this week’s verses and next week’s verses.  Let’s look at what Paul says this week.

He begins asking exactly what I just asked: “7 What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means!”  Last week, Paul made the remark that “the law aroused our sinful passions.”  So, like any good rhetorician, he deals with a question before anyone else can ask it. In this case, the logic would go: if the law arouses sinful passions, then the law must be bad–the law must be sin.  Paul answers with his usual: God forbid!  Or you’ve got to be stupid to believe that!.  Paul will now show how the law is good.

He says, “Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” This is kind of a no brainer.  If I am driving down the road, and there are no posted speed limit signs, I don’t know how fast I am allowed to drive.  I don’t know the rules.  But if someone posts a sign that says, “Speed limit 75,” then I know what is right and what is wrong.  We don’t exactly come into this world knowing all the rules and regulations.  We have some idea deep within us about justice and fairness and the like, but we don’t know all the specifics.  They have to be revealed or taught to us.  Paul says this straightforwardly, but it is interesting that he uses a particular commandment.  If you remember the Ten Commandments, you will note that Paul uses the last one: “You shall not covet.”  Why did he use this commandment and not the first and greatest: “You shall nave no other gods before me.”?  I think there is a reason, but we have to wade through an interesting part of the text to get there.

Beginning in verse 8, “But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. 9I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived 10and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”  Now, in my past years, I rushed past these verses and jumped to verse 12.  Verse 12 was easy to understand.  These verses were and are not.  In fact, when you read through the scholars, they are all over the place here.  When you dig into these verses, you stumble across several pit-falls, and in order to interpret them, no matter which way you go, you have to make some assumptions that may or may not be right.  All that is to say is, what I am about to say is how I have managed to make sense of these verses.  Others will disagree with me, but here is how this plays out after I have studied and thought about this a lot this week.

Paul says that the power of sin is so great that when a commandment is set forth, sin goes to work to warp things and produce in us that which the commandment forbids.  In prohibition, it produces a desire for alcohol.  With prudent and reasonable, it produces unreasonableness.  With coveting, it produces covetousness.  If we don’t know the law, sin lies dead–dormant.  If there were no prohibition, we wouldn’t have that desire within us.  This is what Paul I believe is saying in verse 8.

At the beginning of verse 9, he makes a rather interesting statement: I was once alive apart from the law.  What in the world does he mean by this?  Paul was a Jew–a devoted Jew at that, so there would never have been a time when he wasn’t exposed to the law.  There would never have been a time when he was apart from the law.  And how can being apart from the law be life?  Early on in the book of Romans, Paul says that even though there are those who don’t have God’s law, they are still under condemnation and death.  What does this mean?  I think Paul is referring to the time when he didn’t quite get the 10th Commandment.  I think he is referring to the time when he believed he was following the commands of God and was, as he reports himself in the book of Philipians, “as to the law, blameless.”  Paul thought he was following the law perfectly, and in the book of Leviticus, it says point blank: if you follow the law, you have life.  Paul thinks he is alive apart from the 10th Commandment.

However, when the commandment came, sin revived, and Paul died.  Again, this is an interesting line of thinking.  I make sense of it in this fashion: the ancient Jew, and many modern ones, believed that sin was a definite act.  Simply thinking about murder was not a sin. If you murdered someone, that was.  Thinking about sleeping with someone who was not your spouse was not adultery.  Actually sleeping with someone who was not your spouse was adultery.  Paul could have gone down the checklist of the Ten Commandments and said that he followed them perfectly–until he finally understood number 10.  For you see, to covet is to lust after something.  To desire it deeply.  To want it more than anything else in the world at the time.  When the commandment came to Paul, he realized that he was a sinner to his core.  The command that once promised life–if he were able to follow it–now killed him.  And it killed him because in verse 11, sin had deceived him.

What exactly does this mean?  Again, I think there is a reason Paul uses “Thou shalt not covet” to illustrate his point.  What was Paul coveting?  If we read his autobiographical statements in the rest of scripture, we see that he desired to be a perfect Jew.  We see that he wanted to be completely and totally righteous.  We see that he wanted to follow the law above everything else.  This was his goal and purpose in life.  It was his god.  Let me say that again, and I think you will see how sin deceived Paul.  In making him coveting being the perfect Jew; a righteous Jew; Paul desired this above everything else.  And if you dedicate your life to something; if that something becomes your obsession; your deepest desire, it becomes your god.  Sin deceived him into thinking that by desiring to be the perfect, righteous Jew, he was actually serving God; however, Paul now saw that he actually had a false god.  And that false god had led him to bear false witness against the church; had led him to kill people within the church; had led him to persecute the church.  Paul suddenly knew the depths of his sin because the law; the commandment showed this to him.

And so Paul then concludes, “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.”   The law is holy because it comes from a holy God.  The commandment is holy because it comes from a holy God.  The command is just because it comes from a just God.  The commandment is good because it comes from a good God.  There is nothing wrong with the commandments.  There is something wrong with us.  We are easily corrupted by the power of sin.

And we don’t want to admit that.  We don’t want to admit it in the least.  We want to think that we are basically good–that we are basically just and merciful and kind.  We want to think that we basically follow the law.  We don’t want to see the depths of our corruption.  We oftentimes become self-righteous like Paul was self-righteous.  We look at a select group of commandments and think: oh, I follow those.  I’m good enough.  It’s just those people out there who are the problem, and if we could just get those people to change; if we could just pass the right laws to reign them in, then the world would be such a better place.

News flash: it won’t be.  The power of sin is corrupting how you obey the law.  The power of sin is deceiving you again.  If you want to start changing the world: if you want to see the world improve, you’ve got to start with your own heart.  You’ve got to become convicted just like Paul was convicted.  You’ve got to realize that not only do you sin, but that you are a sinner.  You’ve got to realize your deepest motivations for doing what you do.  You’ve got to see whether or not you are living for God or living for something else.  I will not be closing this sermon out with the Gospel.  I will not be quoting John 3:16 and 17 this week.  Paul leaves us seeking self-reflection.  He leaves us studying the law and its purpose and how it convicts us.  Next week, he will reveal the solution to this problem.  But for now, we’ve got to wrestle with the problem. We’ve got to wrestle with our own hearts.  We’ve got to be convicted of our own sin.

And so, I am going to leave you with a series of questions.  All of these questions deal with the commands of Christ.  All of these questions deal with how we should live.  If you fail at these questions, you can join Paul and me.  You can join us in admitting that not only do we commit sin, but that we are sinners.  You can join us in awaiting the remedy to our corruption.  You can join us in waiting to hear the gospel.

__ I always love God with all my heart, mind, and soul.  (Matthew 22:37

__ I always love my neighbor as much as I love myself. (Matthew 22:39)

__ I have given up everything I have to follow Jesus.  (Matthew 19:21)

__ I never get angry with my neighbor or call him a good-for-nothing.  (Matthew 5:22)

__ I never look at a person of the opposite sex with thoughts about having sexual intercourse. (Matthew 5:28)

__ I always do good to others when they do things to hurt me. (Matthew 5:38)

__ I love my enemies and pray that God will bless them. (Matthew 5:43)

__ I never judge others, but always put the best construction on their behavior. (Matthew 7:1)

__ Whenever I do something good for someone else, I keep it a secret and do not let others know about it.  (Matthew 6:2)

__ I am happy when someone makes fun of my being a Christian. (Matthew 5:10)

__ I always forgive others when they do me wrong. (Matthew 6:2)

__ I never worry about food or clothing. (Matthew 6:31)

__ I love God more than my family, my friends or myself.  (Matthew 10:37)

__ Whenever I see someone in need, I always help them. (Matthew 10:42)

__ I regularly feed the poor, visit prisoners, put strangers up for the night, give clothes to the needy and visit those who are sick.  (Matthew 25:35-36)

__I never hold anyone to a standard that I, myself do not follow.

If you did as well as I did on this series of questions, then I look forward to seeing you next week as we hear the remedy to sin’s power.  Amen.

The Grace that no Longer Amazes: Romans 1:18-23

Our foray into the book of Romans begins to take a dark turn.  I say this because in the next two chapters, Paul lays out a scathing condemnation of humanity.  Paul reveals to his audience just how sinful they are–how sinful we are.  There are many who will not like what I have to say in the coming weeks.  Many would like to pretend that they are generally good, decent people who commit a few mistakes, sure.  Everyone commits mistakes.  But tell a person he or she is deserving of God’s wrath, then you are likely to receive a tongue lashing.  We are a culture that has become desensitized to God’s wrath.  We have been so exposed to a loving, gracious God, that the thought of grace no longer even amazes us.

I watched a lecture this week by Dr. R.C. Sproul, and he told a very interesting story.  He said that he began teaching an introduction to the Old Testament course in theology at a particular college to all 250 students. He laid out how students would be graded for the class.  There would be a series of papers turned in throughout the semester due on a certain date.  If the paper were not turned in, the students would receive a failing grade.  Sproul said that at the first due date 225 students came with their papers and 25 did not.  The 25 pleaded with Sproul saying that they were making the transition from high school to college; they had made bad time management choices and needed more time.  Sproul granted them more time, much to their delight.  The next due date came, and this time 200 students came with their papers, and fifty did not.  Once again the begging and pleading ensued.  Once again, Sproul offered an extension.  At this point, Dr. Sproul became very, very popular on campus.  All the students loved him.  According to Sproul’s story, they even sang a song to him!

But then, the final due date arrived.  This time, 150 students handed in their papers.  100 did not.  Sproul approached a young man and asked, “Do you have your paper to turn in?”  The young man replied, “Hey, don’t worry about it prof.  I’ll have it for you in a couple of days.”  Sproul picked up his grade book, looked at the young man again and said, “You don’t have your paper?”  The guy replied, “No.”  Sproul marked in his grade book and said, “F.”

Sproul continues, “There was this gasp in the room.  And I looked and said, ‘Johnson, where’s your paper?’  ‘I don’t have it, sir.’ I said, ‘F. Reynolds, where’s your paper? F.’ And as if it were orchestrated...they call cried out with one voice, ‘THAT’S NOT FAIR!’

“I said, ‘What did you say?’  ‘We said that’s not fair.’ I said, ‘Beech, weren’t you late with your paper last time?’  He said, ‘Yes sir.’  ‘And you are late this morning?’  He said, ‘Yes sir.’

“So, I gave you an F for today, and it’s justice that you want?  I’m going to give you justice.  I’m going to change your grade for the last one, the one you were late for, and I’m going to give you an F for that one.  O.K.?  Now, who else wants justice.  You people be careful about ever asking for justice because you just might get it?”

Sproul continues, “But what happened?  They became accustomed to my grace.  First they appreciated it.  Then, they expected it.  Finally, they demanded it, and that’s who we are.”

That’s who we are.  When it comes to God’s grace; His love; His mercy in this day and age–we no longer appreciate it.  Most of us expect it.  And many demand it.  This is why there is a severe lack of humility in many churches today.  This is why many Christians come across as arrogant and self-righteous.  They believe they deserve grace–they deserve God’s love.  And a Christian who is not afraid of God’s wrath or a person who is not afraid of God’s wrath, will not hear the Gospel as good news; will not ever have a change of heart; and will never experience the fullness of peace that the Gospel delivers.

Today, we begin a journey towards humility.  Today we will begin to have our toes stomped on unmercifully.  When Paul is done with us, our hearts will either be hardened to the point that we want nothing to do with God, or our hearts will be crushed and ready to hear what God has done when we least deserved it.

Paul begins, “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.”  There was a time in recent Christian history when theologians wanted to get as far away from God’s wrath as possible.  They believed this painted God as arbitrary, judgmental, liable to blow up at a whim and punish whoever He wanted whenever He wanted without regard.  The idea that God could get angry to the point of dealing death toward His creation was shoved as far back as possible in favor of a God who simply loved and wanted to be loved.  The majority of theologians today have repented from this because the horrid events of the 20th century: the Holocaust; the killing fields; the murder of millions of people in Russian pogroms woke them up to the reality of evil.  And if God is a just God; if God cares even a smidgen for His creation, then He cannot stand such evil acts.  God’s anger must burn hot at sin or God is not good!!  Let me say that again: God’s anger must burn hot at sin and injustice, or God is not good!  This is what is behind Paul’s words here.  Ungodliness is sin against God.  Wickedness is injustice or sin from one human against another.  God hates these sins with a passion.  They bring about His wrath.

But one might argue, how can someone who has never known God or known God’s commands stir God’s anger?  Isn’t that injustice on God’s part?  Paul says unequivocally that God’s anger is stirred against ungodliness and injustice–of those who suppress the truth.  Can EVERYONE know the truth?

Paul anticipates this argument as he continues, “19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse;”   Paul probably has Psalm 19 verses 1-4 ringing in his head as he dictates these words.  This Psalm reads:

The heavens declare the glory of God
the skies proclaim the works of his hands
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
No sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Paul believes in what we call today, natural revelation–that we can come to know God–His power and His divinity–through the natural world.  This is not anything new for most people.  Most people believe that we can come to know some sense of right and wrong; some sense of justice; some sense of God through looking around the world.  Hence, every single culture around the world has some form of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Babies have a sense of fairness and justice.  It is innate within each and every person who is in his or her right mind.  No one is without excuse.  And if there is a universal law, where did that law come from?  Paul argues that those who suppress the truth are those who claim it comes from anywhere and everywhere but God.

21for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools; 23and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.  There is a blatant mistranslation in this text in verse 21.  It should read “for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”  The importance of this translation will become clear in a moment.

Paul continues in his argument saying that even though people knew God–even though they knew of His revelation through creation–they did not honor Him or give thanks to Him.  They refused to worship God.  This led them to become futile in their thinking; have darkened hearts; and to become foolish.  How does this happen?

This happens because everyone worships.  Yes, everyone worships.  I don’t care if you are an atheist, a staunch believer, or even a Christian in name only.  Everyone worships something.  Some may disagree with me greatly, but here is the argument laid out for you:

We as human beings don’t just live–we all live for something.  Something in this life gives us meaning; gives us direction; gives us purpose; gives us hope; gives us a sense of value.  Timothy Keller puts it best when he says, “There has to be something which captures our imagination and our allegiance, which is the resting place of our deepest hopes and which we look to to calm our deepest fears. Whatever that thing is, we worship it, and so we serve it.  It becomes our bottom line, the thing we cannot live without, defining and validating everything we do.”  In days of old those things were literally idols–images made from wood and metal, but in our days, such idols have been changed but are still none-the-less idols: money, sex, justice, peace, prosperity, work, family, friends, busyness, power, climbing the corporate ladder, science, technology, free time, the government and a host of other things capture our hearts’ imagination and lead us to become foolish.

How does this happen?  Let me read to you the comments of atheist David Foster Wallace in his commencement speech at Kenyon College:

Everybody worships.  The only choice we get is what to worship, and the compelling reason to maybe choosing some sort of God or spiritual type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.  If you choose to worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough.  Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure, and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age starts showing you will die a thousand million deaths before they finally grieve you.  Worship power and you will end up feeling weak and afraid and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect being seen as smart and you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud always on the verge of being found out.  But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is they are unconscious.  They are default settings.

When your heart’s imagination is captured by anything other than the Creator, you will become enslaved.  It will demand your time; your money; your energy; your entire being, and then you will delude yourself into thinking you are just fine.  You will justify what you are doing over and over and over again.  You will make excuses for your behavior and your thoughts.  When others confront you with your behavior, you will get angry and frustrated, and you will say, “I can stop this at any minute,” knowing full well you cannot and will not–until your heart changes.  Your stubborn, darkened heart makes you a fool.  Your worship of things other than the Creator turns you into a fool.

And now we must all ask ourselves: what do we worship?  What consumes our heart and mind and our thoughts day in and day out.  What do we think about in our spare time?  What does our life revolve around?  Odds are, it is not God.  None of us, and I mean none of us are focused with all our being upon Him.  We have traded worship for our Creator for things that are created.  Therefore, we stand under God’s wrath.  We deserve God’s wrath.  God’s anger is kindled against us.

And now, I must end with an apology.  I apologize for ending this sermon right here and right now.  For years, I have included in my preaching the Gospel.  I have brought you time and again to the point where you hear the soothing message of what God has done for you through Jesus Christ.  I have pronounced the Gospel in a nutshell: John 3:16-17 with reckless abandon.  But I cannot do this today.  This book is forcing us to reflect upon the state of our hearts; upon the state of our sinfulness.  We must continue through the darkness so that when the Gospel is announced at the end of chapter 3, we will once again discover just how amazing grace is.  Amen.