The Horror of Sin: It Dwells Within!
romans 7:7-25
Last week we learned about the entrance of sin into
humanity. We learned about that sad
sad day where Adam and Eve gave into sin through a process of doubting God, desiring
a false promise and disobedience to their God. Before we continue further in the
account in Genesis I thought it would be important and helpful to spend a
little time talking about the reality of sin and temptation for us as
believers. Certainly this is the
intention of the text in Genesis.
This passage was written for God’s covenant people, that we might
understand the origin and nature of sin, our universal experience, and
ultimately, through our covenant keeping God, to find its cure.
So let’s take some time this morning to make a
purposeful detour into the topic of sin and temptation. We’ll spend some time defining
sin, talking about its nature and then discussing the reality of its presence
in even believers. But before we
look at our text this morning let’s pray.
Romans
7:7-25 (ESV) - 7 What then shall
we say? That the law is sin? By no means! 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.” 8 But sin,
seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of
covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was
once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive
and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life
proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing
an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the
law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that
which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing
death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin,
and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 I do not
understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing
I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree
with the law, that it is good. 17 So now
it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I
know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the
desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do
not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I
do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within
me. 21
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do
right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I
delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I
see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making
me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched
man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks
be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God
with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Kris Lundgaard shares this story in his excellent book,
“The Enemy Within”, “All I
wanted to do was surprise my wife.
Since we had moved into our new house almost a year ago, the refrigerator
door handle had been on the wrong side.
I had put off moving it because of my clumsiness with mechanical
things. But on this Thursday
afternoon while my wife was at work, I was set to redeem myself and right the
wrong.
I was halfway through the job. I had the refrigerator and freezer doors
off and wanted to get them back on soon so nothing would spoil. I was as the pivotal step of swapping
the hinges from the right side of the refrigerator to the left, when I realized
that each hinge was fastened by two torx screws. Two lousy torx screws. There is only one
tool in the universe the can safely remove a torx screw: a torx socket. I didn’t have a torx socket.
Right then my three boys decided to move their Traveling
Sibling Rivalry Show into the middle of my angst. I lost it. I let them have it, though they
didn’t deserve it. They stared at me as if I were a monster from Alpha
Centauri, while I ranted in an unknown tongue.
In mid-fit I had an out-of-body experience. I saw my contorted red face screaming at
my charming boys and knew at once I was doing something evil. So I stopped and
asked forgiveness, right?
Wrong. Something had control
of me – it was as if an alien had invaded my body and was forcing me to
do his bidding. It was long after
they had fled from my wrath before I recovered my sanity and my conscience and
humbled myself before them in groveling apologies.
I spent the next several days feeling like a whipped
puppy. Was I really that
wicked? How could I hurt my
children like that? Had I done
irreparable harm? Would they
forgive me? Would God forgive
me? Anything like that ever happen
to you?” [1]
Has it? It’s happened to
me. Sometimes it is just like what
happened to Kris, where I am shocked and ashamed by my behavior. More often than that, it is the simple
day-to-day sinful attitudes and unbelief that I struggle with and sometimes
don’t even see. I have recently become aware of just how much I maintain
an unthankful discontented attitude.
Now, I do have many moments of great thankfulness and contentment. But I have become aware of just how
often my attitude just plain stinks.
Not in a glaring way but more in just a low grade lack of
thankfulness. I am not thinking
about how good God has been and how much I don’t deserve any mercy. I am not thinking about how faithful my
sovereign God is to design all my circumstances for my ultimate good and his
ultimate glory. I am just kinda
aware of how I would rather have things better than they are. It could be in any area. I want a better house. I want a better car. I want better weather. I want better kids. I want a better front lawn. I want a
better back yard. Etc. Not that we can’t ask for these
things. It is just that I am so
often more aware of what I want better than what I do have and who has given it
to me and that I don’t deserve a speck of it. Ever felt like that? What’s up with all this?
Paul describes the experience of every believer, whether we
like it or not. For a matter of
fact, we probably would all rather that this whole thing just go away. And many times we think if we can just
ignore it, it will do just that.
But that is the worst thing we can do. It’s like not going to the
doctor when we are ill because we don’t want to be told we are ill. Well, this morning I want to serve as a
doctor of sorts. I am going to
share with you the reality of your condition, mine as well for that
matter. I want to be frank and talk
about what it is and how it acts and then I want to begin to prescribe some
things that will help you deal with it.
This is a long-term condition but there are some very real cures and if
applied will lead to an eventual total recovery. So let’s talk about your
condition.
Sin’s
Definition
Sin. The bible defines sin as
lawlessness. 1 John 3:4 says "Everyone
who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4, ESV) So sin is failure to comply with the
law of God in attitude and action.
It is not failure to comply with some generic law or some generic sense
of right and wrong. It is specific
failure to relate rightly to a specific being, that is God himself. And God’s holiness and holy ways
are expressed in his law. When I
say his law, I mean not just the ten commandments, but the entirety of
commandments throughout the scriptures that consistently testify to the
character and requirements of God.
So, the law to Adam and Eve to not eat of the forbidden fruit is
law. The implied law to Adam in Eve
to obey God at his word and fulfill their destiny as his imagers on earth is
law. The implied law of giving the
Creator rightful thanks and worship as his creations is law. The law of Christ, to love one another
as He has loved us is law. So sin
is failure to comply with the law wholeheartedly and thoroughly. Sin is lawlessness. The Greek word used in the NT for sin is
ἁμαρτία. This means basically, missing the
mark. Romans 3:23 says, “for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23, ESV) Or to rephrase this verse, “for all have missed the mark and
fall short of the glory of God.”
You see, sin is not merely disobeying some trivial rules. Sin is falling short or missing the mark
of the glory of God. It is missing
the mark of living life according to God’s perfect purposes and glorious
ways, loving Him wholeheartedly and loving those made in his image. It is
living life short of what is truly best.
It is more than just a little failure to measure up. It is more than just getting an A- on the
test when an A+ is what is required.
Our failure is much more significant than that. This missing of the mark is much more
tragic and evil than an A-.
Take a look at how Romans 1 describes this predicament.
"For
although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him,
but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were
darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of
the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity,
to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen." (Romans 1:21-32, ESV)
Mankind, that’s you and me, in falling
short of the glory of God exchanged that glory, God and his ways and rightful
love, enjoyment and worship of Him, for the worship of created things and the
denial, and even the murder, of God himself. And this denial and rejection, this sin
has led to all the curses and calamities and perversion we know all too well as
humans. This is not an A- versus an
A+. This is utter failure, this is
expulsion from school. This is the
calamity of sin. This is what we
see in our history books, this is what we view on the evening news and read in the
paper, this is what goes on in the thoughts, attitudes and actions of everybody
in this room
Sin is a disposition
You see, all humanity has inherited from Adam
and Eve the fruit of their disobedience, that is a corruption that is in our
very being. It is because of the
corruption of sin that is in us that we act sinfully. So sin is both an action and a
disposition. Look at our text. Verse 8 says, “But sin,
seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of
covetousness.” Sin is begetting sin. In other words, a sinful disposition is
producing sinful behavior. Sin is
not just action, it is a disposition we have inherited from our parents and
they from theirs and so on all the way back to Adam and Eve. You and I sin because you and I are
sinful by nature. Sin is not an
external problem, it is an internal problem. It is not merely something you do, it is
something you are. Folks, speaking
as your doctor, I have some bad news for you, this disease is a genetic one,
woven into the very fabric of your being.
It is inescapable at least for now.
Sin is alive
And it gets worse. Sin is alive and active, like a living
being inside of us. Look at the text here, sin is almost like another
personality inhabiting Paul. Look
what he says in verse 11 “For sin, seizing an opportunity
through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” And later, in verses 19 & 20 it says
“19 For I do not do the good I want, but the
evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no
longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” This sinful disposition that dwells in us
is not neutral, it is not a mere principle or bad idea. It is not merely wrong thinking, lack of
faith or a rebellious attitude. Sin
is an animating corruption in each of us that is active – it fights, it
deceives, it kills, it has a will of its own. This is a lot scarier than
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, that movie about the aliens who
come to earth and inhabit the bodies of humans. Sin is real and it has already snatched
all of humanity and we are no longer fully human as a result. Sin has snatched us and it continues to
live in us.
We know this because of the testimony of scripture. We also know it because of our
experience. I can prove the reality
of the active nature of sin that dwells within. You know that old story about how to get
a tape worm to manifest? It is
kinda gross but a relevant analogy.
Supposedly, if you hold a piece of raw meat in front of the mouth of someone
with a tapeworm, the worm will crawl up to eat the meat. Well, sin dwells in each one of us and
there are certain things you can do to get it to reveal itself. I find any sort of spiritual discipline
to work just fine. As I’ve
said before, I can stay up all night reading Calvin & Hobbes but as soon as
I open my bible my eyes roll to the back of my head. That is sin at work. This sin is undeniably alive in each one
of us.
Sin is deceptive
Not only is it alive but it is actively deceiving
us. Verse 11 says again “For sin,
seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it
killed me.”
Sin deceived him. Sin
deceives. Sin is smart. It knows how to manipulate and get its
way. It knows when to wait and when
to spring. As a young man when I
wanted something from my father I learned how to wait for the right moment. If I wanted to go off and spend a
weekend with my friends my dad would be hesitant to say yes. But if I waited until my dad was in a
good mood and happy with me I could sometimes get him to say yes. Sin is like that. It will wait for the best moment to
spring its trap. There are too many
men and women who have found themselves suddenly in serious sin even at the
apex of some great spiritual victories.
Sin will wait for a sense of accomplishment and rest to rear its ugly
head with temptation. David’s
sin with Bathsheba came at the height of his reign and military victories. Sin knows when to ask permission to
act. It is a great deceiver
and it is good at what it does. It
will work its way in bit by bit until it has you under its spell once again. Sin deceives.
Sin dwells
within
That is another key truth from Romans 7. This sin dwells within. Sin is not external it is internal. Now you may think that is true for an unbeliever
but Paul is talking about himself as a believer in Romans 7 not an
unbeliever. He uses the first
person over and over again here. He
speaks of himself as one who loves the law of God, delighting in it in his
inner being. He speaks of himself here
in a way he never does anywhere else when describing himself before Christ. He
speaks as only a Christian would. [2] And Paul, as a believer, still has sin
that dwells within. And you and I,
brothers and sisters in Christ, are no different. Sorry to break the bad news to you but
somebody had to tell you. And I as
your pastor and doctor of sorts would not be caring for you to tell you
otherwise. Folks, there are lots of
others who will try to tell you otherwise.
Don’t believe them.
There are teachings out their that deny the truth of indwelling sin in
many different ways. There is the
popular myth that you are actually perfectly fine, it is your environment that
is the problem. I’m okay,
you’re okay – we just need to create the perfect environment and
we’ll all be happy. That was
the horrendous error of communism and is the horrendous error of
materialism. There is the popular
myth that you are okay but your physical makeup may be a little off. If we can give you a pill or change your
diet or give you some gene therapy you’ll be okay. Now those are a couple of secular
myths. There are also some
Christian teachings out there that deny indwelling sin. One is the victorious life
teaching. It says that you just
need a special touch of God, a new baptism and you’ll be done with
sin. A variant on this is that you
just need to realize that you are already sinless. If you can just focus on the victorious
life that is already yours you will be done with sin. Just “reckon” yourself dead
to sin and you will be. Folks, all
these teachings deny Romans 7 and the obvious reality of our sin we all face
daily. None of these supposed cures
work because they deny the root problem and reality. Sin dwells within. Like
what Pogo the cartoon character says, “We have met the enemy and he is
us.”[3]
Sin’s Cure
I imagine at
this point you are not very encouraged.
You are probably feeling a lot like Paul did in Romans 7: 24 where he
says, “ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of
death?” Adam Clarke writes
about Paul’s statement and says, “There seems
to be here an allusion to an ancient custom of some tyrants, who bound a dead
body to a living man, and obliged him to carry it about, until the contagion
from the putrid mass took away his life! Virgil paints this in all its horrors
in the account he gives of the tyrant Mezentius.[4]” Paul knew the horror of carrying
around a body that is infected with sin.
He knew the inescapable horror in this life for the Christian of
indwelling sin. He felt just as you
probably do right now. Wretched man
that I am! Who will deliver me from
this body of death? Help!!!!
In verse 25
he says, “ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ
our Lord!” There is someone
who rescues us from the horror of sin.
This indwelling sin and its manifold fruit in our lives brings with it
some serious consequences. There is
the penalty for sin, the power of sin and the presences of sin that every human
being must deal with. Jesus came to
deal with all three. For the believer, we will wrestle with the presence of sin
as long as we are in these mortal bodies.
But the penalty and power of sin have been dealt with by Jesus
Christ. Romans 6:24 tells us the
penalty of sin is death- that is eternal separation from God and conscious
torment in that separation. This is
divine justice for the horrible treachery of sin and rejection of the glory of
God. Christ came to shed his blood
as payment for your sins. His
blood, his very life, was given on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins. And believe me, that payment was
sufficient in every way. God proved it was sufficient by raising his son on the
third day in glorious satisfaction and celebration of the penalty he paid. Do you believe that? To all who turn from their sin and trust
Christ and his payment there is complete forgiveness and no longer any payment
for sin.
Additionally, Romans 8 goes on to describe the ministry
of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. You see, all of us who have repented and
believed have experienced the miracle of the new birth and the ministry of the
Holy Spirit within. So now we no
longer merely have sin dwelling within but we have a new nature and a new
animating being in us, God the Holy Spirit. And he wars against the sinful nature
and he will win. So the power of
sin is broken.
Next week we will talk about how the presence of sin is
dealt with based on the work of Christ and the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. For now, let’s close
rejoicing in the rescue Christ has done for us, rescuing us from sin within
– paying its penalty and breaking its power. Thanks be to God!
[1]
Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within, P&R Publishing,
[2]
See John Piper, Who Is This Divided Man?, Part Three, (Romans 7:14-25),
[3]
Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within, P&R Publishing,
[4] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1837), Vol. VI, p. 89.