Only Jesus Can Heal Our Brokenness

Third Sunday in Lent
Light of Christ Anglican Church

Rev. Michael J. Moffitt, March 3, 2024

SCRIPTURE Romans 7:12–25

As most of you know, Teresa went to St. Mary’s Hospital on Wednesday to have an “angiographic study” to determine the severity of the intracranial aneurysms that she was diagnosed with in December as having a stroke. The results were that they couldn’t find any aneurysms. Obviously, we were overjoyed and praised God for his mercy.

Later that evening I sat down to read the complete report that the surgeon posted. There were so many words that I had never heard before, so I had no idea whether it was good or bad. He wrote, “There is no significant stenosis or dissection.” Is that good or bad? Did she need a significant stenosis or dissection? If so where could we get one of each? Most of the report was just simply over my head so I sent it to a friend of mine who is a doctor in Roanoke. He wrote back to me, “It looks to me that there’s basically nothing wrong, or nothing significantly wrong. So that’s it? No plaque or clot (thrombus) blocking either of her carotids? So why did she have a stroke?”

I told him that three doctors, one internist, and two neurologists had made the initial diagnosis. So I guess that either God healed her, or they misdiagnosed it as a group effort.

I’ve always thought it interesting that doctors and scientists come up with words that are often difficult to pronounce as names for things easily described and understood using simple words.

Once the words were understood, there was great relief especially since God intervened. We were helpless to understand or do anything that could fix the initial diagnosis. As it ended up God took care of it.

However, theologians do the same thing. They come up with words that are hard to remember and sometimes to pronounce to describe the nature of God and the content of his word. Usually they could just as easily describe what they are saying using simple words.

A great example is the theological term “antinomian” (anti, meaning “no” and nomos, meaning “law”) which is simply describing the belief of some that Christians are released from keeping the obligation of observing the moral law of God because they are now under grace.

In Christianity, we often distinguish the law from the gospel. This is valid and necessary. The greatest error we can ever make in life is thinking it’s through obedience to God’s commands that we can earn salvation. Only belief in the gospel saves. This does not mean, however, that the law has lost all relevance for the Christian. Actually, when properly understood, God’s law serves a gracious end, drawing us away from works-righteousness to a settled trust in the gospel of Christ.

One of the main reasons that antinomianism is unbiblical is that there is a moral law that God commands us to obey, though we will never be able to obey it perfectly. 1 John 5:3 tells us,

“For this is the love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.”

What is this law God commands us to obey? It is the law of Christ based on the Ten Commandments. We recite this together every week.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37–40)

Whereas it is true that we are not under the demands of the Old Testament law, but we are under the compulsion of the law of Christ. The law of Christ is not a list of legal codes and ceremonies, but it is a law of love. If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will strive to honor and obey him because he is the object of our desire. If we love our neighbors as ourselves, we do so to honor the heart of God who wants us to reveal the good news of Christ to them through his word and through our love and service to them. Obeying the law of Christ is not a requirement to earn or maintain salvation, but it is how we are to demonstrate that we have been transformed by the power of the cross and are no longer living for our own glory but God’s.

Antinomianism is not only wrong, but it is very dangerous because it takes our focus off the very law that was given to reveal the character and nature of God. God intends for his children to demonstrate who he is through the lives of those who profess to love and follow him. We are to do that by living according to the standard that the Ten Commandments teach us. Jesus Christ freed us from the burdensome commands of the Old Testament ceremonial and sacrificial laws by fulfilling them through his perfect sacrifice upon the cross. That is not to be a license to sin, but a testimony to the power of grace to transform hearts. Through grace we are to strive to overcome sin and cultivate righteousness, depending on the Holy Spirit’s power and presence working to enable us. The fact that we are no longer under the burden of the demands of the Old Testament Law should result in our seeking to live our lives in obedience to the law of Christ. 1 John 2:3–6 says,

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

Today we begin the third week of Lent which is the journey where we are focusing on the cross and how our sin was the reason that Jesus went to the cross. Our goal has been to re-focus our hearts on the vows that we made or were made for us at our baptism, which we will be called upon to renew on Easter morning.

This morning we will focus on the purpose and function of the law of God as the way to restore our hearts and return to the joy of following God from lives of loving obedience.

Our primary focus will be on the Apostle Paul’s teaching on the function of the law in exposing sin, but first let’s consider how the Ten Commandments are laid out as a way of revealing Jesus’ teaching on loving God and our neighbor.

I’m certain that most of you are aware of the way the commandments are presented. The first four are how we relate to God:

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, You Shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol and bow down and worship it.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

These four laws set the standard for our lives before God. He is to be our primary focus as Creator, Lord and King. There is to be nothing that stands between us and his glory. We are to live in such a way that God receives the glory and honor that he is due. That’s why it is such an abomination for men to bow down to wood, stone, or anything from creation and praise it as the creator; to blaspheme his name, and to neglect to remember his blessings to us by forgetting to stop and reflect upon Him on the Sabbath.

The final six commandments are designed for those who serve the creator to know how to reflect him to those around us:

5. You shall honor your father and mother
6. You shall not murder;
7. You shall not commit adultery;
8. You shall not steal;
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor;
10. You shall not covet your neighbors stuff.

All the other 600+ laws were given as a way to live out obedience to the Ten Commandments. That’s why they are still an expression of God’s heart and a reflection of his nature. They are also a recipe for a good life which was God’s intention for his people whom he loves.

In this morning’s Psalm, King David, the Psalmist was seeing the law for what it is as he sang a song of praise in celebration of its majesty.

He praises the Lord for two of his greatest gifts to man: the creation and the law. He speaks of God’s general revelation in nature where God is clearly seen through what he has made, and his special revelation through the Scriptures. In verse 7 the psalmist speaks of the law as God’s special revelation that revives the soul. In Hebrew the word “shoob” means to restore, to bring back to life. It causes the heart (the inner man, the person) to be brought back to where they should be in communion with God. It gladdens the heart and opens the eyes to see everything through the lens of God's word. It brings wisdom and has more value, more worth than fine gold. Like honey, it is sweet and pure. At the conclusion David turned to his private life, praying that God would keep him on the true and right path

It was with this in mind as Paul writes in Romans 7:12, “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

Before Paul launches into an explanation of sin vs. the law he is establishing that the law is holy, righteous, and good, therefore whatever is contrary to the law and commandments of God must be seen as unholy, ungodly, and grievous to God. In this section the Apostle shares his own struggle with sin and reflects on the law as the light which exposes his sin.

This section at first glance can seem dense and hard to understand unless we allow it to peer into our own struggles with sin. We should ask the Holy Spirit to help us see through the lens of the Apostle Paul’s description of the frustrations and yet the goal to be reached by striving with our own sins. Let’s read Romans 7:13–15,

“Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, “sold” as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do.”

Paul is pointing out that it was the sin within him that caused him to break the law, but it was the law that revealed to him that he was without hope within himself. The law was good and from the heart of God, but its function was to expose the deepest need of the human heart to be set free from slavery to sin.

Charles Spurgeon wrote,

This is one of the most deplorable results of sin. It injures us most by taking from us the capacity to know how much we are injured. It undermines the man’s constitution, and yet leads him to boast of unfailing health; it beggars him and tells him he is rich; it strips him and makes him glory in his fancied robes.

The law then was given to wake us up to the truth of our condition before God. Paul recognizes that in his earthly flesh he still struggles. Even though his desire is to keep the law of God out of devotion to God, there is still the war going on between his flesh and the Spirit within him.

Some have felt that here Paul was speaking of his condition before he came to know Jesus Christ, but I don’t think that’s true. Before he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus he felt that he was righteous because he was keeping the outward demands of the law. In this passage he had come to understand that the law was holy and served the function of exposing him as a sinner, but it had no power to save him. He admits that within himself he was powerless to overcome the struggle and only found frustration.

In verses 16–20 Paul continues describing the inward struggle within himself that every believer can recognize. I don’t need to read it again because it is simply the back-and-forth struggle between wanting to do the right thing, but time and again finding that the flesh has again won. As we pray in our confession of sin,

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us.

What Paul is describing isn’t a lack of desire, he wants to do what is right. His problem isn’t that he doesn’t know what to do, he knew the law as well as anyone. The problem that he was describing was a lack of power, and he acknowledges that even though the law was holy and taught what the commands are, it gives no power or ability to keep them and that is Paul’s point. For those who strive to keep the commands of God in their own strength, they will live a life of guilt and frustration.

In verses 20–23 he writes,

“Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”

You may be asking yourself the question, “Is Paul denying his responsibility as a sinner?” The answer is “No.” He recognizes that as he sins he is acting against his new nature as a “new man” in Christ. Christians should own up to their sins but realize that the impulse to sin does not come from who we really are in Christ Jesus but is a reminder of who we are without him. It is the enemy who would have us live in the torment of guilt and self-loathing or he would have us live in self-righteousness because we have refused to acknowledge that we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

Every one of us understands this struggle to do good and the frustration of failure. C.S. Lewis wrote,

“No man knows how bad he is until he has tried to do good.”

As I pointed out earlier, some have thought that Paul was describing his struggle before he became a Christian. Others have pointed out that the mere fact that he was struggling clearly showed that he was a Christian. Either way the Apostle’s point here is that no one can overcome the struggle with sin by fighting in their own strength. The unregenerate man can never overcome this struggle because he lacks the power of the risen Savior. But the Christian, though he struggles, can be victorious as he/she submits themselves to the power of Christ within.

Paul wants us to see the struggle with sin as part of the ongoing battle of spiritual warfare and that each of us must fight, but not in our own strength or righteousness. It’s the last section of our passage that points this out so effectively. Let’s read Romans 7:24–25,

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”

Two laws or driving forces, the flesh and the Spirit, operate within the believer. The regenerate self, through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, loves God’s law and is devoted to it; but in this present existence, the powerful force of indwelling sin continues to operate, keeping the believer from fulfilling his or her desire for undiluted obedience.

I have been at the place in my life many times where I basically cried out, “O wretched man, O worn out man, O guilty, frustrated, tired man!” I have struggled and repented of my sins to the point that I was just about ready to give up. It was then I realized that Jesus was willing to walk with me through the struggle and give me the power through his spirit to overcome. I found that it was to be a life-long part of my journey. The longer I walk with God the more amazing grace is to me.

I believe it to be a grave error to think that the Apostles or early church fathers did not have to wrestle with sin, guilt, and frustration the same as we do—or should. It is tempting to come to this place in the passage hoping that Paul is now declaring that his struggle was done, and he had won the victory over sin in his life. Instead he is acknowledging that Jesus had won the battle over sin and death. When Paul describes “This body of death” some commentators believe that he is referring to the custom of ancient kings who tormented their prisoners by tying a corpse to their backs and making them walk around with it attached to them. Paul longed to be free from the wretched body of death clinging to him which was the sin that still was a part of his daily struggle.

He was calling us to focus on the fact that even though we struggle in this body, the day will come when we will be delivered from this body of death and will receive a glorious, resurrected body free from sin and corruption. It was then that he simply wrote, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” That is the hope of the Gospel and through that Paul was looking outside of himself and focusing on Jesus. When he did that he had a reason to thank and praise the God who had and would continue to come to his rescue. It was Jesus who was his Lord, and it is only through Jesus that he would have victory. Paul knew that he would continue to struggle, but if he kept his focus on Jesus he would make it through to the end.

Paul wanted his readers to understand that the law is glorious and holy, but it can’t save us, only Jesus can. The law came as a teacher to show us how to live before God, but we found that we couldn’t perfectly keep it because we didn’t need a teacher, we need a Savior. The law encourages us to live righteously and as those who are disciplined and intentional but though it motivates me, I can’t keep it without a Savior. The law came in and diagnosed my sin problem but had no way to provide a cure, only Jesus my Savior could do that.

So then, the law serves as a reminder of the standard that God would have us strive to live by, but it is the cross that is our focus of hope and surrender. It’s only through the power of the cross that we can be set free from the law of sin and death.

As we continue on the Lenten journey we should do so in recognition that without Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross we would stand condemned by the sin that ensnares us. It is through the cross that we are restored as the sons and daughters of God. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Let’s pray.