Romans 7:9 (7-11)
Breaking Cancelled Sin
The title of the message comes from the song, "O, For A Thousand
Tongues", by Charles Wesley.
Verse 4 He breaks the power of cancelled sin,
he sets the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean;
his blood availed for me.
The book of Romans is a deep book which can be hard to follow for
several reasons. One is because it’s content is deep. Another is
because it seems hard, at least in places, to follow Paul’s thoughts.
Let’s see if we can jump in here and follow them for a few minutes.
Romans 7:9 For I was alive without the law once:
but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I
died.
1. Paul was not talking about literally being alive and dead.
2. He means that when he did not know what the Law said, he
thought he was alive, but when he found out what the law
said, he understood he had been dead all along.
3. The Law does several things:
a. It tells us what sin is; that is, it tells us what right
and wrong is. A lot of people think they are not too
bad until they read the Law of God. Then they find out
they were never very good.
b. Finding out how bad we are, leave us condemned. We feel
guilty when we realize how many times we have done wrong,
especially without knowing it.
c. The Law then leaves us dead, that is separated from God.
d. The Law leaves us damned. Among the many things that the
Law teaches us, it teaches us that if we have done
anything wrong, we are cut off from God and will be
damned forever.
e. Paul refers to this effect of the Law as the Law of Sin
and Death.
(1) In short, that law says that if I sin, I die.
(2) I will die once on earth, but I will die forever in
hell.
Romans 7:10 And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
1. So, finding out what God has said in the Law was not a good
thing.
2. He thought the Law would give him life, but it actually just
showed him that he was already dead and doomed to hell.
3. But it gets worse.
Romans 7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
1. Paul said that he learned that sin takes advantage of this
occasion.
a. What occasion?
b. The occasion of him learning what the Law said.
2. When Paul learned what the Law said, sin created "all manner
of concupiscence" within him.
a. Concupiscence means desire, but not just any kind of
desire.
b. It is a strong, physical, overwhelming, controlling
desire.
3. What Paul is saying is that when we find out that something is
wrong, our sinful nature wants it all the more.
4. Have you found that to be true? Sure you have.
a. From a child, we have a compulsion to do the very things
we are told not to do.
b. Tell a child NOT to touch something, and he will touch it
or have a tantrum.
c. Tell a teenager NOT to date a certain person, and they
will do it or die.
d. Tell an adult that he can NOT afford an item, and he will
buy it or bust.
5. This characteristic is so well documented, that psychologists
have a term for how to use it
a. They call it "reverse psychology."
b. By that they mean that if you want a person to do one
thing, tell him that he can’t. Or if you want a person
not to do something, tell him that he must do it.
6. Paul was not saying that this is only true of the lost. He
was saying it was true of the saved as well.
Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not:
for what I would, that do I not; but what I
hate, that do I.
Romans 7:19 For the good that I would I do
not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
a. Have you ever noticed that the things that are healthy
don’t taste as good to you as the things that are not?
b. Did God actually create the healthy things to taste WORSE
than the unhealthy things?
c. Probably not.
d. The problem is us. Because we know it is healthy, it
doesn’t taste as good to us; and because we know
something is unhealthy, it tastes better.
Romans 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
1. Paul was saying that this is the way sin works, and that it
has a goal, to kill us.
2. Paul did not mean that sin has a mind and intellect, but that
Satan, knowing and understanding this flaw in our nature,
uses sin and even the knowledge of sin against us to kill us.
a. By the way, staying ignorant about what sin is really
does not help us any.
b. We continue to gravitate to the wrong we just do it in
ignorant bless.
3. This should explain some things to us. It should explain…
a. Why the alcoholic keeps going back to the booze.
b. Why the smoker keeps going back to the cigarette.
c. Why the drug abuser keeps going back to drugs.
d. Why we are eating ourselves into an early grave.
e. Why we have to fight lusts and laziness, and every other
thing that we know is wrong.
4. The reason is that once we find out that it is wrong, we are
drawn to it like the moth to the flame.
5. Paul concludes with this summary of our condition.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?
So what are we to do? Chapter 7 shows us our condition, but Chapter
8 gives us our solution.
I. We need to turn to Jesus Christ as Savior.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
A. Where else would we start?
1. If we are going to break the abuse of sin, we must first
break bondage of sin.
2. We must be saved.
3. In \\#Romans 8:3\\ Paul was telling us that what a
commands of the Law could not do for us, Christ coming
and dying can.
a. Why did we go to the Law to begin with?
b. Most went looking for a way to get rid of sin and to
find life and forgiveness.
c. It may be strange, but the Law cannot give either of
those.
(1) It does not give life; but as Paul said, it gives
us guilt, death, and damnation.
(2) And truthfully, the Law could not give
forgiveness either.
(a) There was only so much that the blood of a
goat and ox could do.
(b) It could buy some time, but it could not
wash away sin.
d. So the Law did not give anyone any of the things that
went to it to get.
e. But God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh (to die) for sin, did!
B. What do you get when you trust Jesus as your Savior?
1. You get forgiveness of sins past, present, and even
future.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit.
2. Sin’s death grip is broken.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death.
a. Remember that I told you Paul would use that phrase?
b. In simple terms it means, "If you sin, you die," and
that is two deaths.
(1) One here on earth.
(2) The second forever in hell.
c. Sin’s death grip on me was broken the moment I got
saved.
(1) Sadly, I still sin.
(2) But I do not sin and die.
(3) I will die, but it will no longer be for sin.
(4) My death now will be my promotion from this life
to God’s throne room.
(5) And I will never face damnation.
(6) Indeed, I will never face judgement for my sins.
3. Supernatural Power.
a. The truth is, Christians don’t fight fair against sin.
b. We let God do our fighting for us.
c. And that is the second point of this message.
II. We need to walk in the supernatural Power given to us.
A. You can’t see it; but in my notes, I have the word "Power’
capitalized.
1. I did that because the word "Power" does not refer to a
thing, but a Person.
2. That Person in the Holy Ghost.
3. The supernatural Power that is given to every believer is
the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost.
B. Notice His importance from the very onset.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit.
1. Even to enjoy the complete forgiveness of God, which was
purchased by Jesus on the cross and given to us at
salvation by faith, we must be walking in harmony with
the Holy Ghost.
2. If we can’t even enjoy fully the blood-bought gifts of
salvation without the Holy Spirit, how shall we ever
enjoy the supernatural Power offered without Him?
3. We can’t!
4. If we want to break our concupiscence, our strong lust
for the things that are wrong, we must walk in harmony
with the Holy Spirit.
5. The Biblical way of saying that is to "walk in the
Spirit."
C. Notice what is possible if we are walking in the Spirit.
1. We will be able to do the right things commanded in the
Law.
Romans 8:4 That the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.
2. Our minds will focus on spiritual things.
Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do
mind the things of the flesh; but they that are
after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
a. Remember that concupiscence? The extremely strong
lust to do the things that we know are wrong?
b. It is defeated, destroyed, dissolved in a spiritual
mind which is focused on spiritual things.
3. In fact, all of the power of God will flow through the
individual who walks in the Spirit.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in
you.
III. What must I do to walk in the Spirit?
A. The answer is very simple although the action may not be.
1. The answer is the same way you walked in the flesh, so
walk in the Spirit.
Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as
ye have yielded your members servants to
uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even
so now yield your members servants to
righteousness unto holiness.
a. You walked in the flesh one wrong decision at a time.
b. Each one taking a bit further down a wrong path.
c. Each one without taking thought of what it will cost
you.
d. Each one, one step at a time.
2. Now you must walk in the Spirit the same way.
a. Walk in the Spirit one right decision at a time.
b. Each right decision taking you a bit further down the
right road.
c. Each one without taking thought of what it will cost
you.
d. Each one, one step at a time.
B. That is what walking in the Spirit is.
1. It is not a magical, uncontrollable moving of God.
2. It is you, yielding yourself as a servant of righteousness
unto holiness.
3. It will change you.
4. It will unleash the supernatural Power of God.
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