Why Do I Keep Stumbling?
Sermon Notes
Hey everybody my name’s Louis I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening, it’s great to gather with you both onsite and online. At this time we can dismiss our children to children’s church, and if you didn’t get to check your child in please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back to assist you with that...Now as for today we’re continuing our series on a book of the bible called Romans, and it’s a series about renewing your mind, for the transformation of your life. What we’re talking about specifically today is the doctrine of sanctification, the stumbling pursuit of sanctification. Sanctification is the transformation that starts happening in a person after they become a follower of Jesus. It’s where God starts transforming us into being more like Jesus, so our hearts will be more like his heart, our thoughts will be more like his thoughts. It’s a process that takes time, but we keep growing over time. If you’re a skeptic or somebody who viewsChristians as hypocrites, this is the reason why. It’s because we aren’t perfect like Jesus, but we are progressing into being more like Jesus. The reason you view us as hypocrites who sometimes stumble in sin, who sometimes fail to represent Jesus and live out his teachings, is because we aren’t perfect, we’re progressing. Sanctification isn’t about perfection, it's about progression.
If you’re a believer, if you’re a Christian, you hate it when others view you as a hypocrite. You don’t hate them, you hate the fact that it’s true. You hate the fact that you are sometimes a hypocrite who stumbles in sin and fails to represent Jesus well. I mean aren’t there days you wrestle with how long it’s taking to overcome certain sins?...Aren’t there days you wrestle with how long it’s taking to grow in your faith?...Aren’t there days you feel like you should be further along in your faith, further along in your relationship with Jesus than you are?...I personally have days like that even as a pastor. I have days I stumble in sin, get frustrated with myself, feel like I should be further in faith than I am. I have days I wrestle with how long the process of sanctification is taking, and that’s what we’re talking about today. We’re talking about the stumbling pursuit of sanctification, so let’s turn to Romans 7 and get into it. You’ll find Romans in the last quarter of the bible, and we’ll be in Romans 7:14-25. Title of today’s message is Why do I keep stumbling? The big idea of the message is the Christian life isn’t a perfect life, it’s a stumbling but still growing life...The Christian life isn’t a perfect life, it’s a stumbling but still growing life.
Here’s your context. Romans was written by the Apostle Paul who was a skeptic and enemy of Christianity, until 35 A.D. when he has an interaction with Jesus that changes his life, and he becomes a Christian. Then 20 yrs later he writes this letter to Christians living in Rome to teach them about Jesus and the gospel that transformed his life. In ch’s 1-5 he explains that both skeptics and believers are guilty of sin, and that Jesus is the one who can save us, cure us, restore us from our inherited sin nature. But in ch’s 6-7 he explains that putting our faith in Jesus doesn’t mean we won’t ever struggle with sin anymore. He says we’ll still struggle with sin, but we’ll be growing further away from sin over time, because of sanctification. So far in ch’s 6-7 he’s taught us about the beginning of sanctification, the importance of obedience in sanctification, and today he’ll teach us about the ongoing process and stumbling pursuit of sanctification. Let’s check it out.
Romans 7:14-25 states, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin.”In the original Greek language the verb sold is written in what’s called the perfect tense, which means Paul’s talking about a past action that has present implications. The past action he’s talking about is when the first human Adam chose to sin, he sold out on God and sold humanity into slavery making us all slaves under sin. We’re all born with an inherited sin nature we received from Adam’s original sin, making us slaves under sin. But like we studied in ch 6 Paul says Jesus came to break the chains of sin in our lives, so that sin doesn’t have to rule us, control us, enslave us anymore. In Romans 6:4 he says we’re now free to walk in the newness of life Jesus has given us. But it’s going to be a struggle, which Paul mentions next.
Vs. 15, “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate.” Paul says I do what I hate, and there’s a lot of debate over who he’s talking about. Is he talking about his past struggles with sin when he was living without Jesus, or is he talking about his present struggles with sin now that he’s a new person, living a new life with Jesus? Is he talking about a non-Christian’s struggles with sin, or a Christian’s struggles with sin? Most scholars agree he’s talking about a Christian here, but then they debate over what type of Christian he’s talking about? They debate over the following three types of Christians:
#1 The Carnal Christian = Some think Paul’s talking about a Carnal Christian, which is somebody who claims Jesus is their Savior, but they don’t live like he’s their Lord. They believe Jesus forgives their sins, but don’t live with a deep desire for him to be Lord of their lives. They want to be forgiven, but don’t pursue much growth. So instead of living for what Jesus wants, they live for what they want. If that’s you, then realize Jesus doesn’t just want to forgive you, he wants to transform you. He doesn’t just want to accept you as you are, he wants to sanctify you into something better than you are. He loves you as you are, but he loves you too much to leave you as you are. There’s people like this, Carnal Christians like this in every church, but I don’t believe that’s who Paul’s talking about. I say that because the person in the text hates sin and is struggling to fight against sin. Carnal Christians tend to overlook their sin, rather than grow in fighting against their sin. They need to grow in taking the Lordship of Jesus more seriously.
#2 The Perfect Christian = Some people think Paul’s talking about a Perfect Christian who claims they used to struggle with sin, but they don’t anymore. Some Christians believe that holiness and perfection can be reached in this life through faith in Jesus. But people like this often struggle with heavy guilt when they sin, or they become so legalistic in their pursuit of holiness, that they experience very little joy in their relationship with Jesus. Their relationship with Jesus feels more like a restricted joyless prison, than a free joyful pasture. If that’s you, then realize Jesus came to offer you an abundantly joyful life not a joyless prison life. You need to realize you aren’t perfect like Jesus, and you’re being sinfully prideful if you claim you are. You might appear holy on the outside, but you’re being sinfully prideful and self-righteous on the inside. I don’t believe Paul’s talking about this kind of Perfect Christian either. It’s because the person in the text is admitting they struggle with perfection, and the Perfect Christian needs to grow in this kind of humility, admitting they’re far from reaching perfection.
#3 The Transparent Christian = Some people think Paul’s talking about a Transparent Christian who believes Jesus is their Savior and Lord, but admits they aren’t perfect in living out their faith in Jesus. They love Jesus and hate their sin, but admit they sometimes struggle to resist their sin. They believe they’re a new person in Jesus and believe they’re progressing, but admit they aren’t perfect like Jesus and they’re still far from perfection. Most scholars agree that Paul’s referring to this kind of Transparent Christian. Most agree Paul’s talking about himself, and the struggles Christians go through after becoming followers of Jesus. In fact in vs 15 the original Greek switches from Paul using a perfect tense verb, to using 20 present tense verbs, meaning he’s talking about present experiences. He’s talking about present, real-life personal struggles with sin, that him and other Christians go through, in the stumbling pursuit of sanctification.
Again vs. 15, “For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.” This is the war, the cage fight I talked about last week, between the old person you were without Jesus, and the new person you are with Jesus. Paul uses the word flesh twice in vs 14-18, and he’s talking about more than our physical bodies. He’s talking about our entire being, including our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual desires. He’s talking about how our entire flesh has been corrupted by our inherited sin nature, creating an inner conflict between who we are and who we want to be. It’s an inner conflict between the old person we were, and the new person we want to be. Everybody has an inner conflict like this. It looks different for Christians than non-Christians, but everybody has an inner conflict between who we were, and who we want to be. I mean secular psychology examines the inner conflict between who we were, who we are, and who we want to be. It examines the inner conflict between what happened in our past, how it’s affecting us in the present, and how it’s preventing us from being who we want to be in the future...The business world calls this inner conflict the dark side of leadership. It’s that we all have a dark side in our past that affects how we lead in the present and future...One of my favorite shows is The Selection, and it’s about regular citizens trying to make it through a few weeks of Navy Seals training. So the Navy Seals give them a little taste of their training. But as the days pass they try helping them explore their past, because even the Navy Seals know there’s an inner conflict, a battle inside every person.
So even secular psychology, the business world, the Navy Seals affirm what the bible’s been teaching for thousands of years. It’s that there’s a battle, a war going on inside every person between who we were, who we are, and who we want to be. The difference is the battle shifts if you put your faith in Jesus. The battle of the flesh doesn’t stop it shifts, and the battle lines shift in your favor, because you now have Jesus helping you with the battle. Paul says it’s a new battle between the old person you were without Jesus, and the new person you are now that you’re with Jesus. It’s a battle between the old person you were with a sin nature, with a sinful flesh, and the new person you are with a new nature, with a new life giving spirit from Jesus. So even after we put our faith in Jesus, we’ll still have some of the old sinful fleshremaining inside us, and it’ll be at war with the new life giving spirit Jesus has given us. Jesus warned his disciples about this, he told them in Matthew 26:41, “Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” It’s an inner conflict, a battle between the flesh and spirit.
Again vs. 18, “For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but I practice the evil I do not want to do.” Paul wants to do good, but instead he does the evil he hates to do. Can you relate?...Can you relate with the inner conflict that’s inside Paul?...Do you have days where you’re like “Why did I do that? Why did I give into that?...Why am I still struggling with sin, still so selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed?...Why am I still lashing out in anger, still losing patience in parenting, still talking back to my parents?...Why am I still not trusting Jesus or pursuing him like I should?...Why do I want to do good, but I do the evil I hate to do?”...Can you relate?...I know I can relate, and it’s encouraging to know I’m not alone in this struggle. It’s encouraging to know even a strong Christian leader like Paul, struggled with the inner conflict between the flesh and spirit. He struggled with a stumbling pursuit of holiness. So if you think you’re alone in this struggle you’re not, because Paul struggled with this too.
Vs. 20, “Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this law:, When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body,, waging war against the law of my mind, and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.” Notice he says I delight in God’s laws, meaning he delights in the moral laws of God. He delights in God and trusts what God says is best for his life. His point is even though we delight in God and God’s laws, we still stumble to live that delight out. In vs 22 he says it’s a battle in our inner self, and in vs 23 he says it’s a war. So every time we wake up in the morning we should expect to face this inner conflict and some decisions where we’ll have to decide do we want walk in the old sinful flesh, or do we want to walk in the new life giving spirit of Jesus? Galatians 5:25 says, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” It’s a daily decision where we can either walk in the old sinful flesh, or walk in step with the Holy Spirit. It’s a daily decision where we can either walk with our sin, or walk with our Savior Jesus.
Vs. 24, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul’s voicing his frustration and his hope. He says what a wretched man I am, voicing his frustration with losing some battles and for not being as far along in his faith as he’d like. John Piper states, “What Paul’s saying isn’t that Christians live in continual defeat, but that no Christian lives in continual victory over sin. In the moments we fail to triumph over sin, vs 14-25 is the way a healthy Christian should respond. He should say...I hate what I just did...Oh the wretchedness I feel in these times!” But we can’t stop there or else we’ll just soak in guilt and shame, instead we have to turn back to the gospel, turn back to Jesus remembering he died for our sins on the cross so we don’t have live in guilt and shame. We need to repent like Paul, but also turn back to Jesus like Paul. We need to say what a wretched person I am, but also say thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I believe Paul’s teaching us two things in Romans 7, and the 1st is that sanctification is a process that takes time. It’s that Christians aren’t perfect like Jesus, but we are progressing into being more like Jesus over time. So if you’re a Christian thinking “Why am I still struggling with sin? Why am I still struggling with marriage, with parenting, with obeying my parents? Why am I still struggling with not loving or pursuing Jesus like I should?” It’s because sanctification is a process that takes time. The 2nd thing Paul’s teaching us is to be encouraged by Jesus. We need to be encouraged by Jesus, knowing in the end we’ll win the battle of the flesh with Jesus in the fight. In WW2, in December 1941, the war was’t going well for Winston Churchill and England. It was a very dark time for them. But on Dec 7th Churchill heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor and said this in his memoir. Churchill said, “No American will think it wrong of me to proclaim, that hearing the U.S. was on our side, was the greatest joy to me. England would live! Britain would live!...I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.” The thing that changed his heart from being discouraged to encouraged, was knowing the U.S. was with them in the fight. The thing that turned Paul’s heart from being discouraged to encouraged, was knowing Jesus was with him in the fight. The thing that can turn our heart from being discouraged to encouraged, is knowing Jesus is with us in the fight, and he’ll make sure we win the battle of the flesh. What a wretched person I am! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Let’s have the worship team come up and get to the big idea. The big idea is the Christian life isn’t a perfect life, it’s a stumbling but still growing life. So you can expect good days and bad days, wins and losses, victories and defeats. The battle of the flesh is a part of the Christian experience, but it isn’t the end of the Christian experience. Jesus will make sure it ends with you being fully healed, fully restored, fully sanctified, fully perfected, no longer having to deal with the battle of the flesh anymore…If you’re a skeptic, you’re fighting a hopeless battle you can’t win without him. Jesus loves you and is willing to fight the battle of the flesh, the battle of sin with you. If you put your faith in him, if you believe he died for your sins on the cross, then he’ll give you a new life with him today, and the victory of eternal life with him in the end.
If you’re a believer, if you’re feeling defeated and discouraged, go ahead and say what a wretched person I am! But then turn that weeping into praising knowing Jesus has forgiven you, saved you, and will finish the sanctifying work he’s started in you. Be encouraged knowing there isn’t anybody Jesus starts working on, that he doesn’t finish working on. He doesn’t start loving you, to later say I give up on you. He doesn’t start forgiving you, to later say forget you. Instead he keeps loving, keeps forgiving, keeps transforming you until he finishes the sanctifying work he started in you. So be encouraged knowing your best days are ahead of you, your best life is ahead of you, because Jesus will never give up on you. Be encouraged knowing your best days and best life are still ahead of you, because Jesus is with you, and he’s still sanctifying you...