Romans Chapter 7 verses 5 to 13 : Covetousness and Carnality

Notes from a message preached by Dr J Stewart Gillespie At Bridgend Gospel Hall New Cumnock To listen to the MP3 recording of this message click here Chapter 6: 4 reasons we do not continue in sin: 1.Dead to sin 2.Alive to Christ 3.Serve another 4.Sin remains sin The bulk / the biggest of these 4 reasons presented in chapter 6 was: 'I serve another' which runs from about verse 12 to 20. Chapter 7 continues where chapter 6 left off Chapter 7 looks at what stops me from living the life I ought to live, a life that really counts for God and for eternity, The believer has 3 great enemies: 1.The World 2.The Flesh 3.The Devil cf. James 3:15; Psalm 17:12-14 Consider Moses and his rod used against Egypt – the world, the serpent – the Devil and Amalek – the flesh Consider David in 1 Samuel 17 – up against Goliath marked by 666, Saul and his carnal advice and the world in the form of the Philistine army Come to Romans 7 you would hardly know we had 3 enemies, only 1 mentioned – the flesh! Why the is it that the flesh comes in for such special attention here? 1.The Devil – smarter enemy: the 'angel of light', whispering in your ear: 'this is the way...let me show you a better way...don't listen to the preacher...never mind your bible..you needn't get rid of that sin, just cut it down a bit and if you can't cut it down a bit, just pretend you have, no one needs know...you can handle it.' 2.The World – would be a bigger enemy 3.The Flesh – the weakest enemy! Paradoxically the most significant! It is the weakest link in the chain! The flesh is the most vulnerable! The flesh becomes the final common pathway of all attack on my spiritual progress! So then if I didn't have the flesh: 1.Satan would be unable to gain a foothold in my life? Correct! Consider the words of Christ: “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30) 2.The world would have no appeal to me? Correct! Consider 1 John 2:16: “all that is in the world the lust of the flesh...” 3.Sin would have no appeal to me? Correct! (Rom7:5) When we use our bodies / lifes to act / speak / serve, think of: 1.The Cause of the action: Is it “in the flesh,” is it the kind of thing an unsaved person would do? Is it just fulfilling natural desires? 2.The Consequences of that actions: God desires that all actions and service for Him lead me deeper into “holiness” (6:19,22) 3.The Conclusion (6:23) – does it lead to death? Do the results continue with positive significance after death, “unto eternal life”? It is through the flesh Satan will attack me! An unsaved person is very much in: 1.The Power of Sin (Rom 6) 2.The Power of Satan (Eph2) 3.The Power of the Flesh (Rom7:5) Yet a man will rarely commit a sin that he does not enjoy! So Satan will act on the flesh, the natural appetites, for a buzz, a good time, a thrill. The world will appeal to: materialism, sexual appetite, natural desires: “the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life.” Beware of blaming your sin on the Devil! God doesn't! God holds me responsible for my own sin! A man generally will enjoy his own sin: David – acted and fell on sexual desire Samson – sexual desire was his downfall Nabal – gluttony Judas – love of money, Satan entered into him and yet Judas fell because of his own greed and materialism. He had kept the bag and stolen from it and now he sells the Lord for 30 pieces of silver! A sin Satanically designed to appeal to Judas' flesh! 7:1-4 – Freedom from Law 7:5-13 – Failure of Flesh 7:14-25 – Frustration with Flesh How does the flesh hold me back? 7:5 – The Flesh Rebels against God 7:6 – The Flesh Restricts God 7:7 – The Flesh Replaces God The Flesh Rebels Against God (7:5) What is the response of the flesh to God? To His Word? To His Law? This verse is here that I might be able to discern the action and reaction of my own flesh to Gods Word. Does the flesh respond to Gods Word by: (a)The flesh gets information from the law? The flesh sitting back, minding its own business, is informed about sin by the law, and finds itself drawn to do what it never thought to do before? I don't think that is it at all. There is something far more active in the relationship between the 2 in verse 5: “the passions of sins” (v5), this is the flesh pursuing sin with a passion! Consider how the 'flesh' responds to Gods Law / Gods Word: i.Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen19) – the men rebelled against Gods Word from Lot: 'who do you think you are?' Who are you telling what to do?' The flesh responds with rebellion against God and His Word. ii.Synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4) – The Word of God preached, an opportunity to respond to the gospel, if you don't respond then I'll turn to the Gentiles! Remember Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, remember Elisha and the Shunammite! What was their response? We never thought of that before? We'll need to go home and discuss this with our Rabbis? No the response of the flesh was that of rejection – took Him to the brow of the hill to cast Him off. iii.Calvary – man responds in the flesh with revulsion: “hated without a cause” He was “despised and rejected of men...” they cried “crucify Him” (b)The flesh is not simply informed by the law rather it is surely clear the response of the flesh is that on inflammation! Why does this happen? Every person has: 1.The flesh – which rejects God (Rom 8:7) – Detests God 2.A Conscience (Rom 2) – which detects God As soon as the conscience detects God; in moral values eg Sodom and Gomorrah, in His Word eg Luke 4 or in Person – the rejection of Christ. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome all of that! Beware of a response to the Word of God that: rebels, rejects, revolts – that is the response of the flesh. The Flesh Restricts God (7:6) The flesh wants to turn the reality of relationship into the routine of religion We have seen previously that service for God can become a dry, dismal, dead, formal thing, that comes out of: Responsibility Obligation Duty This is not the motive for true Christian service Psalm 40:8 “I delight to do thy will O my God, yea thy law is within my heart” D – Desire E – Enjoyment L – Love I – Intensity G – Glory of God H – Heart T – Total Commitment To serve the way God wants me to serve I need: 1.Passion to Serve (7:1-4) 2.Possibility / Ability to Serve (7:5-13) 3.Power to serve (7:14-25) The flesh desires to change that service into a cold legality / formality (7:6) It is possible to draw a certain comfort / consolation from the repetition of form. The flesh likes formality – it keeps God at a distance. Indicators of formality: we become caught up with: 1.The Processes of religion: “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.” (Amos 5:21) 2.The Places of religion: “But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.” (Mat 12:6); Matt 24:1: the church / the hall! 3.The People of religion: “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (Luke 3:8) cf. “Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.” (1Co 1:12) “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” (1Co 3:4) The Flesh Replaces God (7:7) Of all the commandments to pick in this verse why pick: “thou shalt not covet” ? Why that one? Are there not more important commandments? More serious laws? What about the 1st table of the law? Sins against God? Did you notice that “thou shalt not covet” is by way of illustration of “lust” (v7) – in other words it is covetousness that makes lust sinful. The problem with lust is, it is a form of covetousness. Lust – the product of the flesh, sets my heart on what it ought not to be set upon. Lust is sinful because it takes my heart away from where it ought to be. Consider how covetousness lies at the root of so many sins: 1.The root sin of the flesh – covetousness 2.The root sin of Satan – covetousness: Isa 14:12-13; Ezek 28:16 3.The root sin of the world – covetousness: 1 John 2:16 4.Idolatry is covetousness (col 3:5) 5.Theft is the practice of covetousness 6.Adultery is sexual covetousness Covetousness is therefore presented in scripture as: 1.The root of all evil (1 Tim6:10) 2.The impediment to entering into heaven (Matt 19:24) 3.The alternative to Holy Spirit filled living (Col 3:2) 4.The seminal / root sin behind Satan, the World and the Flesh. 5.Responsible for bringing Gods judgement upon His people (Isa 57:17) 6.The sin of displacing God from my heart and putting something or someone else in His place: Ps 119:36; Ezek 33:31; Heb 13:5. Covetousness is thus the Seminal sin: The Divine definition of sin expounded in the 10 commandments, exemplified throughout Israels history, exposed in times of Divine judgement upon His people and explained in scripture hinges upon Gods abhorrence to and utter intolerance of covetousness, that is the revulsion of God towards a created being becoming distracted by or occupied with anything other than God. This is a most dangerous sin committed when it is committed against the One who describes Himself as a “jealous God.” When I apply this to my life, the insight which it brings is little short of mind blowing: i.Every unnecessary shopping trip ii.Every distracted hour iii.Every wasted evening on the TV / internet iv.Every pre-occupation with material gain v.Every social event which takes priority over the spiritual Becomes an act of exceptional sinfulness. https://graceinchrist.org/romans