Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] My great grandfather, Frank T. Florence fought in the U.S. army during World War II.
[00:00:08] And while he was fighting on September 6, 1944, he was attempting to cross the Moselle river in France to fight the Nazis. And in this attempt he was captured. He was put on a train with no food for three days and he was transported to Poland, where he would live the next eight months of his life in a Nazi concentration camp.
[00:00:30] He wrote a book about his time there. And in the book he talks about the sunken faces and the defeated looks on his friends and on himself.
[00:00:41] The Nazis were consistently brutal in the beatings that they gave them, in the starvation that they experienced. He talks about the only food that they received being day old Spam straight out of the can.
[00:00:54] And the day old Spam was intentionally given to them, expired, so they could not stockpile it and gain energy to attempt escape. He talks about their skeleton, like bodies being bruised and beaten and welts being left on them because of their sleep sacks, sleep sacks that were filled with newspapers and that balled up and became hard and hurt.
[00:01:18] He talks about a very specific instance of hope, this one symbol of hope that he kept with him his wedding ring that reminded him of his wife back home.
[00:01:30] But Nazi thieves, the guards would continuously come around and steal the possessions of the prisoners for profit. So he hid it in a bar of soap and he kept it in a bar of soap. And when he returned home, he still had that ring with him.
[00:01:47] After eight long months of torture and beatings and starvation, hope came.
[00:01:57] Freedom was made impossible. But on January 31, freedom was made possible.
[00:02:04] Allied forces rushed into the prison camp. They lit up the night sky with gunfire and they freed my great grandfather. Frank felt this freedom.
[00:02:15] Can you imagine how that must have felt for him?
[00:02:19] He was broken, spirited, hopeless.
[00:02:23] Imagine the anger and the pain and the starvation that he felt in this prison camp. And now freedom was here. It was gifted him.
[00:02:33] Now imagine if he looked at the faces of those there to free him and refused to leave.
[00:02:41] He said, no, I'm okay. I'm going to stay here, stay in the place that has caused me such anguish.
[00:02:47] That's ridiculous, right? That wouldn't make any sense.
[00:02:51] But we as Christians often live in our sin, sit in a prison cell of our sin, being harassed, being in anguish and torture, when Jesus has ripped the door off the hinges and freedom is waiting for us to live in light of, isn't it silly when we picture it and think of it that way? Or on the other hand, there are times when we are living in light of that freedom, freedom that Christ has bought for us with his death.
[00:03:25] But we are reminded of the torture and the horrors that we lived in that prison.
[00:03:32] Frank, when he returned home, living in freedom, back in the States with his children and his wife, he was constantly harassed, not just mentally, but physically, by his time in that prison camp.
[00:03:45] Starvation and lack of nutrients harassed his digestive system.
[00:03:50] A lack of sunlight, being in the concentration camp gave him scurvy, and he had teeth, dental problems his entire life.
[00:03:58] Even while living in light of that freedom, harassment was constant. There was a remembrance of that time in the prison.
[00:04:05] And that's what Paul talks about today in this text, that even living in light of the freedom that Christ has bought for us, sin harasses us.
[00:04:16] This body of death that he talks about is still harassing us, even in our freedom.
[00:04:22] So the first thing that we see when looking at this text is that our mind and our flesh are in opposition. Verse 21, Paul says this.
[00:04:32] So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, even evil lies close at hand. Now, first and foremost, I want us to see the honesty in Paul's words, right? He's not telling a story. He's not giving a metaphor. No, he's giving an account of his own life. He is telling us his own life and his own struggle. And what does Paul want to do? Well, he wants to do what's right. That's his desire. That's his will.
[00:04:58] But evil lies close at hand.
[00:05:02] Evil in this world is constantly close at hand. And today, evil in this world can literally be in our hand with our phones, the things we watch, the things we see, books that we read, movies, tv, conversations that happen at work, billboards as we drive down the road. All of these things can be used as evil against us. And they are close at hand. And they're all fighting for number one position of influence in our lives.
[00:05:32] And he continues with this honesty. In verse 22, he says, For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, 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. Paul wants to do what's right. He delights in the law of God and his inner being. This inner being is not to spirits in Paul or to men in Paul. No, because Paul is saved by Christ. He is one spirit, the Holy Spirit that is guiding him and directing him towards the will of God. And in that spirit, he delights in the law of God and He wants to do what he knows is right, what God is telling him to do. However, he notices this conflict that's happening.
[00:06:25] Something is conflicting with this will of God in his life.
[00:06:31] And he talks about it in such a scary way. He's saying that it is holding him in captivity, right? That he is captive to this law of sin that dwells in him. And when I was reading this, and you're thinking through this, when we hear captivity, we think of a prisoner, right? Somebody behind bars, someone who is oppressed and has no control and no way to escape from. But we've already established in our text today that this is not the case.
[00:07:00] Paul is not a prisoner to his sin. Paul has been set free in the original context. And what this word means in the original language is more so to be led astray from something, right? Paul is not being controlled by his sin and it has no hold over him. But his sin leads him astray from this will of God that the Holy Spirit in him is leading him towards.
[00:07:23] And he talks about it in a way that is so horrifying that it that he has this will that he's seeking towards and that he's wanting to do, but there's something that's keeping him from it. And we can feel this, can't we? Reading this, we know what Paul is talking about. We all have experienced this.
[00:07:44] We love God and we want to do.
[00:07:48] We want to do what God tells us to, but our actions prove otherwise.
[00:07:54] We know that we want to be in relationship with God, to be in God's word and be in prayer and serve and love those around us.
[00:08:04] And then the anger arises and we sin against those who love us. And more importantly, we sin against a God who loves us.
[00:08:12] And it's hard and it's difficult, and it feels like we will never stop sinning. And when we are in the depths of our sin, it feels like no matter how hard we pray or how hard we try, that sin will never end.
[00:08:26] And there are times that sin's effect on our lives feels more powerful than the effect that God has in our lives.
[00:08:36] And the world bombards us with temptation in subtle and very specific, obvious ways.
[00:08:43] And our sin is visible.
[00:08:45] Paul talks about seeing this other law waging war against what he truly desires.
[00:08:52] It's visible. It's not an abstract thing. Paul sees it and it causes hatred for it. Paul hates his sin, and we too must hate our sin in the same fashion that Paul does.
[00:09:06] We can see it in the way he's writing this. I can hear it in the words he's writing on the page, his hatred towards his sin, a burning reality in his life and a burning reality that should be in ours. And we see this hatred for his sin boil over into verse 24, where he says, this wretched man that I am.
[00:09:28] Right.
[00:09:30] Wretched man that I am.
[00:09:32] We know this feeling. We understand this feeling. This opposition causes groaning.
[00:09:42] This opposition causes groaning.
[00:09:46] Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. He is crying out to God for answers.
[00:09:53] He is begging God for deliverance from this body of death, from this sin in his life that he feels like he has no control over.
[00:10:02] He's in the depths of his depravity.
[00:10:06] And we know this. This is that moment right after sin when conviction hits. And we know that what we've done is wrong. And we know that we have sinned against a good and just God who loves us.
[00:10:18] And we don't know what to do.
[00:10:20] And it feels like it'll never end and like it'll never stop.
[00:10:26] This body of death. John Piper talks about this body of death, its effect on us.
[00:10:33] He says that it is harassment.
[00:10:36] Just as Frank was harassed later in his life by the effects of his imprisonment, we too, as Christians are harassed by this body of death, even when we are freed from it.
[00:10:51] And then he continues in verse 25, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:11:00] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:11:04] What is going on? This is. It feels so out of place.
[00:11:08] Paul is in the depths of his depravity. He's crying out to God for answers. And then one verse later, he's saying, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise God. Thank you.
[00:11:23] It seems crazy, right, that we can go right from the depths of our depravity, and then a moment later, we can be praising God.
[00:11:32] But why is that? It's because the gospel is true, and it's because the gospel is real. And what Paul is teaching the Romans here, and what Paul is teaching us in this text is that we must remember the gospel, especially in moments of sin and difficulty, because the gospel gives freedom, this sin.
[00:11:55] And he's remembering it. And it leads him to a final statement of his condition.
[00:12:00] He continues on. He says, so then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin. Paul's reiterating this problem.
[00:12:14] He's reiterating the hopelessness that he feels in his sin.
[00:12:20] And he ends the chapter.
[00:12:23] And the last thing that we hear from Paul in Romans 7 is with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
[00:12:33] And it seems hopeless and it seems scary to let it end there.
[00:12:43] But praise God that Paul doesn't end there.
[00:12:47] Romans, chapter 8, verse 1.
[00:12:52] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[00:13:01] There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I could read this verse a million times this morning and the glory in these words would never truly sink in.
[00:13:16] This is amazing. And it's amazing because it makes no sense. The war is over.
[00:13:23] We see here that Jesus is victorious over our sin.
[00:13:28] Jesus is victorious over our sin. Deliverance from sin in this body of death that Paul is begging for is happening.
[00:13:38] Christ has made the sacrifice and made this freedom possible. We've not earned this. It's not something that we deserve. Christ didn't come down because we were good people that needed deliverance. No, we are horrible, sinful people. Paul tells us we are wretched men and women.
[00:13:58] Sin in our lives creates a debt that must be paid.
[00:14:03] Condemnation.
[00:14:05] But we cannot pay that debt.
[00:14:10] No. God loved us enough to send His Son to pay this debt for us. Christ came down and he lived a perfect life, the one that we can't live. So that when God sees us and we put our faith and hope in Christ, he sees His Son and he sees that perfect, sinless life and the wretched men and women that we are is put on Christ on the cross and he died for our sins.
[00:14:39] Amen.
[00:14:43] And because of that sacrifice and that death, we now can have a confidence in Christ that our security in him and our faith and our forgiveness in him is not a toss up or a coin flip. It's not a, oh, man, I better cross my fingers and hope that when I get to heaven that God's going to let me in. Christ has secured this for us and that means we can leave Ashland today knowing that we are secure in Christ because Christ has defeated sin and death.
[00:15:17] And this gives us a freedom to live in light of. A freedom that we must live in light of freedom from our sin and its hold over us.
[00:15:26] And it's encouraging.
[00:15:28] This is the encouragement that we've been looking for. But let me tell you, encouragement is easy on a Monday morning.
[00:15:36] Sunday, you wake up and you go to church and you worship God and you hear from His Word and you're encouraged in the gospel, you get lunch or dinner with a friend.
[00:15:47] And then on Monday you wake up and you spend some time in God's Word and you pray and you get ready for the week and you're on fire and you're excited and.
[00:15:56] And then Monday ends and Tuesday rolls around, and then Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, right? The week starts to take its toll.
[00:16:06] Sin and temptation, that evil that lies close at hand starts to take its toll and that encouragement that we were feeling on Monday starts to dwindle, right? When money's tight and we're worried about if we're going to be able to make ends meet.
[00:16:23] When kids or grandkids are disobedient and we see their sin and it's discouraging to us.
[00:16:30] When we continuously pray for the lost. Our co workers, our family, our children that don't know Christ and it feels like it's hopeless and nothing's happening and we're seeing no change and we have no control over it, and so we get discouraged.
[00:16:49] When physical pain consumes your mind, when you are trying to keep God at the center of everything and you are trying to constantly be meditating on Christ, but your physical pain is making it impossible.
[00:17:05] It's always there. It's always harassing you.
[00:17:09] When we see death in the world, when we see death in our families, when the people we love most, their health dwindles, we have to hold their hand and watch them die and feel hopeless and we feel all alone.
[00:17:31] Let me tell you this and please listen.
[00:17:35] Even in all of that, when sin is there and it's evident and the horrible things of this world are in the forefront of our minds, Christ is Lord and he is victorious. He has defeated sin. It's not hopeless. There is hope in Christ.
[00:18:00] God is faithful to be there for us. When we feel all alone and when we feel like there's nothing that we can do and that we have no power, we don't. God does.
[00:18:14] God's spirit is in us, sanctifying us daily, making us more like Christ so that we can be forgiven of our sinful anger towards our children and so that we can be forgiven of our hopelessness and our doubt in God's sovereignty. When things feel out of place and out of sorts and there's nothing we can do, the Lord is gracious to call out to us.
[00:18:40] When our kids move out and we feel alone.
[00:18:44] When our family members die and we feel like there's nothing that we can do, Jesus is Lord.
[00:18:57] Have to remember that. Paul has showed us this. Remembering the gospel is so important.
[00:19:03] We worship a God who loves us so well and so much, and so we have to do everything we can to love him with all of our might. We must constantly be seeking the Savior that God has provided for us. And how do we do this? Well, Paul seeks the Savior by remembering the Gospel. And we best remember the Gospel by being consumed in God's Word. We must seek the Savior in His Word.
[00:19:32] Why?
[00:19:33] Well, God has provided His Word for guidance through difficulty, for correction from our sinful ways, and for encouragement through times of need. All of these difficulties are not meant to be gone through based off of our own power and will. God has given us the power of His Word to help us through. And God's Word, when seeking the Savior in it, points to Christ. And we must constantly be reading God's Word, looking towards Christ and the saving work that he has done.
[00:20:05] We have to be constantly in God's Word.
[00:20:10] When you wake up first thing in the morning, what's the first thing you do when your feet hit the floor? Do you brush your teeth? Do you grab your phone and check your messages?
[00:20:21] We must first and foremost seek Christ in our days.
[00:20:27] We must first and foremost seek our Savior in His Word.
[00:20:33] There are plenty of things in this world that are trying to remove our attention from Christ. And so before they have the opportunity, we must seek the Lord in His Word.
[00:20:45] And how can we build these habits in our lives? Well, we do that by seeking our Savior in prayer.
[00:20:53] Prayer shapes our hearts and it enacts our submission.
[00:20:58] When we pray. We don't pray to weaker things.
[00:21:02] No, we pray to an almighty God who is sovereign and who has power over the things we are praying for and for the things that we praise him for. When we pray through God's Word, it helps apply and it gives us an understanding of the Gospel that we otherwise would be left without.
[00:21:21] Prayer is so important in the lives of Christians.
[00:21:25] It's so important in the lives of a Christian who is feeling the depths of his depravity and who has to cry out to a good and gracious God when the inevitable temptations and struggles arise. In our weeks, we must seek God. We must be in God's Word and remind ourselves of the power of Christ over our sin and difficulty. We must pray to understand and feel this power. It's not in easy thing.
[00:21:53] These aren't steps that will just automatically make things work. It's things that we're going to have to be persistent in and continually doing.
[00:22:01] We must be constantly reminded that God has started a work in us that will come to completion on the day of the Lord. It's not an if, it's a will, it's a promised truth.
[00:22:15] And lastly, we must seek our Savior in His people.
[00:22:20] Here at Ashland, this church body the brothers and sisters that God has provided for us here. We must seek the Savior in service towards them.
[00:22:31] We must seek the Savior by getting involved in encouraging those around us.
[00:22:37] Don't let the enemy's lies pacify your desire to serve in this church.
[00:22:43] You're needed.
[00:22:44] We need people to faithfully serve. You need to faithfully serve. It shows your trust in the gospel and it truly helps you better understand the gospel's effect in your own life when you are able to live in light of the gospel with others.
[00:23:03] We're not meant to go through these difficult times alone.
[00:23:06] God has provided brothers and sisters and believers to encourage us in difficult times.
[00:23:13] When I found out that I was going to be a father to a son, I have never been more scared in my entire life.
[00:23:23] It scared me to death. The weight of responsibility, of raising a son, feeling like I don't know how to be a man myself. And now I'm going to have to teach someone else how to.
[00:23:35] But let me tell you, the joy and celebration of that I got to have with people here. The encouragement that you all gave me, the reminder of the gospel that you all gave me, that it is not on my own that I will be raising this son, but knowing that I will be raising this son with wonderful people in this church like you all gives me peace. And I praise God for that.
[00:24:00] And that is what we are here for. We are here to encourage others in the gospel.
[00:24:08] We need to serve. We need to get involved. We need to be in each other's lives. Don't be a stranger.
[00:24:15] Don't be a stranger, please. I know this is so hard for some of you. The thought of going around during that greeting time and talking to people that you don't know, it's awkward. It's not easy, it's hard.
[00:24:30] But it's so necessary.
[00:24:33] And you will reap the benefits of it.
[00:24:35] God will be gracious in your attempts to get involved in this church. Because, listen, life is hard.
[00:24:42] Evil is always close at hand.
[00:24:46] So we in this church as members and believers have a responsibility to make sure that gospel truths and God's glory is closer at hand than evil. How do we do this? We do this through prayer. A text, a call, a conversation, a meal shared with somebody. Because you don't know the power that a reminder of God's supremacy can have over somebody who's weak.
[00:25:13] You don't understand what that can do for somebody. You're needed.
[00:25:18] And God loves you so much that he has provided a payment for Your sin. And this is what we must preach.
[00:25:27] We must remind each other of the gospel when it's difficult and hard and when we're involved in each other's lives, we are aware of the difficulties and struggles that people face. And we can better be there for them. We can better preach the gospel to them.
[00:25:43] We can remind them of the glory, that when we are in Christ, we are no longer condemned.
[00:25:52] That for those who are in Christ, condemnation has been removed.
[00:25:57] But listen, if you are not in Christ, you are condemned.
[00:26:05] You're condemned to hell, death, separation from God forever.
[00:26:13] And there's nothing that you can do about it.
[00:26:17] But the war is over.
[00:26:19] Hear me when I say that the war is over and Christ has paid the debt for sin. When you trust and believe in him, your condemnation is removed.
[00:26:33] In the final chapters of my grandfather's book, as he recalls his time in this prison camp, he writes this.
[00:26:42] The German God, the egotistical little man with the sailboat haircut and block mustache, was preparing for his final stand somewhere out there, beyond the blazing guns.
[00:26:56] But my God had protected me. I hadn't been alone those cold nights on the front and in the prison.
[00:27:03] My Savior had stood in the freezing water with me when I had received flesh wounds. I. I had been placed in the care of the great physician who had healed my hurts and prevented infection.
[00:27:17] Even more important, when my weak, human, inadequate, tortured body had cried out for mercy and hope it had been given me, I bowed my head and closed my eyes. I wanted to thank God for his loving care of someone unworthy of that love.
[00:27:35] All I could utter was, thank you, master. Thank you.
[00:27:39] And we too, in worship of that same God who loves and who has saved the undeserving, can look at him and say, thank you, Master. Thank you.
