Bible Guys Classics: Romans 7

Hey, guys, we're so excited to be here. In fact, we got Jeff Forrester in the house. He's back. Hey, it's good to be back. That's right. So today we're continuing in our conversation in the Book of Romans as we start to talk about have you ever had a time when you wanted to do the right thing and it just seemed like you couldn't. Well, that's what Paul's talking about today. So he's Kyle and I'm Jeff, and we're the Bible guys. Okay, Kyle, that's right. Hey, So I want you want to ask because the people I know me and Chris told people last week. I think he was like, Jeff's in Egypt or India or something like that. You just tell everybody just a quick synopsis of what you were up to these last couple of weeks. Yes, So, first of all, we started off in Egypt and in Central Egypt, which is what they call Upper Egypt. And then we went down to Luxor and we met with a bunch of pastors and church planters. We were doing a bunch of training with them, and then I went on to work with some global leaders in India. So school, yeah, yeah, it was a rough trip and I covered I think it was thirty thirty eight thousand. Miles or something like that. And yeah, then you say at one point you were flying, wasn't it was the longest period of time where you were flying, like the longest stretch of time. Well, it took me twenty nine hours to get home. Oh my god. Yeah, no, I'm sorry, thirty one thirty one hours. Goodness, that was long. I think the longest flight was only like eleven or twelve hours, thirteen hours, something like that. But well, we're glad you're back, man, it's good to be back. Yes, And so today, yeah, we're going to get into the word just a minute, but we're also going to play quick game, actually not only game, just kind of a draft here. It's actually a road trip snack draft list. And actually before even started, we were actually talking about snacking. So this is actually fitting. It's perfect. Yeah, about snacks. So let's let's imagine on a road trip, but before we hit the road, we need. To stock up on snacks. So we're going to do a draft pick of the best road trip snacks. Oh yeah, yeah, And so. We've done some candy drafts in the past right, next level. This is road trip stuff. Yes, this is like if it's the last meal you ever had. Which which I know, I don't know about you. Are you a road trip snacker in general? Okay? Yeah, okay, A good deal, definitely. It's one of those things. And you guys can relate to this. But when you're on the road, it just seems like, you know, you just start eating and you just keep going. It's like you're binge eating in the car. I'd be five hundred pounds if I was a truck driver. By the truck driver. Ye okay. So actually we'll start with you said you haven't been here in a couple of weeks. You've been, so what's what's your number one pick? Okay, so the number one thing. It doesn't matter if I'm traveling in an airport, if I'm driving down the road, the first thing you have to have chocolate. I have to have chocolate. So it's usually like a king sized Snickers. You know how you get the two snickers? Yeah, yeah, and. That's usually the first thing I grab. It's a good deal. It's a good deal for me. Man. Whenever I go to any sort of gas station, if I know I'm on the road. It just when I think of a road trip, beef jerkey comes to mind. Jerky, Yes you got that one, good, yes, yes. So to counteract the suite, then I have to get saltyka and so I really like. Sunflower seeds. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah there, that's the only negative one those. Okay, So then that's your number two. Pick my number two. I would say they sell it now. You can actually buy a brand that that makes it in a bag. But honestly, I'll have family or friends make it. But I like puppy chow and it's not easy to dry with your hand in some puppy chow, but. That is one snack I can just eat and eat it. So I don't even know why I like it, But I don't know. Are you a puppy chow guy? It's okay, yeah, it's okay. It's definitely a little messy, but flavor, oh my gosh, it's like whoever invented that? So I also have a Cheetos puffs problem. Okay, okay, number three, Yeah, that's my number three. Eating those Cheetos and you're like licking your fingers. And you get it, you know, and they have the little bags and you go, well, maybe I should get a big what could be a long trip. Yeah, And then next thing you know, I'm down at the bottom of the bag going what. Happened all the chee? It's just all air usually Yeah, okay, So my final pick, I'd say number three pick. It's a candy that I've I've been addicted to since I was younger. Whenever I have it, I can't just have one of them or two of them. I like. The whole box is red vines and it's so random. So obviously there's like Twizzlers that people like a regular licorice for whatever reason, red vines they just. Hit the spot the best. Yeah. Wow. In fact, I had my nephew over the day and we're hanging out watching a movie and I entire one of those, like those movie theater style candy is an entire thing of red vines. Wow, So hits up. I don't think I've ever heard anybody say in their top three red vines. Yes, but something about on the road or something about just killing time. I can just smash them. So actually, we'd love to hear from you guys. If you're watching on YouTube, ahead and comment. Or you know, I like, just let us know what your favorite road trip snacks are. And then also one of the things we just encourage people to do is to share this video. If you're watching on a YouTube or even if you're watching listening to it, share it through Facebook, you know, like us basically have over. I think it's like one point two k followers and the million million followers. People really like Jeff and Chris. So make sure at one point two k thought's pretty just from just starting up. In October, it's coming along. Yeah, so make sure to like. It, subscribe, share, get some more followers, that would be awesome. But to tell us what you think about our cool student. Oh yeah, that's true. It's pretty sweet. Yeah, I feel like I'm in Chicago right now. It's really cool. Yes, I like it a lot. It makes you look more handsome. I think we were trying to figure out what can we do to make this look better and how do we look taking the attention away from Kyle. That's right? Yeah, so comment I'm just kidding, don't comment on our looks. Just just you can let us know later. All right, So today we're in Romans. Jeff, you want to get some context for uh. Yeah, So you know, Paul has been on this conversation about the law, and he's struggling with these things. And you know, being a former Pharisee, the law was a big part of his life. He measured himself by the law. As a matter of fact, they kind of had the sense that they were trying to earn right standing with God and eternity through obeying the law. And so because of that, he's walking around with a lot of guilt, right, And so he's struggling here saying the things I want to do, I don't do. The things I don't want to do I do, And he's really it's kind of a. For me. I totally resonate with what he's trying to say here. I think a lot of people will today. So yes, I agree. Anyways, let's just read it. I can talk about it all day long, but let's let him say it. Yeah, and I agree. I agree with that. So, now, dear brothers and sisters, you who are familiar with the law, don't you know that the law applies only while a person is living. For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive, but even dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. Whatever her husband dies, she's free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remains or remarry. Sorry, So, my dear brothers and sister, this is the point. You died in the power of the law when you died with Christ, and now you are united with the one who is raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds resulting in death. But now we've been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to a power. Now we can serve God, not in the old. Way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the spirit. It says this, Well, then, well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not. In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong. If the law had not said that you must not covet, I love that just so direct. But Sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me. If there was no law, sin would not have that power. At one time, I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died. So I discovered that the law's commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me. It used the commands to kill me. But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. But how can that be. Did the law, which is good cause my death? Of course, not, Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commands for its own evil purposes. It says that. So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The troubles with me, for I'm all too human, a slave to sin, which I think we can all relate to. I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I. Don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I'm not the only one. I'm not the one doing wrong. It is the sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. I mean, this is humans, humans, this is all of us right. But I but if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong. It is sin living in me that does it. I've discovered this principle of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart, but. There is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am. Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God. Here we go, here's some good news. Thank God. The answer is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. So you see how it is in my mind. I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature, I'm a slave to sin. Yeah. I think he's trying to make a point here. Yeah, boy, he drives a home hard. I think he's communicating, especially here towards the end, as you get into around verse twenty or so, he's communicating like we all feel. And it's funny because he uses so many words to do it, and he gets all twisted up. The things I don't want to do I do, and the things I want to do I don't do. But I really really want to do the good things, but I wind up doing the bad things. And I don't want to do the bad things. I want to do the good things. He's talking with this, and I think most of us have times in our life when we feel that way. And then he ends up. He kind of comes close to an end by saying, what a miserable person I am. I think the king King James says, oh, what a wretched man I am? Right, And so he's feeling a lot of guilt over this, and then the good news is it doesn't end there. As a fact, we get the chapter eight. There's no more connidation. But that's tomorrow. Make sure you exactly watched the chapter eight. It's one of my favorite chapters in so Romans. Chapter seven is such a powerful transition in the Book of Romans because up to this point and then on for just a little bit more, but up to this point he's really been driving the law, the consequences of the law, and our responsibility with regard to the fact that we're sinners, right, And then now he's and he's referencing Grace a lot, but it's really hitting the law and trying to balance off grace and law. And then now because of Christ, things are different. So we'll look at that tomorrow. But anyways, I think, first of all, let me just start off because I know somebody's going to ask about it. He says, one a woman marries, the law bindser to her husband as long as alive. This is not a commentary on women. This is just marriage in general. Right, So he could have said when a man marries, he's bound to his wife all the time. He just said he just used the woman there in the conversation. But he's not making commentary that somehow a woman's commitment in marriage is different than a man. That's the same. But he is using the idea. Of marriage as a as an analogy to our relationship with Christ. Previously, what he's trying to say is, we were married to the law, and so the consequences of the law are our arm because the law is alive. In our life. But when the law is dead in. Our life and we're alive and Christ were married to Christ, then the law is dead and we're now bound to Christ instead of bound to the law. That's what he's trying to say. So don't get hung up on the marriage statement. You understand that the big pictures he's making an analogy about being married. And he said does even say that it's it's like this he's kind of setting up. That's like, here's an analogy for you to take it and understand. Because the people in that day, they just this was a there's a huge stumbling, so they needed an analogy like this. So one of the things that I actually noticed in I have a life application study Bible. But one of the things that has shared about as we go along here, I was saying that Paul shares three lessons that he learned trying to deal with his sinful desires, which I think is important for us as we mature as Christians. He says that's number one. It says, this knowledge of the rules is not the answer. And then secondly, self determination, which is struggling in one's own strength, doesn't succeed. Like we could try as much as you want, it's not going to succeed. And then and then it said, becoming a Christian does not stamp out all sin and temptation from a person's life. And I think that's really important because I think so many people that at least that I meet, and I'm sure you feel the same way when you meet him and they're new in christ you know, they it's kind of like what Paul said, usaid, a tongue twister. Of back and forth. It's literally what they're walking through their living that like, I want to do this. Why do I still struggle with this? I thought, because I can be Christian, all of a sudden these desires would go away. And so I just find it interesting. Yeah, so you know it's interesting he's talking if I hadn't been told yet coveting was a sin. Yes, I wouldn't have ever known coveting was a sin. Right, what he's saying is I think what he's saying is when I became. Aware or awake to the law. Suddenly all this guilt comes with it. Yes, I was guilty by doing that sin. I just didn't know it. And now that I know it, he said, the burden of it is greater. So then he says, when I meet Christ, or when I come to faith in Christ, the law becomes dead to me, Not because Jesus gets rid of the law. As a matter of fact, Jesus said in the Gospels, I didn't come to eliminate the law. I came to fulfill it. Jesus solved this law problem for us. So now he becomes, he comes alive in Christ. And now the real hymn, the real Paul says, I don't want to do the bad thing. But the real live, living Paul is living in a dying body that sins. So he has his sinful nature, is struggling against spiritual nature, and that's what he's talking about. There's this battle going on between him. As a matter of fact, it says it there that there's this struggle right between good and evil. Essentially in his life, there's this battle, this fight. Yep. And I think that this is a surprise to a lot of brand new Christians because they think, oh, you know, they realize I need Jesus. So they come to faith in Christ. Their sins are forgiven. It feels amazing. And then they find out later they're still tempted and what in the world, you know, and then they feel so guilty thought they're taking like a magic lost it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's a good point. Maybe I lost my salvation. Maybe God's not actually in me if I still have these temptations that mean he's not there. I actually want to point out the things he said, the thing about. Coveting, and I you know, how that was revealed to him, and how the law essentially exposes our sin. It is so true. Though. I have a funny example about that. But I remember, maybe ten or fifteen years ago. There's this road near where both of us live, and I think you probably grew up up that way. But it's m fifty three and and I drive up there actually still to go to one of our campuses, and there was a period of time, maybe fifteen years ago, where the signage just wasn't as clear as what it is now. And there's this is what I call it speed trap, but it's a spot where it drops down to fifty five miles per hour right around Romeo. And I remember going to this golf course with friends. We are it's like seventy yeah, yeah, and that suddenly drops on fifty five and a very quick you know a period of time, but the fifteen years ago or so, the signage wasn't super clear, and me and my friends would go to this golf course. It wasn't Romeo was not there anymore, but it was Romeo golf course. It was you for eighteen holes. It was like fifteen dollars to play on like a Saturday. Yeah, you can't. You can't beat that. So I remember driving up there and like just every every time we go, I'd be going maybe a little over the speed limit. And then I remember one time getting pulled over and being so naive to the fact that it was actually fifty five mile per hour, and I think the police officer could totally tell that I had no awareness that had dropped down. I was like, well, is there a signage, and it was one of those things. It's like, you're not even aware of your of your miss or your mistake, or the fact that you obeyed the law until the law sometimes is right in front of you see the sign You're like, I didn't even know. And so I think that's what Paul's trying to say here, is it kind of the law has helped expose his and now that he's exposed to it, he's very aware in all the ways he's missing the mark. I think we sat that should be like that as Christians too. But he's also referencing the idea that he was dead in it, right, he wasn't alive in the law. He was dead in the law, and then he became alive in Christ and then now that's where this struggle happens, right, Yes, So I love how he says in verse six. The end of verse six, he says, now we can serve God not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the spirit. Right in Galatians he says, walk in the spirit, So you don't fulfill the desires of the flesh. Yeah, right, So even then he's recognizing that there's the spirit way, and now that I'm alive in Christ, I've got the spirit in me and I want to go God's way. I want to honor God in my life. And he said, so, now, the way that I honor God is not just by keeping the law. Now that doesn't mean now because I'm in Christ, I can go ahead and cove. It's no big deal. No, it's not right that i'm now that I'm. Aliwed in Christ. But we get ready to go ten commandments. I go kill now and go steal. Now, that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is instead of doing these things trying to earn God's favorite in my life, now I do them because I love him. Right. It changes everything, changes the direction of why I why I try to honor God. I get to serve him. I get to honor him, that's right, versus the rules and that I have to. Yeah, that's remember. So it's funny. I think kind of sometimes about when I was a middle school boy. I didn't care. I didn't care how I looked, I didn't care how I smelled. I tried to stay away from the showers until you started noticing girls and suddenly and my mom and dad they knew immediately when I started having a crush because next thing, I want to take a shower, trying to figure ot how to comb my hair. I want nicer clothes. Right, my motivation for cleaning myself was not very high. When you're in middle school, you know, a stinky middle school boy. But when when you start noticing the girl, suddenly it's not for you, it's for her, right, And he's kind of saying the same thing here God, not in the old way of just trying to make it better for ourselves. Instead, now we serve God because we want to be clean and holy people for him, because we love him because of what He's done for us. Our motivation is not fear of the consequences. Of the law. Our motivation is love for God. It changes everything. That's good perspective. He should Paul should have used that metaphor middle school boy. Remember when you're in middle school, you got to know the feeling, right when when when I get to heave an street, when you're a part of your Jewish training, you should have you know, you know how that was? That's really good, That's awesome. Is there anything other I mean obviously, like I think people can totally relate to that, you know, it's it's in the like when it gets into the struggling with sin part. I think a lot of people can relate to that. But I also ultimately, as we you know, I know, we got to wrap up a little bit, but I love to thank God the answer is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And if anybody Jeff kind of alluded the idea of living in the spirit, that's actually a part of this week's discussion too, as we get further romans. So if you like or like know the direction where there's going, or life the direction is going, we'll talk a little bit about walking in the spirit, living in the spirit. But I love the fact that the answer is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. We don't have what it takes, we can't figure it out, we don't have. The solution to this Jesus as a solution, which is really cool. I think verse twenty four to wrap up verse twenty four, Oh, what a miserable person I am? Who's going to free me from this life dominated by sin and death? The most miserable Christians I know are the ones that are rule driven, right, and as we're saying, when I'm rule driven, I'm miserably good. But then he says, thank God, the answer is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. See how it is in my mind, I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature, I'm a slave to sin. So what he's saying is, when I'm rule driven, I'm going to always be miserable. I'm going to be angry, I'm going to be frustrated, I'm going to be disappointed by myself, be guilty. But when I'm Jesus centered, I understand none of us, just Heaven, none of us deserve God's grace, and he loves us anyways, and he extends it. So now my motivation this isn't an excuse to keep going on and sinning. Instead, now my motivation to be holy, it's because he loves me and I love him back. That's it. Maybe that's the motivation for our listeners this week being Jesus centered, you know, just to remember that, because again you're right. The people that are following the rules, the laws, they aren't. Miserable because it's you're it's never enough, you're always comparing, you're always striving and it just doesn't add up. And you're watching what other people are doing, trying to hold them to certain standards with the idea of being Jesus centered, giving people grace. I think that's the way to. And so Jesus isn't winking at sin, so he killed Jesus, yes, and we can't wink at sin and go, oh, well, we're all sinners. So I I'm just gonna go ahead and do it anyways. No, Instead, I'm going to abstain from that. Yes, not trying to earn his favor, but because he loves me. Because yes, because I love him back yep. And so I'm going to choose to abstain from those things and not fulfill my flesh because I want to walk in his spirit. Yeah. Well, it's like you, I mean, I'm sure Valentine's Day coming up, right, Yeah, I mean you might do something nice for I mean, I don't know what. I don't even know what day of the week Valentine's Days, but I'm sure at some point that week you will take Bonnie out on a date, not because you have to, but because you want. To, right, And we're going to see the Detroit Symphony Okay, so you are doing something and we bought take us for the Detroit Symphony and they're playing the soundtrack to The Princess Bride. Oh okay, while the Princess Bride is playing. Oh, that's awesome. That'll be fun, that'll be awesome. So it's gonna be so romantic because we're both Princess Bride nerds. Okay, good anyways, yes, all right, well, hey, thank you guys so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this episode and we'll see you tomorrow as we get into Roman's eight. See you