I Want to Obey, But I Just Can’t
A Sermon on Romans 7:7-25 by Phil Hunt
Please take your Bible and turn with me to the passage Romans chapter 7. I want to speak to you this morning on this subject: I want to obey, but I just can’t. I want to obey, but I just can’t.
Introduction: A Father’s Story
I’ve shared this true story a few months back on a Sunday evening, but as I studied this text in Romans chapter 7, as we continue our study through this glorious book of Romans, I was reminded of the story I shared with our Sunday evening fellowship.
You know, when the children were small and in the home, Lori and I discussed, and early on we made an agreement that we would try to say yes to our children as much as we could. I think sometimes, you know, parenting is just one more busy activity on top of everything else that’s also going on, right? I mean, you have a life and usually a job, and all of a sudden children enter into that and now they’re growing and they have demands, but you still have all the other demands.
And so the easy thing, Dad, is to, you know, you get home, you’re tired, and Junior comes running up, and he wants to go out and kick the soccer ball, or he has some request. He wants a cookie that his mom has made. Whatever it is, right? And the default for some of you guys is no. No. Why? Because it’s inconvenient. I’m too tired. I don’t want to have to think about this right now. And so I saw that tendency in myself. And so early on I just said, I’m going to determine to say yes as much as I can.
But as much as I wanted my default to be yes, there were times when the right answer had to be no. And in our home, we expected the children to obey. Whatever we said, we expected them to obey the first time we spoke. Now that doesn’t mean that they did, but that was the expectation. I shouldn’t have to raise my voice and I shouldn’t have to repeat myself 22 times. I should just be able as the father with the God-given authority to just say something to my son or to my daughter and they listen to my voice and they respond.
But as you can guess, that didn’t always happen. And when there was a failure to obey or they talked back or they got sassy, that would, when they were young, when they were little, that failure to obey would lead to a spanking. We didn’t torture our children. You know what a torture it is to put a three-year-old in the corner for five minutes? Five minutes is like a lifetime, you know? That’s torture, that’s child abuse. You know, “Okay, I’m going to take away your bicycle for a week,” for a five-year-old. That’s abusive, in my view, that’s abusive. Just spank the little guy, get it over with, and let him go ride his bike. Why are you torturing him? Why are you laughing?
And all of our children had their share of spankings, I can assure you. But one in particular, who will go nameless, was always pushing the envelope. If we said right, she would say left. If we said sit, she would stand.
I remember one Sunday morning when she was about two. Lori was in the bedroom, and she was pulling the little dress off the hanger in the closet, and this little daughter said, “No, I don’t want that one.” I mean, it wouldn’t have mattered. She had two. If she had picked the other one, she would have said, “No, I don’t want that one. I want the other one.”
And so this particular child got very acquainted with the wooden spoon in those early years. And I remember when she was about eight or nine, we were in the bedroom, another session with the wooden spoon, and the kids probably hated this, but I would sit on the bed. They knew what was coming. And I would tell them what the Bible says. I would explain, I would literally quote the scripture that says that a father is supposed to discipline the child that they love. And I love you. I’m sure sometimes they’re like, “Daddy, I wish you wouldn’t love me so much.”
And then I would ask them, after reading the scripture, “So what does the Bible say—did you obey Daddy?” “No, I didn’t.” “So what does the Bible tell Daddy he has to do?” “You have to spank me.” “Should Daddy obey God or disobey God?” “Obey God.” And so I’d take the little child and lay them across my lap and I would—generally it was three swats. And it wasn’t like tap, tap, tap. It was kaboom, kaboom, kaboom. Why? Because I don’t want to have to do this again. I want there to be—you felt it. You knew that there were consequences for your sin.
And on that afternoon, I remember this daughter sitting there brokenhearted. After the spanking, I would take the little ones into my lap and I would tell them how much Daddy loves them and how it breaks my heart to have to spank them. And this little daughter says with tears, “Daddy, I want to obey, I just can’t. I want to obey, but I can’t.”
And that’s exactly what Paul is saying in our text this morning. In Romans 7, Paul is wrestling with the same tension. I want to obey, but I just can’t. Have you ever felt that way?
The Contrast: Verses 5-6
Before we unpack Paul’s words, I want to remind you of the contrast that we saw back in December, the last time we were in the book of Romans, in verses 5 and 6. You might want to look at it.
Verse 5, Paul reminds us that in our previous unregenerate, unsaved life, we lived in the flesh, dominated by the sinful passions that had been aroused by the law of God, bearing fruit for death. Our unregenerate life was producing fruit, and the result of that fruit was death.
But verse 6, here’s the contrast: But in our new life, we are released from the law by death with Christ upon the cross, and we are now free to serve in a new way. That’s the thesis that Paul lays out. That’s the theological reality—that when Christ died upon the cross for our sins, all who believe in Jesus were identified with Christ in his death, and our old nature, the sin, all of our sin was crucified in Christ. And so in him, we also died. That old sinful nature for everyone who’s believed in Jesus was crucified, was nailed to the cross in Jesus.
And you might be rightly thinking, “But Pastor Phil, if that is true, why do I continue to do the sinful things that the law tells me not to do? If my sin was crucified with Christ, if I was identified with Christ in his death upon the cross, and I am free, like Paul says, how come I continue to do so many things I despise? Why do I continue to lose my temper? Why am I still struggling with lust? Why do I lie? I hate these things. I don’t want to do these things. Why do I desire to do right and obey the Lord, yet in my daily life, I fail to do the very things that I affirm, I agree, is righteous? Things that I agree with God are holy and good.”
And that is what Paul is addressing, that tension. Paul is addressing that in our text that Brother Jere read for us this morning.
Three Main Points
So I want to direct your attention back to the scripture. And from this text we will see the agonizing war between our new nature and our old nature, the flesh, and discover where we are to look for hope and victory. And we’re going to see this under three headings.
Number one, I’m going to show you in verses 7 through 12 that the law shows me what I cannot do. And then we’re going to look at the fact that my flesh proves I cannot do it. Number three, we will see that Christ delivers what I cannot achieve.
Point One: The Law Shows Me What I Cannot Do (Verses 7-12)
Notice the first thing in verses 7 through 12. The law shows me what I cannot do. Look at verse 7:
What then shall we say? Is the law sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
So here’s the idea: The law, the law of God, the Torah—you call it the Ten Commandments, but Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Torah, the law—exposes my sin, but cannot overcome it. That’s what Paul is saying.
1. The Law Reveals Sin
You see, the law reveals sin. The Torah is holy and righteous. It is the inspired word of God, revealing to our consciousness all that is evil. The law reveals the sin that is in my heart. And the example in verse number 7 is covetousness. One of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shalt not covet.” And he says, “It was not until the law said to me, ‘You shall not covet,’ that all of a sudden my heart’s filled with covetousness.”
So is the law bad? Because it wasn’t until the law said, “Don’t do it,” that I wanted to do it. So is the law sin? Is the law bad? And he’s saying, absolutely not. No. The purpose of the law is to show me what I cannot do. The law exposes my sin, but cannot overcome it. The law not only reveals it, but it defines it. It gives me the knowledge of sin by defining for me God’s moral standard. You see, the law is not evil. Rather, it reveals the evil that is already within me by defining for me what is wrong, out of step with God’s moral standard.
2. The Law Provokes My Sinful Nature
Secondly, the law provokes my sinful nature instead of making me holy. Look at verse 8:
But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
I remember telling Austin, my second born, and a member of this church actually, as a toddler—he’s probably two. He could walk. He’s probably two, two something. And he was just fascinated by the TV and the DVD player and the remote control and so forth. So he would toddle over. I remember one day I was sitting—I remember right where I was sitting, and I remember where the TV was—and he starts going that direction. And I can see what he’s going for. He’s going for the remote. He wasn’t allowed to touch the remote.
And so as he went, I’m like, “Austin, don’t touch it.” And he stopped and he looked at me. And then he keeps looking at me. He slowly keeps walking towards the remote. And I said it one more time. I said, “Austin, don’t touch it.” And then, you know, you have toys. “Hey, look, look and play with this.” I mean, there’s 50 things in the sitting room that he can touch and play with and hold and throw and chew on. No problem. There’s toys and trucks and everything. Oh no, no. He can only now see that remote. Why? Because the law says don’t touch the remote.
And I remember he walked over there, he kept looking. I always say it twice. And I just watched. I’m looking at him, I’m warning him with my eyes. And he’s looking at me and he’s walking slowly and he took his finger like this. And he reached out and he went like this. Two years old, a little stinky sinner. He was still in diapers, so. As soon as his finger touched that remote, I was off the couch. As soon as I started to stand up, he started to cry. Because he knew what was coming. He knew he was going to get a spanking.
I picked him up, I spanked him, he cried, we hugged, and he went and played with his toys.
That’s what Paul’s saying. The law provokes my sinful nature; it doesn’t make me holy. So if you’re trying to be a good girl, a good boy, by keeping God’s law, forget it. That’s not the purpose of the law. That’s not why God gave us the law. You’re asking the law to do something for you that it is absolutely powerless to do.
3. The Law Is Powerless to Give Spiritual Life
Number three, the law is powerless to give spiritual life. You see that in verses 9 through 11:
I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
What do we see in verses 9 and 10? Sin is determined, it’s alive, aggressive, it’s always scheming against us, and the commandment that promised life actually delivered to me death and condemnation because of my sinful nature.
Notice verse 11: sin is also deceptive. Sin promises you happiness. It promises you fulfillment. It promises you satisfaction and excitement and ultimate fulfillment, and yet it is a deceiver. It is the age-old lie of Satan to Eve in the garden. “Hey baby, eat this fruit and you’ll be like God.”
Sin is destructive, the end of verse number 11. The law that promised life became an instrument for death because sin exploited it to deceive and to kill him. Sin destroys everything that is beautiful, purposeful, and to be delighted in. Sin makes it all ugly and stained, and it destroys it. It promises joy, excitement, and happiness, and it delivers inglorious death in the end.
4. The Law Is Holy But Can’t Make Me Holy
You see, verse 12 tells us, number four, that the law is holy but can’t make me holy. Look at verse 12:
So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
You see, the law is holy. Psalm 19, verse 7: “The law of the Lord is perfect. The testimony of the Lord is sure. The precepts of the Lord are right. The commandment of the Lord is pure.” The law is holy.
And the law is righteous. Israel’s law is held up as uniquely righteous compared to any human code. Deuteronomy 4:8: “What great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?”
Why? Because the law reflects the righteousness of the lawgiver. “Righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules. You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.” You see, God upholds his law because it manifests his righteousness. Isaiah wrote in 42:21: “The Lord was pleased for his righteousness’ sake to magnify his law and make it glorious.”
And the law is good even when it exposes sin. Psalm 119:39: “Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.” And in verse 16 of our text: “Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good.”
You see, the law is holy, righteous, and good. That’s the point here. The law is not the problem. Rather, sin uses the good law to expose human rebellion. “I don’t want that dress, I want the other one.” Why? Because you told me to wear that one. You see, sin uses the good of the law to expose human rebellion, revealing sin’s deadly character, which leads us to the second point.
You see, the law exposes the power of the sin nature within me.
Point Two: My Flesh Proves I Cannot Do It (Verses 13-20)
Number two, my flesh proves I cannot do it. Number one was: the law shows me what I cannot do. Number two, verses 13 through 20, my flesh proves I cannot do it.
Look at verse 13:
Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
1. Sin Produces Death
So what do we see? Verse 13: Sin produces death. God’s commandments, his law, merely reveal the sinfulness of sin, its horror.
Do you know what our problem is often as Christians? We don’t view sin the way God views sin. To us, our sin at least, isn’t so bad. But through the lens of the law, I suddenly recognize the repulsive nature of sin. Verse 13 says, “beyond measure.” Here’s what it says: “In order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.”
2. The Law Is Spiritual, But I Am Fleshly
So as God’s child, I desire to obey the righteous law, but my flesh is completely unable to carry out my desire. Why? Well, verse 14, because the law is spiritual, but I’m fleshly.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
You see, Paul here is speaking to Christians, like me and like you. Redeemed—oh how I love to proclaim it—yet battling with sin. Indwelling sin. And the verb is the present tense, showing that this is an ongoing conflict within the regenerate heart.
Verse 14: nothing good is in me. My sinful flesh is depraved. I desire to obey the righteous law, but my flesh is completely unable to carry out my desires. With my understanding, I affirm that the law is good and spiritual, but my flesh is sold as a slave to sin.
3. The Internal Contradiction
And that brings us to the third sub-point here, verses 15 to 17. Notice the internal contradiction.
Verse 15:
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
4. The Inability of the Flesh
Verses 18 to 20, notice the inability of the flesh to produce any righteousness.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
In my regenerate mind, I don’t want to do those things. I hate those sins, and yet sin that still dwells in me wars against me, and often I find myself doing the very things I don’t want to do.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
You see, this tension brings Paul and us to the breaking point. Don’t you feel it? Don’t you feel what my little daughter felt as she sat on my lap on the bed that day? “Daddy, I want to do good, but I can’t. I want to obey you, but I can’t obey you.” And I remember hugging her tight and said, “You’re right honey, you can’t. You can’t. So let me tell you who can.”
And that’s the final point of our sermon this morning.
Point Three: Christ Delivers What I Cannot Achieve (Verses 21-25)
Christ delivers what I cannot achieve. Christ delivers what I cannot achieve, verses 21 through 25. What is that? What does Christ deliver to us as his children?
1. A Renewed Heart That Delights in God’s Law
Well, look at 21 and 22. Number one, he delivers to us a renewed heart that delights in God’s law. Look at verse 21:
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being.
Listen, before you were saved, you did not delight in the law of God. You had no reverence for the law of God. You had no concern or care for the law of God. How did you go from that state of having no interest, no care, no concern whatsoever for the law of God to the point where you now say, “I love God’s law”? How? How in the world did you go from here to here?
You see, this desire to obey the law of God in verse 21, and then in verse number 22, my delight in that law, is placed in us by Jesus. He’s the one who gives us the desire and the delight.
2. The Spiritual Battle
Paul, here in verse 23, describes two laws at work within me. The law of God that my renewed heart loves and the law of sin that is still clinging to my flesh. Did you hear me? That’s what he said. You see it in verse 23? The law of God that my renewed heart loves and the law of sin that still clings to my flesh.
You see, I as a Christian still have a warring flesh that resists obedience. That’s what he says in verse number 23. Understand that what you are facing, Christian, is a spiritual struggle. It’s a spiritual battle, and it will be fought in the spiritual realm. And it is won in the spiritual realm.
You see, we saw this in the opening of the chapter, that there is real victory, remember? Verses 4 and 5, he says, we died with Christ. That’s the theological reality. That when we are saved, Christ comes to dwell within us and he will never leave us. Also, when we were saved, we were placed into Christ. So there’s a twofold security.
By the way, this is why I can never die and go to hell. Because Christ is in me and I’m in him. The assurance of my salvation is not based on my performance or whether or not I can do enough good things to stay saved. That’s not it. My assurance is completely in Jesus and Jesus alone. Aren’t you glad for that, Christian friend? Christ is in me and I am in Christ. That is the reality.
And therefore, if Christ is in me and I am in him, when Christ went to the cross, he is in me, I am in him. And when he died upon the cross, I died with him on that cross. My old man, my sinful nature was crucified with Christ upon the cross. And I delight in the law of God.
3. A Thankful Heart Rejoicing in Christ
But notice verses 24 and 25. Christ delivers what I cannot achieve. What is that? It’s a renewed heart that delights in God’s law, but it’s also a thankful heart rejoicing in Christ. Look at verses 24 and 25.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
We are a people who often speak about deliverance. I was talking to a good friend of mine. We had supper together on Tuesday night, and we talked about deliverance. We know that we need deliverance. The problem is some of the deliverance that’s happening in Zambia is all external deliverance. It’s circumstantial deliverance. “Deliver me from my financial problem. Deliver me from that person who’s causing me problems. Deliver me from the evil spirits that are creating confusion in my mind. I need to be delivered from the demon of drunkenness.” All that kind of… Are we together? Are you with me so far? I’m not asking you to agree with me, I’m just saying are you with me?
There is a deliverance that we need. Paul’s acknowledging that. But this deliverance is not from the manifestations of sin. The deliverance is from the power of sin itself. This is an internal deliverance, not an external deliverance.
Look at it. “Oh, wretched man.” You can just feel the pain in Paul’s heart. He’s in agony. He’s agonizing. He’s such a failure. Again and again and again, he’s fallen to these sins that he despises. And he feels like it’s hopeless. “I’ve tried. I’ve turned over a new leaf. I have said I’ll never do this again.” And lo and behold, give me a day or a week and I’m right back falling into the same trap. Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt this? Paul felt it.
And now it’s like a climax for him. He’s like, “Oh, I’m such a wretched, wicked person.” Have you ever felt like that?
The Question: Who?
And notice what he says. Who? He doesn’t say how. “How will I be delivered?” That’s not what he says. “Oh, let’s go to the prophet. He’ll pray for me. Put his hands on me.” That’s not what he says. Did you see it? He says—look, you ask wrong questions, you get wrong answers, right? Ask wrong questions, you get wrong answers. What’s his question? Who?
“I’ve tried, I’ve done it, I’ve agonized, I’ve tried to obey the law, I have come to the conclusion that my flesh—it is impossible.” And so instead of looking at himself and his own efforts, instead of looking at the law as though the law can produce righteousness, which we’ve already seen it can’t, he now looks up and says, “Who will deliver me from this body of sin?”
The Answer: Jesus!
You should highlight verse 25. I got the tingles going up my arm just thinking about what I’m going to read to you right now. Do you see it in verse 25? I am going to give you, Paul is going to give you the secret to the victorious Christian life. Look at verse 25:
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
He didn’t say “thanks be to God,” he’s screaming. “Thanks be to God!” Dash. Remember, what was his question? “Who will deliver me?” “Oh, thanks be to God!” Through Jesus! He’s yelling it. He’s yelling it. Through Jesus! It’s through Jesus!
You see, the recognition of my own wretchedness—I am powerless to win this battle on my own. My weary soul is crying for deliverance in verse number 24. Do you feel it this morning? Do you feel Paul’s longing in your heart this morning, this feeling, the reality of this spiritual war?
Paul here does not boast in his own self-discipline, nor does he despair in defeat. “Well, I’m just going to throw in the towel, I’m just going to give up, nothing’s ever going to change, it’s always going to be like this, it’s always been like this, it’s always going to be like this, there’s nothing, I’m done, I’m just discouraged, I’m just going to go ahead and live in sin.”
No, what does he do? He cries for deliverance.
The Transition to Romans 8
Look at the end of Romans 7. Romans 7 ends with a cry. And Romans 8 begins with a shout. Look at it. Here’s the cry, verse 24:
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Can you hear him crying? Can you hear the agony? Look at chapter 8, verse 1:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
You see, the law exposes my sin. The gospel proclaims a savior from that sin. The law reveals, but Christ redeems. The law convicts, but Christ cleanses. The law commands, but Christ empowers.
Conclusion: Back to the Daughter
Do you remember? You remember what I shared with you when I began a few moments ago? My daughter crying and saying, “Daddy, I want to obey, but I just can’t.” That’s Romans 7. That’s Romans 7. And that is every Christian’s experience.
But the story doesn’t end with the child’s failure or the father’s correction. It ends with a father who doesn’t walk out of the room, but kneels and embraces the child and helps her learn that the power for obedience comes from God through Jesus. And that’s what our Heavenly Father does for us. He doesn’t abandon us in our weakness. Through Christ, he meets us in the struggle, and as we cry out in anguish, “Who will deliver me?” he gives us his Spirit so we can finally say, “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
The Point
What’s the point? Here it is: In Christ, God gives us what the law can never give. Let me say it again. In Christ, God gives us what the law can never give. Pardon for the sinner and power for the saint. Pardon for the sinner and power for the saint.
And there are two types of people here this morning. Those who need pardon and those who need power. Those who have not yet turned in saving faith to Jesus and thrown themselves upon the mercy seat of God to receive the forgiveness that flows through the shed blood of Jesus so that they can be forgiven and receive the life of God. There are some of you who need to come to Jesus, come to God this morning and receive his free grace, his pardon for your sins.
And there’s others here this morning who—you are in the midst of a Pauline struggle. You know Jesus. You know that you know that you are his child. You need to come to Jesus this morning for power. The power to live moment by moment, the victory that Jesus won for us upon the cross.
What Should You Do?
What should you do? Stop trying to justify yourself by your own performance because God accepts you on completely different terms. Stop despairing because you feel the struggle with sin and sometimes fail in that struggle. Rely upon Christ, not upon your own self-effort. I love that hymn:
All to Jesus I surrender.
All to him I freely give.
Have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ? If in the depths of your heart and conscience this morning you know the answer to that is a resounding no, will you receive him now?
And Christian, if you have been living underneath this burden and tension of these sins that you just don’t seem to be able to overcome and you’ve just been trying harder and trying harder and failing, come to Jesus. It’s not what. “What do I got to do? What’s the secret?” It’s who. All to Jesus I surrender.
Closing Prayer
Father, would you do within us by the work of your Holy Spirit, and by the application of the word of Christ, would you do your work in each one of us? Some of us need pardon, and some of us need power. We thank you that both are available in Jesus Christ.
With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, what is the Spirit of God saying to your heart? If you’re not a Christian this morning, will you come to Jesus? And Christian, will you surrender to him afresh today?
In Jesus’ name, amen.