Romans Chapter 7:9-14

The things that you see in the world, the wars and people being killed in the name of God and through religion, that's not a reflection on God, friend. That's a reflection on us. People starving to death in this world, that's not because of God not caring.

That's because basically us not sharing. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of the Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina.

As we look around the world, we realize that there are a lot of broken people out there. And the heart of the human problem is really the problem of the human heart. Pastor David Magee helps us understand the heart and how to overcome it today as he continues in the book of Romans chapter 7. But before we get into today's teaching, the devil is able to influence so many Christians today because they simply don't know their Bibles.

And if the enemy can keep you ignorant about God's word, he can keep you weak. That's why we want to send you Pastor David's DVD message, Romans from Rome, recorded in the heart of ancient Rome. This eye-opening teaching will show you beyond a doubt the historical accuracy of the Bible. Romans from Rome is our way of saying thank you for your gift today to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So go to crossthebridge.com to request your copy.

Again, that's crossthebridge.com. Now here's David Magee with part 2 of his teaching, Let the Bible Read You. We're in Romans chapter 7 and we'll pick it up with verse 9. It says, I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

Now this is really, some of these parts of Romans are kind of difficult and we have to dig into them. Let me give you this verse in the New Living Translation. Romans 7, 9 in New Living Translation says, same verse, I felt fine when I did not understand what the law demanded, but when I learned the truth, I realized I'd broken the law and was a sinner doomed to die. There's that moment as you look into the Word of God where it's kind of that uh-oh moment. When you look at it, you go, I haven't done that, I haven't done this, and this is a problem, that's a problem.

And I don't know what I'm going to do. Now let's remember who Paul is writing to. Go back to verse 1 with me. Romans chapter 7 verse 1 says, Or do you not know, brethren, for I speak to those who know the law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives. So he's speaking to those who know the law, who are actually trusting the law in order to be declared righteous before God.

And Paul is dismantling that argument. And he's saying, you know what, you're not keeping the law. And because you're not keeping the law, now you've been, well, New Living Translation, doomed to die. Now you don't have to die. You don't have to in the sense of spiritually apart from God. You don't have to live the way you are right now. You can be set free, you can walk filled with the joy of the Lord.

But see, admitting that there's a problem is part of the solution. See, you don't know until you're a sinner that you need a Savior. But in that moment you realize that you've broken God's law and you really can't make it up and you can't do perfect.

Well, in that moment of despair, hope walks in in the form of Jesus Christ and says, you know what, I'm willing to forgive you. I know you're not perfect. So often we try to fool God. Well, no, no, no, God, I am perfect. No, no, you can't read this book and think you're perfect.

You can't. So he's writing to those who think they can be, you know, righteous through the law or those who are proud unbelievers who don't believe in the law. And don't think they sin. Martin Luther said this, he said, if they would know the law, they would also know their sin.

They would know the law. They would also know their sin. And I'll tell you what, you know, this is a deep theological book, but I like what Mark Twain says. They were talking to him about the Bible. And he said, you know, it's not the part of the Bible that I don't understand that bothers me.

It's the part that I do understand. See, and while there are deep theological things in here, there's some real basic stuff of like, love God, love people. That's really enough.

If you're going to be honest today, that's enough to realize, you know what? You don't do that. I don't do that.

We don't do that. So now do we just talk about how bad we feel and how we've messed up? No, we look to Jesus and say, Jesus, please help us.

But admitting again something is wrong is part of the solution. A lot of people think the goal of Christianity is to make people feel bad. It's not, that's not real Christianity. Some people think it is. Some people measure a church service on how bad they feel when they leave.

If they walk out and they're really miserable, that was really good. I feel horrible. I feel like a worm.

I'm just going to walk under my car without ducking here because I'm just that tall now. I don't want to do that. But again, realizing there's a problem is part of the solution. To sit and realize in here, you know what? Boy, I'm not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing.

I need Jesus to help me to do this. It points these things out. It points out there's a problem.

There's a need, if you will. The church at Galatia, when you read through that epistle or that letter, they become really sinful and immature. Why?

Because they start trusting the law. And Paul uses strong words. You know what he says?

Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you to think that you can be justified by the law? What are you thinking? What happened? And in another place, he says, you know what? You're devouring each other with your mouth. You know why? Because once you think you can earn God's favor by doing the law, that means you're a legalist. A legalist is a miserable person. And they begin to devour one another.

Why? Because that's what legalists do. Whenever you run into somebody that's extremely preoccupied with what's wrong with everybody else, you've probably encountered a legalist.

And what's wrong with that? Well, they are trying to earn God's favor through the works of the law. They become miserable. But rather than keep their misery to themselves, they want to make those around them miserable. And then they begin, oh, look at him. Oh, look at her. They shouldn't be doing that. But keep in mind, every time you point at somebody, you've got three more of those things pointing back at you.

And you know what's interesting? Legalists will hardly ever see anybody come to the Lord through them. Nobody will ever get saved through them. You know why?

Because they can't. See, if I'm presenting to you that you've got to keep the law in order to get saved, guess what's not going to work? If you're going to be honest and I'm a legalist, well, you can come to the Lord and you'll be born again, but you've got to quit doing this, quit doing that, quit doing this and that.

And as soon as you get yourself cleaned up, you can come to God. Well, if you're in your right mind, you're going to say, you know what? I can't do that. Well, too bad.

You're not sorry enough yet. That's what a legalist would say. So nobody's ever going to come to the Lord through them.

But that doesn't keep a legalist from telling us what we're doing wrong, does it? Well, you're doing it wrong. You're saying the prayer wrong.

You're doing this. A legalist is always miserable. I don't want you to be like that. I don't want you to live that kind of Christian life. That is not the kind of Christian life that God wants you to lead.

He wants you to be set free from legalism to walk in grace. There is a legalist pointing out what is wrong with Jesus. Was there anything wrong with Jesus? Absolutely not. Did that keep them from pointing things out they thought was wrong?

No. Well, he's doing this wrong. He's doing that wrong. He's hanging out with sinners. He's holding his mouth wrong. He shouldn't talk like that.

Oh, he's going on and on and on. Verse 10. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. Paul was hoping that through keeping the law, he could be set free. He could find life. That's not what he found. He tried to keep the law. Guess what? He couldn't.

He found death, condemnation, and he became miserable. Okay, once you come into contact with the law and it says, oh, there's something wrong, then you have to deny that inner struggle. Once you deny that inner struggle, guess what?

Now you're wearing two masks. Now you are officially a hypocrite. Oh, you've met them. I've met them. They act like nothing's wrong and they never have any problems.

And you sit there and you talk to them and they're miserable and you know something's wrong, but they won't reveal it. Hypocrisy goes with legalism. You can't have legalism without hypocrisy. Why? Because if I'm sitting here telling you that you need to learn, you need to live a perfect life to come to God, you know I'm lying.

So I have to have a mask. Now there's churches that engage in legalism. We are not one. And you know what I've noticed about legalistic churches?

They don't usually grow. You know why? They can't. How can you say we got to be perfect in order to join our club? Who's going to join that club? Liars and hypocrites.

That's what it's going to attract. But if we're real with one another and we admit what Paul is saying here, you know what? When we look in the law, we realize, man, we're messed up.

I don't want to be like this. And it's not through rules, keeping rules that I can attain salvation. See, the Pharisees got trapped into thinking that God was more interested in their outer actions. And sometimes we do the same thing. You know, as I grow in the Lord over the years, it's not the outer actions that really bother me, to be honest.

Because a lot of those have dropped away and I don't engage in indulging stuff. Man, it's my heart sometimes that bothers me. As I realized what kind of attitude I can have sometimes. And Jesus realized that and he was like, guys, you're missing the point.

And that's what he was pointing out. Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 21. He's speaking to him and he says, you've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause, she'll be in danger of the judgment. So they thought, well, as long as you don't kill anybody, you're okay. And Jesus said, no, no, no, no.

It's the attitude of the heart. You're angry at somebody. You're sinning. You're guilty.

Wow. We usually think of sin as our actions. And Jesus said, no, no. And it's not just in that one place. A few verses later, Matthew 5, 27 and 28, he says, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I'd say to you, whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

She started saying, what's out of our actions? And Jesus said, no, no, no, it's the heart. It's the heart. A lot of people think Christianity is concerned about behaviors.

It's really not. It's concerned about the heart because you can change the behaviors without changing the heart. But friend, you can not change the heart and not change the behaviors. And then you're being changed, not from the outside in like man does. You're being changed from the inside out.

That's the next life lesson. Jesus wants to change us from the inside out, not from the outside in. Jesus wants to change us from the inside out, not from the outside in. The problem is not with our actions. The problem is not with the law. The problem is with our sinful nature. I know this is the bad news and it makes you a little uncomfortable, but I want to lead you to the solution and you're not looking for the solution until you realize there's a problem. And that's what Paul's doing. Saying, look, here's the problem. Not just, ah, there's something wrong with you, but something wrong with you, I can fix it.

Come to me. So many people have a misperception of what Christianity is about. I wonder where they got it. God wants, he wants to bless us. He wants to draw us to himself. I've heard people say, well, well, how can a loving God send people to hell? God's not going to send anybody to hell. Some people will choose it. Hell wasn't even created for people.

According to the book of Revelation, it was created for the devil and his angels, but some people in the rejection of God, God, Jesus has done everything. Do not enter signs all over, but some will reject God. Some will reject God their whole life going, you know what, Jesus, I don't want you. I don't want a relationship with God.

And you know what? In your dying breath, he will honor your request and say, okay, I'll leave you alone now. May that describe no one in here. But see, if you reject him today, you very well may reject him with your dying breath. I don't know how many breaths, how many heartbeats are between this day and that one.

And neither do you, friend. But I know that today there's an opportunity to see the problem. You can see the solution. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's word in just a moment.

But first, so many people today are losing faith simply because they don't know how much real evidence there is for the truth of the Bible. We want to help you strengthen your faith so that you can live the abundant life God has for you by sending you Pastor David's DVD message, Romans from Rome. This insightful teaching, recorded in the heart of the ancient city of Rome, will help you see the book of Romans in its historical context and confirm your faith in the truth of God's word. Romans from Rome is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So go to crossthebridge.com to request your copy today. Again, that's crossthebridge.com. This is Pastor David McGee with Cross the Bridge.

You know, I want to thank you for listening to Cross the Bridge. I also want to tell you about an exciting website. The website is lostlovedones.org, and it works very simply like this. You go to the website and you put the first names of up to 10 people that we begin praying that they get saved. Now it takes two things to get saved, presentation and prayer. And what we're offering is prayer, and also there's different tools there to help you present the gospel to them. So we're there with you, helping you with the presentation, helping you with the prayer. There's over 920 people that belong to the prayer team on Lost Loved Ones, and you can join the prayer team as well and help us to pray for others who don't yet know Jesus.

And together we can see a huge revival starting with your lost loved ones. Now, back to today's teaching. Look at verse 11. For sin taken occasion by the commandment, deceive me and by it killed me. The law kills. That's what the law does. When you look into it, you don't go, okay, I'm doing that. I'm doing that. I'm doing that.

Not unless you're imbalanced. You look at it and go, oh, man, I'm in trouble. And Paul's being real honest here. It's interesting. He's using the word I, me, and myself. He uses them 47 times in this passage. This is not just a theological discourse.

This is a very personal sharing. Verse 12, therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. See, if you thought, well, when I read the Bible, gee, I feel, you know, there's things that I see that I'm doing wrong and shouldn't do. And there's things that I should be doing that I'm not doing. You're not alone in that.

But what do you do? You go, well, I'm just going to quit reading the Bible. No, you keep reading the Bible. And the Bible, the word washes over you.

Slowly but surely, the Spirit renews you from the inside. That's what goes on. That's what's going on in my life.

I may not be the man that I should be, but praise God, I'm not the man I used to be. God is at work in my life. And the interesting thing is you're looking through it. The Bible is a mirror. It's showing you.

Next life lesson. As you are reading the Bible, the Bible is reading you. So when somebody says, well, there's something wrong with the Bible, it's not the Bible they're seeing the flaw in. The law isn't meant to drive you away from God.

It's desired to pull you to God. I can go to a police officer, you know, after he pulls me over and go, well, officer, I really don't like that gun that you pointed at my car that tells you how fast I'm going. There's a problem with that gun. Problem not with a gun.

Problems with how fast I'm driving. Problems with me. Now you can deny that. You can sit in here and go, oh, this is just, I don't agree. But you know, you know, in the quietness of your heart, you know, there is a problem. There's, there's something wrong.

I don't say that to just leave you there, but to take you somewhere. Verse 13, has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not, but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Again, what it's basically, the problem is not with the law. The problem is with us. The problem is not with the Bible. The problem is what? The problem is our own sinful nature. It's our own sinful nature. What's the problem?

Another life lesson. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. The things that you see in the world, the wars and people being killed in the name of God and through religion, that's not a reflection on God for him. That's a reflection on us.

People starving to death in this world. That's not because of God not caring. That's because basically us not sharing. The problem is with us.

Again, I'm not saying that to beat you up. Now, here's the thing. If we can understand what's wrong through the law, then we can fix it through the law. No, we can't. See, your sinful nature is not changed by the law.

It can't be. All you can do is recognize your sinful nature. Well, what do I do with my sinful nature? It's got to die. It's got to die. To be honest, sometimes it's a slow and painful death. But you've got to be walking in that new nature. And meanwhile, the battle is going to be on, friend.

It's going to be on. And some of you are like, you know, when I was a Gentile heathen dog that wasn't saved, you know, this didn't bother me as much. Right.

Why? Because the Spirit of God is now wanting to create in you a new nature and is doing that. And that new nature doesn't want anything to do with the old nature.

And when you realize something's wrong, then you know that you need help. Within the law, you see the desire to be forgiven and then realize the need of Savior. Now move on to the Savior. One more verse, verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. See, the old nature knows no law and the new nature really doesn't need a law. You say, Pastor David, are you telling us we're not under law? I'm not telling you. This is telling you that. The Bible tells you that. Well, Pastor David, if we're not under law, does that mean we can go do whatever we want to?

Absolutely not. Because once you understand grace that Jesus Christ bled and died for you, man, there's something in me that I think, you know, nobody's ever loved me like that. When I consider He knows everything about me and still loves me, friend, He knows everything about you. There may be things about you that nobody else knows.

There always is. God knows them, still loves you, still cares for you, still calls out for you. Nobody else knows that, not even your spouse. We all, Jewish saying, everybody marries a stranger. If you knew what all was wrong with your spouse, you probably wouldn't have got married. I mean, that's the reality. You slowly are informed.

And your spouse didn't know what all was wrong with you. But God knows. And still, He makes this incredible offer to be forgiven. It's not like you're pulling the wool over His eyes. You may pull the wool over a lot of people's eyes.

You're not going to pull it over God's. The law of spiritual, we're carnal. There's that thing. There's part of us that wants to go back to Egypt. There's part of us that wants to go back to the old life. And then there's part of you that wants to be free. Paul's talking about the war going on inside of him in this passage. I want to do the right thing.

I want to do the wrong thing. That's what's going on in our Christian life. Now, we can yield to the Spirit and do what's right. And God will continue to build and create in us the new nature. But if we continue to yield to the old nature, we're going backwards.

Don't do that. And please don't sit here and go, well, I don't have a problem with sin. Yeah, you do, friend.

We all do. And if you deny it, you can't come to the cross. While you're sitting there and you're blaming other people, you're blaming your kids, you're blaming your parents, you're blaming your brother, your sister, your old church, your new church, you're not taking responsibility for what's really wrong.

And that's inside. And you can go from church to church, friend, but you're going to take your problems with you. But God doesn't stop with declaring you guilty.

He wants to declare you innocent. Not through your good works, not through keeping the law, not through you engaging in the bitterness and the cynicism of legalism, but in grabbing hold of the cross, grabbing hold of Jesus. So in a moment, friend, you can be set free.

You can be forgiven. And maybe there's some sitting here that, well, I thought that, you know, I thought that you had to do all these rules in order to be a Christian. No, the rules are there to point out you need Jesus. And really when you grab a hold of Jesus, you begin to love God and you begin to love people. And just what he said, all the commandments, all the law, all the prophets are wrapped up in this. And you can begin to walk in your new nature.

That's what he wants for you. God wants to see you set free. I've brought you to the point in the Word where, friend, if you're being honest, if you're being real at all, you're sitting there and you're going, man, I am messed up.

There's some problems. I was sitting there thinking about the 10 commandments that I hadn't killed anybody, felt pretty good. And after David, the Word said if I've been angry at somebody, I've killed them. And the Lord says I got a solution.

The solution isn't try harder. The solution is understand you need a Savior and come to him. Come to him. Jesus knows more than anybody else the things that are going on in your life. He knows. Being real honest, he knows how messed up we are. He knows how messed up I am. And still he extends his hand of grace and says come to me.

Don't deny you're messed up. Come to me. That's why Jesus made such appeals when he said, you know what? If you're burdened and you're heavy laden, come to me.

He went up to Matthew, a tax collector who had ripped a bunch of people off and went to Matthew's house, bought with the proceeds of ripping people off to share the good news with him. That's what he wants to do today with you, friend. I didn't say tomorrow.

I said today, right now. Nobody has ever known so much about you and loved you so much as Jesus. The pain that he felt on the cross was his. The solution is his.

The shame and the agony was his. But the decision is yours. And in the next moment you're going to decide whether you're going to accept the gracious offer of forgiveness from God or you're going to reject him. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things, I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven, you've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him, and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous.

So congratulations, friend, you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can call us toll-free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. Before we go, we want to help you strengthen your faith so that you can experience the power of truly knowing and believing God's Word. That's why we want to send you Pastor David's DVD message, Romans from Rome.

This insightful resource, recorded in the heart of the ancient city of Rome, gives you a much deeper understanding of the historical context of the entire New Testament, meaning you'll know God's Word better. Romans from Rome is our gift to thank you for your donation to help more people on this station and beyond cross the bridge from death to life. So go to crossthebridge.com now to request your copy today.

Again, that's crossthebridge.com. You know each day comes with its share of stresses. So what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the Lord? Visit crossthebridge.com and sign up now for David McGee's email devotionals. Each devotion includes scripture and a message from the heart of David McGee. It's easy and it's free. Sign up today at crossthebridge.com. And be sure to join us next time on Cross the Bridge with David McGee to hear more from the book of Romans. We'll see you then.