Do you ever feel like you're pushing a massive boulder up a hill? You grit your teeth, strain every muscle, and promise yourself you'll finally conquer that stubborn sin, that destructive habit, that crushing sense of inadequacy. But inevitably, your willpower fails. The boulder rolls backward and you feel more broken than before.
Well today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl strips away the illusion that willpower can tame the beast within. In Romans chapter 7 and 8, we learn the answer isn't more willpower. It's surrendering to a power infinitely greater than our own. If you haven't already noticed, in your worship folder today is an outline for us to follow. As we get into the letter to the Romans, sometimes it's helpful.
Just to have that little guide along the way and we'll... We'll stay with it and refer to it from time to time. You might place it here at Romans chapter 8. Which will be really the climax of the message, which begins at Romans 7. Verse 24.
And I'll read for you down through. Chapter 8, verse. Four. Beginning at Romans seven twenty-four, wretched man that I am. who will set me free from the body of this death.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then, on the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh. The law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation. For those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
For what the law could not do Weak as it was through the flesh, God did. Sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering. For sin, he condemns sin in the flesh.
so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled. In us. who do not walk according to the flesh. But according to the spirit. You're listening to Insight for Living.
To dig deeper into the book of Romans on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study workbook by going to insight.org/slash offer. Chuck titled today's message From Agony to Ecstasy. Wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? How could it be that someone as great as the Apostle Paul?
Would have the audacity to write something like that. Wretched man Truth be told, that's the way Most of us feel from time to time. We just don't write it down for everybody in the world to read. down through centuries of time. That Paul, in all his honesty and vulnerability, had nothing to hide.
That's exactly the way he felt. That was exactly the way it was. With the mind waging war in himself with the flesh. And so he brings it out into the open. I love Spurgeon's title for a Romans 7 sermon he preached.
He called it the monster dragged into the light. Here's the monster. That is in every one of us leaving us on occasion feeling Depressed. discouraged and demoralized.
Sometimes thinking thoughts that are alien To those who normally would speak openly and Joyfully of a relationship with God. My longtime friend, a psychologist and fellow author. James Dobson writes in, I think, his best book, Hide or Seek. These moving words I was recently invited To conduct a lecture series for faculty and students at a seminary. It seemed appropriate that I talk to these future ministers about the subject of inferiority.
Since they would soon be dealing with many such problems in their own congregations. During the course of my first address, I relayed a story. of Danny. Danny was a distressed high school student whose grief over his own inadequacy became intolerable. and eventually turned to anger.
After I had spoken that day, I received the following anonymous letter. Dear Doctor Dobson, I'm one of the damnies you spoke of in chapel today. Believe me, I've experienced this as long as I can remember. It's a miserable way to live. Yes, I'm a student at the seminary, but that doesn't make the problem any less acute.
Through the years, particularly the last five, I have periodically gained a revived hope that somehow. This problem can be overcome, go away or something. Then, to my great disappointment, I find it's still very much a part of me. That's when I lose hope of ever conquering it. I want to be a minister of the gospel and feel that it is God's will at the same time.
I'm aware of the paralyzing effect this deep depression has upon me. I want so badly to be adequate that I could better serve God and others. I wish I could talk with you, even though, even for a short time.
However, I realize your schedule is busy. At any rate, thank you for coming to the seminary, signed, a troubled seminarian. Dobson continues. Since this broken young man had not identified himself publicly, I read and discussed his letter with the student body the following morning. Many of the hundreds of young men who were present seemed moved by his words.
For some, it undoubtedly reflected their own predicament as well. Following my lecture, The troubled seminarian came and introduced himself to me. He stood with tears streaming. down his cheeks as he spoke of the great sense of inadequacy. He had experienced since early childhood.
Later, an administrator of the seminary told me that this young man was the last member of the student body. whom he would have expected to feel this way. As I have observed so many times, the sense of inferiority is the best-kept secret of the year. It is harbored deep inside where it can gnaw on the soul. Sitting in the same audience that same day was another student.
with the same kind of problems.
However, he did not write me a letter. He never identified himself in any way. But three weeks after I left, he hanged himself in the basement. of his apartment. One of the four men with whom he lived called long distance to inform me of the tragedy.
He stated, deeply shaken, that the dead student's roommates were so unaware of his problems that he hanged there five days before he was missed. Wretched man that I am. Wretched woman. Wretched teenager. Who will deliver me?
When you get to the seventh of Romans, it's um It's dry. and barren. As you get deeper into it, it's hot. and arid. And you long for relief.
I often compare Romans 7 and 8 to a drive in the middle of the summer. from West Texas to Colorado. You leave the sand and the flatlands and the what seems to be a barren area. And make your way through the panhandle and up into New Mexico. And ultimately you get near the Ratone Pass.
It's so Cool. The pass reaches about 7,000 feet elevation, and then you move into Colorado. And you see before too many hours in the distance the snow-capped mountains. Yeah. And you realize.
God visits Texas, but he lives in Colorado. He's up there where it's cool and. You've turned off your air conditioner, you've turned on the heater, you've Put on a jacket, and you can't wait to get out where things are no longer brown but green. And fresh, and the rains come, and the lightning, and the thunder, and it's as if God speaks. The barrenness of the beginning of your journey is Romans chapter 7.
And the peak. of the destinations, Romans chapter 8. And you realize in the middle of the barrenness You need help. You need help. You need encouragement in place of discouragement.
You need a purpose in place of despair. You need to win instead of wrestling with wretchedness. You need to be rescued. A little less than 150 years ago, the blind hymnist. Fanny Crosby.
caught the realization of this. In the stanzas so familiar, down in the human heart. crushed by the tempter. Feelings lie buried that grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart.
Wakened by kindness. Cords that were broken will vibrate once more. Rescue the perishing. Care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus.
Or say. That's not only a gospel song for those who've never met Christ, that's a deliverance song of rescue for those who have been in the 7th of Romans most of their lives. Truth be told. Truth be told, There is not a person in the sound of my voice. who hasn't on occasion said Wretched.
Soul. Am I? Who will help me through this? How will I get beyond it? There's everything within me longing to get into the snow-capped mountains of the eighth chapter.
But not until we've revisited one more time this struggle in chapter seven. Paul admits two or three things. One, he says in verse 15 of chapter 7: I do not understand. How great it is to meet people who are genius in their theology, but on occasion will say with a sigh, I do not know. The prophets who ministered to me the most at the seminary where I studied were those most willing to say.
I do not know. That's a thought, that's a fact so profound I cannot describe. in fullness and answer. Paul comes to the battle between the mind that wants to obey and the flesh that desires to drag him back into a life of sin. And he says, I cannot.
Fully explain how this occurs in me. One of the reasons he can't explain it is because it comes upon you without announcement. Almost overnight, often after a great victory, you plunge into the wretchedness of your own flesh. After a great Sunday, when you have praised and given worship to God, it isn't Sunday evening before you feel wretched over the battle. I am imperfect, is the problem, and that's found in verse 18.
Nothing good dwells in my flesh. I am not only confused, I also admit I am imperfect. The reason is, verse 23, I am in a battle. I admit that. I'm in a battle.
I'm in this battle, and clouds hover over me. When it all seems to cave in on me, I scream, wretched one that I am. In fact, the Greek puts it very, very eloquently, wretched man, I The pronoun sits alone in the text. For emphasis, wretched man. Ugh.
What's he feeling when he says that?
Well, first of all, he's tired. Just like all of us, you get tired of the struggle. The word wretched comes from the term that means to be calloused or to bear a callous. And it's from overuse of the same area. I'm weary of bearing this sense of wretchedness.
I'm tired of it. Second, he's feeling hopeless. Who will set me free? is hopeless. Who's going to deliver me?
Third, I feel trapped. He longs to be set free. And forth he feels Condemned. I don't know that there are any feelings worse for us to entertain. than shame and self-condemnation.
They just absolutely flatten us out. No matter what somebody else may say, if we are caught in that backwash. That feeling of condemnation is it just. more than we could bear.
Some time ago I received this letter from a college student. Pastor Chuck, I've given up trying. I find no lasting satisfaction in my studies or my life. At night, I cannot sleep. Inside of me is nothing but emptiness and guilt.
Rebellion and desperation. Suicide occupies the majority of my thoughts. I can live an outwardly righteous life, but my own heart is full of corruption. I am a hypocrite, abhorred, corrupt. hypocrite Thank you for taking time to read this.
I feel ashamed of myself. and he signs his name. I did not make that up. It's a letter in my file. It's a horrible way to live.
Now then. Is that enough time in Romans 7? You kinda tired of West Texas? We get a brief view of the relief, sort of like the ratone pass at verse 25. Thanks be to God.
In the middle of his feeling wretched, he suddenly gets the thought. That there's a reason for thanksgiving. Thanks be to God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. By the way, weren't you pleased to read that Paul asked, Who will set me free?
Not what? He wasn't looking for a formula or a secret or some organization or even a church gathering. None of that sets us free. It requires a person. A redeemer, a rescuer.
And he says, Thanks be to God, there is one. And he is Christ Jesus, my Lord.
So, what he's saying, in effect, he's confessing this. Only God can bring relief. I cannot bring it to myself or for myself. I'm like a drowning man at sea. I cannot get myself to the shore.
I need help from another. who will throw me a life-saving device. I need help from another. And then he confesses. I cannot do it by myself.
Not only can I not bring relief to myself, I cannot do this work of rescuing by myself. I don't understand myself. I can't. I hate I am doing wrong. I can't help myself.
I'm Rotten. I can't, I don't, then it gets really bad. I left that for your imagination. I can't do it by myself. You know why?
Well, because of life itself. It just works against us. Years ago, my granddaddy, L.O. Lundy, Put his arms around a gentleman named Coates. Brought him to live there in the garage apartment of his home in El Campo.
down in South Texas. Coates became, as it were, a member of the family. When you visited, my granddaddy visited with Coates. He was always there working in the yard or fixing meals. And when we would go on family reunions, Coates would go with us.
and he would fix the pit barbecue. Oh, it was so good. He would put the coals in the pit and he would get chicken wire and he'd spread it out over, and then he'd start bringing on the roasts, the pork roasts, and the beef. And the chicken. And stuff all over this wonderful, and you get the mop.
Woohoo! Dip it down in the barbecue sauce. Ugh. All over it, and I stand, man, my jaws hurt today. I've been wearing that barbecue all my life.
He's so good. And he'd say, Little Charles, you want a little piece of this? And I'd say, yes.
So I'd love that.
So he'd Take that out, ain't it? Put it in my mouth. You so good. I remember one day Big old hands put a big hand around my little hand.
So you know little Charles. What makes life so hard? I'm waiting for this wisdom. Graying hair. says it's cause it's so Daily.
Isn't that good? It isn't monthly. It isn't annually. It's so daily, it's constantly daily, daily, daily, every day. And Gilda Radner, Saturday Night Live, remember that great theologian?
Quit looking at me like you haven't watched Saturday Night Live. Give me that. Gilda Radner always had this great saying: it's always something. Isn't that a great light when you mix daily with always something? You got the formula for Wretched man that I am.
The other night, we had had one miserable day. Not with each other, but because of circumstances. We were working our way through, and I dropped in bed. just about like that. Cynthia slid in beside me and I'm about to cry myself to sleep and she's Chuckling.
Mm-hmm. I said, would you mind telling me? exactly what is so Funny. She said, Well, like you've taught us all your life, it's always something. Don't you love it when your wife quotes back to you the Prove it.
So daily. Who will deliver me from this? How can I stay out of the basement? How can I go on? And you know what?
It's the best kept secret around you. You have no idea who struggles with depression. As you look around you, you have no idea those that are losing the battle. We all look like we've just never had but maybe a half an hour of it. Or maybe we studied about it.
Some of the hardest days of my life come on Mondays. after magnificent Sundays. The enemy just comes in like a flood. to steal the victory of a Great day in the Lord. Maybe Paul was like that.
And so the chapter turns. He's over the pass. And now he's into the base of the Rockies. And it is wonderful. what he witnesses.
God's encouragement. Remember those feelings. You feel condemned, and he says There is no condemnation. In fact, in the Greek sentence, no is first way out of place and emphatic. No, none at all, never.
The emphasis is there at the very beginning of the sentence. There is no condemnation. One man writes, the Greek is almost startling in its declaration. The negative is much stronger than the ordinary word used for no or not. It appears at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis.
Phillips renders it. No condemnation now hangs over the head of those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Regardless of how you feel, there is no condemnation in Christ. The next morning, after that difficult night before, when you stand in front of the mirror, before you give in to your feelings, look at that image and say, There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
I am not condemned by my heavenly Father. He has not shamed me. He has not abandoned me. No condemnation. You felt hopeless, and look at what he says about supernatural help.
There's no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. Here's the explanation: the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. There it is. Do you realize when you came to Christ that there was a whole, if I may, whole package deal that was made available to you? In fact, When into action?
Among that, within that package, was the presence of the Holy Spirit. Who is not an it He is a member of the Trinity, and He lives within you as a result of your conversion. When you came to Christ, the Spirit of God took up his residence within you, and he will never ever leave. You cannot sin so badly that he runs away from you. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the condemning law of sin and death.
Well, we've reached a turning point in Paul's letter to the Romans. the good news comes pouring out in these verses. This is Insight for Living, and we're just getting started in a message that Chuck Swindahl titled From Agony to Ecstasy. Did you know that Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote nearly half the books in the New Testament? and many believe Romans was Paul's finest work.
Because it describes God's character and the gospel of Jesus Christ with depth and clarity. This is an essential book for believers to understand. both veteran students of the Bible and brand new Christians. And to guide you in your studies, Insight for Living offers an interactive Bible study workbook that's part of our popular Searching the Scriptures Bible studies. Because of the scope of Paul's letter, our Bible study comes in two volumes.
You'll find all the details for ordering Volume 1 at insight.org/slash offer. And then I want to draw your attention to a book from Chuck called Looking in All the Right Directions. Drawing from Paul's wise counsel to his protégé Timothy, this book features the final five sermons Chuck delivered to the congregation that he shepherded for more than 25 years. From his heart, Chuck spoke about mentoring, enduring hardship, and using your God-given gifts. you will love the biblical wisdom that's captured in this book.
and it would make a thoughtful gift for your pastor. It's called looking in all the right directions. And you can purchase a copy by calling us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/slash offer. Insight for Living is made possible not through the sale of books and Bible study resources, but by the generous gifts from grateful friends just like you. To send a donation in the mail right to us at InsightForLiving.
Post Office Box 5000 Frisco, Texas, 75034. If you'd like to give a donation online, go to insight.org/slash donate. Have you ever felt trapped in a cycle of sin? I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindahl describes the surprising biblical cure.
Friday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, From Agony to Ecstasy, was copyrighted in 2007, 2010, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. all rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
