Up next on Leading the Way, Dr. Michael Yusef takes you to the pages of Romans chapter 7, uncovering the freedom you can have from the bonds of legalism. Now, this is a pivotal episode in Dr. Yusef's series, From Valley to Victory. Do remember that if you need to step away from today's message for any reason, you can listen for free and connect further with Leading the Way at ltw.org. You can also use the Leading the Way app or subscribe to the podcast. More about all of these at ltw.org. Now, while you're there, learn about the expansive ministry of Leading the Way.
More later, but right now, listen with me to Dr. Michael Yusef as he begins. Romans chapter 7, it's all about the issue that has been a source of confusion among Christians for many years. The confusion is this, it's between the hypocrisy of performance and the freedom that we have in the risen Christ.
This is a huge issue. So many people ended up with going with one extreme or the other, of which the Bible is innocent of both extremes. One extreme used grace as a license to sin. The other extreme is the legalism of performance.
Hear me right, please. This is important because I think both extremes, not only erroneous, not only wrong, but they cause a lot of frustration in the Christian life. In Romans 7, Paul tells us about this more excellent way of living our Christian life away from the agony of performance. It is the way of freedom. It's the way of liberty. It's the way of victory over sin. In fact, there are two verses here. Let me get them out of the way because I know, particularly those of you who are great Bible scholars, you said, I want to see what he's going to say about those verses. You know the ones I'm talking about?
24 and 25. Oh, Richard, man, there I am. Who shall rescue me from this body of death? Now, beloved, that's the performance crying. Verse 25, thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the liberty in Christ.
This is the source of continuous victory. Let's look at the chapter together. But before I get to the outline, which I worked out on for you, I need to tell you that Romans chapter 7 goes more to it probably than any other chapter. In fact, this division has been going on ever since the apostle Paul wrote this. Whole movements started over dividing over the interpretation of Romans 7. Whole denominations even started over that division. Some say Paul was speaking about his life before Christ came into his life.
Others said, no, no, no, no, no. This is truly represents a growing, vibrant Christian life. But I'm going to tell you what I believe after 52 years of studying the scripture, trusting in the sovereign Lord. You got to understand that 7 comes after 6. Chapter 6 is all about sanctification.
That's a big word. It simply means growing every day like Christ, growing more and more like Christ. That's what it means. It's a process and it's continuously you working together in partnership with the Holy Spirit. So in this chapter, Paul comes in and he talks, he's talking to believers who are seeking to live a godly, holy, unrighteous life. And so in this chapter, he points out that true freedom is not in our performance.
That was the old time. But in our total trust and surrender to the power of the Lord Jesus Christ given to us by his Holy Spirit who dwells in us. Here in chapter 7, he gives us basically four pillars or foundational stones of our freedom from performance. Four pillars. First pillar, we're bound to Christ, not in bondage. Verses 1 to 6. Second pillar, maturity, I'm talking about spiritual maturity builds up.
Spiritual immaturity tears down. Verses 7 to 13, the third pillar. Third pillar is basically saying do-it-yourself religion will always fail and you'll be frustrated. Verses 14 to 23 and then the fourth pillar, surrender, will always, always keep you afloat. Verses 24 and 25.
Let's look at the first one. The first foundational stone of freedom from performance is that love which binds us. The Word of God is saying to every one of us that the law, he's specifically here talking about the Ten Commandments. Wonderful as they are, how can you not say the Ten Commandments are not wonderful? They are written by God himself. They're reflecting of God's character. But the Ten Commandments, wonderful as they are, keep us in bondage.
They will keep us on trying to perform and then we blow it every time. Every time. You know what it's like, right? Maybe you're not.
I do. I mean it's like swimming upstream. You're swimming against the current. You are making great efforts but you're going nowhere.
Or you're doing what I do four or five times a week, running on a treadmill. Man, I run hard but I'm not even heading one foot in front of me. If the law is the only thing we go by, we're bound to it and we're bound to be frustrated. We're bound to stay in bondage and the bondage of performance. We try and we fail. We try and we fail.
We try and we fail. Ah, but because of Christ's redemption, we are set free from that bondage. Amen?
Hear me right. The illustration that the Apostle Paul gives us here is that about the marriage vow. Now you're going to understand. He says this, for example.
When he says for example, it's an illustration. The husband and wife are bound to each other. They're bound by the vows as long as both are living. But when one dies, the other spouse, the living spouse, is totally released from that vow. And here Paul is saying, just as death of one of the spouses brings release from the covenant of agreement of marriage, in Christ we too are released from the bondage of performance of the law. The result of that release we found joy instead of despair, freedom instead of bondage, life instead of death, love instead of duty, willing service instead of begrudging effort. Second pillar is that maturity builds up. Immaturity turns down. Paul moves now from giving an illustration.
This is an objective illustration using everyday common experience about marriage and marriage vows to really giving us an autobiographical illustration. See when Paul was a boy, like all Jewish boys, he went through his Bar Mitzvah. Bar means son. Mitzvah means law. It's the son of the law. And he wanted to live by the law. And he found himself that he could do okay, not very good, but he can do okay with the first nine commandments. But oh, when he came to the tenth one about coveting, oh, he began to stumble.
He really did. He would experience coveting and he breaks the tenth commandments and he fall into despair. In fact, the tenth commandment and the breaking of it and the coveting was tripping him into breaking all the other nine as well. And then all of a sudden Paul becomes conscious of sin. And he becomes aware of sin. Poor old Saul of Tarshish. I mean, he knew what covetousness was and once he did, all he can think of is coveting. All he can think of is coveting.
Once he discovered what that was. Beloved, this is the kind of immaturity, the kind of childishness that some Christians live in day in and day out. Sometimes you see churches, I'm aware of some, the believers never matured in Christ. They're very immature in Christ and that's why they're at each other's throat all the time. They're fighting all the time.
I mean, it never ends. Beloved, the law reveals sin. The law activates sin. And that is why he kept on falling in sin. Now I know that when we were children, I'm talking about my generation, okay, the people in their 50s and 60s, when we were young, when we were adolescent, we were perfect.
We were angels. We always did what our parents told us to do, right? That's what you tell our children, right? Well, some people do anyway, I don't. But some of you have experienced adolescent rebellion.
Now I think some more degree than others. It works the same way with immature Christians. They try to live their Christian life depending on themselves. They try to live their Christian life their way. They try to live their Christian life depending on their own effort.
But sooner or later, they get clobbered. Why? Because the law is a mirror. It reveals sin.
It condemns sin. You know, when I look in the mirror first thing in the morning, my hair disheveled and there's no shaving, and I look in the... Who the heck is that? Imagine if I'd say, you know what? I'm going to keep looking at this mirror until I look better. Just think about this. Think about the logic of it. That's really the argument he's making here. What's the chance of me looking better?
None. Until I clean up and shave and comb my hair, nothing's changed. And that's what God's power does.
It cleans you up. Maturity tells you your performance is not working. What you need to do is grow up. How many times we say that? Grow up. And I'm saying this to all of us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's grow up. The problem is not the mirror. It's your face.
It's my face. Your problem is not the law. Beloved, listen to me.
The problem is not the law. It is sin. And this is the mark of Christian maturity. Not to blame the Ten Commandments, but to come to grips of the sinfulness of sin.
That's really the word. I remember as a boy hearing somebody preaching about the sinfulness of sin and I have never forgotten it. First pillar, freedom is love and not bondage.
Second, maturity, not immaturity. And thirdly, the third pillar, the do-it-yourself religion is always going to frustrate you, always going to disappoint you. Look at verses 14 to 23 because here we come to Paul's personal testimony. That's his personal testimony. Through the years, I had the privilege and the honor of sitting at the feet of some great and godly men.
I really have. I'm so thankful to the Lord that they were not one of those people who only tell you about their victories. I remember when I was a new Christian and I would hear these big preachers talking about victory all the time, victory, victory, victory.
Never talk about their failures. And I used to think there's something wrong with me. But I sat at the feet of some great men who have shared their hearts and opened their hearts and taught me how to have victory. And I know from my own life and I know that every serious minded believer who's listening to me whether around the world or here in this sanctuary, we know experientially the enticement of sin is forever plaguing us. The allure of sin is forever beckoning us. The glamour of sin is forever enticing us. The glare of sin is forever calling us. As long as we live in this flesh, this blood and flesh, everywhere we turn, we see sin surrounding us. If you are an alert Christian, to fight sin with our own efforts, oh my goodness, if you do it on your own strength, it's only going to bring failure, frustrations, exasperation and discouragement. And that is why the legalists give God a bad name.
Did you know that? They give God a bad name because they try to live up to their standards, their own strength and fail and people seeing it, they're watching it. They call themselves Christians. And that is why it is only when you and I allow the Holy Spirit of God to be the wind because that's one of the names of the Holy Spirit, Ruach. He's the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow on our sail that will pull us forward from victory to victory. At the risk of some of you may misunderstand me, that many times I speak with the Holy Spirit and I pray to the Holy Spirit, don't send me emails and letters, I have my theology correct, I pray to the Father through the Son. That's my regular prayer but there are times when I feel compelled to say to the Holy Spirit, thank you for being my best friend, thank you for being my paraclete, my comforter, thank you for being my counselor, thank you for being my guide, thank you for being my convictor, thank you for being my strength.
And in the times when I grieve the Holy Spirit, I weep tears when I say to the Holy Spirit, please forgive me, I never want to grieve you, how I would grieve my best friend. Beloved, do it yourself, religion is not only frustrating, it is dangerous. But if you allow the Holy Spirit to work freely in you, he's going to lift you up to freedom's highway every time.
Love not bondage, maturity not immaturity, do it yourself, religion is frustrating and dangerous. Finally, fourthly, surrender keeps you afloat, keeps you afloat. Every genuine maturing believer understands and feels what the Apostle Paul is feeling as he is writing those words.
What a rich man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death. I'm surrounded by sin. He's not saying that always falling in sin, he's saying I'm just surrounded by it, I find it available all the time. This cry of Paul takes us where the Lord Jesus Christ begins his sermon on the mount, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed the spiritual bankrupts and know it and confess it because they will be blessed. Blessed are those who hate sin in their life and they abhor it. I cannot count the times when I say to myself, when will I ever learn that it is surrender that will give me true freedom? Beloved, listen to me. I can testify to the fact that if you seek God with all of your heart, you will find yourself in a perfect freedom because genuine believers are sensitive to sin.
People who say, oh no, you get to the point where you lick that, don't fall for that. You see, growing closer to Jesus, growing closer to Jesus, that's what we talk about sanctification. You're growing closer to Jesus, become more like Christ. You're growing closer to Jesus, it's like getting closer to a bright light. All of a sudden you say, oh, there's some stain here.
I didn't see that when I was away. Now I'm closer to the light or closer to a magnifying mirror and you get closer and closer. Oh, where all these little wrinkles come from? See you're conscious of sin.
Couldn't see them when you're too far away, but as you come closer, you say why? Because Ephesians 4.30 tells us that sin grieves the Holy Spirit and in 1 Corinthians 6.19 tells us that sin is dishonoring to the Lord. And in 1 Peter 3.12, it says sin will keep answers to prayers from coming back. And in 1 Corinthians 9.27, it makes you spiritually powerless. And in Jeremiah 5.25, it withholds good things from God. And in Hebrews 12.57, it brings the Lord's chastisement. And in Psalm 51.12, it robs us from the joy of our salvation. And in 1 Corinthians 3.1, it inhibits our spiritual growth. And in 2 Timothy 2.21, it prevents us from being useful for the kingdom of God. And in 1 Corinthians 10.21, it pollutes Christian atmosphere.
And in 1 Corinthians 11.30, it can endanger us even physically. Every godly person, whether they lived in the Old Testament or the New Testament, they knew they were saved by grace. When Abraham was saved, he was saved by faith, by grace through faith. Four hundred years before the law was given. Nobody's ever been saved by the law. Even after the law, they never knew they were going to be saved by the law. Those same saints also knew that as they grow closer to the Lord, they begin to feel wretched in comparison to the holiness of God.
You know what our problem is in these days? Is that many Christians compare themselves with each other. And then they pat themselves on the back and say, well, I'm not as bad as he is, and I'm not as bad as she is. That's dangerous. Compare yourself with Jesus.
That's who you want to compare yourself with. In fact, Isaiah, the Old Testament, when Isaiah came into the throne room of God, he said, oh, I'm a man of unclean lips. The closer you get to God's holiness, the clearer you see your sinfulness. But thanks be to God that the Apostle Paul does not leave us hanging here with verse 24, where he exclaimed, who can rescue me from this body of death? Don't miss this. Don't miss this. He did not say, what must I do to get delivered from this body of death? That's what a lot of Christians do.
How can I respond? Or what program should I implement to get me out of this? Or what white paper I could write on the subject?
Or what marketing program I could bring along? What 27-step program should I implement in my life? No, no, no, no, no. Not a million, no. The answer is, thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Say it with me. Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Only surrender to God will give you deliverance. Only surrender to God will make us float to victory shore.
You get to the point where you say, now that I've come to the end of my rope, now that I've come to the end of myself, now that I have come to the end of my efforts, I know where to go for victory. Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Michael Yusef, helping you hear and understand the life-giving words of Paul. Thank you for joining listeners worldwide for Leading the Way. The only reason we are even qualified to come to the throne room of God is because Jesus already paid the penalty of our sins on the cross.
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