Back to the Right (Romans 7:18-21)
Thirty years ago, I interviewed to be the youth minister at the Main Street Church of Christ. I had meticulously written down directions for the two-hour drive from my parents’ home to the Main Street building. When I got to Pikeville and turned on to Main Street, people were looking at me funny. Main Street, I would quickly learn, is a one-way street, and I was going the wrong way. I drove the entire length of Main Street going the wrong direction!
Have you ever gone the wrong way down a one-way street? Have you ever gotten lost? Have you ever needed to admit that you were wrong?
Paul knew what it was like to be wrong, and he described the the experience as sin living within him. I know of no other text which so fittingly encapsulates the human condition. And Paul had a point in writing about the human condition: “God’s way is the right way.”
Scripture (Romans 7:18-21)
verse 18:
Nothing good dwelt in Paul’s flesh. In Paul’s epistles, “flesh” stands for that which dwells in this physical world; it’s the part of you which is tempted and which sins. There’s nothing good about that part of you.
Why was there nothing good about Paul’s flesh? Because he wanted to do the right thing, but he lacked the ability to follow through.
verse 19-20:
Paul found that instead of doing the right thing he was doing the evil he didn’t want to do. And it wasn’t Paul who was doing that evil, but the sin which dwelt within him.
In absolutely no way was Paul absolving himself—or you—of personal responsibility. Instead, he was saying that there were two parts of Paul—the part which wanted to do the right thing and the part which did the wrong thing, and those two parts were at war with each other.
verse 21:
When Paul wanted to do the right thing, evil was ready to pounce and lead him the wrong direction.
Application
“God’s way is the right way.” There is no other way. “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them” (Hos 14:9). God accepts into his fellowship those who do right: “In every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:35).
Since “God’s way is the right way,” how should life be lived?
One: Right Reading
Right Reading helps you do right. You can only know the right thing by reading the word of God. “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’” (Rom 7:7). “Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules” (Ps 119:137). “My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right” (Ps 119:172).
Scripture is right, for the Bible contains the very words of God. “We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thess 2:13). “No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21).
As I have said before, get in the book and do some Right Reading. Why is spending time in the book so vital? Because if you don’t know right from wrong, you will do the wrong thing and end up in hell. Studying and knowing Scripture is that vital.
Two: Right Resolve
You must have the Right Resolve, the desire to do right. “I have the desire to do what is right” (Rom 7:18). Judah “had sought [God] with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest all around” (2 Chron 15:15). “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (Ps 73:25).
Those texts speak about seeking God, not seeking right. Yet, if you have the Right Resolve in seeking God, the epitome of that which is right, you will have the Right Resolve to do what is right. How much do you really want to do the right thing? Could you say what Paul said: “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14)?
Three: Right Request
Make the Right Request of God and ask him to strengthen you as you fight sin. On the night of his betrayal, Jesus told his disciples, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt 26:41). In this morning’s text, Paul wrote about the weakness of his flesh, and you know just how weak your own flesh is.
How much do you make the Right Request? Notice Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians: “I bow my knees before the Father . . . that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Eph 3:14, 16). If an apostle prayed that for believers, shouldn’t you be praying that prayer yourself for yourself?
Four: Right Response
You need the Right Response: “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (Js 4:17). As you look back over the past week, how much have you done the right thing? Have you had the Right Response to God himself?
Conclusion
In speaking about false teachers, Peter said, “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray” (2 Pet 2:15). Have you forsaken the right way? Have you gone astray?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.