Deliverance Through Jesus Christ (Zechariah 9:9-17, Romans 7:13-25)
Rev. David Huffman, April 13, 2025Part of the Series On Romans series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Under conviction, Paul's understanding of the law magnified his sin and showed him he needed a savior. The law exposed sin that killed him. Paul realized the inability of the law to sanctify in the life of the Christian. He moves now to the inner issue of indwelling sin. From verse 13 on, there is a present flavor. He states the law comes from God and is good. He delights in the law, yet an unsaved person would be hostile to the law. Therefore Paul must be already redeemed. Yet he wants to obey but doesn't consistently. There's an internal struggle, and only a believer will wrestle with sin. Paul’s soul expresses a longing for freedom from all sin. Is he a substandard Christian, or a carnal Christian? Jesus Christ in the Christian is both savior and Lord; He indwells believers. How then can we live a life contrary to our Lord? A carnal person is not even a Christian. Paul is candid about his struggles. Therefore he's not an unbeliever or backslidden. We conclude that we all wrestle with sin. We long to be more holy, and we don't rely on the law for justification. We are wedded to Jesus Christ, yet there is still remaining and indwelling sin. The law hasn't died in our lives--it still reveals sin. The psalmist says, “Search me and try my heart.” Only a believer would pray this. Remaining sin shows us that we are not where we ought to be, although sin’s power has been defeated.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
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| « The Goodness & Weakness of the Law | None | When The Father Said 'NO" » |
Zechariah 9:9–17 (Listen)
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
13 For I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, O Greece,
and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
14 Then the LORD will appear over them,
and his arrow will go forth like lightning;
the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet
and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
15 The LORD of hosts will protect them,
and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones,
and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
and be full like a bowl,
drenched like the corners of the altar.
16 On that day the LORD their God will save them,
as the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
Grain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women.
(ESV)
Romans 7:13–25 (Listen)
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. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 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. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 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. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
(ESV)