Romans 7:24,25

DISCOURSE: 1855
PAUL’S SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS

Romans 7:24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

THE Epistle to the Romans, as a clear, full, argumentative, and convincing statement of the Gospel salvation, far exceeds every other part of Holy Writ. And the seventh chapter of that epistle equally excels every other part of Scripture, as a complete delineation of Christian experience. The Psalms contain the breathings of a devout soul, both in seasons of trouble and under the impressions of joy. But in the passage before us the Apostle states the operation of the two principles which were within him, and shews how divine grace and his corrupt nature counteracted each other. The good principle did indeed liberate him from all allowed subjection to sin: but the corrupt principle within him yet exerted such power, that, in spite of all his endeavours to resist it, he could not utterly overcome it. Having opened thus all the secret motions of his heart, he gives vent to the feelings which had been alternately excited by a review of his own experience, and of the provision which was made for him in Jesus Christ.
In discoursing upon his words we shall shew,

I. The Apostle’s experience—

We shall not enter into the general contents of this chapter, but confine ourselves to the workings of the Apostle’s mind, in,

1. His views of his sin—

[He considered sin as the most lothesome of all objects. In calling his indwelling corruption “a body of death,” he seems to allude to the practice of some tyrants, who fastened a dead body to a captive whom they had doomed to death, and compelled him to bear it about with him till he was killed by the offensive smell. Such a nauseous and hateful thing was sin in the Apostle’s estimation. He felt that he could not get loose from it, but was constrained to bear it about with him where-ever he went: and it was more lothesome to him than a dead body, more intolerable than a putrid carcass.

The bearing of this about with him was an occasion of the deepest sorrow. Whatever other tribulations he was called to endure, he could rejoice and glory in them, yea, and thank God who had counted him worthy to bear them. But under the burthen of his indwelling corruptions he cried, “O wretched man that I am!”

Nor was there any thing he so much desired as to be delivered from it. When he had been unjustly imprisoned by the magistrates, he was in no haste to get rid of his confinement: instead of availing himself of the discharge they had sent him, he said, “Nay, but let them come themselves and fetch me out.” But from his indwelling sin he was impatient to be released; and cried, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Not that he was at a loss where to look for deliverance; but he spake as one impatient to obtain it.]

2. His views of his Saviour—

[If his afflictions abounded, so did his consolations abound also. He knew that there was a sufficiency in Christ both of merit to justify the guilty, and of grace to sanctify the polluted. He knew, moreover, that God for Christ’s sake had engaged to pardon all his sins, and to subdue all his iniquities. Hence, with an emotion of gratitude, more easy to be conceived than expressed, he breaks off from his desponding strains, and exclaims, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord;” I thank him for Christ, as an all-sufficient Saviour; and I thank him through Christ, as my all-prevailing Advocate and Mediator. While he saw in himself nothing but what tended to humble him in the dust, he beheld in Christ and in God as reconciled to him through Christ, enough to turn his sorrow into joy, and his desponding complaints into triumphant exultation.]

That we may not imagine these things to be peculiar to St. Paul, we proceed to shew,

II.

Wherein our experience must resemble his—

“As face answers to face in a glass, so doth the heart of man to man:” and every one who is con verted to God will resemble the Apostle,

1. In an utter abhorrence of all sin—

[Sin is really hateful to all who see it in its true colours; it is properly called, “filthiness of the flesh and spirit [Note: 2 Corinthians 7:1.]:” and all who feel its workings within them, will “lothe both it, and themselves on account of it, notwithstanding God is pacified towards them [Note: Ezekiel 16:63.]. Ungodly men may indeed hate sin in others; as Judah did, when he sentenced his daughter Tamar to death for the crime in which he himself had borne a share [Note: Genesis 38:24.]; and as David did, when he condemned a man to die for an act, which was but a very faint shadow of the enormities which he himself had committed [Note: 2 Samuel 12:5.]. Ungodly men may go so far as to hate sin in themselves, as Judas did when he confessed it with so much bitterness and anguish of spirit; and as a woman may who has brought herself to shame; or a gamester, who has reduced his family to ruin. But it is not sin that they hate, so much as the consequences of their sin. The true Christian is distinguished from all such persons in that he hates sin itself, independent of any shame or loss he may sustain by means of it in this world, or any punishment he may suffer in the world to come. The Apostle did not refer to any act that had exposed him to shame before men, or that had destroyed his hopes of acceptance with God, but to the inward corruption of which he could not altogether divest himself: and every one that is upright before God will resemble him in this respect, and hold in abhorrence those remains of depravity which he cannot wholly extirpate.

Nor will the true Christian justify himself from the consideration that he cannot put off his corrupt nature: no; he will grieve from his inmost soul that he is so depraved a creature. When he sees how defective he is in every grace, how weak his faith, how faint his hope, how cold his love; when he sees that the seeds of pride and envy, of anger and resentment, of worldliness and sensuality, yet abide in his heart; he weeps over his wretched state, and “groans in this tabernacle, being burthened.” Not that this grief arises from fear of perishing, but simply from the consideration that these corruptions defile his soul, and displease his God, and rob him of that sweet fellowship with the Deity, which, if he were more purified from them, it would be his privilege to enjoy.
Under these impressions he will desire a deliverance from sin as much as from hell itself: not like a merchant who casts his goods out of his ship merely to keep it from sinking, and wishes for them again as soon as he is safe on shore; but like one racked with pain and agony by reason of an abscess, who not only parts with the corrupt matter with gladness, but beholds it afterwards with horror and disgust, and accounts its separation from him as his truest felicity.
Let every one then examine himself with respect to these things, and ask himself distinctly, “Am I like Paul in lothing sin of every kind, and of every degree? Does my grief for the secret remains of sin within me swallow up every other grief? And am I using every means in my power, and especially calling upon God, to destroy sin root and branch?”]

2. In a thankful reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ—

[The hope of every true Christian arises from Christ alone: if he had no other prospect than what he derived from his own inherent goodness, he would despair as much as those who are gone beyond a possibility of redemption. But there is in Christ such a fulness of all spiritual blessings treasured up for his people, that the most guilty cannot doubt of pardon, nor can the weakest doubt of victory, provided he rely on that adorable Saviour, and seek his blessings with penitence and contrition. In him the Apostle found an abundance to supply his want; and from the same inexhaustible fountain does every saint draw water with joy.
And what must be the feelings of the Christian when he is enabled to say of Christ, “This is my friend, this is my beloved?” Must he not immediately exclaim, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!” Must not the very stones cry out against him, if he withhold his acclamations and hosannas? Yes; “to every one that believes, Christ is, and must be, precious.” “All that are of the true circumcision will rejoice in him, having no confidence in the flesh.” And the deeper sense any man has of his own extreme vileness, the more fervently will he express his gratitude to God for providing a Saviour so suited to his necessities.]

Let us then learn from this subject,
1.

The nature of vital godliness—

[Religion, as it is experienced in the soul, is not as some imagine, a state of continual sorrow, nor, as others fondly hope, a state of uninterrupted joy. It is rather a mixture of joy and sorrow, or, if we may so speak, it is a joy springing out of sorrow. It is a conflict between the fleshly and spiritual principle [Note: Galatians 5:17.], continually humbling us on account of what is in ourselves, and filling us with joy on account of what is in Christ Jesus. As for those who dream of sinless perfection, I marvel at them. Let them explain their notions as they will, they put away from themselves one-half of the Apostle’s experience, and suffer incalculable loss, in exchanging true scriptural humility for Pharisaic pride, and unscriptural self-complacency. The being emptied of all our own imaginary goodness, and being made truly thankful to God for the blessings we receive in and through Christ, is that which constitutes the Christian warfare, and that which alone will issue in final victory.]

2. How little true religion there is in the world—

[We hear every living man complaining at times of troubles, civil, domestic, or personal: and we find every man at times exhilarated on some occasion or other. But we might live years with the generality of men, and never once hear them crying, “O my inward corruptions: what a burthen they are to my distressed soul!” Nor should we see them ever once rejoicing in Christ as their suitable and all-sufficient Saviour. Yea, if we were only to suggest such a thought to them, they would turn away from us in disgust. Can we need any further proof of the prevalence, the general prevalence, of irreligion? May God make use of this indisputable fact for the bringing home of conviction upon all our souls!]

3. What consolation is provided for them who have ever so small a portion of true religion in their hearts—

[Many experience the sorrows of religion without its joys; and they refuse to be comforted because of the ground they have for weeping and lamentation. But if their sins are a just occasion of sorrow, their sorrow on account of sin is a just occasion of joy: and the more they cry, O wretched man that I am, the more reason they have to add, “Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ.” Let this ascription of praise be our alternate effusion now; and ere long it shall be our only, and uninterrupted, song for ever.]