This document is a summary of a church service at SSMC Sungei Way-Subang Methodist Church on 19 Feb 2017. The sermon focused on Romans 7:14-25 and discussed the internal struggle or "battle within" that Christians experience between their sinful desires and wanting to do good. It described this as a daily war against the sinful nature. The sermon emphasized that through acknowledging our weakness and dependence on Jesus Christ, Christians can experience victory over sin, though the struggle continues in this life.

1. SSMC
SUNGAI WAY-SUBANG
METHODIST
C H U R C H
PS DR NG KOK MOI
19 FEB 2017
THE BATTLE
WITHIN
ROMANS 7:14-25
SUNDAY CELEBRATION SERVICE

2. The Battle WithinRom 7: 14-25
Ps Dr Ng Kok Moi
19-Feb-2017

4. 1. John 20:31…. But these are written
that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that
by believing you may have life in
His name.

5. 2. John 8:32… You will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.
3. John 10:10… I come that they may
have life and have it to the full.

6. “by hook & by crook”
 FISHERS-OF-MEN : EVANGELISM
 SHEPHERD : EDIFICATION
Two of Care Group  DG
(John 21)

7. • Doctrinal book
• Systematic exposition
of the gospel of
universal application.
• Doctrinal book
• Systematic exposition
of the gospel of
universal application

8. …. and we have an
obligation to share it

9. Romans 6 – Romans 10

10. The Battle WithinRom 7: 14-25

11. 14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am
unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want
to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree
that the law is good.
The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25

12. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it
is sin living in me.
18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in
my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what
is good, but I cannot carry it out.

13. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no,
the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on
doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no
longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that
does it.

14. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do
good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;
23 but I see another law at work in the members
of my body, waging war against the law of my
mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin
at work within my members.

15. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue
me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our
Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to
God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the
law of sin.

16. John Ortberg
Author, speaker, and Senior Pastor
of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church,
California

17. The Problem: Who is this Man?
• Non-believer or pre-conversion
experience of a Christian?
• Christian experience?
The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25

18. Christian Experience: Reasons:
1. Paul's Use of First-Person Pronouns (40X)
2. Paul used present tense:
• Rom 5:1 – justified through faith
• Rom 5:9 – justified by His blood
• Rom 6:8 – live with Him
• Rom 6:15 – under grace
The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25

19. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
A Struggle, a War and a Conflict that goes on
• 24 hours a day
• 7 days a week
• 52 weeks a year
• Year in and year out
• True of all believers
…. As long as we live

20. Prominent Bible Teacher
Authored more than thirty books
David Pawson

21. Law (Mosaic)

22. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
Function & Purpose of the Law
1. It is holy, righteous & good (v12)
2. It cannot deliver us from sin
3. It exposes sin in us (v7)
4. It can drive us back to Christ
Law (Mosaic)

23. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
Indwelling Sin
• Sin living in me (v17, v20)
• Original sin (Rom 5:12)
• Made righteous in Christ (Rom 5:19)
• Dead to sin, alive in Christ (Rom 6:11)
• Sin nature is still in us (1 John 1:8)

24. #4 Kingdom Blueprint
“The Comprehensive Plan”
May 15, 2016

25. Kingdom of God
• Is here… & yet to come
• 2nd Coming of Christ:--
• Total, global
transformation
• In-between time:
• Extend the blessings
of God’s kingdom
throughout creation

26. Eternal Life in Christ
• Is here, & yet to come
• Death or Parousia:
• Perfection
• In-between time:
• Battle within

27. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
3 Struggles of the Believer:
1. Struggle to live up to what you know you
ought to be (v 15)
2. The struggle to come to grips with repeated
personal failure. (v19)
3. The struggle of the war within. (v21-23)

28. Struggle to live up to what you know you ought
to be (v 15)
• I do not understand what I do
• What I want to do I do not do
• What I hate I do
• Not “I”, but indwelling sin
Struggle #1 – Romans 7:14-17

29. Joni Eareckson
In her book, Joni, Joni Eareckson Tada describes her
first distressing realization of the grim reality of her
paralysis. Joni was only 15 when she was
permanently paralyzed from the neck down as the
result of a diving accident. She was rushed to the
hospital for extensive tests and x-rays to determine
the extent of her injury. As she lay unclothed on a
hospital cart, the sheet covering her slipped to the
side leaving her partially exposed. In her modesty,
Joni desperately wanted to cover herself, a small task
easily and quickly accomplished before her accident.
But now, as much as she wanted to make her arms
and hands move, they simply would not respond.
Joni knew in her mind exactly what she wanted to
do, but her body was totally unresponsive. You and I
can only taste of Joni’s struggle in small portions.
Joni’s difficulty only partially describes the analogy
of Romans 7, for it is one thing to have our body not
do what we tell it to and quite another to realize
that our body is very obedient to something else.

30. The struggle to come to grips with repeated
personal failure. (v19)
• Wanted to do good, but failed
• Don’t want to do evil, but keep on doing it
• Not “I”, but indwelling sin
• Nothing good lives in me
Struggle #2 – Romans 7:18-20

32. Struggle #3 – Romans 7:21-23
Struggle of the war within (v21-23)
• Evil is “right there with me”
• Evil is glued to my side
• “Waging war” & “making me a prisoner”
• Indwelling sin constantly lining up to do
battle with us (military campaign)

33. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
Desperate Surrender (v24)
• What a wretched man I am!
• Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Watchman Nee When to save a drowning man
“A drowning man cannot
be saved unless he ceases
to be frantic and is utterly
exhausted, and then he is
able to be saved”

34. Guadalcanal
(v25)

35. Guadalcanal!
American soldiers holding captured Japanese
Flag on Guadalcanal during World War II

36. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
2 Possible Responses:
1. Excuses – I’m not responsible
2. Dejected & Defeated
• A soldier who experiences tactical defeats, but
keeps fighting on his way to victory
• A soldier who surrenders to the enemy because the
war is just too painful and the enemy territory just
too attractive

37. “Indeed, an honest and humble
acknowledgment of the
hopeless evil of our flesh, even
after the new birth, is the first
step to holiness…. some of us
are not leading holy lives for the
simple reason that we have too
high an opinion of ourselves.”John Stott
John R. W. Stott, ”Men Made New”

38. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
The Way Forward:
1. Honesty (v24a)
2. Humility (v24b)
3. Complete Dependence on the Lord
Jesus Christ (v25)

39. The Battle Within Rom 7: 14-25
The Way Forward:
4. Intentionality (Rom 6:17)
5. Accountability (Gal 6: 1; Heb 3:12-13)

40. An old man told his grandson,
“My son, there is a battle between 2 wolves inside
of us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed,
resentment, inferiority, lies and ego.
The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love,
hope, humility, kindness, empathy and
truth.”
The boy thought about it and asked.
“Grandfather, which wolf wins?
The old man quietly replied,
“The one you feed.”

41. Conclusion
Normal Christian Life:
• No Christian lives in perfect
victory over sin
• We do not live only in defeat

42. Conclusion
Precious Truth
• I love the law of God (verse 22)
• I hate what I just did (verse 15)
• Wretched man that I am! Who will set me
free from the body of this death (verse 24)?
• Thanks be to God! The victory will come
through Jesus Christ my Lord (verse 25)