010 SLAVERY REMEMBERED: My Fatal Epiphany

Romans 7:7-12

August 17, 2025

You know that we are studying “The Necessity of Sanctification”.

The importance of such a study cannot be overstated.

Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

You just can’t state it any clearer than that.

You WILL NOT see the Lord without sanctification.

That makes it something you should pursue.

Luke 13:24-27 “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’’

· We do not want to be those evildoers who are locked outside.

· We want to be among the righteous who are welcomed in.

· And thus we “pursue sanctification”, we “strive to enter the narrow door.”

IN SHORT

· We long to be set apart.

· We long to be “holy for God is holy”.

· We long to be “perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect”.

· We long to “crucify the flesh with its passions and desires”.

· We “lay aside the old man and put on the new man”

· We “forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead”

· We are “working out our salvation with fear and trembling”.

WE WANT THIS.

If you don’t, then you need to revisit your salvation.

Justification produces sanctification.

NOW THE WONDERFUL NEWS that we have been learning in Romans 6-8

Is that we are not the only ones who want this for us,

And we are not the only ones who are working for it.

Christ also is at work on our behalf.

In fact, Christ is the chief reason for our sanctification.

Paul said:

1 Corinthians 1:30 “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,”

Christ is our sanctification.

AND THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN STUDYING.

We have looked at Romans 6:1-7:6 and discussed: FREEDOM REVEALED

That by identification in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus

We also died and were raised with Him.

· And since we died, we are freed from sin as our master.

· Since we died, we are freed from sin’s prison.

· And since we died, we are freed from the Law.

And this death and subsequent freedom was for a purpose.

Romans 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”

We were set free that we might be joined to Christ,

Who is our sanctification.

THAT WAS FREEDOM REVEALED

And if you haven’t been here with us for that part of the study, I highly recommend you go on line and listen, for everything we are saying today will build on that, and we don’t have time to rehash it all.

This morning we move to the next major point of this section:

SLAVERY REMEMBERED

Now, why would we want to do that?

Why would we want to go back and remember how awful our slavery was?

TWO REASONS:

1. So you will remember how awful your former master was.

2. So you will remember exactly how you broke free from him.

Those are things, even as believers you still need to know.

You still need to know how awful sin is,

And you still need to know how to overcome it.

Even as believers who have been set free from sin’s dominion,

You have not yet been set free from sin’s presence.

Sin is still here and sin is still terrible.

· Sin still confronts you, tempts you, and attacks you.

· And you still need to know how to overcome it.

So we are going to travel backward to a time of our former slavery

So that we can see how we overcame it then,

And thus know how to overcome it now.

IS THAT INFORMATION YOU WOULD FIND VALUABLE?

· Do you have sins you struggle with?

· Do you have besetting sins that have hung on for too long in your life?

· Do you want to know how to break free from them?

· Do you want to know how to overcome them in your life?

We learn that by examining how every prior sin was overcome in our life.

So we eagerly jump into this study together this morning.

NOW, WE START THIS CONVERSATION IN A BIZARRE PLACE.

We are certainly talking about our slavery to sin and how awful it is,

But you’ll notice that the conversation doesn’t start with sin,

IT STARTS WITH LAW.

WHY LAW?

Because you can’t identify sin without the Law.

If you want to see sin for what it is,

Then the conversation must begin with the Law.

As we will see, it is the Law that shows us sins true colors.

Romans 7:13b “…through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.”

· We start with the Law because the Law shows us sin.

· We start with the Law because the Law showed us our slavery to sin.

IN CONTEXT

Paul has just revealed that

We had to be freed from sin so that we could be joined to Christ.

· He told us that so long as we were married to the Law (old covenant) all we did was fail and never produced fruit.

· We had to be freed from the Law so that we could marry Christ who would then make us fruitful for God.

That reality has PROMPTED ANOTHER QUESTION.

(7) “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin?”

That’s a really good question.

At the heart of it is a desire to understand

Whether or not the Law is a good thing or a bad thing?

At the heart is a desire to know the Law’s place

In this battle we have for sanctification.

I want you to think about the basic mentality of man

And what man thinks about law in general. (Not just Mosaic Law, but in any law)

When problems arise in the world.

When unpleasant things occur in a society or a culture.

There are always some who think the answer to those problems is law.

For example:

· You have a shooting and immediately some think “gun laws” are the answer.

· You have corrupt politicians and some want a law limiting how many terms.

In short, you see a problem and for many the solution to the problem

Is to make a law which forbids that behavior.

Others see law as the problem and actually want less laws.

Think of the famous John Lennon song

· Who imagined life with no heaven, no hell, no religion, no nations, etc.

· It was a desire for no governing laws so that men could live free and be as one.

Or think of men who see law and regulations as a hindrance

· To productivity and that which ties my hands and keeps me from accomplishing my tasks.

Now when I give you those examples, you have probably found yourself

On both sides of the argument at different times in your life.

There are times you have wanted more law.

There are times you have wanted less law.

BUT THE POINT I MAKE IS

Our propensity to always put law at the middle of the argument.

We have a tendency to either see law as the problem or as the solution.

Many have done the same with the Mosaic Law regarding salvation.

AND THE LAW IS ACTUALLY NEITHER

· The Law is not the problem

· The Law is not the solution

As you will see, and as you already know.

· The real problem is sin.

· The only solution is Christ.

EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE THIS.

When you blame law, you are letting sin off the hook.

When you look to law, you are trusting that which cannot save.

THAT IS ALSO TRUE REGARDING SANCTIFICATION.

SANCTIFICATION will not occur unless you understand that

Your biggest problem is sin and your only solution is Christ.

So part of getting our thinking straight also involves

Understanding what the Law really is and what the Law really does.

And that is what Paul is addressing for us now.

(7) “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin?”

That would be a logical response to what Paul just taught us.

· You told me that the law stirred up my sinfulness

· You told me that I had to be freed from the law to be fruitful

· So clearly the law is a bad thing right?

Clearly the law is the problem of society. (“I knew it!” “No more laws!”)

WRONG! “May it never be!”

4 things about the Law here.

And while looking at it, we will also see the true nature of our enemy known as sin.

#1 THE LAW REVEALS SIN

Romans 7:7b

“On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

A very interesting point here,

And one that is helpful to us on a number of levels.

Paul says, “I would not have come to know sin except through the Law”

Let’s chew on that a moment.

Paul lays out for us an important reality that you need to understand

About your own HEART and CONSCIENCE.

THEY ARE BOTH FALLEN.

Paul had a heart.

Paul had a conscience.

Paul had a “gut”.

Yet, even with all of those working together in unison in his life,

He was still able to remain ignorant of sin.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?

· So many people today want to let their heart guide them.

· So many people today let their conscience be their guide.

· So many people today just follow their “gut”.

Do you see the flaw in that?

Those things are TERRIBLE discerners of sin.

Take the HEART:

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”

Obadiah 3 “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’”

Do you realize that you don’t come across anything on a daily basis

That is more deceptive than your own heart?

Nothing lies to you like your heart lies to you.

“The heart is more deceitful than all else…”

There is nothing more evil in your life than your own heart.

Mark 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”

And just to make sure we are clear,

The word for heart their really refers to the BOWELS.

It’s like a “gut-feeling”.

· You want to follow your own gut?

· You want to follow your own intuition?

· You want to follow your own heart?

Get ready to be deceived, it’s a liar; it’s evil.

Paul had that, and it DID NOT tell him about his sin.

But what about the CONSCIENCE?

I thought the conscience was given so we would know right and wrong?

Romans 2:14-16 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”

Paul there spoke of the conscience.

· That one day when men stand before God,

· Even having never heard the word of God

· That they will be condemned by their very own conscience.

That is to say that they will be condemned for doing things

That their own conscience told them was wrong.

So isn’t my conscience a reliable guide?

Can’t I instinctively know what is sinful just by listening to my conscience?

And the answer again is: NO.

WHY?

BECAUSE YOUR CONSCIENCE IS FALLEN.

What is more, your conscience can be manipulated by your will to say what you want to hear.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,”

It is true that you were given a conscience

To make you feel guilt when you do wrong.

The problem is that even your conscience is susceptible to deception.

Modern day psychology has made a fortune off of sinners,

Teaching them how to sear their conscience

So that they no longer feel guilt for their sinful decisions.

And here we learn that it was not Paul’s heart, gut, or conscience that made him aware of sin.

Paul had a heart, a gut, and a conscience

AND YET STILL DIDN’T KNOW SIN IN HIS LIFE.

LISTEN TO ME HERE:

What felt natural to Paul was actually offensive to God

And Paul was totally clueless to the fact.

Do you understand that?

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”

If you are basing your innocence before God

On the fact that you don’t know of anything you’ve done wrong, you are in a horrible condition.

You can’t know your sin without the Law of God revealing it to you.

In Psalm 19 David speaks of the greatness of God’s Law

And it’s ability even to convert sinners.

Psalms 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”

· It is the Law which leads sinners to conversion.

HOW?

Psalms 19:11 “Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”

· The Law warns sinners about sin and judgment.

And it even warns about sins you were totally unaware of.

Psalms 19:12-13 “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.”

Only God’s Law is effective for revealing sin.

It’s the only test that can be run that is accurate in exposing sin.

Paul said, “I would not have come to know sin except through the Law;”

How did Jesus preach in order to expose people’s sin?

What is the first sermon (and greatest sermon) recorded in the gospels?

It’s the Sermon on the Mount.

What does Jesus do there?

· He preaches the Law.

“You have heard…but I say”

· If you are angry, it’s murder

· It you look with lust, it’s adultery

· If you get a divorce, you cause adultery

· If you break your vows, it’s lying

· If you fail to love, you’re not like God

All He does is preach the Law.

He is exposing sin in the people He came to save.

When the Rich Young Ruler wanted to go to heaven…

What did Jesus do?

· He preached the Law.

Matthew 19:16-17 “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

See this man wants to be saved, but we don’t even know from what.

For all we know he just wants a more fulfilled life.

Jesus preaches the Law to clarify what this man needs to be saved from.

Only the Law binds up the heart under sin.

Christian that is still true so far as it regards YOUR SANCTIFICATION.

Tell me how much time you spend in God’s Word

And I’ll tell you how serious you are about sanctification.

· You’re telling me you are pursuing holiness…

· You’re telling me you are striving to be conformed into the image of Christ…

· You’re telling me you are seeking to crucify the flesh…

· You’re telling me you are seeking to overcome sin in your life…

BUT YOU AREN’T READING THE WORD?

You are either lying to me about your goals in life

Or you are terribly misdirected regarding how those things will occur.

You need the word of God;

The law of God to expose the sin in your life.

“I would not have come to know sin except through the Law;”

And then Paul gets specific.

“for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

HE THOUGHT COVETING WAS A TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE THING.

· Coveting is just what you do.

· Coveting is just normal to humanity.

I HAD NO IDEA IT WAS A SIN.

I had no idea it offended God.

I had no idea it would send me to hell.

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

COVETING IS A SIN

· It’s one of the big 10!

· It is a revelation that you do not love your brother.

· You would rather you have your neighbor’s house than him have it.

· You would rather you have your neighbor’s wife than him have her.

IT IS TOTALLY FORBIDDEN BY GOD.

You are not permitted to covet what is not yours.

You are called to be content and grateful to God for His goodness to you.

And Paul says, “I had no clue, until I read Exodus 20:17”.

And how many sins are there like that?

· Things you didn’t even know were wrong until you read it in the Bible.

· Things your heart was ok with.

· Things your conscience ignored.

· Things you learned from your parents.

· Things society accepts as good.

BUT GOD HATES IT AND HE WILL JUDGE IT.

CAN YOU FATHOM THE PROBLEM?

That you can be in sin for which God will send you to hell

And not even be aware of it.

Today the medical field is adamant about cancer checkups.

Colonoscopies, Mammograms, Prostate Exams, Etc.

WHY?

· Because you can have cancer and not even know it until it’s too late.

· It will kill you, it can be killing you, and you can be oblivious.

Well if you think cancer is bad, let me tell you about sin.

Cancer will just kill your body, sin will send you to hell.

And the only way to know about it is through the Law.

THE LAW REVEALS SIN

#2 THE LAW ROUSES SINFULNESS

Romans 7:8

This is where we start to see just how bad sin really is.

· This is where we start to remember our former slavery.

Paul was walking along one day free as you please,

Just certain he was acceptable to God.

THEN HE READ A COMMAND.

He read Exodus 20:17 that “YOU SHALL NOT COVET”.

No problem he thought.

I won’t.

BUT THEN something happened he did not expect.

“But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in my coveting of every kind;”

What happened?

I read the command, and the next thing I know, I’m coveting like crazy.

Not only was all of his coveting exposed,

But after reading the command his coveting became worse!

What is Paul talking about?

It’s the same point he made in our text last Sunday night.

Romans 7:5 “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”

(In fact, this segment of Romans 7 is like a commentary on that verse.)

It is the reality that before redemption you are a slave to sin.

Other masters can give you orders, but you are enslaved.

Ever try giving orders to someone else’s dog?

Every unredeemed man is in fact a slave of sin.

BUT THEY DON’T KNOW IT.

They don’t know it until some other master

Tells them to do something else.

AND THAT IS WHAT PAUL IS REVEALING HERE

I didn’t even realize I was a coveter,

· But when the commandment told me to stop

· Something in me revolted, bristled, and then broke out of control.

· I didn’t just covet my neighbor’s house after that, I started coveting everything.

· Before you know it, I wanted his wife, his ox, his donkey, his plow, barns, and his flat screen TV.

Sin took “opportunity through the commandment”.

“opportunity” is a Greek word that is even a military term

That speaks of “a base from which to launch an attack”.

When the Law showed up and told me to stop coveting,

Sin built a fort and started firing back.

Remember how Satan attacked Eve in the garden?

From what vantage point did he attack?

He started with the command of God.

Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

He was using law to convince Eve that God was bad.

Even when Eve corrected the distortion of God’s Law Satan continued.

Genesis 3:4-5 “The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

See how he is appealing to her flesh?

· She didn’t even want that fruit until Satan rubbed it in her face that she couldn’t

have it.

· And then she wanted it so bad she ate and gave some to her husband too.

THAT IS HOW SIN WORKS.

· It rises up in you in rebellion.

· It hates being told what to do.

· It uses the command as a launching point for rebellion.

For a time sin can lurk in the shadows undetected,

But when the Law comes in and tries to expose it,

It rises up, pounces, and fights back.

That is why Paul says “apart from the Law sin is dead.”

He simply means undetected.

He means that you are unbothered by it.

It is the Law that wakes that rebellion up.

Do you even know if a man is rebellious if there are no commands?

Why do you think John Lennon wanted a world without laws?

· You can’t have lawlessness if there are no laws.

· You can’t call a man a sinner if nothing is designated as sin.

IT’S THE WHOLE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND ATHEISM.

BUT THIS IS WHY YOU NEED THE LAW.

The Law Reveals Sin The Law Rouses Sinfulness

#3 THE LAW RUINS SINNERS

Romans 7:9-11

Here is why so many people hate the Law of God.

Paul, remembering that former time of slavery in his life says:

“I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;”

What does he mean, “I was once alive apart from the Law”?

He means he was totally unaware of any problems.

He thought he was fine.

TODAY, YOU CAN CONSIDER YOURSELF CANCER FREE.

You can go to the doctor tomorrow and find out that’s not true.

Today you can be at total peace and tomorrow at war.

It’s not that you were free from cancer today,

But rather that you didn’t know it and ignorance can be bliss.

That is what Paul is describing.

I was doing great until I read the Law.

· I read the Law

· Sin fought back

· And I learned that I was dead in sin.

· I learned that I had another master calling the shots (he’ll illustrate that in our next text).

He goes on to say:

(10) “and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;”

Ok, so how many of you thought that MORE LAW was the answer?

How many thought that the way to fix a society is MORE LAWS?

To borrow Paul’s language,

HOW MANY OF YOU THOUGHT LAW BRINGS LIFE?

I’ve got some bad news for you.

Paul thought that too, and he was wrong.

He thought that if he would just read the commandments

That he would then know how to have eternal life.

He thought the commandment “was to result in life”.

We think back again to that Rich Young Ruler who wanted life

· Jesus told him to “keep the commandments”.

· He asked “which ones?”

· And Jesus rattled off a few of the 10 commandments and the second greatest.

Look at his response:

Matthew 19:20-22 “The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.”

Do you see how quickly he went from life to death?

Do you see how quickly he went from joy to grief?

He was confident that he was alive, the commandment was given,

And at once he realized he was dead.

So the Law killed him?

NOPE.

The Law didn’t kill him, sin killed him.

He was already dead, he just didn’t know it.

That rich young ruler was totally overcome by sin.

· He was infested with it.

· Namely a love of the world and of the things of the world.

· To borrow from Jesus parable of the soils, his heart was filled with the weeds of

“worries and riches and pleasures in this life” (Lk 8:14).

That didn’t just happen to him, that was always there.

He just didn’t know it until Jesus told him to leave it.

AND WHAT HAPPENED?

· Jesus told him to leave it and sin launched a defiant attack.

· Sin fought back and told him that he was a slave and could not leave.

· And then that man did what his master told him, he left Jesus.

· He was sad; he was grieving; he was broken (you’ll see Paul that way too)

· But sin reigned and he was dead.

· As Jesus will point out, only God can fix that man.

Paul said, that’s what happened to me.

I was doing good until I read the Law, but I read the Law,

Sin revolted in me, and I realized that I was dead.

Now, there’s more coming on that theme later,

But first we get to Paul’s main point of this passage.

The Law Reveals Sin The Law Rouses Sinfulness The Law Ruins Sinners

#4 THE LAW REMAINS SINLESS

Romans 7:12

Here we see the final application.

“SO THEN, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

The Law showed up and showed you your sin.

· Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

· It may be a painful thing, but it’s a good thing.

· “The Law is…good”

The Law didn’t budge on what sin was.

· The Law clearly defined it and rightly applied it.

· The Law didn’t bend to fit your desires.

· “The Law is…righteous”

The Law came to you like nothing else in the world.

· There is nothing else like God’s Law.

· It is set apart, it is unique, and it clearly defines God’s character and will.

· “The Law is…holy”

“The Law is holy” – set apart and true to the character of God.

“The Law is righteous” – unyielding and just clearly identifying sin.

“The Law is good” – exposing in sinners what must be exposed.

So now, let’s go back to our presuppositions

WHERE WE STARTED THIS MORNING.

Some witness the problems of a culture or a society and SEE LAW AS THE PROBLEM.

· Law is what inhibits, and restrains, and keeps me from doing good effectively

and efficiently.

IS THE LAW THE PROBLEM?

No, the problem is sin.

The Law exposes sin.

Ah, so the Law is good, I knew it.

Law is THE SOLUTION to all of our problems then right?

IS THE LAW THE SOLUTION?

No, the Law can identify problems, but it cannot fix them.

All the Law can do is stir them up.

THERE IS ONLY ONE SOLUTION…CHRIST.

· The Law came to show you how badly you need Christ.

· The Law came to magnify your problem to make you desperate for the only solution.

As Paul said to end chapter 5

Romans 5:20-21 “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We’re out of time, but let’s have this piece of application this morning.

Are you in the Law of God?

Are you reading the word?

You say, “No, the Bible always convicts me and I don’t enjoy reading it.”

You’re acting like the Bible is the problem, it’s not.

Sin is your problem and unless you read the Bible

You’ll never have it exposed.

But an EQUAL PROBLEM is to think that the Bible is your salvation.

Are you really going to earn your salvation by obeying the Bible on your own?

That won’t work either.

· Sin is too strong of a master.

· You’ll bristle and rebel every time.

YOUR ONLY HOPE FOR SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION IS THIS.

Read the Law of God that your sin might be exposed.

Let the Law of God drive you to Jesus who alone can save you from it.

John 5:39 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;”

Galatians 3:24 “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”

There is much more to say, but this morning learn these two things.

1. The Law is not the problem, sin is.

2. The Law is not the solution, Christ is.