Wrestling Against the Temptation of the Old Nature...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter in our Bibles, called the book of Romans, where in Romans Paul is revealing for us the reality that our rescue requires wrestling with temptation. Yesterday, we discovered that, as followers of Jesus, we must wrestle against the temptation of license. explained that it is the destructive and evil power of selfishness and sin desires to deceive us into thinking that following Jesus gives us license to view God’s commands as worthless and irrelevant.

You see, the Law is not the problem. And to view the message and the teachings of the Bible as the problem is to fall into the temptation of license. But this raises a third question that reveals a third temptation, which we see in Romans 7:13:

Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

In other words, the members of the church at Rome were asking “Did the Law separate humanity from God? Is it the Law’s fault that I struggle with temptation?” Once again, Paul responds with the strongest negative response possible and explains that the problem isn’t the Law; the problem is the destructive and evil power of selfishness and sin. The Law serves to make known that sin is the problem and that selfishness and rebellion are extraordinarily evil and destructive. The pure, perfect, and just Law provides a stark contrast to the destruction that selfishness and sin causes in the lives of humanity.

Paul then introduces a well known and generally accepted fact that the members of the church at Rome would be aware of: “the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin”. The Apostle is reminding the members of the church at Rome that the Law was given to humanity by God Himself and is perfect. However, Paul is of flesh. Now when Paul refers to flesh here, he is referring to the state or condition of fallen humanity apart from faith in Christ that is weak, selfish, sinful and in opposition to God and the things of God. Apart from God’s transformational work in our lives, we are sinners who sin. We are selfish and rebellious against God and the things of God.

However, when we place our confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader, we receive forgiveness and enter into the relationship with God we were created for. We also receive the Holy Spirit which dwells within every follower of Jesus and are viewed as saints. However, we are saints who sometimes sin. We have two natures within us. We have the old nature that is at odds with God and the things of God, which the Bible refers to as the flesh; and we have a new nature that is led and controlled by the Holy Spirit.

And here we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us the third of three timeless temptations that followers of Jesus must wrestle against as we become more like Christ in character and conduct. And that temptation is that we must wrestle against the temptation of our old nature. You see, as followers of Jesus, our old nature within us tempts us to selfishly rebel against following the message and teachings of Jesus. Our old nature is still in bondage to selfishness.

And because of that reality, as followers of Jesus, we still wrestle with the temptations of our old selfish and sinful nature within us as it battles with our new nature and the Holy Spirit for control of our lives. And in the rest of Romans chapter seven, we see the Apostle Paul gives us a glimpse into the struggle that he faced as he wrestled against the temptation of his old nature. So let’s look together at this amazing glimpse into this struggle, beginning in verse 15:

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

In other words, I do what I do not desire to do because of my old nature. Have you been there? You seem to end up involved in selfishness and sin that you know that you should not be involved in as a follower of Jesus, but you end up there anyway? Can you relate to Paul here? Paul continues:

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

In other words, I do not do what I desire to do because of my old nature. Have you been there? You desire to do what you know you should do as a follower of Jesus, but you just do not do it? Can you relate to Paul here? Paul continues:

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

In other words, I have discovered that there are two principle forces at war within me. There is the selfish and sinful old nature within me that desires to enslave and destroy me that is warring with my new nature as a follower of Jesus. Have you been there? Have you felt the struggle; have you felt the pain that comes as a result of the spiritual warfare between the two natures within you as a follower of Jesus? Maybe you can relate to Paul’s response, in the form of a question, in verse 24:

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

I am a miserable human being! The next phrase, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally reads “who will rescue me from the danger of my old nature?” Have you ever asked that question? Have you ever felt that way? Notice Paul’s answer, which provides for us a timeless hope, in verse 25:

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Thank you God for Jesus Christ! Because living a life that responds to our rescue by becoming more like Christ in our character and conduct is not something we are able to do. Instead, living a life that responds to our rescue by becoming more like Christ in our character and conduct is something God enables us to do. And next week, we will discover the key that enables us to win the battle when it comes to wrestling with temptation.

Because the timeless reality is that our rescue requires wresting against temptation. Our rescue requires wrestling against the temptation of legalism. Our rescue requires wrestling against the temptation of license. Our rescue requires wrestling against the temptation of our old nature. So what do you need to be wrestling with when it comes to temptation?