Wretched !

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 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.

Romans 7:24-25

Every Christian can echo Paul’s words, “Oh wretched   man that I am”. Preceding these words we find Paul’s frustration over failing to do what he knows he should (7:17-19). Some might say that there is no hope for me     if Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, can’t do the right thing, how can I possibly live the Christian life. The answer is you can’t but God can. Back in chapter 6 Paul explained that we have been set free from the bondage of sin and are now slaves of righteousness. But, even though we    are a new creation in Christ we still have to deal with      our old sin nature. John MacArthur explains:

As a believer grows in his spiritual life, he           inevitably will have both an increased hatred       of sin and an increased love for righteousness.    As desire for holiness increases, so will sensitivity to and antipathy toward sin. The other side of the predicament, Paul says, is that I practice the very evil that I do not wish. Again, it is important to understand that this great inner struggle with    sin is not experienced by the undeveloped and childish believer, but by the mature man of God.

It is a sign of spiritual maturity when you can say like Paul, “Wretched man that I am Who will deliver me from this body of death?” But, praise God that we can shout with him, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  The closer you walk with Christ the more you will hate   the sin in your life and when you hate your sin you will more than likely stop doing what you hate. We must    hate our sin as much as God hates sin.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark