Who Will Rescue Me from This Body of Death? Romans 7:15-25, NIV I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who does it, but it is sin living in me. 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. 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. 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. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 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. Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “Who Will Rescue Me from This Body of Death?” which is based on Paul’s lamentation in Romans 7:15-25. Although we may have believed in Jesus for a long time there is always a sense of guilt in our heart. There is nobody who can stand before God without having a guilty conscience. In our prayers, when we kneel down before God, the first issue in our heart would be “sin”. Therefore we would firstly repent and then ask God for our wishes. In this world who can live a sin free life? We want to live a righteous life but it looks impossible. Paul lamented, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Even Paul sighed like this and how much more are we tormented by a sense of guilt? 1. The inner War of a Christian When Jesus Christ came into our heart and became our Lord and Savior we received a joy and assurance of our salvation. He shed His precious blood on the cross for us and we became to know that we are forgiven. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Bible tells us no matter who we are, man or woman, young or old, rich or poor, high or low, whoever believes in Jesus, shall not perish but has eternal life. Yes, we have got the promise of God that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13). In our inner being we have confidence and joy but in the members of our body we are constantly tempted by Satan. The attack of Satan and desires of our body do not know ceasefire negotiation. Paul moaned, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15) In spite of the joy, peace and assurance of our salvation, it is true that there is constant attacking. Our sinful nature tries to drag us toward evil. So often we fall down and our hearts become weakened. If Jesus did not sustain us, if he did not raise us up again, we would fail to stand. By our power or resolution we cannot face the challenge. There is no hope. Before we got saved all things were okay with us but after we got born again it seems like we cannot escape the painful chains of a guilty conscience. Satan attacks those who have heard and received the good news of Jesus Christ. He provokes the inner wars in the hearts of Christians. And because of this constant satanic interference, it is not easy for a Christian to lead a powerful life. Therefore we should be aware of an inner spiritual battle from the moment of our salvation. In my heart I want to do good but the sinful nature of my body challenges me with its passions and desires. During our personal war against evil we are covered in blood and suffer much. We repent and cry out for help again and again. There is no exception; everyone faces such an inner war. We would say, “I did not know that such a burdensome agony would take place in my heart. I thought that if I believed in Jesus, my life would be just happy, peaceful, and joyful.” Actually we are happy and joyful in our inner man because we live with God. We have peace, joy and happiness. But other members of our body are struggling for survival. The desires and passions of the sinful nature are dragged about by Satan. The war between these two parts must be very intense. It is during this battle that we realize that our salvation is not possible by our own strength. 2. Salvation is a gift which is given through the Grace of God. Ephesians 1:5-7 “He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace” Our salvation is free. We must therefore offer ceaseless thanks unto God. We only give thanks without making any kind of adjustments. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace…” (Ephesians 1:7). You and I have redemption, not through our own value or qualification, but through the grace of God. No one can boast before God because salvation is not from us but from Him, who has given it freely. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” Do we need to pay for this precious present? If I give you a gift and then ask for money, will you take it? We receive a gift for free. Salvation does not come from us but from God who gives it to us as a present. He does not grant it to you because you did something great. Salvation is not an achievement award. “Salvation is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.” It is not the result of our works but the free gift of God. We are not saved by our own works but by faith. Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God has kept salvation in reserve for us. It is God who called us and allowed us to be saved by the precious blood of Jesus. We can never offer our own works for our salvation. Therefore there is no room to negotiate our salvation. Human works should not be mixed with our salvation as if they were conditions for it. The Reformers criticized the systemic corruption of the Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchy, even up to the Pope. They were against the Roman Catholic formula “Faith and good works yield justification” and emphasized Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone"), Sola fide ("by faith alone"), Sola gratia ("by grace alone"), Solus Christus ("through Christ alone"), and Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone"). The RCC would put Reformers to death because they did not give up the word “solus (alone)”. The RCC argued that “Not only by faith but also by good deeds people will be saved. Not only Scripture but also the word of the Pope has authority. Salvation comes not only by God’s grace but also by a person’s righteous works. If the word ‘solus (only)’ was not excluded, a Reformer would be executed.” The Bible tells us: “You are saved by faith and God’s grace.” Please repeat after me. “Salvation comes only by faith and only by God’s grace.” This means that salvation is an unmerited gift from God for Jesus' sake. Therefore everyone who is sitting here in the auditorium is saved not by his own works but by God’s grace. Otherwise nobody can be saved. Yonggi Cho who is preaching now would be the first one who has failed. In this world how can we pay for our salvation which is accomplished by our Lord Jesus on the cross? When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished” it is done. He paid the entire penalty without leaving anything having to be paid. Since Jesus has accomplished our salvation, there is no room for our works. I cannot pay the penalty of my sins through the works of my whole life but the Lord has paid them off completely and forever. What do I need to do? How about this? One day a feast takes place and a girl visits her mother and asks, “Mom can I help you? Do you need my hands?” But the mother has already prepared the feast. If the girl rolls up her sleeves her mother would say, “Hey, I have done everything. You don’t need to work. Come and enjoy the feast.” Hebrews 10:12-14, “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Please repeat after me. “I become holy forever because I believe in Jesus. There is no debt. He has completely paid the penalty for my sins.” How can it be? We ought to be rejected because we are all unrighteous and sinful but by faith we know that we are saved. By the grace of Jesus we are forever forgiven. How amazing his grace is! Once for all time Jesus sacrificed for sins. From eternity to eternity he paid all the penalty of sins. Therefore when we come to Jesus we are saved. “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Because of his grace we can believe that we are saved. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:9). We cannot boast of our salvation since it is the gift of God. I am saved not by my good works or qualification. “I” should praise “God” for his grace of salvation. Romans 4:25, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” Jesus entered into the prison of death bearing our burdens of sin. Nobody could escape from this prison before Jesus paid the penalty. But Jesus paid all of our debts in three days. Then God raised him to life! By the power of the Holy Spirit which has come to us, He has helped us realize the salvation of God on our bodies. The Holy Spirit helps us live a saved life which is already accomplished in Christ Jesus. If we then live by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of our sinful nature. There would be no more doing evil or thinking evil. Mark 7:21-22 says, “For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.” Since we received salvation, the gift of God by faith, we should resist the sinful nature in us. By the power of the Holy Spirit we should fight against evil thoughts in us. That is the battle we face. The Holy Spirit helps us to get rid of sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, bitterness, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. We should resist. A dead man does not resist but a living man does resist. When we are in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit helps us to bear heavenly fruits. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” However we do not reach our fruit bearing season in a single moment. We gradually come to fruition after all our struggles, our falling and rising again in prayer and petition. We have our redemption the moment we believed in Jesus but thereafter we have to fight an intense battle for the salvation of our daily life. Sometimes we would moan, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? It is no use going to church. I attended worship service, sang hymn songs and prayed but after I went back home I became easily upset and irritable. I don’t think I am a believer.” You are a believer. It is because you already have been saved that there is war. It is the one who does not have redemption who does not have to fight this inner holy war. There is no internal struggle for him if he commits sins. But because you have redemption, you are born again and spiritually alive. That is why you feel each and every pain when your sinful nature attacks you. You are standing in the war field suffering and wounded. From the time we believed in Jesus and received our redemption by his grace, there began a fierce battle between the Holy Spirit and the sinful nature in us. To win this battle we should pray much to be filled with the Holy Spirit and He will equip us with his power. The great glory of God, the Holy Spirit is within us. He abides in those who are saved. The wonderful power of God enables us to live according to God’s will. But so often we just do not acknowledge him. We try to fight by our own strength and fail often. “I think I cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.” We easily got discouraged and give up. No, do not give up because there is enormous power in you. The Holy Spirit is in you. What is the difference between a believer and non-believer? The Holy Spirit is not in a non-believer. The world - Satan is in him. Sin overwhelms a non-believer and he cannot resist from sinning. But Christians have the Holy Spirit in them. The tremendous power of God is on our side. The Spirit of God will fight for us when sin enters into our life, he will teach us to stand against Satan. The world will fade away and we will be transformed into the image of Christ. Therefore brothers and sisters, please take heart. We should realize our spiritual reality. In our heart and life there will be war between the Holy Spirit and the members of our body. How intensive it would be; but this battle is limited. We should know that our Lord Jesus Christ has won the war. We have already received our victory of salvation when we believed in Jesus. From then on let us be confident, rise up again and go forward by faith. Victory is ours. We are in Jesus who saved us. By the power of the Holy Spirit we are more than conquerors. We can beat any enemy. 3. The weapons we have Then how can we fight? Do we have enough weapons? Ephesians 6:14-18 says, Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Now Paul describes how we can arm ourselves completely in our daily battle by comparing us with an armed Roman soldier of his day. Therefore we should stand firm with the belt of truth, the word of God because our power comes from it. We should stay in the word of God not outside of it. God’s word is living and active. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” The Bible is the source of our power. If we trust our human wisdom, plans, and abilities our resources are limited. Even though we may not be well-educated or our family background may be poor, if we stand with the belt of the Bible buckled around our waist; we will become men of great strength. You will be so strong there will be no match for you. The Bible, it is the most precious present from God. The word of God leads us to truth. We always need to buckle our waist with the belt of the word of truth asking God what He wants us to do. Then we can overcome all interference from Satan and get the prepared blessings of God to share with our society and nation. And we stand firm with the breastplate of righteousness in place. It will protect us from piercing arrows and threatening spears of the enemy. This “breastplate of righteousness” that we wear is our decision to live righteously according to the word of God. Believers should not be embroiled in worldly waves. We should make up our minds. We need to put the breastplate of righteousness in our heart. We should resolve to a just life. Please repeat after me, “I will rely on Jesus and live a righteous life.” We need such a resolution. Ephesians 4:24 says: “And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” “I will put on the new self. I will live a righteous life.” Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” We need justice. When we act justly no arrows and no spear of the enemy can pierce our heart. We should wear the breastplate of righteousness always in place. We should cut off greed. Without such a strong resolution for righteousness we will be enslaved to sin and we will not be able to remove our double-minded lifestyle. If we make up our mind to live a righteous life, the devil cannot come knocking on the door of our heart. We will not answer him as he tries again and again; and then he will not come anymore. Imagine. If we opened the door of our life widely whenever the doorbell went ‘ding-dong’ by the devil. ‘Ding-dong! “Okay come in.” Then the devil will visit us whenever he wanted. He will say, “Good. We are friends.” And we will become worldly. That is why we should continually solidify our resolve for a righteous lifestyle. Even though we fall, we must rise up again and re-establish our determination. And we must stand firm with our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Our Lord has prepared a peaceful life for us. When we wear shoes we can walk comfortably on the road. On the cross Jesus gave us forgiveness and righteousness. He has prepared sanctification and fullness of the Holy Spirit for us. The blessing of Abraham is already ours. Resurrection and eternal life in the kingdom of heaven were already given to us on the cross. He blessed us in such a great way. He gave us shoes of the Gospel. We were all bare feet walking on the cursed way. Jesus found us bleeding and wounded through walking on a gravel road; feeling many pains on the way of thorns and thistles. Now because of our faith in Jesus Christ we are wearing the shoes of the five-fold gospel. It is okay with us whether our road is rough or not. We can go with the Gospel wherever we want and overcome every obstacle. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’” It is the shoes of peace that the Lord has prepared for us. Even if we cannot see or hear what God has prepared for us, we can live peacefully wearing these shoes. In our home, working place and society I can live a healthy life without being left wounded or painfully bleeding. And we are to take up the shield of faith. We have the shield of faith to extinguish all the flaming arrows, all the thrusting spears of the enemy. Our eyes may not see, our ears may not hear, and our hands may not touch what God has for me; but I believe in the Lord. What the Lord says I believe. Whether I live or die I believe. And it will be done to you as you believe. There is no sufficient shield like faith. Psalm 91:4 says, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” The Lord will be our shield and rampart. The trustworthy Lord will take care of us. Peter said in 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” We sometimes believe and we sometimes do not believe; but we will see miracles when we believe without wavering. And we can take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the word works powerfully in us. For the last 50 years as I have traveled the world preaching the Gospel; I have been able to see God’s word greatly working when the Spirit of God was pouring upon me. But when the Holy Spirit did not come I labored in vain, embarrassed, standing and dripping with sweat as I painfully tried to preach the Gospel. The Holy Spirit and the Word are always working together. Where there is the word, there is the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” And Titus 3:6 says, “(God) poured out (the Holy Spirit) on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior” In addition to wearing all our armor as mentioned above; we should pray. When we pray in the Spirit the devil will flee from us. Even if we arm ourselves completely; even if we buckle our waist with the belt of truth, put the breastplate of righteousness in place, take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit; all will be pointless if we do not pray. Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Prayer moves the hand of God. If we stay silent and remain prayer-less God will stay silent. Please remember this! God works on your prayer. Do not say, “I don’t know how to pray.” Your prayers do not have to sound formal or smart. Try it! When you pray the living God will listen to you. If you do not pray he will not pay attention to you. Make a sound; pour your heart in prayer. I have seen from my experience it is better to pray with a voice. Yes, we can pray soundlessly but sometimes we need to cry out. Pray loudly so you yourself also can hear your prayer. Psalm 91:15 says, “He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.” The Lord will listen to us. He will answer us. We are in a battle field. We arm ourselves with God’s armor completely. We pray in the Spirit and fight against the enemy. We will gain the victory. God is on our side. We need to pray asking for His help. The power of prayer is wonderful. Not only through prayer will God solve my personal problems, he will also solve my neighbor’s problems through my prayers. Conclusion: We are Christians who have redemption and we have received the Holy Spirit. But we all face the constant challenge of both Satan and our sinful nature. We are in a war. The Holy Spirit is your present help. There is a huge quantity of oil reserves in you. It is the reserves of the Holy Spirit. Acknowledge Him, welcome Him, receive Him, and rely on Him. Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Don’t be discouraged. Saints were not done overnight. Although we became Christians we don’t become saints in one or two days. By the grace of God we have redemption already and we are in our war of becoming holy. 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years will pass by and gradually we will be like Jesus Christ. We will not become full with only one spoon from a meal. We need our daily bread. Therefore we receive salvation by faith and by the grace of God and we are being transformed into the image of Jesus while we are struggling against the devil. The closer we come to victory the more we will resemble the image of Christ, and the more we resemble Him the more God will give us blessings and the fulfillment of promises. Let us prayer together. Our Father in Heaven! You are holy. You are a living God. We thank you for your grace and love. God is with us through the Holy Spirit. Thank you for holding us in your grace. Thank You for your presence. Our Comforter, Holy Spirit is within us. We acknowledge the Holy Spirit, we welcome you. Please enter into our lives, we rely on You. Our Father God! We give glory to You. We give praise to You. You have saved us and we have faith in Christ, now please help us to resemble the image of Christ through the Holy Spirit. We want to be like Jesus. Let us live with Christ. Oh, our Father God. Thank you. Everlasting thanks we give to You. Hallelujah. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. 1