Romans 7:4, 12-25; 8:1-2
May 31, 2026
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Do we find in our heart of hearts a spiritual struggle? Do we feel anything of the flesh warring against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, so that we cannot do the things we would? Are we conscious of two principles within us, contending for the master? Do we feel anything of war in our inward man? Well, let us thank God for it! It is a good sign. It is strongly probable evidence of the great work of sanctification.”

~ J.C. Ryle (1816-1900), author and first Anglican bishop of Liverpool

“The marker of those who understand the gospel of Jesus Christ is that, when they stumble and fall, when they screw up, they run to God and not from him, because they clearly understand that their acceptance before God is not predicated upon their behavior, but on the righteous life of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial death.”

~ Matt Chandler (1974-present), contemporary pastor and author

“This life is not godliness, but growth in godliness; not health, but healing; not being, but becoming; not rest, but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way; the process is not yet finished, but it has begun; this is not the goal, but it is the road; at present all does not gleam and glitter, but everything is being purified.”

~ Martin Luther (1483-1546), German theologian, writer, reformer

“To teach us how to pray, Jesus told stories of weak people who knew they couldn’t do life on their own. The persistent widow and the friend at midnight get access, not because they are strong but because they are desperate. Learned desperation is at the heart of a praying life.”

~ Timothy Keller (1950-2023), American pastor, theologian, writer

“God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son.”

~ Jerry Bridges (1929-2016) American author and speaker

“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.”

~ Richard Sibbes (1577–1635) Anglican author and theologian

Sermon Passage

Romans 7:4, 12-25; 8:1-2 (CSB)

Romans 7

⁴ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God….

¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. ¹³ Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. ²¹ So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. ²² For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, ²³ but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 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, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

Romans 8

¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, ² because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.