Rev. David Holwick B
Boothbay Baptist Church
Boothbay, Maine
November 30, 2025
Romans 7:15-20
THE WAR WITHIN YOU
I. How come we don't live up to our ideals?
A. In your mind, you are a hero.
1) When you assess yourself, don't you think you are a pretty
decent and good person?
2) The world around you is corrupt and full of deceit and anger
but you try to be honest and nice.
3) Many psychological experiments have shown that people rate
themselves pretty highly - they see themselves as better
than average.
a) But half of all people have to be below average - that's
how averages work.
b) And even above average people can do pretty despicable
things.
B. An infamous experiment.
In 1961, psychologist Stanley Milgram devised a series of
experiments.
The goal was to understand why seemingly ordinary people
carried out the demonic orders of Hitler's Third Reich.
In Milgram's experiments, a volunteer was told to administer
electric shocks to another "volunteer" when he answered a
question incorrectly.
The victim was an actor - there was no electricity.
But with each failure, a more powerful shock was ordered.
When volunteers hesitated, the scientist would prod them to
continue, and escalated to, "you have no other choice, you
must go on."
Two-thirds of the volunteers administered what they believed
was a fatal shock.
Milgram's experiment raised a storm, both because of his
methods and the implications about human nature.
What would happen if you repeated it today?
A French documentary film decided to find out.
They created a reality TV show called "The Game of Death."
The subjects were told to shock a person in an electric chair
if they made a mistake.
Not much has changed - eighty percent of the subjects
administered the shocks.
They were egged on by the audience, who also thought it was
for real.
The screaming and begging for mercy didn't stop them.
When the person in the electric chair keeled over, seemingly
dead, the hostess yelled, "You've won!"
Every one of you is probably thinking, I would never push that
button.
Sure, there may be a few weirdoes here who would love to be
ordered to torture someone.
You might even do it before the scientist said anything.
But most of you are thinking, no, I would stand up to that
scientist or game show host.
But I think there's a good chance you would push the button,
too.
Milgram uncovered what C.S. Lewis called the "bentness" of
human nature.
One of the subjects in the French documentary said that "he
wanted to stop the whole time, but just couldn't."
He is echoing what the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7:
"For what I do is not the good I want to do," but "the
evil I do not want to do."
#36183
C. A fascinating Bible passage.
1) Almost everyone can relate to it.
We know what is good and we want to do it, but we end up
doing the opposite.
We know that some of the things we do are wrong, really
wrong, but we know we will end up doing it again.
And again.
Why isn't goodness and purity easier?
In verse 17 Paul says it is like sin lives in us, sort of
like a demon, and controls us against our will.
It must be an important thought because he repeats it in
verse 20.
2) Sin can make good people do horrible things.
In the 1980s Rev. Walker Railey was one of the most powerful
preachers in Dallas, Texas.
His salary was $100,000 a year which was huge back then and
he was provided with all the trimmings, including a
new car.
Railey's Methodist church had 5,300 members, a $2 million
budget and a staff of 65.
Railey was a fantastic preacher and was not afraid to tackle
difficult issues like racism and social justice.
He began getting threatening notes.
In April 1987 an intruder came up to his wife Peggy and
strangled her outside their home.
She did not die, but went into a deep coma where she became
little more than a vegetable.
The police did a thorough investigation and came up with
some disturbing evidence.
They found that the threatening letters were written by
Rev. Railey himself on a church typewriter.
The message he left on their home answering machine made it
sound like he was in another city at the time, but it was
faked.
And for the last year he had been having an affair with a
woman.
When the police confronted him with the evidence, he denied
it.
But Walker Railey had inner compulsions that no one
understood.
The day after the police interrogation he locked himself in
his room and took an overdose of drugs.
He left a note which read:
"There is a demon inside my soul.
For almost 40 years God has been struggling with my
demons.
My demon has finally gotten the upper hand.
I am the baddest of the bad.
I am the lowest of the low."
He did not die from the overdose, and had to testify before
a grand jury where he used the 5th Amendment 43 times.
They did not find enough evidence to indict him.
His wife finally died 24 years later, and her family,
who had taken care of her, sued Rainey for damages.
They were awarded $18 million but Rainey filed for
bankruptcy so the award was set aside.
He is still alive today and had a second career as an
administer in a Presbyterian church.
Whether he is guilty or not, Walker Railey knows that sin is
not a silly, petty thing.
It is a monster that strives to master the soul.
#840
What is the true master of YOUR soul?
II. Who is Paul really talking about here?
A. If you identify yourself with this passage, look closer.
1) Romans 6 comes before Romans 7, of course.
a) In 6:2 Paul says Christians have died to sin.
b) In verse 6 he says our body of sin has been done away
with, and we should no longer be slaves to sin -
- if we have died with Christ, we are freed from sin.
c) 6:16 is especially challenging.
We are slaves to the one we obey.
We are either slaves of sin, or slaves to obedience.
2) Back in Romans 7:14, Paul speaks as a slave to sin.
a) And in verse 24 he pleads for a rescue.
b) Verse 25 gives the answer - "Thanks be to God, who
delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
c) So is Paul really talking about when he was a
non-Christian in Romans 7?
1> Would that make YOU a non-Christian?
B. Hints that Paul is speaking as a real believer.
1) In verse 16 he agrees that God's Law is good.
Verse 22 adds that he delights in God's law.
a) That doesn't sound like a non-Christian.
b) In verse 18 he says he has the desire to do what is
good. Non-believers do not.
2) Perhaps he is referring to a bad Christian.
a) This is someone who believes in Jesus but has not been
delivered from sinful habits.
1> Some refer to this as having Jesus as your Savior
but not your Lord.
2> However, the Bible never divides them like this.
Jesus is your Lord AND Savior, or he is neither.
b) Even after Paul thanks God for his deliverance by Jesus
in verse 25, he mentions a split personality.
1> He is a slave to God's law, but also a slave to sin.
2> All Christians have this dual nature.
C. Romans 7 doesn't describe non-Christians or bad ones.
1) This chapter is talking about normal Christians.
2) Notice that even in Romans 6, which makes conversion sound
like a once-done thing, he adds exhortations.
a) Verse 12 - don't let sin reign in your body.
b) Verse 19 especially - you used to offer yourselves
as slaves of impurity, now offer yourselves as
slaves to righteousness.
c) He is saying we now have to potential to experience
this, but we have to work at it.
3) All of us have two natures fighting within us.
a) The struggle will last our whole earthly life.
b) But if we believe in Jesus, we will emerge
victorious.
III. Be careful not to rationalize sin.
A. Too many Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christians.
1) Sure, I have just argued we will not be perfect in this life
but shouldn't we be at least somewhat different?
2) Too many Christians use drugs, commit adultery, cheat on
their taxes - and really don't seem to care about it.
3) In Romans 2 Paul talks about the hypocrisy of Jewish
leaders and says the world blasphemes God because of them.
a) The same is obviously true of Christians today.
b) One article I saw this month highlighted seven pastors
of megachurches in Texas who have been removed
because of sin.
1> Just megachurch pastors. Just in Texas.
2> Celeste had a book written by one of them. She
loved it. Then he was kicked out for messing
with a 12-year-old early in his ministry.
c) The world notices our sin. This week I saw a Facebook
post lamenting the trend of young people identifying
as transsexuals.
1> One comment was that your child is more likely to
be molested by a youth pastor than to transition
their sex.
2> Sadly, they might be right.
IV. Christians - you - represent Jesus.
A. You still have a sinful nature but you don't have to feed it.
B. What are you doing to get rid of the garbage in your life?
V. To overcome sin, we must walk in the Spirit.
A. This means you have to have a real relationship with God.
1) Romans 8 focuses on this.
2) Walking in the Spirit means you ask God to guide you to
the right things, and you focus on that.
B. Sir Anthony Hopkins knows something about this.
He is one of the most famous actors of our generation and
was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his work in the
performing arts.
He has won two Oscars and been in numerous blockbusters.
Just think Hannibal Lector in his mask dreaming of fava
beans...
Hopkins was a poor student but had one amazing ability -
he could memorize anything.
He not only memorizes his own script but everyone else's
too.
As he became more famous, he turned to alcohol. Lots of it.
He described himself as "hell-bent on destruction. It was
like being possessed by a demon, an addiction, and I
couldn't stop."
Hopkins realized he need help and turned to Alcoholics
Anonymous.
Up until then, he had been an atheist.
But during an A.A. meeting, a woman asked him a simple
question.
"Why don't you just trust in God?"
It was not something that Hopkins had ever tried.
But he was desperate so they thought, "Well, why not?"
Deciding to believe and trust in God was the moment
everything changed for the actor.
Anthony says that the craving to drink was taken away
from him in a miraculous way, "never to return again."
He has been sober for 49 years now.
In a CNN interview Piers Morgan asked Hopkins if he
believed in God.
He replied wholeheartedly, "Yes, I do. I do."
He now says being an atheist is like "living in a closed
cell with no windows."
Hopkins then added, "I'd hate to have to live like that,
wouldn't you?"
#66855
C. Walking in the Spirit is more than a thunderous event.
1) Anthony Hopkins had his desire for alcohol taken away.
a) Many others wish that could happen to them.
b) Cigarettes, meth, gluttony - poof! Gone.
1> But God usually takes a slower approach.
2> Hopkins may have had his alcoholism miraculously
removed, but he still has a daughter who is
estranged from him...
2) Don't compare your experience with others, just seek God
in your own way.
VI. How do you "Walk in the Spirit"?
A. Develop a sense of Humility.
1) You have to rely on God and not your own abilities.
2) We must admit weakness not only in becoming a Christian,
but in living as one.
Philip Yancey has written:
"Good Christians who battle 'internal sins' can easily think
our sins somehow more respectable than more blatant sins
such as adultery and drunkenness.
I have never met a recovering alcoholic who denied his or
her own sinfulness;
But I have met many Christians who find it difficult to
confess their own sins."
#3183
B. Learn discipline.
1) Godly habits take a lifetime to develop but pay big
dividends.
2) Doing the right things should become routines.
a) Know which places and people to avoid.
b) Know which places and people you should seek to be with.
3) Be accountable to someone you respect.
C. Be God-focused.
1) Talk to him. (Man from my church...)
2) We are helpless, but God can help.
a) God reaches us before we reach out to Him. Romans 5:8
b) Almighty God is greater than any problem we face.
D. Victory is possible.
1) Millions have conquered addictions and sins with God's
power.
2) It may be "day by day," but it is achievable.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 840 "A Demon Inside His Soul," by Jacob Young and Kent Demaret,
People Magazine, page 50, January 5, 1997.
# 3183 "The Hard Core of Pride," by Philip Yancey, Christianity Today
magazine, page 32, April 6, 1987.
#36183 "New Reality: The Bentness of Human Nature," by Charles Colson,
BreakPoint Commentary, March 25, 2010.
#66855 "The Actor Just Trusted In God," adapted by Rev. David Holwick
from "Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins Turns from Alcoholism & Atheism,
Becomes A Christian," by Mel Johnson, GodUpdates Contributor,
January 14, 2023, <htps://www.godtube.com/blog/anthony-hopkins-testimony-atheism-alcoholism.html>.
These and 35,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html.html
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