Sins Nature and Character
A Sermon on Romans 7:8
Scripture
8But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Sermon Description
How does sin seize the law as an opportunity? In the previous verse, Paul mentions that the law aggravates lusts and passions within him and now he explains that in further detail. In the sermon on Romans 7:8 titled “Sin’s Nature and Character,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that sin uses the law as a starting point to prove a result. The result is that sin essentially wreaks havoc in a person’s heart, producing lusts and desires in an evil sense. It uses the law as a fulcrum to completely take over in a powerful way. The law shows how truly sinful people are because it is a guideline of how to live. Humanity would never see its need for salvation if it did not understand how powerful sin is. It further explains the nature and character of sin. Sin ignites rebellion and causes people to become independent, feeling that they no longer need a God. This leads to complete lawlessness and destroys any order of discipline. Dr. Lloyd-Jones provides some modern-day illustrations of how this is evident in daily life.
Sermon Breakdown
- Sin is not merely negative, it is a powerful and positive force.
- Sin can use God's holy law as a fulcrum to bring about evil.
- Sin arouses the element of rebellion in human nature.
- Sin uses the law to incite us to sin by aggravating our sinful desires.
- Sin puts evil ideas into our minds that were not there before. The law introduces us to sin.
- If we do not understand the nature of sin, we will never understand the Bible's teaching on salvation.
- This passage proves that no one can be sanctified by the law alone. We must die to the law.
- Modern ideas about sex education are dangerous because they introduce sin to the mind.
- Christian ethics without Christian doctrines are useless against the power of sin.
The Book of Romans
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.