Rebrand | Week 3 | Bill Bush · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Jan 23, 2022 · 69 min watch · 3 min read

Rebrand | Week 3 | Bill Bush

Big Idea

The Christian life isn't just hard — it's impossible without Christ, so stop trying to reform your old self and start trusting Jesus.

In Romans 7, Paul diagnoses the exhausting inner battle every believer faces: the old sinful nature and the new creation are at war, and no amount of willpower or self-reformation can resolve that conflict. The law reveals the problem but cannot fix it. The only way forward is recognizing that the old self is already dead — it is not who we truly are in Christ — and surrendering the fight to Jesus, whose Spirit provides the power to live the life God calls us to. That fuller answer waits in Romans 8, but the honest reckoning of Romans 7 is essential preparation.

Key points

1
1The problem isn't God's law — it's us. We are a slave to our sinful nature, and we have to own that honestly.
2
2We are confused because we genuinely want to do right but keep doing what we hate — and even the Apostle Paul admitted he didn't fully understand himself in this struggle.
3
3Willpower alone will never work; trying to reform the old self through our own strength only leads to frustration.
4
4We are in a battle we keep losing — and the Holy Spirit, conspicuously absent in Romans 7 but mentioned 19 times in Romans 8, is the missing ingredient.
5
5Feeling completely trapped and exhausted is actually the turning point — it is the moment we are finally ready to be rescued by Jesus.
6
6The only answer to the battle within is Jesus Christ — He is not just the one who got us through the door, but the one who carries us all the way through.
7
7If you know Christ, the new nature that longs to honor God is who you truly are — the old self is a dead shadow, not your identity.

Application

Pastor Bill's call is simple and honest: stop trying to fix the old self through sheer willpower and start leaning into who you actually are in Christ. If you know Jesus, you are the new creation — the part of you that wants to do right, that grieves when you don't, that longs to honor God. That is your real identity. The old nature is a dead shadow, not your name. So when you pray, be honest — even 'God, I want to want to' is a real starting place. When you open your Bible or show up at church, think of it not as a task to earn God's approval but as keeping your appointment with the Great Physician who is already healing you. And if you have never been baptized, do it — not because you have cleaned yourself up, but precisely because you know you haven't. Feed the new nature. Surrender the fight to Jesus. He finishes what He started.

Take it into your week

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“really what Romans chapter seven is trying to do. Last week, we were in Romans chapter six. Daniel did an adequate job preaching through it”
From the transcript
“really what Romans chapter seven is trying to do. Last week, we were in Romans chapter six. Daniel did an adequate job preaching through it”
From the transcript
“what's the first one? Verse 14. So the trouble is not with the law, God's law, who he is, what he's written word of of who he is. For it is spiritual and good, the troubles with me from all to human, a slave to sin”
From the transcript
“The second feeling verse 15. I don't really understand myself for I wanna do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead I do what I hate”
From the transcript
“Look at verse sixteen and seventeen. But if I know what I'm doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I'm not the one doing wrong, it's the sin living in me that does it”
From the transcript
“that leads to the next thing, verse 18. And I know that nothing good lives in me. That is in my sinful nature. I wanna do what is right, but I can't”
From the transcript
“Romans chapter seven, the holy spirit is not mentioned once. Romans chapter eight, holy spirit is mentioned 19 times in 30 verses”
From the transcript
“Romans chapter seven, the holy spirit is not mentioned once. Romans chapter eight, holy spirit is mentioned 19 times in 30 verses”
From the transcript
“when you realize you're in a battle and you're losing, look at verse 24. Oh what a miserable person I am. Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death”
From the transcript
“look what verse 25 says. Who's gonna save me? Who's gonna do this? Verse 25. Thank God the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord”
From the transcript
“It says he makes all things possible. There's a bible verses, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So many of people probably even in this room misapply that”
From the transcript
“That's really what Romans chapter eight's gonna be talking about. Which wolf, which nature do you feed”
From the transcript
“That's really what Romans chapter eight's gonna be talking about. Which wolf, which nature do you feed”

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Paul doesn't ease into this. He comes right out and says it: the law is spiritual, but I am not. I am all too human — a slave to sin. That's a hard sentence to sit with, and it's supposed to be. One of the most honest things Pastor Bill pointed out is that the problem isn't with God's law. The law is good. It's clear. It points us exactly where we need to go. The problem is us — specifically, the old sinful nature that has been along for the ride since before we ever knew Jesus. Owning that honestly isn't self-loathing. It's actually the beginning of clarity. A lot of us have spent years trying to negotiate with this reality — telling ourselves we just need more discipline, a better routine, a fresh start. But Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, cuts through all of that. The first move toward freedom is not a plan. It's an admission. Something in you already knows this is true. The grief you feel when you fall into the same old patterns, the frustration when the effort isn't enough — that grief is actually evidence of something alive in you. We'll get to that. But today, just let the honesty of Romans 7:14 do its work. You don't have to have it together to come to God. You just have to come.

For reflection

Where in your life have you been trying to negotiate with or manage the old nature rather than being honest with God about it?

Pray

Pray for the courage to be fully honest with God about the areas where you feel like a slave to your old patterns — no polish, no spin.

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Romans 7 is one of the most honest passages in the entire Bible — Paul pulls back the curtain on an inner war that most of us recognize immediately. Take a moment before we dive in: what's one word that came to mind when you heard this passage?

Discussion questions

1
In Romans 7:14-15, Paul says he doesn't fully understand his own actions — he does the very things he hates. What does it tell us about Paul, and about the human condition in general, that even an apostle described his inner life this way?
2
Paul makes a distinction in Romans 7:16-17 between himself and the sin that lives in him. What do you think he means by that, and how does that distinction change the way we think about our identity when we fail?
3
Pastor Bill pointed out that the Holy Spirit is almost completely absent from Romans 7 but appears 19 times in Romans 8. What does that contrast suggest about why willpower alone keeps falling short?
4
Romans 7:24 describes a person crying out, 'Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life dominated by sin and death?' Pastor Bill described that moment of exhaustion as a turning point rather than a dead end. How do we as a community help people see it that way?
5
Pastor Bill challenged us to think of coming to the Word or showing up at church not as a task to earn God's approval, but as keeping an appointment with the Great Physician who is already healing us. How might that picture shift the way we approach those rhythms together?
6
Pastor Bill said that if you know Christ, the part of you that longs to honor God is who you truly are — the old nature is a dead shadow, not your identity. How might holding onto that truth change the way people in our community talk to themselves after they stumble?

Pray together

Honest surrender — trading the exhaustion of self-effort for the freedom of letting Jesus carry the fight

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Rebrand

Week 3 · 6 messages

Where these passages are preached

Romans 7 Romans 6 Romans 8 Philippians 4

Explore related topics

Breaking Free from Sin Identity in Christ Inner Conflict Surrender to Jesus The Holy Spirit's Power

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