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Rebrand | Week 3 | Bill Bush · Rewind

Rock Point Church

69 min

Pastor Bill Bush · Jan 23, 2022 · 4 min read · 69 min listen

The big idea

Quoting the message: The Christian life isn't hard—it's impossible, end quote., unless you're relying on Christ and His Spirit instead of your own willpower to reform your old self.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 7Salvation comes in three phases—justification, sanctification, and glorification—and we currently live in the tension of the middle phase.
Point 2 of 7Romans 7 is a transition chapter Paul uses to explain why the law couldn't save, before showing in Romans 8 how the Spirit gives power to win.

Point 3 of 7Feeling 1: We have a problem, and the problem is us, not God or His law.
Point 4 of 7Feeling 2: We get confused, doing the very thing we don't want to do.
Point 5 of 7Feeling 3: We get frustrated, because willpower alone can never fix the old self.
Point 6 of 7Feeling 4 and 5: We realize we're in a battle we keep losing, and we end up feeling trapped and exhausted.
Point 7 of 7The only answer is Jesus, who finishes what He started rather than leaving us to finish it ourselves.
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Romans 7
Romans 6
Romans 7:14
Romans 7:15
Romans 7:16-17
Romans 7:18

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Pastor Bill Bush · Jan 23, 2022 · 69 min watch · 2 min read

Rebrand | Week 3 | Bill Bush

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Romans 7
Romans 6
Romans 7:14
Romans 7:15
Romans 7:16-17
Romans 7:18

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Quoting the message: The Christian life isn't hard—it's impossible, end quote., unless you're relying on Christ and His Spirit instead of your own willpower to reform your old self.

There's real hope for anyone who feels torn between who they want to be and who they keep failing to be. Romans 7 shows that this inner battle is normal for every believer, and it isn't meant to be won by willpower—it's won by leaning on Jesus, who alone can rescue us and finish the work He started in us.

Key points

1
1Salvation comes in three phases—justification, sanctification, and glorification—and we currently live in the tension of the middle phase.
Pastor Bill explains that justification already happened (God sees us as righteous through faith in Christ), glorification is future (the old self will be fully gone), but right now we live in sanctification, where the new self and the shadow of the old self create real tension.
2
2Romans 7 is a transition chapter Paul uses to explain why the law couldn't save, before showing in Romans 8 how the Spirit gives power to win.
Pastor Bill walks through the historical background of Jewish and Gentile tension in the Roman church and Paul's marriage illustration—dying to the law like a spouse dying—to show the law could reveal sin but never had the power to defeat it.
3
3Feeling 1: We have a problem, and the problem is us, not God or His law.
From verse 14, Paul admits the law is good but he himself is the problem. Pastor Bill notes how often 'I' and 'me' appear in the chapter, arguing the devil isn't our biggest problem—our old nature is.
4
4Feeling 2: We get confused, doing the very thing we don't want to do.
Paul says he doesn't understand himself, wanting to do right but doing wrong anyway. Pastor Bill illustrates this confusion with a long, comic story about a mixed-up room service order in London to show how baffling this inner conflict feels.
5
5Feeling 3: We get frustrated, because willpower alone can never fix the old self.
Using verses 16-17 and the children's story 'Frog and Toad Together,' Pastor Bill shows that no matter how hard we try to lock away temptation, we'll always find another way around it—willpower repackages the problem rather than solving it.
6
6Feeling 4 and 5: We realize we're in a battle we keep losing, and we end up feeling trapped and exhausted.
Pastor Bill unpacks the Greek word for 'miserable' in verse 24 as meaning worn out like an exhausted warrior, and uses a lifeguard illustration—rescuers wait until a drowning person stops fighting before pulling them out—to show that hitting the end of ourselves is actually the moment we become ready to be rescued.
7
7The only answer is Jesus, who finishes what He started rather than leaving us to finish it ourselves.
From verse 25, Pastor Bill stresses that Jesus is the one who began the good work and the one who completes it—our job is to hold onto Him, not to fix ourselves. He uses the illustration of visiting a doctor: going to church or reading the Bible isn't a task to earn healing, it's simply keeping the appointment with the Great Physician who heals.

Application

Pastor Bill frames the response as feeding the right wolf instead of fighting to reform the old self.

Be honest with God in prayer
Admit your true feelings like Paul did—tell God you have a problem, you're confused, frustrated, or trapped, and even pray 'God, I want to want to' if that's all you have.
Stop relying on willpower to reform yourself
Recognize that trying to force your old self to behave will always fail; instead lean into your identity as a new creation in Christ.
Get baptized if you've never taken that step
If you already know Jesus but haven't been baptized, don't wait until you feel cleaned up—go do it right after the service as an act of trust, not maturity.
Put your faith in Christ if you never have
If you've only tried to be a good person or clean up your act without surrendering to Jesus, pray and turn your life over to Him now, admitting you're a sinner who needs His rescue.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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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”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

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

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Day 1

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.

Day 2

Here is something quietly remarkable about Romans 7:15 — the Apostle Paul, the man who wrote much of the New Testament, said he didn't fully understand his own behavior. He wanted to do right and kept doing what he hated. If that sentence doesn't make you exhale a little, read it again. This is not a new believer stumbling through their first months of faith. This is Paul. And he is describing the same gap you feel — the distance between who you want to be and what you actually do on a Tuesday afternoon. Pastor Bill made the point that confusion in this battle is not a sign of weak faith. It's the normal experience of someone who has a new nature and an old one fighting for the wheel. The wanting-to-do-right that you feel — that longing to honor God, that ache when you don't — Paul felt it too. And rather than brushing past it, he named it in Scripture. That matters. It means your struggle has been witnessed, accounted for, and taken seriously by God. You are not the only one who has felt caught between two versions of yourself. The fact that you want to do right is not nothing. It's actually something the Spirit is doing in you. That desire is worth paying attention to.

For reflection

Think of a pattern where you genuinely want to do the right thing but keep falling short. What does it feel like to know even Paul described the exact same experience?

Pray

Pray for honesty about the gap between your intentions and your actions, and ask God to help you see that gap as a place He meets you, not a verdict against you.

Day 3

Paul makes a surprising move in these verses. He says that when he does what he doesn't want to do, it actually confirms something good — that he agrees with the law, that some part of him knows what is right and longs for it. Then he says the real culprit is the sin living inside him, not his deepest self. This is not an excuse. Paul isn't dodging responsibility. He's making a diagnosis. And Pastor Bill leaned into that distinction: willpower applied to the old nature doesn't fix the old nature. It just exhausts you. Think about how many times you've made the same resolution — this time will be different, this time I'll try harder. And maybe it holds for a season. But the old nature doesn't reform. It doesn't respond to self-improvement. What Romans is doing across these chapters is systematically closing every door except one. Not because God wants us to feel stuck, but because He wants us to stop putting our hope in the wrong thing. If you've been running on effort and it's not working, that's not a character flaw — it's actually the natural result of fighting this battle with the wrong tools. The honest reckoning Paul is walking us through here is the necessary ground for what comes next. Let it do its work before you rush past it.

For reflection

What does your pattern of resolutions — and the frustration when they don't hold — reveal about where you've been placing your hope for change?

Pray

Pray for the willingness to let go of self-reliance in a specific area, and ask God to show you what surrender actually looks like there.

Day 4

By the time you get to verses 18 through 23, Paul has built a picture of a person completely hemmed in. He wants to do good. Good is not there. He doesn't want to do evil. Evil is right at hand. There's a war in his members — the old and the new in direct conflict. And then Pastor Bill noted something that changes how you read the whole chapter: the Holy Spirit is almost entirely absent from Romans 7. Not a single mention doing the work He'll do in Romans 8. That's not an accident. Romans 7 is a picture of what the Christian life looks like when it's running on human effort alone — and it looks like exactly this. Exhausted. Losing. Going in circles. It's not that God has abandoned the person in Romans 7. It's that the person in Romans 7 hasn't yet surrendered the fight to the One who can actually win it. The battle is real. The losing streak is real. But so is the Spirit who is coming into the picture. If you've been white-knuckling your way through a struggle and wondering why it isn't working, this passage isn't a diagnosis of failure. It's an honest map of where you are — and maps exist to help you get somewhere.

For reflection

Where in your life does it feel like you're in the cycle Paul describes — wanting good, finding it out of reach, and doing what you didn't want to do? What would it look like to stop managing that battle alone?

Pray

Pray for awareness of where you've been fighting in your own strength, and ask God to help you see the difference between striving and surrendering.

Day 5

"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" It would be easy to read this verse as the low point — Paul at his most defeated. But Pastor Bill named it as something else entirely: the turning point. The moment of hitting bottom in this struggle is actually the moment you're finally ready to be rescued. There's a reason Jesus said the sick are the ones who need a doctor. Not the ones who have managed to look healthy from the outside, but the ones honest enough to say they are not okay. The cry in Romans 7:24 is not a cry of despair. It's a cry of clarity. The exhaustion has burned away every other option. Every self-improvement plan, every resolution, every "this time will be different" — all of it has run out, and what's left is the truest prayer: Who will rescue me? That question, asked honestly, is already faith. It's already the right direction. If you are at that place — tired, frustrated, wondering if anything will ever change — you are not in a hopeless place. You are in a ready place. The rescue Paul is about to announce in verse 25 doesn't require you to clean up first. It only requires you to ask.

For reflection

Have you ever reached a moment of honest exhaustion in a spiritual struggle? Looking back, or looking at where you are now — can you see that moment as a doorway rather than a dead end?

Pray

Pray for the humility to stop managing and start asking — even if all you can honestly say is "God, I want to want to be rescued."

Day 6

The answer arrives in a single sentence: "Thank God! The answer is Jesus Christ our Lord." After the long, honest, grinding diagnosis of Romans 7, Paul doesn't land on a program or a principle. He lands on a person. Pastor Bill was clear that Jesus is not just the one who got us through the door of salvation — He is the one who carries us the whole way through. That matters, because a lot of us relate to Jesus as though He helped us get started and now we're responsible for the rest. But Paul's thank-you here isn't a thank-you for a one-time transaction. It's a thank-you for ongoing rescue. The same Jesus who saved you is the Jesus who is present in your struggle today, not waiting for you to get it together before He shows up. Philippians 4:13 — the "I can do all things through Christ" verse — is exactly this. Not a motivational quote about personal achievement, but a testimony that the strength for the life God calls us to comes from Christ Himself, not from us. Leaning into who you are in Christ isn't passive. It's actually the most active thing you can do — because it means choosing, again and again, to stay close to the only source of power that can sustain the new nature in you.

For reflection

How has your relationship with Jesus functioned more like a starting line than an ongoing source of strength? What would it look like to bring Him into the middle of today, not just the beginning?

Pray

Pray for a deepening awareness of Jesus as present help right now — not just Savior from the past — and ask Him to be your strength in a specific place you've been trying to carry alone.

Day 7

Coming back to the whole passage after a week of sitting with it piece by piece, something becomes clear: Romans 7 is an act of grace. God didn't have to give us this chapter. He could have left us thinking we were the only ones who struggle like this, or that faith is supposed to feel effortless. Instead, He gave us Paul's unguarded confession — the whole arc of it, from honest diagnosis to exhausted cry to sudden, grateful relief. The chapter doesn't fully resolve itself. The bigger answer is in Romans 8, where the Holy Spirit shows up in force. But as Pastor Bill said, the honest reckoning here is essential preparation. You can't receive a rescue you don't think you need. So as you close out this week, the invitation is simply this: let the truth of Romans 7 settle. You are not the old nature. You are not the losing streak. If you know Jesus, you are the new creation — the part of you that grieves when you fall, that longs to honor God, that keeps coming back. Feed that. Show up to the Word, to community, to prayer — not to earn anything, but because the Great Physician is already at work, and you have an appointment with Him every single day.

For reflection

What is one thing from this week's study that you want to carry forward — something that changed or clarified how you see yourself, your struggle, or your Savior?

Pray

Pray for a settled, daily surrender to Jesus — not a one-time resolution, but a returning orientation — and thank Him specifically for the rescue Romans 7:25 names.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. 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

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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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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