Romans chapter 7. I got several
verses so let me just get right to it. I don't want to keep you
too long but I don't want to rush through what I have to say. Romans 7 verse 14. For we know
that the law is spiritual but I am carnal. Now he's speaking
in the present to these people and of course to us as well.
For we know that the law is spiritual. It's still spiritual, never ceased
to be spiritual. But I am present tense. The amazing thing to me is he's
writing this even as he's inspired of God. Let's me know he had
to be inspired of God because it's not something we could say
apart from the spirit of God. But I am carnal, sold, undersea. even as an apostle of the Lord. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. Now this is in contrast to the
way he spoke before about himself and even God's law. Yes, sir.
At one time he said, I was alive without the law once, though
he was steeped in law from no doubt a very young age. Circumcised
the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin. No doubt steeped in
the law and exceeded many of his equals when he became a Pharisee
of the Pharisees. For if, I'm sorry, verse 16,
if then I do that, which I would not, I consent under the law
that it is good. The law is not the problem. Now then, notice that word, now
then. We'll emphasize this a little.
Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. All to be allowed to make a statement
like that. It could be construed as obfuscation. But it's not. For I know that
in me that is in my flesh, because he's explaining now, dwelleth
no good thing. There is nothing in our flesh
that is good whatsoever. For to will is present with me.
He's talking about the law now. He's still talking about the
law. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which
is good an apostle now, a man who wrote
much of the New Testament, a man who had great visions given to
him by God, who was even caught up into the third heaven at one
time. In the body or out of the body, he said he could not tell
us. But it was in seeing things or heard things that wasn't lawful
for him to utter when he came back to earth. But how to perform
that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now, if I do that I would not,
it is no more, oh, here's another one of those statements. It is
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then
a law, that is, an authority, I find in the law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. So it's not we do good
for a while, and then we do evil for a while. We do good for a
while, and we do evil for a while. This is the way religion operates.
Yeah, exactly. They do good for a while, then
they mess up. Then they got to confess, come to the altar, that
kind of thing. No, he says, when I would do
good, evil is present with me. Amen. For I delight, look at
it, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. And that's
about as far as Paul will go with it. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that
I am. Amazing who? Who is always my
beloved brothers and sisters my beloved brothers and sisters
out there It's always a who If God ever crosses your path by
his who Then we he will have brought you somewhere. It's never
a what There'll be a lot of what's come along with the who but the
who is preeminent and You hear what I'm saying? The who is preeminent.
Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? I thank God. Through Jesus Christ
our Lord. There's the who. And it's the
only who. It's the only who. So then with
my mind, I serve the law of God. But note, he still does not say,
I keep the law of God. He was not inspired to write
such a blasphemous statement. Because the law deals with our
fallen flesh, the old man. And the old man is corrupt according
to deceitful lust and will always be until God puts it back to
the dirt where it belongs. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. And it's always true. You will
not and I will not be able to conform this flesh to God's law
in any way. And in the new man we do not
operate under the law, but under the Spirit of God. To walk in
the fruit of the Spirit, walk, and walk is important, to walk
in the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness,
gentleness, meekness, faith, temperance, against such there
is no law. There is therefore now no condemnation. To them which are in Christ Jesus
Last time a couple weeks ago My title was this sin revealed
in occasion by the law is not gospel conversion And I think
it was Joe that said the gospel the law never converts Not the
Mosaic law not the Levitical law the law of God that is this
whole word Converts the soul Paul said to the Galatians, do
you not know what the law says? And then he goes back to Hagar
and Sarah. But that's not Mosaic law. That's
not the law from Sinai. That's not Levitical law. That's
the law of God, the word of God, the truth of God. So that was my title last week.
Here's what I want to try to deal with this morning. The law,
this is my title, my subject, the law and those who are gospel
converted. Do you hear what I said? The
law and those who are gospel converted. And it is always only
by gospel conversion. Now let me kind of, not correct,
but emphasize more or explain more. Men and women may be converted
by the law, but they're not converted to God. They're converted to
self. They're converted to self. They're
converted to their own works, to their own zeal. Paul said
this of his own flesh and blood. He said, I bear them record.
They have a zeal of God because that zeal was under the law,
but it's not according to knowledge. the law and those who are gospel
converted. Somewhere between verse 13, I'm
not talking about his writing of verse 13, but somewhere between
the events we have Paul recorded in verse 13, was that which is
good, present tense, may death unto me, God forbid. But seeing
that it might appear sin, working death, this is now past tense. He's talking about something
that took place with him in the past. Working death in me by
that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold unto sin. Now the tense changes. And I
know there's been argument, but there is no place to argue here. Paul means exactly what he wrote.
And the only reason men try to twist this around is because
they don't want to deal with the truth of God as it is. So somewhere between the events
recorded in what's ended there in verse 13 and how Paul now
is expressing himself in verse 14, Paul's gospel conversion
took place. He was conquered by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And now, now he expresses his
experience of the law as a regenerate man. Yes, sir. As a man with
life from God, having been gospel converted and sold out by the
grace of God to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, sir.
So now he expresses his experience of the law as a regenerate man,
present tense. Two things, first of all. First
of all, don't think I just got two things. Hope you ate a good
breakfast this morning. First of all, he expresses the
universal confession of all who are gospel converted. For we
know that the law is spiritual. So how is a carnal man supposed
to keep a spiritual law? Good question, ain't it? Gnaw
on that one for a while. He expresses the universal confession
of all who are gospel converted. If you don't know that God's
law is spiritual, it comes from him who is spirit. Amen. Therefore, it has his characteristics
stamped all over it, though it be commands toward men. Yes,
sir. You see what I'm saying? Though
it be commands toward men. All who are gospel converted,
they love God's law. If you don't love God, if you
think God's law is the enemy, you've got troubles, you've got
problems. And I know we've been accused
of probably preaching that, but we've never said anything like
that. Never, ever, ever. Never, ever, ever. But secondly,
he expresses his personal, present conviction of his Adamic state. But I am carnal, sold. under sin. I am, not used to
be. I still am. I still am. In other words, the gospel converted,
they all acknowledge that the law extends far beyond mere overt
acts. And I don't want to give you
these references. You bear with me. I'll try to move along. But
turn to Matthew chapter 5. Our Lord illustrates what I've
just said. Remember, Paul expresses his personal present conviction
of his Adamic state, and he acknowledges that the law stands far beyond,
extends rather far beyond, overt acts. And this is what our Lord
said a couple places here in Matthew 5, verse 21. Ye have
heard that it was said by them of old, Now notice he didn't
say it's written. Our Lord Jesus never went against
what was written, but he will go against what men have said.
Because they will take what is written and twist it for their
own means. You have heard that it was said
by them of old time, thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment. And that's what they
thought. If you murder somebody, that's
wrong, and you're in danger of judgment. And that was true.
But they did not take it and extend it to its total realm
and total truth. But I say unto you that whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
the judgment. You don't even have to kill him.
Physically, overtly, you can kill him in your heart. You can
kill him with your words. Do you see it? And whosoever
shall say to his brother, Raka, that is you're worthless. Are they wrong? Are we not worthless? No, but it's said with a sense
of superiority and pride toward the one you're calling worthless.
Worthless shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever
shall say thou fool Shall be in danger of hellfire So thou
shalt not heal the command thou shalt not kill extends far beyond
Just the literal act of first second third degree Whatever
it is murder as we often say look at another way. He illustrates
this verse 27 You have heard that it was said by them of old,
thou shalt not commit adultery. And a person says, well, I've
never slept around, didn't have sex before I was married, and
when I got married, the only person I ever had sex with is
my wife, or my husband, vice versa. Right? Feel pretty good
about yourself under the law, can't you? And folks, there's
a lot of people that have lived that way. Not everybody's been
like some of us. You hear what I just said? But
everybody's been like some of us. You have heard that it was
said by them of old, thou shalt not commit adultery. But that's
as far as they ever took it. But I say unto you that whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God. And the gospel converted,
we acknowledge our Adamic state, still present in us is carnal,
that is fallen flesh. And sold, that word's indirect,
trafficked into slavery. trafficked into slavery under
sin. Now, here Paul expressed legal
language about his gospel converted relationship to the holy law. You heard what I said. Here Paul
expressed legal language about his gospel converted relationship
to the holy law. The holy, just, and good commandment. His gospel converted relationship
to the law that is far more than just mere overt acts, but it
exposes inner Deep soul corruption. You see that? Inner deep soul
corruption. Number one. Six things to give
to you. My sinful carnality is always
opposed to my spiritual desires, even concerning the law. For
that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that I do. I
would keep God's law. Yes, sir. Amen. The will is present
with me, but I cannot find how to perform that. Amen. You see
it? Number two, when the law condemns
such action, I acknowledge the law's condemnation as right. If then I do that, which I would
not, I consent under the law that it is good. If it condemns
my conscience when I disobey God's law, it's good that my
conscience is condemned in that. You see it? It's good. The law
is good. The law still exposes sin. It still exposes sin. You can't
read God's law, excuse me, you can't read God's law with eyes
to see, ears to hear, and a heart to perceive and not feel condemned
by that law. When the law condemns such action,
I acknowledge the law is just condemnation. Number three, hear
Paul now exalt the distinguished and the distinguishing blessing
of grace. Now then, it is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. We are allowed by the
grace of God in Christ Jesus to separate our I, our me, from
my sin. Why? Because he separated it
from me when he bore it in his own body on the tree. Living he loved me dying. He
saved me buried. He carried my sins far away Hmm
I don't like that. I know some people read it as
a cop-out the unregenerate mind wheel But it's not a cop-out. It is a fact of God's distinguishing
grace Let me go on For the good that I would, I do not, but the
evil which I would not, that do I." Now, he's not talking
about preaching the gospel. He's not talking about walking
in love, faith, all those things. He talked about the commands
of the law. Doing God's law. It's right to
do the law. It's never wrong to do the law. But you can't keep it. You can't
keep it. The desire, the will can be present
with you, but you're not going to find the capacity to do it
because keeping the law, you don't keep the law of one part
of yourself, the safe part, and then not keep the law with your
unsafe part. That is hypocrisy. Is it not? That is hypocrisy, let's go on.
Now, if I do that which I would not, and that is not an if of
possibilities, it's an if of, it don't always happen all the
time, but it's always present. As he goes on to say, when I
do good, evil's present with me. Now if I do that I would
not, it is no more I that do it, the sin that dwelleth in
me. Oh, the privilege of being a
son or a daughter of God. in being able to say this about
yourself. The world can call it a cop-out
if they wish. God calls it a distinguishing
blessing from His grace in Christ Jesus. I find in a law that what
I would do good, evil's present with me. And my beloved brethren,
you'll never be able to rise above that. It is a fact of life. And the sooner and the more often
we are reminded by God of it, the less we'll be under total
bondage in our consciences when we find our flesh not doing God's
law, let alone not keeping God's law. Paul, after his conversion, talked
a lot about doing the law. He said in the law of blameless,
but he never said he kept the law. Did you ever notice that?
You're not going to find Paul anywhere saying he kept the law. I find in the law that what I
would do good, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. And that's the new man. You can
call it the new man, Inward man, some people call it the new nature.
I never really hear it said, so I'm trying to stay away from
that phrase. There's controversy even about
that. I mean, you can't spit unless you spit on a dry spot.
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Then Paul explains,
as I've said, this blessing of this distinguishing grace in
these verses here. I'm able to make a distinction
between my inward man and my old man, my sin, my flesh, my
carnality. Number four, hear now every gospel
converted believer's dire cry in light of this horrid condition. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. It seems like that
old slave master with his whip is always there. Always. You remember what Peter called
the law of Moses, don't you? It's a yoke. about the neck that
neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. And they were just
discussing and arguing over circumcision. Now circumcision ain't that hard,
especially if you're eight days old, you got no say in the matter. You can't keep them from doing
it to you. But you remember what Paul said,
if you be circumcised, you're a debtor to the whole law. Hmm
if you do it for acceptance before God you're a debtor to the whole
law Here now The fifth thing here
now every gospel converted believers expressed hope of deliverance. Oh wretched man that I am Folks
I Know something about this not as I should I'm sure I But I
don't know that God would ever really let us see it in this
life like it really is before him. Your mind, I don't know
that we could operate. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God. but with my flesh, the law of
sin. And this is happening at the
same time. It is not I do a little serving
the law in my mind for a while, then I do a little serving sin
in the flesh for a while. Again, I say that's the way religion
operates. That's the basis of most Baptist
and Catholic doctrine of being saved. Live for Jesus for a while,
and when you sin against God, go confess it. One's in a confessional
booth, the other's usually at the front of the church at some
called altar. It's all the same thing, one's just kind of done
in semi-private. Here's the sixth thing. Hear
now. Every gospel believer is declared
present for lack of any condemnation in our deliverance and a description
of their condition in Christ. Therefore, there is now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's the statement of no condemnation.
We delivered. And we're delivered now. But
do not think of this now as a time thing. Do not think it is now
in light of this present wretched state. Even now, even while I'm
in this present wretched state, It's not, at one time I was condemned
but now I'm not. That's not what he's saying there.
Although I could say there's a sense in which we could say
that was probably true. That's not what Paul's saying.
He's saying there is therefore now, even in light of all these
facts. You see that? There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And then
here's the description of them who are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh. but after the spirit. Now, God
willing, next week, if I'm able, we'll then go into Paul's explanation
of this and look at it in more detail. But note a couple things.
Who walked not after the flesh, but after the spirit? It doesn't
say because we walked not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
This is not a conditional thing. It is a positional thing. You
hear what I'm saying now? We're not condemned because we
walk not after the flesh, but we are described as those who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. To summarize, the gospel converted
do not hate God's law. They hate their evil flesh. You
hear me? That's the way we are. If God's
given you grace, if he saved you, If you've been converted
by the gospel, this is the way you are. If you're not that way,
you've never been converted by the gospel. You cannot hate God's
law and love God. But you cannot keep God's law. And God's people are not trying
to break the law, but they know with their flesh they never obey
the law. And in the spirit, they are walking
in the spirit. They are not walking, they're
walking after the spirit. They're walking in the spirit.
They're not walking after the law. They're not walking. Free from
the law, oh happy condition. Jesus has bled and there is remission. So one, the gospel converted
do not hate God's law. They hate their evil flesh. And
they know, they're taught by God, stop trying to conform your
flesh to God's holy law. It's a losing battle. At best,
mortify your members, which are upon the earth. Kill them, deaden
them, I mean, I should say, deaden them like you would when you
get Novocain. The problem's still there, but
the Novocain don't solve the problem, does it? But it sure
helps the pain, doesn't it? Deaden it. Did you get in trouble
with fornication? Yield to God, quit yielding to
fornication. But it's more than that. Most
people, a little bit of next week, most people think of walking
in the flesh as opposed to walking in the spirit. What do they think
of? Drug use, drug abuse, stealing, robbing banks, right? Adultery
and fornicating, out messing around. Going to the pool halls,
getting drunk, playing cards, especially if you've got dice
in the same game. That's a double whammy, cards and dice. Bad,
bad. That was tongue in cheek. Most
people think that's what it means to walk after the flesh, and
it is. But that ain't all it is. Now again, like I said, God
willing, I'll give this to you next time, next time. But let
me read you, and you know this, but maybe this will just ring
that bell. Maybe this will ring your clapper
and the bell will just dong away. Let me find where Paul writes
it. Now just give me a moment. Hold on. Look at it. For we are
the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, rejoicing
in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Now
is that the immoral flesh? Of course it's that immoral flesh.
If your confidence is in your immoral flesh, you really got
a problem. You are mixed up in your mind. But look at what he
says, though I might have confidence in the flesh. He's bragging about
he's drinking and carousing. Has nothing to do with that,
but it's still called he's flesh, which he has no confidence in.
And then he says, if any man thinketh he hath whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I more circumcise thee. And he goes on with that.
You see that? So walking in the flesh ain't
just out here in the immorality dens. It's this legalism that's
down inside our hearts. It includes it all, my brothers
and sisters. But sadly, this false, God-awful,
so-called Christian today, all they want to hammer on is the
immoral side. They don't want to hammer on
this false religion side. Because their paychecks would
suffer. They'd end up like this. Yeah. The gospel converted, the
second thing. The gospel converted know their
utter inability to do the good of the law. Because it goes down
into the very beginning of our thought processes, not just what
we do out here. And in that, Paul said one of
the first things that really got him concerning the law, let
me find it, just give me a moment. What shall we say then, is the
law sin? God forbid, they had not known sin, but by the law,
for I had not known lust. Now what's lust? Lust is something
that's totally down in here. And you can lust, most people
here think of lust as all about immorality. It is about immorality,
but it can also deal with other religious things too. But I had
not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet.
Coveting and stealing often go hand in hand, don't they? But
even if you never steal, if you just covet, you've already broke
the law. Because you got to desire the
thing you're going to steal before you steal it. You see? Thirdly,
winding it up, the gospel converted, all find hope and strength in
Christ and in him alone. Let me illustrate this to you.
I've given it to you before, but I'll elaborate on it a little
more. Pardon me. We had, I believe it was Don
Fortner and Clay Curtis come preach a conference for us. And
there were some other preachers here as well. And Marvin Stoniker
was here, and he'd already been here two or three times, whatever
it was, one time at least, but maybe a couple times. And Clay
Curtis, Never had been here before and of course they all we had
them all in the hotel over here in Beckley Well Clay, you know,
of course we got GPS and everything but Clay said Marvin said well,
you know, I don't know how to get there I don't know the way
to get there and Marvin said well just follow me Okay, just
follow me. So Clay used this to express
about grace His only His full attention was on who? Marvin
He wasn't looking at the stop signs. He wasn't looking at the
speed limits. He wasn't looking for all the
other people. He was fixed on Marvin. Marvin gets there, I get there. Marvin loses it, I lose it. But folks, when you follow Jesus
Christ, you'll never be led astray. You won't have to worry about,
am I going the right speed? Because he always goes the right
speed. You will never have to worry.
If there's something you should stop doing, if you're following
Him, you'll stop too. You hear what I'm saying? I realize that's probably a very
simplistic illustration, but it helps me in my soul. Because
I'm not following the rules when I'm following Jesus Christ. I'm
following Jesus Christ and I know He always obeys the rules. Heavenly Father, teach us that
word. Oh God, spare us from the awfulness of legalism. For legalism
is nothing more than having some confidence in our flesh. God,
deliver us from ourselves. In Christ's name, Amen.