Apostle Paul closed the sixth
chapter by saying, for the wages of sin is death. We don't have
to question that. In the initial sense, when Adam
sinned, it was spiritual death to him and all his posterity,
to the human family. We were born into this world
physically, with physical life, but spiritually dead. There's no such thing as coming
to what they call the age of accountability and deciding whether
or not you want to be a sinner and deciding whether or not you
want to be a Christian. Oh, no. The book said we were born corrupt. Come forth from our mother's
womb, speaking lies. Lies about what? Lies about what
we are and lies about who God is. That's right. So the wages
of sin was death initially when Adam failed. And then the wages
of sin were death. And how? All through history,
in the lives of all humanity. But, thank God the verse didn't
end there. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. God's done everything right,
man's done everything wrong. And then going into this unique
seventh chapter, a very neglected chapter in God's word. In the
first part of the chapter, Paul talks about really what we ought
to be, what we ought to be. But I want to deal with the latter
part of the chapter this morning, beginning with verse 14. down
through verse 25. And in this portion, he talks
about what we really are. What we really are. So let me just read that passage
to us, beginning in verse 14 of Romans chapter seven. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not, For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that
do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil that I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. 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. 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 sin. Excuse me. So then with the mind,
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. Many say that in this passage,
Paul is speaking of his past before the Lord came into his
heart. as he speaks here clearly and
openly of sin in his flesh. He then goes into chapter eight
and speaks of the blessedness of being in Christ. And thus many teachers, many
preachers speak of getting out of chapter eight, seven and into
chapter eight. I've heard many times. getting
out of chapter 7 and into chapter 8. Out of not being what we ought
to be into chapter 8. But there is no chapter break
in the original text. There is no change of subject.
Chapter 8 verse 1 is a continuation. You don't start a new subject
by saying there is therefore now. No, he's He's enlarging
on what he's already been talking about. And the truth this morning
is that God's children are in chapter 7 and chapter 8 at the
same time all the time. This latter part of chapter 7,
which we've read, describes the conflict of the two natures within
us. It sets forth in detail what
Paul said in Galatians 5 17 for the flesh lusted against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary
the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that
you would. So Paul is referring to the conflict
in his own heart between the spirit and the flesh, the fallen
nature, which he calls my flesh and the new nature, which he
calls the inward man. I went through and marked a lot
of words in this passage, emphasizing present tense to show us that
Paul is not talking about some other time. No, he is talking
to us about where he was at as an individual. when he wrote
this, and where you and I are at right now. So this is not
a past condition or a future, but present, present. We can
apply it to our lives right now as we read. And if you are God's
child today, this is where you are and where you live. Verse
14, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am, that's
present tense. So to understand, for that which I do, present
tense, I allow not, present tense. I do it now, but I don't want
to do it now. For what I would, what I'd like to do right now,
present tense, that I do not. I don't do it now. But what I
hate right now, present tense, that I do, present tense. If
then I do, present tense, that which I would not, present tense,
I consent, present tense, under the law that it is good. And
we could follow this present tense thing plumb through these
verses. Verse 17, I that do it. Sin dwelleth, present tense. Verse 18, I know, present tense. Dwelleth, no good thing, present
tense. To will is present with me right
now. How to perform it, present tense.
I find not, present tense. And on and on through these verses,
I won't read them all, but verse 24, O wretched man that I am,
right now, present tense. So that's what he's talking about.
Present tense. One very good writer, a man by
the name of Stuart Allyot, wrote this, and I want to read it to
you. Romans 7, 14 through 25, the passage we just read, is
the experience of the normal Christian life. It is a life
of intense conflict with sin, Not of rest from it. It is a life of agonizing dismay
at imperfection. Not of claimed perfection. It is a life of earnest longing
for glory. Not a pretense. of religious
satisfaction that we have arrived. Those who have any different
daily experience cannot have any assurance that they are God's
children at all. That's strong stuff, but it agrees
with what Paul is saying here. The only real evidence this morning
of Christ in you is the consciousness, the strong conviction that you're
not what you ought to be and the present desire to be what
you ought to be. That's the evidence. Our part of the world, Western
North Carolina this morning is drunk on religion. trying to present to society
the message that we're making the grade and you ought to be
making it. Paul the apostle says here, I'm not making it. And
you're a liar if you say you are. He's saying I want to, but there is a both a want to
and a don't want to living in me. at the same time all the
time. So it's not a matter of getting
out of chapter 7 into chapter 8. You can't get out of chapter
7. And really you wouldn't know anything about chapter 7 if the
Christ of chapter 8 had not come into your heart. Assurance of salvation is not
getting rid of chapter 7. That's what most of us have believed
all of our life. If I was a better person than
I am, then I could believe I'm saved. Well, you're not a better
person than you are. It's not for you to look around
by any kind of evidence in yourself or anybody else that you're saved. Our assurance is this very conflict
itself Paul is talking about. If Christ was not in me, I wouldn't
wake up in the night and lay for hours grieving over this
and trying to deal with the corruption that's in me. Why can't I fix
it? Why can't I be the person I know
I ought to be? That was Paul's question to himself.
And it's the question every true believer has. Oh, bless God. I hadn't had a
bit of trouble with sin since I got saved. You can hear that
all around this country. God's children never had any
trouble with sin until he came in. And we've had trouble with
it ever since. And that's what Paul's saying
here. If Christ was not in me this
morning, I could join any so-called fundamental, so-called Bible-believing
church that says if you're going to
be a Christian, you can't smoke. I don't smoke. You can't drink. I don't drink. You can't cuss. I don't cuss
out loud. You can't have tattoos. I don't
have any tattoos. You can't have long hair. I don't
have long hair. You must believe the Bible. I
believe the Bible. I could fit right in without Christ in my
heart. So could you, but because he
lives in my heart and this conflict is intense and I know the corruption
within because of that, I don't fit anywhere. You don't fit anywhere. It's not often that I hear anything
new about religion. I think I've seen it all to every
extreme. I've known those who are what
is called antinomian, no law whatsoever. And they can run with one another's
wives and stand side by side and sing, oh, how I love Jesus,
think nothing of it. On the other side, I've known
those so strict. If one of your shoestrings come
untied, you're going to hell. I've seen both extremes. I don't fit with any of them.
Neither do you. But see, I'm not talking about outward stuff.
That's what they talk about. I'm talking about a conflict
within. That's what Paul's all about
here. And without it, I would never,
never, never say with Paul, Oh, wretched man that I am. I'd say what so many say to me.
I think I'm a pretty good fella. But I'm glad there's one lives
in here that showed me the truth about me. And if you're his child, he'll
show you the truth about you. Oh, wretched man that I am. Not
used to be, but am. That word wretched, Paul uses
here in verse 24. It's only found twice in all
the Bible. And it means a deplorable state of distress and misery,
wretched, wretched. And of the two occurrences, once
it is known by the wretched one and once it's not known. And
here it's known. Paul says, Oh, wretched man that
I am. I know it. I know it's so right now. And
the other place that it's not known is to the church of the
Laodiceans in Revelation 3, 17. Because thou sayest, I am rich
and increased with goods and have need of nothing, self-righteousness
to the limit. It's all around us this morning,
Laodicean religion. self-righteousness to the limit God says because of that thou
knowest not that thou art wretched there it is and miserable and
poor and blind and naked they didn't know it and they still
don't but Paul said I know it I know
it I know it A.W. Pink wrote this, this moan, Oh,
wretched man that I am. He calls it a moan by the apostle
Paul. And I believe it was, and it
is in my heart. Oh, wretched man that I am expresses
the normal experience of God's child. And anyone who does not so moan
is in an abnormal and unhealthy state spiritually. The man who
does not utter this cry daily is either so out of communion
with Christ or so ignorant of the teaching of scripture or
so deceived about his actual condition that he knows not the
corruptions of his own heart and the abject failure of his
own life. the one who bows to the solemn
and searching teaching of God's word, the one who there learns
the awful wreckage which sin has wrought in the human constitution,
the one who sees the exalted standard of holiness which God
has set before us, cannot fail to discover what a vile wretch
he is if he is given to behold how far short he falls of attaining
to God's standard. If in the light of the divine
sanctuary, he discovers how little he resembles the Christ of God,
then will he find this language most suited to express his godly
sorrow. If God reveals to him the coldness
of his love, the pride of his heart, the wonderings of his
mind, the evil that defiles his godliest acts, he will cry, O
wretched man that I am. If he is conscious of his ingratitude
and how little he appreciates God's daily mercies, if he marks
the absence of that deep and genuine fervor which ought ever
to characterize his praise and worship of that one who is glorious
in holiness, If he recognizes that sinful spirit of rebellion,
which so often causes him to murmur or at least chafe against
the dispensations of God in his daily life, if he attempts to
tabulate not only the sins of commission, but the sins of omission
of which he is daily guilty, he will indeed cry, Oh, wretched
man that I am. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Now don't turn
that around. He's not asking who shall deliver
me from the death of this body when it dies, that won't be a
problem. But he's asking who shall deliver me from the body
of this death. These bodies we walk around in
is a body of death. It's not dead physically. But it's dead spiritually. God
does not live in the old fallen nature. That's what Paul's talking
about here. That we have in this body and this mind of sin, rebellion. God don't live in that. He's
busy killing that, by the way. That's what we're whining about
all the time. That's where the conflict is. He is not converting the old
man. He's crucifying him. And that's why when things don't
go my way, I'm unhappy. I'm disgruntled. I pitch a fit and behave like
the devil. That's why. Because I am so unlike
Christ. You know what Christ said? Even
so, Father, For so it seemeth good in thy sight. Lord, if this is your doing,
so be it. I'm not quite that far along. Not us. We say, Oh God, don't let this
go the way it looks like it's going. I'll lose so much. I'll be so
humiliated. I'll be so unhappy. I'll be so
depressed. I'll be this and I'll be that. God says, yeah, but I'll be God.
And he will, he will right on. In verse 22, Paul says, Christ
lives in me. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. It's the only thing on earth
I've got going for me. Everything else is wrong. Everybody
else is wrong. I'm wrong. Christ in me is my
hope. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. That inward man is the new creation. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory, Paul said. Oh, how the inward man delights
in the law of God. This old flesh don't. This old
flesh will say, well, I know the Bible said so and so, but
I'm just going to do this. I know God said thou shalt not,
but I'm just, see this old flesh don't care what God said. Don't
care about the law. But Paul said, there's a, there's
one in me, an inward man, the new creation. Christ living in
me that delights in the law of God. He wants to do right. He wants to be pure. He wants
to honor God. And if his was the only law living
in me, I'd be fine. But verse 23, I see another law in my memory. There's not agreement
in me. There's two armies in here. They don't agree. Two opposing
armies. Christ has come in, yes. Taken
up residence, yes. But this old flesh is against
it all the way. It's against it all. Could use
this illustration. If a man falls in love with a woman and takes
her home with him to move in with him, and the woman he's been with
for many years has not moved out, there's going to be some
fireworks. We find that several times in
the Bible. And of course, you know of situations like that. And that's what Paul's saying
here. If Christ lives in you, he's not going to get along with
that other love of your life. There's going to be conflict. He's not going to say, as some
stupid women have done, well, I think we can get along. I think
we can live together in the same house and live peaceably together.
No, it's going to be a cuss fight. every day and every night, throwing
pots and pans, it's going to be on. And if you're God's child,
it is on right in here. But if you pay too much attention
to this sweet, super spiritual, religious stuff around our part
of the country, you'll think, my soul, they're so wonderful. And I'm so filthy. No, they're
filthy too. They're just lying about it.
Paul said, I'm not lying about it. And I'm not lying about it. You said, what have you been
doing is so awful that you'd be talking about this this morning.
I hadn't probably, I hope I hadn't been doing anything no more awful
than you have, but it's in here. It's in here. Sin is not what
we do. Sin is what we are. This old
nature, it's fallen. We do what we do because of what
we are. And when we do right, it's Christ
in you doing that. That's why he's worthy of all
the praise and the glory. That's why when you do two or
three things right in this life that has wonderful results, And
the world is praising you to high heaven. When you get to
heaven, this is why they're not going to turn everything over
to you. Put you on the throne. No, no. Because anything good
that comes of us is Christ in us. It's him doing it. It's him
doing it. Everything else is rotten. The flesh warth against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh. If your religion is just about
not getting caught for being what you are, you can have it.
Because whether you get caught or not, you're still what you
are. That's the issue. And if there's not a genuine
grieving over sin in your heart, then what you are in the flesh
is all you are. If your religion is nothing more
than appearing to be a Christian in the minds of other people, then you've got nothing. You're
just waiting around to go to hell and you'll get there. back to the present tense. Paul's
not asking who shall deliver me out yonder at the death of
this body. No, he's asking who shall deliver
me right now. Who can deliver me from drowning
today, from the misery of this awful corrupt existence of mine,
trying to love God, and I do, and at the same time acting like
I hate him, and I do. There's one in here that hates
God. There's one in here that loves God. Doing the things I would not
and not doing the things I would. I just can't get it together. And he puts it like this. I'm
just a wretch. That's all I can make of it.
Oh, wretched man that I am who shall deliver me. And he says, I thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. And we're still in the present
tense. He is my daily deliverance. He is the only reason I don't
lose my sanity every day that don't. So then with the mind
I myself serve the law of God. My mind, I want God, I delight
in the law of God, in the inward man. Isaiah 26, 3, Thou wilt
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because
he trusted Thee. How do I survive? How do you
survive? Not because we're all we should be, but because Christ
is all he should be. He is my righteousness. All that
God requires of me, Christ is for me. And this morning, if this conflict
is not real in your heart, if you don't feel the wretchedness
Paul felt, You need to be asking some questions. Oh God, why do
I not love you? Why do I not hate sin? Why do I live with a pretense
that I'm an okay person? Lord, my only hope is for you
to do something in this heart of mine that changes me. I can't change myself. I've spent my whole life wanting
other people to be what I want them to be. But it's time to say, Lord, shine
the light in my heart. Give me the longing to be what
you want me to be. And you might add to your prayer,
Lord, if you don't, I'll ride this merry-go-round plumb to
hell and be damned forever. You better
tell the Lord you don't want that. So much for religious pretense.
Oh, to experience what only God can do, grace administered in
the heart. And to say with John Newton,
amazing grace. Never knew there was such a thing,
but oh, how sweet the sound. How'd you come to find out, John?
Saved a wrench like me. He used Paul's language, a wrench
like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. Was blind, but now I see. Did I quit being a wretch? This
old nature didn't. No. It's not going to help me anyhow. But He saved this wretch. I once was lost, didn't even
know it. But he found me. I was blind,
didn't even know it. But now I see. Oh, wretched man
that I am. Who shall deliver me? Well, he
tells us. I'm glad he don't stop without
telling us. I thank God. Through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Every day that dawns, I can say,
Lord, Wherever I'm called to walk today, I can know you've
been there before and you'll be with me today. Bless his holy
name. All right. I don't know if this
was fun or not, but it was right. I trust the Lord will put it
in your heart. May we stand.