If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7 is
where we are for today and the Lord willing, next week. And depending on how slow you
are, maybe the week after that, we are so slow to learn. That's
not true of you? In spiritual matters, you don't
think you're retarded? The Lord Jesus frequently told
his disciples, oh, slow of heart. That was a nice way of saying,
you guys are retarded. You know, you guys are. We are. Well, one day we will be thinking
in light speed. Like Adam used to think before
the fall, when the father would give him the insight in picoseconds,
just because that was his inheritance, while as yet he was trusting
God. But when the devil came in surreptitiously and said to
him and Eve, you can get this thing yourself. You and I have
been on retarded speed ever since. Every since. And I'm so glad God is patient,
aren't you? He is so patient. And he manifested
his full glory in terms of his patience in his son, the Lord
Jesus, who had to put up with twelve knuckleheads. I'm trying
to argue a case for the holistic retardation of all of God's people
here. And some of you guys are saying,
not me, pastor. Okay. We'll see if you get this
lesson today by next Sunday. We recognize that there is a
unity of truth all of the scripture that the scriptures are a unit
of truth a complete composite of truth that cannot be broken
they cannot be dissected and set apart as if they don't have
relative connection to every part as a whole the Bible is
one truth and in all of the scriptures we have an old and New Testament
of which the Old Testament narrative serves as a New Testament anticipation. We say that the Old Testament
narrative has for its counterpart the New Testament that you have
to have both the old and the new to actually comprehend the
truth in the sense in which God wants us to comprehend the truth. And one anticipates the other. That is the Old Testament anticipates
the New Testament and the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament. Do you believe that? Just doing
some basic principles right now. The Old Testament anticipates
what the New Testament fulfills. It is therefore imperative that
we understand the authority of the New Testament in relationship
to the benefits we can derive from Old Testament teaching.
Since some of you have learned that the two must collaborate,
the Old and the New must collaborate to affirm one another and to
assist in the fulfillment of the revelation of the glory of
God in the life of God's people. And so that the Old Testament
becomes a a reflection of and pointer towards that which would
be later confirmed in the New Testament and what was largely
the physical activities and events of the Old Testament where God
dealt with a people bringing them out of a certain geographical
location. then taking them geographically
through the wilderness and placing them geographically in a physical
land called Canaan and giving them physical and material blessings
within the framework of that geography. All of that was largely
Old Testament pointing to New Testament realities that would
be fulfilled in the Spirit. Old Testament realities that
would be fulfilled in the Spirit. In other words, you would make
a major error to think that when God gives us promises in the
New Testament, that those promises are not lands and vineyards and
olive trees or any such physical thing. That those material things
that Israel were promised under that Old Covenant pointed to
far superior blessings. that would be found in the person
of Jesus Christ, that would be given to the people of God based
upon grace through faith, and they are spiritual in nature. And if you don't understand that,
you won't understand what we are talking about today. Let
me see if I can build my argument to help us get ready for Romans
chapter 7. Earthly pregnancies. Y'all know
what it's like to get pregnant? Ladies, y'all know what it's
like to get pregnant? Earthly pregnancies. the Old Testament
pointed to and correspond to New Testament rebirth, salvation,
spiritual life, and spiritual fruitfulness in Jesus Christ.
The conception in the womb of women in the Old Testament Points
to what it means to be born again in the New Testament what it
means to be filled with God's Spirit and therefore impregnated
with the nature of God the divine nature so that within the believer
in the New Testament the fruit that we produce is spiritual
versus the fruit that Israel produced which was natural Israel
increased in numbers of children the New Testament Church, which
is the Israel of God increases in spiritual fruit spiritual
children spiritual produce am I making some sense now under
this analogy of Pregnancy, which is a theme running all the way
through the scriptures. You will note in the Old Testament
women like Eve conceived women like Sarah conceived Rebecca
conceived, Rachel conceived, Hannah conceived. All of these
are godly women, are they not? But they all had trouble conceiving. Eve conceived, Sarah conceived,
Rachel conceived, Leah conceived, Hannah conceived. All the godly
women of the Old Testament conceived, but they all had trouble conceiving. Here's the title of my message.
The Struggle of Christ in You. The Struggle of Life in Me. That's the title of my message.
The Struggle of Life in Me. Every conception was a struggle.
Every birth was a struggle. Every attempt at conception was
a struggle. Was it not? These women went
through unusual periods of barrenness Barrenness, barrenness, barrenness.
And then the conception itself was a major struggle. But that's
exactly what God said it would be. Remember Genesis 3, 16? The
promise was, in sorrow, in pain, shall you conceive and bring
forth. In sorrow, in pain, shall you
conceive and bring forth. And if in the Old Testament that
is true, should it not also bear some parallel in the New? Precisely
our Lord Jesus Christ said in the gospel of John. He says right
now you guys are sorrowful Like a woman in travail, but shortly
after she gives birth she rejoices Why because a man child is born
into the world our Lord takes a physical analogy of the conception
in the struggle of the woman to make it apply to his resurrection
And my point is, is that you and I are contemplating a portion
of scripture in the book of Romans right now that really requires
us anchoring down and thinking through. If we are going to really
be blessed by Romans chapter 7 verses, our text has it, verses
7 through 18, you and I are going to have to think through what
this text really means. Now when I say the struggle of
life, In me, I'm talking about the reality of God's grace, working
in my life in such a way to teach me some things about who he is
and about who I am. Isn't that what struggles do?
Don't they teach you some things? See, earlier I said you guys
are slow. And most of you were so slow, you didn't even get
that. And so God's gonna have to teach you how important it
is for you to know what struggle is like. Because it's really
only in the struggle that you get to know God and that you
get to know yourself. It is for this reason that Paul
has taken this course of reflection and analysis of his discourse
to his brethren. He has moved us into a real privileged
place. And that privileged place is
to walk with him through the difficult, difficult chasm, if
you will. I'm going to call this shortly
rapids. And I used this analogy before.
Have any of you ever been, what do you call it? Water rafting.
Anybody, raise your hand if you've been water rafting. See, it's
only a few of us, because black folk don't really do this. Latino
folks don't do it much. My Caucasian brothers do this.
But black folk don't do this, because we sink like a rock to
the bottom of the ocean so quick, quick. But if you ain't never,
go online and watch fast water rapids. And think about it. Don't do it. I'm not going to
do it. Think about the thrill of it. Think about the thrill of it.
And then also think about the vulnerability of it in terms
of the possibilities of falling over and drowning and getting
caught in rocks. But also think about the outcome. Because really the analogy of
water rafting, particularly fast water rafting, I did some slower
water rafting in my life, but fast water rafting is what we're
dealing with in Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7 is a very
difficult passage to understand. It's a very difficult passage
to comprehend properly. And it's largely because people
have not approached this text carefully enough to understand
what the premise of the apostles argument is, nor what his goals
or objectives are. And so what I wanna do today
is give a framework that's gonna be essential for you and I to
be able to understand at least a little bit of what all of this
apparent rhetorical speech is about. You guys know some of
the terminology there. Angelo got to reading and you
saw him stumbling most people do because of these short clauses
that are really hard to read They're not smooth. They don't
they don't come off the lips very eloquently and then he stumbled
past verse 18, which is why I wanted him to stop and With the verse
19 and that's like water rafting. I mean you can't just put the
brakes on you're gonna keep going a little bit longer, you know
and And it's because the language of Romans chapter 7 requires
careful approach before you even take the journey. And then it
requires you understanding where you're going. Now wouldn't you
want to know where you're going if you're doing some fast water
rafting? You would want to know whether or not you're headed
over Niagara Falls, right? or whether you're going to come
to a smooth conclusion, jump right out of the boat onto land.
What do you want to know? Well, it's the same thing with this
portion of Scripture. You can't benefit from this without
being extremely patient and working it through. So today, we're not
going to be religious unless the Lord decides to move you.
We're going to think today. Because it's necessary for us
to comprehend some things about language all of us have used.
Many of us have used the terms in Romans 7. But unfortunately,
I think that we have missed the point largely and have created
some extremes. Like I said, you and I are privileged
right now to see and hear and interact with Romans chapter
7 because an honest man is talking. An honest man is talking. Now,
he's been made honest over time. He wasn't honest at his start.
And most Christians aren't honest at their start because to be
honest, you got to know something about God and you got to know
something about yourself. But I always say an honest man,
an honest woman won't go to hell. See, because honesty is something
that God's going to make you become if you're going to walk
with him. If you're going to walk with
God, you're going to become honest. See and so paul has become honest,
but now as you shake your head Embracing the virtue of honesty.
I really still want you to understand that in all likelihood. You don't
understand this text My elder has said this a couple of weeks
ago Speaking to the sunday school class about me. I think he was
using it as sort of a A basis for some of the stuff he was
teaching because he can be a little heady too as some of you know
But he's slow and methodical and that's a great way to teach
half a verse by half a verse by half a verse. So what he said
was when Pastor Jesse is preaching and teaching and set forth certain
ideas, concepts, and propositions, don't immediately challenge him.
Don't get to arguing with him over things that he says. Think
about what he says first. Think about it because here's
the thing. If you think you already know and you are listening to
me, in all likelihood, you'll miss something that I say. And
if you debate me over certain concepts, follow this now. If
you really haven't worked those concepts through, you are simply
making your opinion more valid than my opinion and probably
are in danger of being presumptuous when it comes to the Word of
God. Follow this. Your opinion and my opinion are equal opinions.
But if what I am saying is the Word of God, you need to settle
your opinion down and think through what I'm saying. James chapter
one verse 19 puts it this way. Be quick to hear. Be quick to
hear. You know what that means? Have
the virtue of saying, let me hear this matter out completely
because this is not the first time I was wrong in thinking
I understood what someone said and I missed the point altogether.
Am I making some sense? It's very important for you to
know that because we get Christians who love to argue. They love
to debate. They love to see when you come
into this church, the likelihood is over time, I or my elders
or my teachers are going to say something that you don't agree
with. And by and large, it's going to be because you were
taught wrong. I'm just letting you know now, OK, like we don't
just get up to teach wrong things so that you can determine whether
it's wrong. We get up to teach right things
and we hope you are disciplined enough to hear it so that you
can learn and embrace it. As the scripture says, rebuke
a wise man and he will increase in learning. But now when you
rebuke a fool, all you're going to do is get a block to yourself.
They're going to fight for their positions. Now I'm laying a foundation
down because Romans chapter 7 will be an enormous blessing to you.
I mean an enormous blessing if you can put up with the careful
analysis for two weeks. It will help you understand what
God is up to, what you are going through, and it will help you
explain to other people who are failing miserably to understand
what the struggle is and why God ordained it. You're going
to see what I'm saying as I go through the text. So right now,
the Apostle Paul is actually speaking to the same target group
that you and I talked about last week. It's not to the Gentile
Christians per se, though they get to ear hustle. He's speaking
to his Jewish brethren. Chapter seven, verse one says,
I speak to them that know the law. So what he is about to do
is take his Jewish brethren who have adopted Christian principles
but are still trapped by the legal system. He must take them
through the rapids to show them what happens when you try to
stay married to both Christ and the law too. Point number one
to get. Point number one to get. So let's
work with our PowerPoint. First one, the goal of freedom
is what? With God. That's right. I hope
you get that. The goal of freedom is intimacy
with God and therefore what? Fruitfulness in His service.
That proposition is so very clear. Draw near to God and He'll do
what? That's right. And when we talk about union
with Christ, are we not talking about intimacy? When we talk
about union with Jesus Christ, union with God the Father through
the Son by the power of the Spirit of God, are we not talking about
the most intimate union any two people can have? We're talking
union and therefore intimacy. God liberated you in justifying
you from the curse of the law in order that He might draw you
near to Him in an intimate relationship by which He can bring forth fruit
in your life. We have already worked through that proposition,
haven't we? You guys have gotten that, right?
He didn't liberate you from the prison of sin, from the curse
of the law, from the wrath of God for you to just run nilly-willy
in the world. Remember what I said last week?
No, you don't. I'll share with you again. Watch this. He redeemed
you And then he said, will you marry me? He redeemed you and
then he said, will you marry me? When a man says to a woman,
will you marry me? He wants to have intimacy with
her. He wants to be brought into union
with her. He wants the twain to become
one flesh. He wants them to operate as one
unit. He wants to bring to the table
of her life qualities and attributes. He wants to bring to her life
virtues and resources, benefits and blessings by which the two
becoming one now can produce something in their life. Am I
making some sense? All right, so let me argue again
from an analogy as I get ready to build these three foundational
points to what really are going to be points two and three. In
the Old Testament, as I said, Old Testament pregnancies pointed
to New Testament spiritual birth, New Testament regeneration, life
within. Is that true? Right. So then
in the Old Testament we had situations that happened two or three times.
I'm only going to take one right now and use it as a metaphor
or as an analogy as a foundation for where we're going. We have
in the Old Testament an occasion where one woman was married to
two men. And that analogy serves as an
echo, an argument for Romans chapter 7 verses 1 through 6.
Is that not true? Romans 7, 1 through 6, Paul says,
I speak to you who know the law, how that a man, as long as he's
married to a woman or a woman married to a man, as long as
he lives, she's bound by the law to that man. But if in fact
he dies, she's free to be married to a what? That's one woman,
two men. Is that true? One woman, two
men. That's the premise upon which Paul is about to argue
to help the Jewish believers to realize that you can't be
married to two persons at the same time without being called
an adulteress and having the consequences of adultery wreak
havoc on your life. I.E., as we work our way through
Romans 7, you are going to have described in the analogy of struggle
in the soul an adulterous affair. Are you hearing me? The Old Testament
analogy that I'm going to use as we leave our PowerPoint right
there is the analogy of our Sister Ruth. Remember Sister Ruth? The
book of Ruth is about redemption, but it's also about friendship,
is it not? The hero in the book is Boaz, the kinsman redeemer,
is he not? The heroine is Naomi, and the
central figure is Ruth. Ruth is the model that we have. She was married to one husband.
His name was Malon. Malon was the son of Elimelech.
Malon and Cilion were the two boys of Elimelech. Those two
boys married two women in the land of Moab. One was Ruth, the
other was Orpah. None of them bore fruit. The
marriage between Ruth and Malon was a marriage that was barren
and fruitless. What it produced was death. Because
the marriage ultimately failed because it wasn't built on the
right premise. Am I making some sense? Do you see the parallels
between the law and grace? Between Christ and legal works
righteousness? So Ruth is a picture of the church,
Malon is a picture of the law, if you will, and when Malon and
Ruth marry, they produce no fruit, there is no joy, there is no
happiness, nothing but the curse comes down until a brother named
Boaz shows up on the scene. And when Boaz shows up on the
scene, as we learned last week in Ruth chapter four, he said,
I'm marrying this woman after I purchased her. And the text
tells us in Ruth chapter four, around verse 11, that Boaz went
into Ruth and immediately the Lord gave her conception. See the gospel picture here?
that under the law you can bear no fruit. By the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. A man can work,
work, work, work all day long. And he will never bear any fruit
so long as he is under the curse of the law. And what the apostle
Paul is saying to his Jewish brethren and to you and me by
application here in a moment is you cannot walk under a system
of legal religion and try to, as it were, walk in a state of
grace with Christ, too, without one of the two castling out the
other. You can't love two people at the same time, even though
idiots try to. I remember hearing this when
I was a teenager. And you know, they make songs
about this stuff. I love them both. You can't love
them both. See, either you're going to hold to the one and
despise the other, or you're going to love the one and reject
the other. That's a natural law. Is that true? Here's the argument
then that Paul is going to lay down that as we work through
our text, you're going to learn. The only way you and I can bear
fruit is to be married to Jesus Christ. We cannot be married
to Malon. We must be married to Boaz. Boaz
bears the strength to produce in us the fruit that God typified
in the Old Testament through children, which manifests itself
in our life as Christ in you, the hope of glory. Am I making
some sense? Watch this now. So then when a man or woman or
a body of believers becomes united to Jesus Christ, we have married
the son of the living God, have we not? And in the intimacy between
the son of the living God and his bride, the church, every
believer, Between grace and glory, which is where I'm headed, I
am expecting. Did you get that? Better write
it down. Better write it down. Between grace and glory, I'm
expecting. Does that make some sense? Because
God demands that I be fruitful. He demands that I produce fruit.
in fact he married me to do it now watch the text Romans chapter
7 verse 6 pull it up watch what it says here's what Paul says
in Romans 7 6 to his Jewish brethren then we'll come back to our PowerPoint
actually go back to verse 4 we'll come here in a second go back
to verse 4 watch this wherefore my brethren you are also become
dead to the what by the body of Christ that means union with
Christ at his death and Allowed you because he was your substitute
to have died to the law That means you are no longer lawfully
married to the law because in Christ you died to the law That
means you were free To be married to another is that what the text
is watch the language You were dead to the law by the body of
Christ. See that little word that it's what we call a purpose
clause a powerful purpose clause in order that in order that You
should be what? So the reason why we take our
place with Christ at his death is in order that we might be
free to be married to another. Every believer is married to
another. The another to whom we are married is whom? Jesus
Christ, now watch this, even to him who is what from the dead? Raised from the dead, in order
what? That we should what? Bring forth
fruit unto God. Do you see the argument? Then
can you see how this text affirms the book of Ruth, where Ruth
now is able to bear fruit because she's married to Heather? She
was first married to Malon, but she's now married to Boaz, and
having married Boaz, immediately, immediately, immediately, God
gives conception The point is this, without Christ we can do
nothing. Going back to our PowerPoint,
I want to rush through this first point quickly and then move on
to our second and third point where I need you to pay careful
attention. Point number one is simply a
sustained sort of argument that I have been making for several
weeks. If you guys have been reading your outlines, I've been
actually holding this point for weeks. The goal of freedom is
intimacy with God. In order that there might be
fruitfulness in his service. So the word that we see is intimacy
in the first line. And then the next word is service.
I know you want to look at fruitfulness. That's fine. But Martha's, he
not only redeemed you, that means you're a slave of his, but then
he married you. He married you in order that
you might be a productive slave. Now humble yourself with me and
take your place as the bride of Christ and accept the fact
that you and I are do losses. We are handmaids. We are brides. We are the wife of Christ, but
we are also the servant of Christ. You know what that means? I do
what my husband tells me to do. Because I actually am thankful
that he redeemed me off the slave block of sin That he looked at
me when I wasn't even looking at him that not only did he buy
me When I was in bondage to sin, I taught you this last week.
I was dead Why would he buy a dead slave? because he saw what he
could do with me when I could not even see who he was and See,
I'm trying to tell you now the love of God in Christ is something
with which if you don't continue to nurture your knowledge of
Him, you will miss the point. He bought you when you were dead,
not when you were living. He bought you when you were a rebel,
a hell-bound rebel, not when you were compliant. He died for
you while you were ungodly, while you were a rebel against His
will, while you was His enemy. Christ died for your sin. He
bought you when you didn't want Him. Isn't that what we learned
last week? He bought you anyway. And then having bought you, he
said, I want to marry you. And in some strange work of the
Holy Ghost, he changed your heart and caused you to fall in love
with him. And now you are his and he is
yours. And it's all because he wants
to bring fruit in our life to his father's glory. Am I making
some sense? And so there are four sub points
that I'm going to quickly run through and move into my main
argument for the day. Vital union through knowledge.
essential to our knowing Jesus Christ. John chapter 17 verse
3 says, and this is eternal life, that they might know you, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Here's my
point with this proposition. If you don't spend time with
Jesus, you will never know him. Right. See, I live in a generation,
and I'm going to get to this in about 25 minutes, and you're
going to see how relevant it is. I live in a generation where
folks are immersed in all sorts of external sensory inputs. In other words, you and I have
been bombarded by voices and images and sounds 24-7 in a complete
surround sound system. Am I making some sense? And what
that means is you're being hit with data all the time. What
that data is, are you ready? That data is empty food that
has no value for your soul. Do you understand that? It's
like these human growth hormone products, these growth hormone
products that we're putting in our food, making it large, but
having no nutritional value. Making it plentiful in its quantity,
but you're still hungry. And in many cases, it's simply
making you sick. because it's not qualitative
food. Now watch this. This is my point. It's real easy
to think that you're all right with God because your head is
filled up with so much unnecessary data. It's real easy to think
you are walking in a deep and close intimate God because you're
hearing voices all over the place. Now watch this now, watch this
now. Even when you are listening to religious programs, If you
are substituting religious programs, putting them in your files with
all your other stuff, your R&B and they all have the same equal
aesthetic effect on you, you are still not spending time with
Jesus. And what that means is there's
a capacity for you to not grow in discernment at the level in
which you need to grow in discernment to make your call in an election
sure, because you will actually think that that passive hearing
is effectual. But you're still hearing garbage.
And because you're hearing garbage, you and I are in danger of Hebrews
chapter 5, which says, at the time in which you are to be teachers,
You still have need that someone teach you the basic ABCs all
over again. Am I telling the truth? Now watch
this now. Some of you know you ought to be teaching the Word
of God. Some of you know you ought to be further along the
line in your walk with Christ today. Some of you know you need
to be more solid in your walk with Christ. But you have allowed
time and all of these other sensory inputs to monopolize you and
not allow you to grow in intimacy with God. I'm telling the truth.
John chapter 17 3 says and this is eternal life that they might
know you The job of the person who has been redeemed from hell
purchased by Jesus is to run after Christ. I Mean run after
him hear me now run after him with a deep passionate commitment
to know him above every other knowledge There should be no
knowledge in your life that contends with Jesus. I In a 24-hour period,
mark this now, if you and I are giving our time equally to, with
the same vigor as, as important to knowing God, we are adulterers. Now watch the impact of that
kind of adultery when we go to our texts. Are you hearing me?
See, to whom you yield yourself allegiance to, you become their
servant. See what Paul is about to teach
us in the Romans 7 text, is how to discover how jacked up we
are so that we can hurry up and learn to call on God in earnest
to make our walk with him exclusive. So under the first point, the
goal is freedom, intimacy with God, fruitfulness in his service.
Second point, there must be a conscious, willing dependence upon his what? Grace. Let me touch on that just
briefly. Everybody in the church house
today will say we need his grace. We just sang, I need thee, every
hour I need thee, right? Do you really act like that?
See what I'm saying? You see how hypocritical we are?
We talk about needing Him every hour, but we really only need
Him when we get in trouble. See what I'm getting at? Now,
what Romans 7 does, I love it. I love it. Romans 7 sneaks up
on you. and brings you to the amusement
park, because we all like amusement parks in one way or another.
I know the older folks like I am, we're done with that, right?
But you can be amused in different ways. Are you hearing me? And
then you get brought to this place where they want you to
come in and experience something. And once you get in, you got
to hold on for dear life. You getting the analogy? This
is what Romans 7 is about to do. Tell you to hold on for dear
life because you want this thing to get over with so you can get
out of there. That's what Romans 7 is about. It's about you and I understanding
that if we're going to come to a point of saying a complete,
conscious, willing dependence upon Christ, he has to put us
in the level of trouble, urgency, need, where authentically we
say, we need you. I need you. I need you. I need
you every hour. Or you will have had to have
had the gospel taught you so effectually that every day it's
just part of your makeup to say, Lord, I can't do it without you.
Master, I can't make it without you. I need you to hold my hand
while I make these steps in my life. Lord, I have learned after
10 years, after 15 years, after 20 years, I can't think right
without you. I won't act right without you.
I can bear no fruit apart from you, oh Lord. Like Moses said,
Lord, if you don't go with us, leave us right here. See, we
really need to be thinking in terms of that or else what we
do in a 24 hour period is waste our time. Most of us would not
want to turn in a ledger of the day's activity to God if we had
to do it every day See what I'm getting at now you
guys can keep playing games with grace if you want to But I'm
here to actually take you through a portion of Scripture that will
help you Do a better job with your walk with Christ if you're
willing to go through it if you're willing to go through it. So,
thirdly, an evident productivity, which is by Him and glorifies
Him. The goal of freedom in Christ and intimacy with God is fruitfulness
in His service, but it comes through a knowledge of God, it
comes through a willing dependence upon His grace, and it will result
in an evident productivity, which is who? By Him, and what? Glorifies
Him. Now what this means is, if we
are studying properly, God comes along and brings forth fruit
in our life, and it's evident, And it's not for us, but it's
for His glory. Two texts before I go to my argument
now. The first text is Philippians
chapter 1 verse 9. Philippians chapter 1 verse 9.
I want you to watch what this text says. I'm going to read
verses 9 through 11 to make sure. And pull your Bibles up just
as a practice, even though we have it on the PowerPoint. Pull
your Bibles up. Philippians chapter 1 verse 9. Because I want you
to mark these verses and be able to note that when it comes to
bearing fruit, Being productive for the kingdom of God that this
is a work that God must do you cannot do it By yourself. I'm in verse 9. Are we there?
Here's what the Apostle says in this I pray that your love
may abound yet more and more in what? What knowledge is that
the knowledge of God? Do you see that? My prayer is
that your love would abound more and more in the knowledge of
God not in earthly disciplines, not in job skill sets, not in
extracurricular activities, that your love would abound more and
more in the knowledge of God. Where our love is plateauing
in the knowledge of God, we are in trouble. His prayer is that
it would grow more and more, that as you get closer to the
finish line, that you should be more passionate about the
knowledge of God, not less passionate. Who would dare to endanger their
soul by missing the door to glory because they got casual in the
last hundred yards and inadvertently slipped off to another road?
Come up to the door of hell because they were too casual. What I'm
saying is this. For those of you who are older,
you should be more passionate about the knowledge of God, because
you should know by now, as Solomon said, vanity of vanities. Everything is vanity in this
life. We've done that. We bought the T-shirt. It's nothing. It's nothing. The entertainment
of this world, the allurements of the world. Last night, your
pastor was out partying last night. Rolling, dog, rolling. Me and my girl. That's right.
and join ourselves. We danced up a jig, old school
terminology. Wasn't drinking, wasn't getting
high, wasn't doing none of that. Did that, bought the t-shirt,
there's nothing to it. The party stopped at three o'clock
in the morning. I'm lying, it stopped at 10 o'clock.
Stay with me for a minute. Stay with me for a minute. I
mean, we danced up a sweat on the water with a bunch of aliens. Some of them were saints. By 9.30, the body said, come
on, Jess, we got to shut it down. Got to shut it down, brother.
Got to head on to the house. And I was in complete comportment
with it. Do you know why? Because I've
been there and I've done that and the folly of this world doesn't
even come close to the joy of walking with God Somebody was
asking me a question at the table while we were eating They they
were asking me a question at the table. What are you? So what
what are you up to right now pastor? We we were about an hour
before the whole Event was over and I said to my brother brother.
Look at me. I said you looking at a brother who's already at
home and I'm already reading my Bible. I'm already studying
my notes. I'm already preparing to preach right now. My body
just has to catch up with my spirit. Are you hearing me? See, I thank God for maturity. Growing up out of that foolishness
where you waste so much time and lose so much ground. and
set yourself up for so much trouble because you're still feeding
on vanity and not on Jesus. See, I want to grow more and
more in the knowledge of Him and in better judgment. See that
word, all judgment? It means discernment. You know
what that means? Making right choices. Choices
that lead me to God not away choices that affirm my walk in
God not bring me into states of Discombobulation and fear
and anxiety because I made the wrong choices, you know, you
make the wrong choices you tore up Am I telling the truth you
make the wrong choices you tore up next verse verse 10. Here
it is Here it is in order that you might approve of the things
that are what if I don't grow in my love of biblical truth.
I If I don't grow in my love of biblical truth and therefore
learn to discern right from wrong, I will not approve of those things
that are excellent. How do you approve of excellent
things? By walking close with Jesus, experiencing his character
and his nature, and having so much of a concern for who he
is that you want to be just like him. See, this is called association
leading to what? Assimilation. What that means
is the one with whom you spend most time, you are conformed
to their image. the one with whom you spend most
time you think about, you think like. And this is why transformation
in the life of the Christian cannot occur without a knowledge
of the Word of God going deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper
because the change only comes through the truth of the gospel.
Am I making some sense? It only comes through the truth
of the gospel. Now watch this, that you may
approve of the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere
and without offense until the day of what? Sincere, you know
what that means? Honest, straightforward, not
duplicitous, not a hypocrite. The literal Greek word there,
haven't been there in a while, is the analogy of a person developing
a sculpture. And the sculpture is made out
of stone or marble, but somehow it's flawed or broken. And what
they do is they take clay and fill in the flower places and
smooth it out and paint it over. So when you buy that statue,
you think it's all of marble, but in fact, it's a mixture of
marble and clay. You know what we call that? Hypocrisy.
And what Paul is teaching us is when a man or a woman walks
with Christ, you can become so honest with him that you don't
stand the chance of being hypocrites to people in the church. Because
you know what? It's real easy when you're not walking in the
light of the gospel to appear one way to others. because you
don't have the confidence of saying, you know what, this is
who I am. And these are the struggles I go through. These are my challenges. But I'm going to say this now
and then I'm going to get to my other point. This is who I am. This is where we're going. Because
our text in Romans chapter 7 is going to actually affirm a question
that you and I get to ask today. Are you ready? Here's the question.
Who are you? Let's go to work now. Verse 11
says this. Verse 11 says this. Being filled
with the fruits of what? I want to be filled with them,
don't you? I want to be filled with the fruits of righteousness.
But how is that going to happen? Look at it. By Jesus Christ. Who does the filling? Christ
does. Watch this. Unto the glory and
praise of who? God the Father. So Christ has
to produce the fruit in us. And it's produced not for our
glory, but for the glory of God. Now watch this Sid. We're talking
about John 15. I'm the true vine. You're the branches. Every branch
of me that bears fruit, my Father's working with it. Are you hearing
me? Because without me, you can what? All right, second point.
Let's go to work. I'm getting ready. All I'm going
to do is give you a framework of Romans chapter 7, verses 1
through 18, just a framework. And then we're going to come
back next week. I'm going to run through these points relatively quickly. Call
your attention to a few salient issues that you are going through
here in the 21st century, you and me as Christians. Point number
two, the struggle that comes from Christ in you, the hope
of glory. That's a great proposition, isn't
it? The struggle that comes from Christ in you, the what? See,
when people see a true believer, what they see is a person who
is walking in hope. When they see an authentic believer,
they see a person who believes in things that are theirs, but
are not yet manifest. When they see a true believer,
they see a person who has a vital living hope in realities that
are theirs in the future. What that means is they can't
see in the believer's life anything other than the evidence of hope.
Now, let me tell you what the evidence of hope looks like.
Struggle! Okay, can I stay with you? Can
you stay with me for a few more minutes? See, because like you
young ladies, if you've never had babies before, if you've
never conceived, pregnancy seems romantic to you. But see, the
romance leaves pregnancy right after the intimacy. Like, real
quick. Is that right? The first thing
you experience when you're pregnant is nausea. And from there, it
goes on downhill until you start learning how to negotiate what
it means to be pregnant. Are you following me? See, and
so believers have to learn how to negotiate pregnancy. And so
you have to be honest with people that you're miserable a lot of
the times. I'm not feeling good, pastor. I can't wait till this
baby come and go. It doesn't feel good. That's where we are
right now in our Christian world. So we can lie to people and talk
about how great the pregnancy was. No, the intimacy was great. The pregnancy is a challenge.
Sanctification is a challenge. Mortification is a challenge.
Humility is a challenge. Sin dwelling in my members is
a challenge. Me falling short daily is a challenge. But it's all pregnancy. It's
all pregnancy. Points A through C. comes out
of Genesis 25 verses 21 through 23. And I need you to see that
prophecy. So pull up Genesis 25, 21, and
we're going to mark the promises here. And then I'm going to run
through my points quickly. And Isaac entreated the Lord
for his wife. Whose wife is she? Isaac's. Her name is what? Rebecca. Remember,
Rebecca was barren, just like Rachel was barren, just like
Sarah was barren, just like Hannah was barren. Isaac entreated the
Lord for his wife because she was barren and the Lord entreated
of her and Rebecca his wife what? The analogy now is falling into
place of conception watch verse 22 Watch it. Watch it watch 22
and the children what in her womb So in the womb of Rebecca
are two natures two persons You understand that and this is an
analogy of the believer. I in the present state of sanctification. Now watch this. And she said,
if this be so, why am I what? You know what she was inquiring
of? What's this struggle all about? This is Romans 7. Are you hearing me? This is the
text we're getting ready to work with in Romans 7. How many of
you guys are tracking with me right now? See, Romans 7 is getting
ready to explain to us the pregnancy of a believer who is walking
with God and bearing fruit but not understanding what this struggle
is all about. You got to understand this. So
I'm going to negate one assumption right now. I've already read
the commentaries. I know the scholars very well.
The assumption that Romans 7 is not talking about a believer
but an unbeliever, that's a faulty assumption. I'm going to make
that very plain next week. Romans 7 is about a believer.
But it's about a believer who is ignorant of his or her allegiance
to Christ. And as a consequence, she's straddling
the fence of being married both to the law and to Christ at the
same time. Are you guys hearing me? This is very important. However,
so she's got two in her womb and she went to inquire of the
Lord. Isn't that what we ought to do when we enter in the struggle?
Shouldn't we go to God in our struggles? After all, God talks
to you too. Look at what verse 23 says. I
love this. I love this. Here it is. And
the Lord said to her, See? See? Hold on, hold on. She's
dealing with an experience. I wish I had time with you, but
I know you folks are going to die on me. You're going to turn
into pumpkins in another 15 minutes. I wish I had time with you. She's
having an experience of grace. She's having an experience of
grace. How can you not call this grace?
She was bearing naturally. How can you not call this grace?
This is the work of God. How can you not call this grace?
God is the one who has intervened in her barren state and given
her conception. This is an experience of grace,
but she doesn't understand how to articulate it. Anybody know
what I'm talking about? So watch this. And so the Lord
said to her, two nations are in your womb and the two manner
of people shall be separated from your bowels. Now I want
you to get this last clause because this last clause is important
for you to understand where Paul is going in Romans seven. Are
you ready? The one people shall be stronger
than the other. That's a prophecy and a promise
of the prevailing spirit of Christ in you. That's a prophecy and
a promise of the prevailing spirit of Christ in you. Are you guys
hearing me? The one people will be greater. Greater is he that
is in you. The one will be greater. Now
that's a promise. Because see, what folks do with
Romans 7, they make both nations equally the same. so that the
outcome is nothing but failure and defeat. Are you hearing me?
They make both entities the same. But God is not saying that the
fallen nature, which I'm going to develop, and the new nature,
which is in Christ, are equal in power. They are not. They
are not equal in power. Are you hearing me? The fallen
nature does not have the same strength that the new nature
has. but the fallen nature will always fight with the new nature. You know what that means? You
aren't going to ever get the job done without him giving you
a fight. Haven't you discovered that in
your life? Give me a few more minutes of your time. Isn't it
crazy how just even at the contemplation and nobody around but you and
you're contemplating reading the Bible and you start going
through all of these mental connections, right? But I want you to mark
this now. Give me a few minutes of more
of your time God laid out a perfect picture of this account in Genesis
chapter 4 Don't go there yet But I'm tying together Old Testament
pictures so that I run through Romans 7 can make sense to you
because it's not gonna make sense if you don't understand it God
promises that the the the elder that the Elder shall serve the
younger and that the one shall be stronger than the other people
so that the elder being a type of our fallen nature is Will
be subdued by our new nature so that our new nature will ultimately
do what God has called us to do Am I making some sense? But
now I want to show you the temptation. I want you to I want to show
it to you Go with me to Genesis chapter 4. I want to call your
attention to a man named Cain briefly Cain is the brother of
Abel and in Genesis chapter 4 verse 1 Here's what we read. And Adam
knew his wife Eve. She conceived bear a son named
Cain and says, I have forgotten. I have gotten a man from the
Lord. Verse two. Here it is. And she again bear his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of the sheep. But Cain was a tiller
of the ground. Two brothers, right? Verse four. Verse four. And Abel, he also
brought of the firstling of his flock and of the fat thereof.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to... Did I skip verse
three? Verse three. Go to verse three. And in process
of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of
the ground an offering to the Lord. So Cain is a worshiper,
just like Adam and Eve, because mom and daddy taught them to
worship. So by the way, just because your kid's giving you
hell about coming to church, drag him to church anyway. We
had an article in our bulletin about a year ago, and the title
of it was, A Drug Addict. And it was all about the person
confessing the fact that from a little child, his parents dragged
him to church, drug him to church, drug him to Sunday school, drug
him to youth ministry, drug him here, drug him there, drug him
yonder. And when he got older and the
grace of God entered into his life, he thanked his mama for
making him a drug addict. You better get that. Because
see, right now we got a whole bunch of grown parents who are
too weak in their character to do their job as authorities with
their children. I got more to say about that,
but watch this, verse four, verse four. Here it is, verse four.
And Abel, he also brought the first thing of his flock and
the Lord had respect under Abel and to his offering. Now watch
these next two verses, verse five. But under Cain and to his
offering, he did not have respect. And Cain was what with his brother?
Now Cain a model of the flesh. He's a model of the flesh. Abel
is a model of the Spirit. The two will never agree. Like
Galatians 5 17, the Spirit lusts against the flesh, the flesh
against the Spirit, so that the two will never agree. What that's
saying is, when you and I want to do what God wants us to do,
it's going to always be a battle. and you need to know that. Now
watch how this goes. This is a lesson. Verse 6 is
the mercy of God to every human being, but especially to Christians. Are you ready? And the Lord said
to Cain, why are you angry? See how good God is? He's still
talking to this reprobate. Now doesn't God know what this
man gonna do? You see what we mean when we
say to lost sinners, you know? because God deals with the conscience
of all men. You know, you know, you know exactly what you believe.
You know exactly what you don't like about God. You know what
you want to do. You know, because God speaks
to your conscience. Watch this. And he says, why
are you angry and why is your confidence falling? I'm not going
to deal with that right now. Verse seven. If you do well. Shall you not be accepted? Now,
this is a critical point. of what I need to address at
the last part of our message today. But I want you to take
this interrogative and understand what God is saying. When you
and I do what is right, we will be accepted with God. Are you
hearing me? Now I'm going to explain what
that means in a little bit, OK? When we do what's right, we'll be
accepted. Watch this. And if not, I want you to see
this now. If thou do us not well, here
it is, sin lieth at the door. See, here's what God is saying.
You are standing between two choices, doing what's right and
doing what's wrong. And mark this, ladies and gentlemen,
sin always lies at the door. Are you hearing me? See, Paul
began to explain that in Romans 6. It's here in Romans 7 right
now. Sin always lies at the door.
Don't you ever think that you are operating void of sin lying
at the door. Pastor, sin lying at the door
where? At the door of your heart. It's not sin in the world. We
love to talk about the sin in the world. The sin in the world
is simply the manifestation of sin in the heart. What's at the
door of your heart and my heart and every human being's heart
is what? Sin! Now watch this. The only
way you're going to address it right, so I'm going to give you
what I'm burdened to press home to you before I even deal with
our syllogism here in points three and four, two and three.
If you don't know, are you ready? If you don't know who you are
in Christ, if you don't know your identity, if you don't know
who you are in Christ, Sin will give you an identity. I want
you to get this now. I want you to get it. I want
you to hear what I'm saying. If you don't know who you are
in Christ, sin will tell you who you are. Sin will mark out,
fabricate, and define for you who you are. It will tell you
who you are. Do you know why? Because he wants
to have dominion over you. Isn't that what the last line
says? Sin lies at the door to have dominion over you. Now what
God told Cain was, do the right thing, you cool. Do the wrong
thing, sin's gonna rule over you. Are you guys hearing that?
For the Christian, what is critical for you and me is to know who
we are in Christ. Because if you don't, this world
will define for you who you are. And you will agree with it. Are
you guys hearing me? Stay with me now. Because see,
you have no authority to define yourself. Although that's what's
going on every day in the world, is that true? Every day in the
world, you know what people are saying? I am this. I am that. I am the other thing. I am this. You know, I used to be that,
but I'm this now. And I am a little bit of both
of that and this. And what you are doing is demonstrating
that you do not have a true identity that's rooted in God by which
you can say, I am Christ and this is my struggle. And because
I know whose I am, I will fight against my struggle until I die
because God has already given me the victory through Jesus
Christ, my Lord. Are you hearing me? Let me run through
these points then. I can come back next week and
develop these. Going back to PowerPoint number two, let me
quickly run through the observation of these verses. PowerPoint number
two says the struggle that comes with what? Christ in you, the
hope of glory, right? I'm making a big assumption.
Am I not, Saints? You know what I'm assuming? That some of you
are true believers. Because if you are not a true
believer, this is not true of you. You got that? It's only true of true believers.
Now, an unbeliever can struggle. But the unbeliever does not struggle
like the folks in Romans chapter 7. Follow this now. An unbeliever
can struggle, but an unbeliever does not struggle against his
nature. He struggles to affirm his nature.
Do you get that? The unbeliever does not struggle
against sin. He struggles against God, telling
him he's a sinner. Am I making some sense to you?
See, please, if you get these things right, you can help your
kin, folks who are acting a fool right now, defining themselves
according to the culture and fundamentally arguing away sin.
And all sin is doing is building these models, covering it over
with a fog facade and saying, you can be this and you can be
that and you can be the other thing. But we know it's all sin,
don't we? We know it's all sin. Do we not know that? See, if
the Christian isn't willing to admit that that's sin, and that
the only reason that you are identifying with that sin is
because you don't know the God who made you, and therefore you
are not able to authoritatively say, I am who God made me to
be. That's right. That's right. The
struggle that comes from Christ in you, the hope of glory, first,
point number one, is a discovery process what? Affirmed. All right,
you can write by this a note if you don't know what the word
affirm means. It means to agree with something. When you affirm
something, you say, that's right. This is verses 12 through 14. Watch verses 12 through 14 of
Romans 7. Here it is. Let's go through
it. Romans 7, verse 12 through 14. Wherefore, the law is holy
and the commandment is holy and just and good. Was then that
which is good made death unto me? God forbid. In other words,
we're not going to blame it on the law, are we? Within that
which was made good death unto me, God forbid, but sin, that
it might appear what? Sin, working death in me by that
which is what? Good, that sin by the commandment
might be exceedingly sinful. Do you see what Paul does in
verses 12 and 13? He affirms, he affirms what his
husband, the law says about what sin is and what righteousness
is. so the struggle is necessary
for an affirmation then let's look at our next verse here in
verse 14 for notice what he says for we know that the law is what
but I am carnal sold under sin he's confirming now the grounds
of the struggle don't assume you know this yet Let's wait
till next week because there's several verses in here that I
need to do some exegesis on to help you Don't assume you know
what it means for the law to be spiritual Don't assume you
know what it means when he says I am carnal sold under sin You've
got to go all the way back to chapter 5 and then go all the
way up to chapter 8 to understand what he's doing So what we have
going back to our power point what we have in under our our
second point is a discovery process affirm My husband was right You
stay there don't don't go there. I want them to see that listen
to verse 16 if then Paul is drawing a conclusion if then I do that
Which I do not agree with I consent unto the law that it is good
Now ladies and gentlemen You would not do that if you were
an unbeliever As an unbeliever when you do sin you hate Somebody
coming along and telling you that's sin Only a believer, when
they do wrong, accept the fact that when the law comes and say,
hey, I sinned, you agree with the law immediately. Because
the new nature in you demands that you comport with God's law.
And that immediately creates a conflict in you because you
just did wrong. That's important for the process.
Are you guys hearing me? It's important for the process.
So under point number two, sub point A, a discovery process
affirmed, my husband was what? Point number B, a fight and failure
what? See, now that's what Paul is
doing. He's confessing a fight, but he's also confessing a failure,
and he's ultimately resulting in this phraseology. Are you
ready? I cannot do it myself. I cannot do it myself. This is
verse 19. Let's look at verse 19. I want
you to see it. For the good that I would, Do
not do but the evil which I would not That I found myself practicing. So stop right there again I'm
gonna come back here next week and I'm gonna show you that what
we are dealing with are two egos This is the little term ego which
means I egos are identity markers for natures and what Paul is
saying here very clearly is we have two egos and an ego that
wants to do right, and an ego that always does wrong. These
two egos, one is attached to the spirit, the other one is
attached to the flesh. I will define that over the next
couple of services as well, so you can understand the nature
of the struggle. Are you following me? But see what Paul did right
here, he did something that was very strategic. He separated
himself from his actions and identified himself with his Savior,
and agrees with the Savior's law and with his identity in
the Savior, so as to explain to those who might be inquiring,
Paul, why are you acting this way? Because it's a fight that
I'm going through. I'm acting this way because this
is not me. This is my fallen nature. Are you guys hearing
me? Now, this is not a semantical game. This is a revelation. of the new nature in the believer
of which we are committed to by allegiance to God. In other
words, I know who I am in Christ and I know why I do the things
that don't honor Him. Now, if you're not willing to
accept my explanation, you can call me crazy all you want to.
But I'm still expecting. You got that? I'm still expecting. And I told you women are crazy
anyway. Didn't I tell you that? For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I do not, that I find myself doing. Going back to our PowerPoint.
Paul is explaining the distinction here. He is making it very clear
that we are in a fight. And he's confessing his failures. Only believers confess their
sins. Is that true? Remember what David
said in Psalm 32 and Psalm 51? Against you and you only have
I done this evil in your sight. It was me, oh God. I'm the one
messing up. And watch this. His conscious
awareness of the one with whom he's messing up is God, not you,
not people. See when you're a true believer,
you're not concerned about anyone's honor anyone's respect anyone's
thoughts about you But God ultimately now if I cause you to stumble
I got to come to you and say hey brother I'll cause you to
stumble. Let me explain something to you. Let me help you understand
the civil war that's going on inside Can I explain that to
you now if you get it you cool, but if you don't get it, I'm
sorry I'm just telling you what it is. Now. All you see is my
outward man. All you see is what I did I Now,
I should have had enough grace to bring my outward man into
conformity to Christ. But on this occasion, I gave
in. I had to learn that in order for me to do the right thing,
I couldn't do it by myself. Are you hearing me? I had to
learn some things. This is what Paul is talking
about. This is why I keep saying to my Christian brothers and
sisters, if you're not serious about Christ, you're going to
fail and fail and fail and fail and fail. He did not save you
to do it by your own strength. He did not save you to do it
by your own strength. You need the strength of the Spirit of God.
You need the presence of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of
Christ must help you, buoy you up and get you through this.
So that second proposition, a fight and failure, confess, I cannot
do it myself. Point number C, a frustration. Don't you have
some frustration, son? A futility leading to faith. Hallelujah. I love it. I love it. I love it. See, only
the believer understands before honor is humility. Only the believer
understands that if you're going to be exalted, you must first
be abased. Only the believer understands
that. Only the believer understands that when I am weak, then he
is strong. Only the believer understands that. See, and so
what we're dealing with in verse 24 and 25, I got to explain it
again next week more fully, more exegetically, because some of
y'all will agree with verse 24 and 25 emotionally look at verse
24 and 25 am i boring you guys all right i'm all i promise i'll
be done in about five minutes now you know that's not true
right look at verse 24 now notice what paul says are you ready
now notice what he says a wretched man that i am who shall deliver
me from this what all right so stay right there i don't even
want to deal with verse 25 yet because what i have been telling
you since romans 6 is that when once you were justified by the
merits of Christ's blood, you were to reckon yourself to be
indeed dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ,
right? And therefore you are to subdue your members to bring
them into conformity to Christ. If you don't, they will subdue
you and bring you into conformity to the will of the devil. The
battle is between whether or not your allegiance to Jesus
will strengthen you in the fight to bring your members into subjection
so they can do the will of God. You are not living in a vacuum.
You are not living in a void. You are not living in an empty
space. Either you are serving God or you're serving the adversary.
Either you're walking in the spirit or you're serving the
flesh. Am I making some sense? And to walk in the spirit is
a battle. It's an absolute battle. And
so what Paul is doing, bless his heart, is taking his Jewish
brethren through the throes of trying to be married to the law
and to Christ at the same time. Let me see if I can make good
on this. Go back to our PowerPoint. I want to quickly move through
our next point. I think I got your attention
right now. And so this will help. The first sub point under the
struggle that comes from Christ in you, the hope of glory is
a discovery process affirmed. A fight and failure confessed.
I can't do it myself. A frustration and futility leading
to faith. Help, Lord. Isn't that what we
do? Help. And if you aren't crying
for help, you haven't been born again. You have not been born
again. God resists the proud. See, and when you're stuck between
a rock and a hard place, all you can do is cry for help. See,
so what Paul is describing, my last point before I go to my
third point, Paul is describing an adulterous affair in the soul
of the believer. Now watch this, let me see if
I can help you with this. You're in the ring wrestling.
I've got a bunch of sports analogies, just gonna use one. You're in
the ring wrestling, and the person with whom you are wrestling with
is giving you a formidable fight. He getting at your case. Now,
you're doing okay. You haven't tapped out yet. But
then this other dude come from nowhere and jump on you and help
the other dude pin you, just about choke you and have you
to tap out. I'm done. I'm describing sin
whooping your tail and the law coming in to finish the job.
because your hope was in the law, not in Christ. You guys got that? You got that?
See, for all of our legalistic brothers, self-righteous brethren,
brethren that go to church and, you know, your women don't wear
lipstick and your dress has got to be long and all this. See,
that's outward stuff that don't mean a thing. God judges the
heart. God judges the heart. Are you
hearing me? Your long dress ain't gonna keep the devil from wrapping
his knuckles around your head I just want you to I want you
to understand that now to win this battle You got to know your
identity to win this battle. You got to know how to cry like
Peter cried Lord save me That's the only way you gonna win this
battle Point number three going to point number three quickly
point number three before these people turn into pumpkins. Here
we go. I So point number three is the analogy of a transition
from law to grace. This is where I'm going to end
it. See, I know what Paul is doing. He's taking us through
this rough terrain, these rough rapids, so that we can understand
how a man goes from trusting in his good words to resting
in the grace in Christ, which is what Romans 8 is about. He's
showing us that if you want to stay on these rapids, you can.
But I know a place where it's a little bit smoother sailing.
I mean, you can enjoy the rapids because you got someone on your
side. But if you're going to be married to the law, you got
someone that only knows how to point out your sin and wait to
your sin, magnify your sin, turn the boat over and drown you.
Because see, while the law does not approve of sin, are you guys
hearing me? The law does not approve of sin. The goal of the
law is to kill the sinner. Did you get that? See, I want
you to understand, we're not saying that the law has a cozy
relationship with sin. It doesn't. But what the law
must do is if you make your allegiance with sin, he's got to kill you.
Am I making some sense? The letter, what? Kill it! So
watch these five points as I close. The analogy of a transition from
law to grace, point A, sub-point A, the struggle affirms the what? Two egos. You guys agree with
that? Right. Part B. The failure is what? Intrinsic and is strengthened
by what? Do you agree with that? The strength
of sin is the what? The law. For by the law is the
knowledge of sin. Sin is magnified by the law. Romans 7 says that it makes sin
exceedingly sinful and that the wages of sin is what? See that
fella gonna kill you if you don't get out from up under him because
of his righteous standing if you identify with your sin You're
going to hell remember in all and Adam all what died in Christ
shall all be made what a lie? this is the battle that we're
talking about point number C a model of disciples a model of the disciples
with Christ before the cross a Model of the disciples before
the cross. Is it true that that the disciples
experience what Paul is talking about in Romans 7? Is it true
that when God would tell, when Christ would tell the apostles
or the disciples to do something, they would fail to do it over
and over and over again? Are you guys following me? Stay
with me. This is what I'm saying. See, they were still under the
law while they were walking with Mr. Grace himself. And when Mr. Grace himself said, I need you
guys, watch this, I need you to pray with me one hour, they
all abandoned him. I need you to stand with me.
Peter says I'll stand with you. He was operating in the flesh
Was he not soon as the soldiers came? What do you do soon? I know you from the hood you
Galilean. That's how you hood folks are I know I don't know
the man cussing and going I remember that that's our text, isn't it?
Because they were under the law Because they had not received
the grace of the Spirit of God. They were born again. They were
new creatures in Christ and But even as a new creature in Christ,
you cannot do it in your own strength. Remember what Christ
said in the Gospel of Luke? He made it very plain in the
Gospel of Matthew and Luke. He says the spirit is willing,
but the what? Are you guys following me? He
saw them sleeping. He said the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak. And many Christians today are
sleeping. And they're sleeping because
they don't understand how intense the battle is and how important
it is to be committed to Jesus. And many of them are between
law and grace. That's what the text is teaching.
I'm almost done. The struggle and failure of the
believer is founded in triumph and success. Do you see part
D? Here's the truth. If you're a believer in Christ,
you've already won the victory. If you're a believer in Christ,
you already have the belt. That big old wrestling belt. Are the
MMA belts there? All these guys here, little bitty
guys, these big old fat belts can't even hold them up. You
already got the belt. Do you know why? Somebody actually
already went in, won that battle for you, obtained the prize,
and has already told you it's yours. Now watch this, watch
this now. You already won the battle if you're a true believer
in Christ, by faith, haven't you? But you know what you got
to do? You got to still get in the ring. Got to still get in
the ring. Got to still get in the ring.
You got to get in the ring to prove whether or not you believe this gospel.
Now, Christ is with you. He's already told you you won.
But you got to be willing to get in the ring and enter into
the struggle of faith to glorify God. Am I making some sense?
Oh, I got some things to teach you about how to wrestle next
week. Yes, I do. And finally, walking in the spirit
of Christ is where the grace is found. You know what that
means? In the ring, you're going to
be fighting a formidable opponent. And that opponent is going to
be knocking you down sometime. But you know what you're going
to do when you walk with Christ? You're going to get on back up.
And you know what you're going to do? You're going to shake
yourself off and say, come on, come on, come on at it again.
Do you understand that? That's right. That's exactly
what you're going to do. Because you're going to have grace to
do it. And every time you wrestle with him, you're actually going
to bring a better move the next time. Do you understand that?
Because he's going to give you grace to do it. Now watch this.
From time to time, he's going to hit you upside the head. From
time to time, he's going to put you in headlocks. You're going
to swear you're going out, you're going out, you're losing the
oxygen, but there's going to be a brother that's going to
tap you on the shoulder and loosen his grip on you, give you some
oxygen so you can flip him and get on up and keep at the battle.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? What I am talking about is the
good fight of faith, by which we lay hold of eternal life.
And if you ain't willing to get in the ring, you're not his.
If you get in the ring, you already won. Thank God for Christ who
always gives us the victory through him who loved us and gave himself
for us. Part one of Roman seven for my
slow brothers and sisters.