I'd like to give you all a warm
welcome to our worship here this evening. Let us ask the Lord's
blessing in prayer. O Lord God of heaven and of earth,
we thank Thee that once more we can gather in Thine earthly
courts. We pray for Thy Spirit's aid,
the power of God, and that help to worship Thee in spirit and
in truth, to meet the cases of Thy people and be pleased to
bless the means of grace unto our souls. Grant us, Lord, to
be strengthened in thy name. We ask through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen. Hymn, 612. Tune St. Luke 834 Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God, reading Romans chapter 7. If you have one of our free Bibles,
that is page 1049 in the Ruby Bible. Paul's epistle to the Romans,
chapter 7, reading the whole chapter. Know ye not, brethren, I speak
to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over
a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath an husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then, if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another
man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in
the flesh, the emotions of sins which were by the law did work
in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we
are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held,
that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness
of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid! Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law For I had not known lust, except the law
had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, for
without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law
once, But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just and good. Was then that which
is good made death unto me? God forbid! But sin, that it
might appear sin, 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 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 doeth, 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 which 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. O 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 the flesh the law of
sin. The Lord bless to us that reading
of His holy word, and help us as we come before Him again in
prayer. Let us pray. O Thou eternal and merciful God,
we come to Thee through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and
we seek, Lord, Thy help this evening, help for our infirmities,
help to worship Thee in spirit and in truth. help from the sanctuary
and strength out of Zion, that thou wouldst give answers to
thy people, that thou wouldst show thy way to thy people, and
those that are burdened with sin, that they might see more
clearly this evening the way that they are to walk, the way
that thou hast set before them. O Lord, we thank thee for thy
word, We thank thee for the gospel, the good news of salvation through
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the precious blood that was shed
on Calvary, the constant reminder that thou hast kindly given to
the Church of God in the ordinances of thy house, especially the
Lord's Supper. You do show forth the Lord's
death till he come. And Lord, we do thank thee for
that precious blood that shall avail right to the end of time,
the sins of thy people from beginning to end, from the beginning of
the world to the end of the world, all of those that they have committed.
Lord, we do thank thee for the sufficiency of the atonement,
the redemption, which is complete, not only of soul, but of body
as well. and Lord for the expectation
of that redemption to be accomplished at the last great day. Lord,
that we might know what Job testified, though after my flesh worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for
myself and not another. O Lord, we do thank Thee for
that good hope through grace, the hope that we should not just
be unclothed but clothed upon their house which is from heaven
and as we have borne the image of the earthly so shall we bear
the image of the heavenly we thank thee then for thy salvation
what thou hast accomplished at calvary we thank thee that thou
art the executor of thy own will It is Thyself that does call
Thy people, it is Thyself that does work salvation in our hearts,
and we do thank Thee for that call, the change that Thou hast
wrought, grace that Thou hast given, mercy that Thou hast shown,
compassion that Thou hast shown, love that Thou hast commended
unto us, in that while we were yet sinners, Thou didst die for
us. And O Lord, we do seek that we
might know more and more of the security, of the help, of the
blessing of salvation. Do grant us that hope in God
constantly through our lives, especially when we are low as
the psalmist was. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet Praise Him. We thank Thee for those times
that Thou hast proved to us that Thou art the help of our countenance
and that Thou art our God. O Lord, do wash and cleanse us
from our sin. Grant us more grace that we might
walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. Be pleased to
subdue our iniquities. Do grant unto us Thy Spirit's
work within, and leave us not to grieve Thy Holy Spirit. Remember
us when we are most weak. Oh Lord, we have those times
that we are strong in a way we feel we can resist, and we are
in a position to, and other times we feel so weak and so prone
to fall. O Lord, are we really the same
person? But Lord, thou art the same,
and we thank thee that though we change, thou changest not. And O Lord, do grant unto us
that we might have that blessing this evening to rightly discern
how thou dost save thy people and deliver them even from themselves. O Lord, we do thank thee for
every temporal favour and blessing, we know that thou art good to
all, thy tender mercies are over all thy works. But very, very
few give thee honour and glory for this, very few give thee
thanks for their food, their raiment, health and strength,
and the blessings that they have. Lord, accept from us this evening
that gratitude for those temporal mercies, but further that which
thou hast shown us in grace, and opened our eyes to see and
to thank thee for which is above the things of this world. We
do thank thee for the means of grace that we are gathered together
in thy name this evening. and that through the gathering
of thy people, through thy word, through the preaching of the
word, through the throne of grace, thou art pleased to bestow grace
upon thy people and graceful grace. And we do seek, Lord,
that blessing this evening. And as we think, as we gather
on this midweek occasion of thy day coming up and next week and
all that is before us and journeys and services we do pray Lord
that thou has grant that strength needed thy care thy keeping. Be with, Lord, those that we
minister to, whether here or at Birkenhead or Attleborough,
where we go, we do seek, Lord, thy blessing. Upon those that
meet tonight, Lord, be with them and help them. Be with those
who have tended to a funeral today and Lord, do comfort those
in bereavement and help thy servants that now minister tonight who
have laboured in the day. Lord, support and strengthen
them. Lord, do be pleased to comfort,
support those in sorrow. We do seek, O Lord, to be a prepared
people for a prepared place, and that we might be kept, leave
us not to despair, but Lord, do grant that it might be that
we have a good hope through grace. We do seek, Lord, that thou would
order our footsteps in thy word, and that thou would be pleased
to bless thy word. Remember our young people and
call them by thy grace while they're young. We thank thee
for those that give evidence of a concern. Lead them on and
bring them to full assurance of faith. O Lord, seal thy work
where it is begun. and do be with older friends,
and be with our dear aged friends, those that join and listen on
here, and those that are in the pilgrim and Bethesda home, those
in their own homes. We do pray for them in the even
tide of life, nor do help as infirmities and weaknesses increase,
that thy grace might be given to cope and to bear with those
infirmities. O Lord, shine upon our churches. Lord, we are brought low in many
ways. And Lord, we know that the true
faith in this land is at very low ebb. And Lord, we do pray
for real spiritual revival. Lord, we do confess and bow before
Thee our sorrow concerning the bill that was passed last Friday. We do seek, Lord, that even now
that Thou has intervened, that as cause it might not pass into
law, that in the process there might be a strengthening of palliative
care, and that there might be also a strengthening of that
resolve not to make such laws that make dying to be murder. O Lord, do thou in mercy help
and hear the prayers, especially of dear aged friends, infirm
friends, And Lord, do open the eyes of those that are in authority
over us to relieve one's pain, brings perhaps many thousands
into concern and pain that they would not have had otherwise. Oh Lord, precious that they would
not have had. Lord, do hear prayer still in
this matter. We do thank thee for our local
representatives who have voted against this law. We do pray that they might be
sustained, especially who make profession of being a Christian,
to enable them to unashamedly testify of thee in our parliaments. The law do deliver us from that
fear of man and that silence as to our faith. and why we think
and why we act as we do. Though leave us not ashamed of
thee and of thy word before this crooked and perverse generation. Do see, Lord, that thou'st be
with all in affliction, those receiving treatment, to bless
that treatment, those who soon must Have more treatment, Lord,
do lessen, if it could please Thee, the side effects, and do
strengthen them through it. Strengthen in mind as well, no
doubt, many fears as to what is before them. Oh Lord, do help
and deliver from those fears. Do see now that Thou hast been
with us in Thy word, open it up and bless it to us. Oh Lord,
bless us here. Leave thy servants laid aside,
we pray for John Rose here to grant thy kind healing hand for
him and others also who are not able to preach at this time.
We do pray for that continuance of health and of strength. We
ask thee now these things through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Hymn, 237-1st Part. Tune Salvator 652 Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Romans chapter 7 and the last
two verses, verses 24 and 25. O 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 the flesh the law of sin. Romans
7 verses 24 and 25. The question, who shall deliver
me? The cry, of a sinner burdened by sin. We are reminded in this chapter,
as we have just sung, that true religion is more than notion,
something must be known and felt. And the Apostle is describing
what he felt when brought under the law convicted, the conflict
that he has with the sin that is within him, and the questions
that it brought up to him. When we think of the Apostle
in writing to the Romans, He's very methodical, just to confine,
just to overview just of the few chapters around our text. In chapter five, he establishes
salvation by grace, justified by faith alone. Then in chapter
six, he anticipates an abuse of that doctrine of grace alone. So he asks this question, and
often we can learn so much by asking questions. The Apostle
here uses this method right through his epistles. He asks a question,
then he answers it, knowing that many of his hearers, as will
be today, have the questions like the Ethiopian eunuch had,
of whom speak of the prophet this, of himself or some other
man, but they need the answers supplied through the ministry,
which the eunuch did have through Philip's ministry. So the apostle
asked the question in Romans 6, shall we sin that grace might
abound? And then he answers it, God forbid. In that chapter, he gives the
arguments, the reasons why we should not just live carelessly,
sinning, giving way to sin, making excuse for sin, and just thinking,
well, it doesn't matter because God is a gracious God. He'll
forgive my sin and there won't be any condemnation. So he deals with that abuse.
And then he, almost you can read his mind of thinking, well, as
well as there be those that might be ready to abuse it, now that
I've warned against that, there will be those that know that
conflict within and will fear that actually they are abusing
it because sin work so powerfully and it goes on in their hearts
that they fear that really they are abusing the grace of God. The thought is that if I wasn't
abusing it then I'd be able to extinguish sin altogether. I
wouldn't sin, I wouldn't walk in that way. And so here in chapter
7 he explains what was going on in his own soul and the conflict
between the flesh and the spirit, the old nature and the new nature. And then he goes on in chapter
8 to the deliverance to there is therefore now no condemnation. So we have the chapter that comes
before our text and then the Apostle is stating his felt wretchedness
and asking this question, who shall deliver me? Often we can have wrong expectations
of how the Lord will deliver us. The Apostle Paul had this,
you can read it, in the letters to the Corinthians, where he
had the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet
him. And his expectation first, and
his prayer, was that God would take away that thorn. But the
Lord said, no, he wasn't going to take it away. Don't pray for
that. My grace is sufficient for thee. And the apostle was pleased,
by when I am weak, then am I strong. He wasn't against the choice
that the Lord used. But we have right through scripture,
those expectations that were wrong. Naaman had one, a leper
as he was, he wanted to be healed, willing to be healed, but he
had the expectation of how? Elisha should do it, come out
and call upon the name of his God, strike his hand upon the
leper and heal him, do something that was quite dramatic, something
to be spoken of, something that was quite unique. And all he
did was to tell him to go and wash seven times in the River
Jordan. He was offended at the remedy
that was provided. And we did go away in a rage,
and it was his servants that pacified him and brought him
to our bay. But we can be the same. We can
have an expectation of how the Lord will deliver, and it not
be the way that the Lord does at all. And so we think he hasn't
delivered, or that our prayers are not answered, or that we
are walking in a way that we're making that sin, that sin might,
grace might abound, and we're sinning, relying on that. We can be like the Jews who knew
not the day of their visitation. We can be like the two on the
way to Emmaus. We trusted it should have been
He that should have redeemed Israel. They'd seen Christ's
death. They'd seen the bloodshed. They'd
seen all those things, but they had not recognized that in what
the Lord had done was to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. And many of the Lord's people,
they have seen, their eyes have been opened to see God's salvation,
but not really discerned how it applies to them and what the
Lord has done for them. And so we can have an expectation
that is not true, is not based upon Scripture. And so when we
have a question like this, and then the answer, may we be able
to separate what is our thoughts and see what God's thoughts are
through the inspired, infallible Word of God. So I want to then
look at this word that is before us. Firstly, the cause of the
question, who shall deliver me? What is the cause of this question? Secondly, the answer to the question,
the same question, what is the answer? I thank God through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. And then thirdly, the experience
of deliverance. Verse 25, so then, with the mind
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. And under this point, we will
look briefly over the next chapter that explains more, particularly
the experience of that deliverance. But firstly, the cause of the
question, who shall deliver me? We could have someone that's
had financial troubles, in deep trouble that way, and they might
say, who shall deliver me? There might be someone who had
health troubles, who shall deliver me from them? Or with an adversary,
as David had King Saul pursuing after him, who shall deliver
me from mine adversary. But the deliverance here comes
from a very distinct and pointed cause of trouble and distress,
and that is sin. You know, those of the world,
those who know nothing of the things of God, they can say,
who shall deliver me out of financial troubles or sickness or from
an adversary? But it is only those that, as
the Apostle Paul here had the law as a schoolmaster, come and be the means of aggravating sin
within, and showing himself to be a sinner so that he felt to
be a sinner. This Pharisee who thought that
he, and he did outwardly, everything acceptable and right, yet the
Lord was able to find one sin that brought him in as convicted,
the sin of covetousness, Often the Lord has done this in the
history of the church and with his people. He's used one particular
sin. Some think, well, you need to
be convinced of all your sins, all the possible sins you can.
There's many things we don't even know that we sin. But the
Lord often has used one thing. You read many autobiographies
and the Lord has used the breaking of the Sabbath day. and the conviction
of that, breaking that part of the law, as a sin. Sad thing, isn't it? Today, many
churches will somehow think that that one commandment doesn't
belong anymore. It shouldn't be in the commandments
anymore. You can take it out. There is
no Sabbath day, that's what they say. "'there remaineth the rest
of the people of God.'" It is a creation ordinance. It's not taken away at all. It's
changed from the seventh to the first day by the rising of our
Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, the greater work than the work
of creation. But some have been convicted
just by that one point. The law is very clear, who so
offendeth in one point is guilty of all. And often the Lord uses
that one point to be brought in as guilty in that point, to
bring like the Apostle Paul here, to really be aware of sin that
was working in the members. By the law is the knowledge of
sin and it is God alone that is able
to give life, spiritual life, so that sin is perceived and
sin is felt and one is brought under conviction. It is absolutely
vital that to a lesser or greater degree, one that is saved knows
that they are lost. One that is delivered knows that
they need to be delivered. One that is brought to heaven
know that they deserve to go to hell. One that is made free
know that they were in bondage. You think of the children of
Israel, In Egypt, before Moses came, they might have thought,
well, we've got hard labor and hard taskmasters, and we're groaning
under these, but really, all we need to do is get a leader
and we'll march out of here, and we'll form ourselves into
our own nation, just like that. But when Moses came, the Lord
said that he would harden Pharaoh's heart, he would show his great
power, Well, Pharaoh, he would not let the people go. And after
those nine great signs, the children of Israel would have had no doubt. They were actually captives. Pharaoh was not going to let
them go. They couldn't just walk out.
It needed to be a wonderful deliverance. They must have thought whatever
can happen. Whatever must be done to deliver
us, how much more can be done? And yet what could be done was
the shedding of blood of the Passover lamb, the beautiful
type of the Lord Jesus Christ, and immediately they are thrust
out, immediately they are set free. At first, they had to know
that they were in bondage, and often that is the case with God's
children, they feel they are under the law. They are under
condemnation. They are under the sentence of
death. They are on death's row. They cannot save themselves. That is a vital thing. And here the apostle, the cause
of this question, is not just some theoretical thing to realize
that I'm a sinner, but to actually feel it. to feel sin working
in his body, to not want to sin but still did sin, to seek to
have power to overcome lust, to overcome evil desires, to
do what was right, to walk in a right way, but he couldn't
do what was right, and he did do what was wrong, and he was
brought to realize this, that it was sin that was in his members. And it's good for us to realize
this, to identify this which works within. He says, in verse
16, If I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law,
that it is good. He says, now then, it is no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. He is able to discern
that sin is a very active principle within. You know, we might have
some, there's some illnesses that However you might will that
they don't break out, they do, they keep breaking out, either
with sores or blains or something like that. And the infirmity
is there, the weakness is there. And if you had someone with a
broken leg, they might really will, that they might be able
to walk well, but for all their best efforts, they can't. Someone
with trouble with their voice, they think, I'm going to speak
all right, I'm going to be able to sing even. But as they try
and they try to get the high notes, their voice fails them,
they cannot do it. And it grieves them, they're
sorrowful, they mourn over that they cannot do what they want
to do. And it is in that way with sin. You wouldn't say to that person,
you foolish person, it's only a bit of mind over matter. Of
course you can walk with that broken leg. You can do a bit
of breathing exercises, you can hit those high notes again just
as easy. You wouldn't think of doing that,
you'd recognize where there was that infirmity or weakness, and
that wouldn't be something to hold against that person. But
if that person was deliberately playing on a weakness, using
it as an excuse to get out of work, or not to do something
that they could actually do, and it wasn't grieving them at
all, they weren't sorrowful at all, That'd be a very different
thing. The apostle here, it grieves
him, he feels this. This is him, he's a wretched
man. And this is a body that he is
in, but it's a body of death. It has base, evil, vile characteristics. It has that which drags him down
all the time. that makes him do and want to
do things he doesn't want to do. This is the cause of the
question, and we might say that that question, that cause, for
God's people is day by day, night by night, it's not just sometimes. I've heard people say, well,
was Paul saved when he wrote Romans 7? That was before he
was called. Not at all. He never, never write
that before he's called. He tells us very clearly what
he was before the law came, before he was called. And when the law
came, how he was quickened by the law and the knowledge of
sin. And it is one that is born again, one that has the Holy
Spirit of God that shows those things and reveals those things. This is not the language of one
that is dead in sin. This is one that is alive under
sin and hates sin and mourns over sin and has this question
arising from what is happening in their lives as to Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? And the deliverance is
desired from sin, and it's working in the body, in the flesh. This is what gives rise to this
question. And it is very important. Is
sin our burden? Is sin our grief? What is sin? Well, he said it's the transgression
of the law of God, but it's towards God. You know, David is very
clear when he has committed murder in murdering Uriah and adultery
with Bathsheba, and Nathan is used to bring him to conviction,
he says, I have sinned. And then in Psalm 51, he says,
against thee, the only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight."
I say that to her, David, you've sinned against Israel, you've
brought a reproach, and you've sinned against Uriah, you've
killed him, and against Bathsheba, you've taken advantage of her.
But David says, no. The great transgression that
I've done is against my God. It's a sin against Him. You know,
when we do sin against our fellow travelers to eternity, is right
to confess our faults one to another, and to confess our sins
to them, and to say sorry, ask forgiveness, is right, we should
do that. But we must also come before
God and realize that that which is the most heinous is that which
is done against him, especially what is done against light, against
knowledge, against what we should have known better, and yet still
we have done it. Sin. We read in the earlier part
then, sin taking occasion by the commandment, deceive me and
by it slew me. Sin that it might appear sin,
verse 13. Sin that it might appear sin. Man loves to call sin all sorts
of nice names, white lies and anything but sin. You notice
in our land how many abominations, how many evil things are done
openly and by the law condoned. Years ago they weren't called
the names they're calling them now. They're calling them names
that kind of take away the connotations of sin and evil and stop us being
reminded of Sodom and Gomorrah and God's wrath against sins
of that nature. We call it different today. Homosexuals,
pride, many other names, all desire to steer you away from
the Word of God, away from God's judgment on sin and make sin
to be something else. But sin is the transgression
of the law of God, and a walk and a conduct that is opposite
to the law of God is sin. And no amount of laws and no
amount of words and changing definitions can change that in
God's sight, and all of us must stand at the last day before
God's throne, not with our own inventions, but to answer to
His law. And so, in this chapter, Paul,
and really every one of the people of God, sin will appear sin. The Lord will bring those things
into their lives so that they can see sin as what it really
is. Working death in me by that which
is good, that is the law of God, stirring up sin. Well, that was the cause, that
was the reason for the question Who shall deliver me? We may
ask ourselves, is this our question? Whatever other problems and trials
we might have in our life, do we have this great adversary
within? An evil that is present with
us. Verse 21, evil is present with
me. Another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin which is in my members. This is what gives rise to this
question and to his statement, O wretched man that I am. Is
that then your trouble, my trouble, my sorrow? Is sin our burden? Well, let us look at the answer
what the Apostle gives us here. In verse 25 we read, I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. A short sentence, he gives thanks, and he points to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead. the
Lord Jesus Christ shall. Not Paul, not the minister, not angels, not the law, not
rules, not resolutions, not philosophy, but Jesus Christ. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Sometimes it's good for us to
really concentrate on where that help is to come from, rather than thinking how. We
mentioned the children of Israel, When Moses came to them, he said
that God of their fathers had visited him and that he had sent
him to deliver them. They did not know at that point
how. They gave, like Paul here, thanks. And they thanked and praised
God. Then they had to walk through that deliverance, which was a
painful path for them to go through, all of those signs. then many times we might know
the Lord is going to deliver, but not how. When our Lord came
to this world and the angels heralded His coming, and they
said on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. There was to be 30 years, and
then the Lord would begin His ministry, three years later,
He was to be crucified and slain and then rise again. And we find
Israel partaking in that, wicked hands, crucified and slain. And
even the disciples, they couldn't understand, they couldn't see.
In all the ministry of our Lord, that ministry was not like the
ministry now, it's not like Paul, that determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the ministry of
our Lord and the apostles before His death was that the kingdom
of God was at hand." God was on His way. Deliverance was happening. The set time had come. It was
in the middle of that work of deliverance. And that's what
they were to believe. But how? They weren't told. Abraham was told that his seed
should be a stranger in a strange land. They would afflict them
400 years, then they would be brought out in the fourth generation
and brought to this place, to Canaan, which he'd been given.
But he wasn't told how. He didn't know about how they'd
go down into Egypt and How they'd be brought out, all of that.
That wasn't spelled out, it had to be walked out. And dear Jacob,
all these things are against me. So in this, may this be the
message tonight. To you and I, in our sin, our
bondage, our troubles. Not how, but whom through. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And immediately, our eyes, our
attention, Our hope is all in the Lord Jesus Christ. My hope,
says the hymn writer, is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. His name shall be called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. So this is the answer to the
question. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
answer. I want to look then in the third
point, the experience of deliverance. So then, with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. I want to look at the various
parts of Romans 8. And in beginning, in the first
part, we want to think of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done
on Calvary's tree, what He has done to set His people free. You know, It's a beautiful word
where it begins, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. In verse 3, a verse made very
precious to me years ago, for what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, We feel that weakness,
don't we? The weakness of the flesh. God
sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
condemns sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. So there is the Lord Jesus Christ
coming and suffering, fulfilling the law, paying the penalty,
shedding His blood, rising again to prove the debt is paid. The deliverance here from sin,
we look first of all outside of ourselves to what Christ has
done for us on Calvary's tree. The deliverance first and foremost
is by faith in what Christ has done. That is absolutely central
and that is why with the ordinances of the Lord's house we show forth
His death. All the time we're reminded it
is Christ that died, yea rather risen again. It is His blood
that is shed. The Lord is in heaven. He is
the first fruits. There will come the rest to follow. He is the first forgotten from
the dead. There will be others that follow. He is not alone. Father, I will
that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. That is the first thing. It is
to realize that that debt is completely paid and settled,
of all the sins that we have ever and will ever commit, there
is therefore now no condemnation. And it's the identity with Christ. You might say, how can I know
that I am identified with the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, one
reason is because you have been brought to real conviction of
sin. It is through the Spirit given
that that is found, a new birth. The second reason is because
of what then follows in the life of the people of God in chapter
8. How we are to walk and how we
do walk. The faith that we are given in
the Lord Jesus Christ, the law of the spirit of life, I give
unto them eternal life. Verse two, in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. He's looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ for life, not looking to the law. Paul shows that even
more clearly in Romans 10. where he so desires the salvation
of his countrymen, that sees that they are seeking a righteousness
of their own deeds, and not through the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
in this chapter, we have a picture of the experience of deliverance,
firstly by the faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He
has done, and then by life in the Spirit. The law of the Spirit of life,
and that is described in really from verse 1 right through down
to verse 13. And he says, there's a summary
in verse 25, our text, So then with the mind, I myself serve
the law of God, but the flesh, the law of sin. And we know,
of course, that the work of God is in the heart, but the mind
is joined to the heart. The Holy Spirit renews the mind,
renews the will, and we'll turn our feet, as the hymn writer
says, to Zion's hill. And this is the picture then
here. Verse five, for they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are
after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. So the first verses
there, five, six, is what things we're actually minding, what
we're dwelling upon, what we're thinking upon. And we think of
the apostle writing to The Philippians think on these things, and he
gives a whole list of things that are to be thought upon.
The psalmist says, I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love. How vital for us to guard our
thought life. So what he says here is going
after something. We can have a temptation, the
old flesh can rise up, can present things to us, and the blessing
of the grace of God is we don't want to go after that, we don't
want to follow after that. He says to be calmly minded is
death, to be spiritually minded is life and peace. He says if Christ be in you,
The body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because
of righteousness. And it is essentially in what
we follow after and go after to discern what is flesh and
what is spirit. You know, the apostle says in
another place, to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against
the soul and the walk here it describes that the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in those that walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit those two different ways and so then he
says later on verse 13 if ye live after the flesh ye shall
die. But if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. The people of
God rather, although they make those passion their lives so
that they're not running into temptation, their main emphasis
is after Christ. You think of Hebrews 12, let
us lay aside every way, and the sin that does so easily beset
us, and run the race looking unto Jesus. He doesn't say, let
us deal with the sin that easily besets us, let us struggle with
these sins, let us manage those first, and then let us run the
race. No, where it's just laying us
aside, brushing it aside, through the Spirit, it's like if you
had two children, and one wanted to go to a farm for a day out,
and the other wanted to go for the beach, and you can't go to
both places, and the parents gotta decide, and they say, no,
we're going to go to the farm for the day, and the one that
goes to the beach, they've just gotta pull along, they've just
gotta go along, they're mortified, their choice has not been followed.
and their advice is not followed. And it is in that way that we
turn away from sin and we're away from those things and look
to the Lord. One has said that prayer, praying
will stop sinning or sinning will stop praying. But if we
try and grapple with sin and deal with that ourselves, it
will take more and more deeper and deeper hold with us But to
mortify it, it is not just to mortify it ourselves, it is through
the spirit, by walking in spiritual things. If there is any void,
if there is any empty time, you can be sure that what will fill
it will be that which satisfies the flesh and not the spirit.
David had to prove that, didn't he? Empty time, lazy time, we
should be fighting, and the devil came in, filled it. And so it
is how we walk is one of the effects, one of the ways that
the experience of deliverance is wrought out. We may say this,
we said about the wrong expectations, wrong expectation is that we
shall not be a sinner anymore. Yes, the Lord mercifully will
subdue sin, take away the power of it, but we'll still be sinners. You must really realise that.
There will be a conflict all while we're here below. So then
we have in verses 14 to 17, the realisation of being heirs with
Christ. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God, and to have that spirit
of adoption and the spirit bearing witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. And there's the joining with
the Lord, the spirit of adoption, and that is vital. What is Christ
to us? How precious is Christ to us? Is he our all and in all? So
there's our walk, walk after the Spirit, not after the flesh.
Then what is Christ to us? And then we have in verses 18
to verse 30, we have the future glory that is set before us. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared, the glory
which shall be revealed in us. And you think of Hebrews 11,
And verses 13 to 16, and you have those that confess they're
strangers and pilgrims in the earth. Those are saying those
things. They declare plainly they seek
a country yet to come. There's future glory. And in
that future glory, of course, there's going to be a deliverance
from this creature. As we have borne the image of
the earthly, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly. And
a beautiful chapter in 1 Corinthians 15 sets forth that transformation,
that deliverance from this body of death. We have in this chapter,
Romans 8, that the whole creation groans and travails until now. They feel the effects of sin,
even the natural creation does. The ground, its thorns, what
it brings forth, the conflicts, the troubles between men, all
of the troubles in the earth, the whole thing with nature as
well, all bears evidence of sin. And we're living in this sinful
world, but it is the Lord Jesus Christ that delivers out of it. And that hope with the people
of God, this is not your rest, it is polluted. You have a hope
in heaven, there is perfection. There is deliverance. The deliverance
is that not only what Christ is to us here, but the expectation
of future glory. Read those in verses 18 through
to 30. And then we have the remainder
of the chapter, which is God's love. That is how it is walked
out. in the certainty of the love
of God for his people. Having loved his own, he loved
them unto the end, and the persuasion, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth who
is he that condemneth. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? All of those things, nothing,
shall separate. You say sin is not mentioned.
What about that? The Lord has dealt with that
right at the beginning. He's put it away. He's dealt
with it. He's pardoned it. He's blotted
it out. And we deal with all of the fruits
and the effects and all what is remained of it, but Paul's
persuasion of being more than conquerors through Him that loved
us. And all the time, there's an
emphasis of the union in Christ. What is in the Lord Jesus Christ? That is why we said, how vital
in our second point, the answer to the question, not what I must
do, but what Christ has done. And what I am in Christ and what
Christ is to me, and what I am to Christ, then we can thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It does us good then to
see how it works out in experience, this deliverance from a body
of death. A deliverance culminated at last,
where it is said in the epistle to the Corinthians, O death,
where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory? O but thanks be to God which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This then is the experience now
and at last the experience of complete victory above. But we will often still have,
though we may know the answer, still have these groans and sighs,
and still often say, O wretched man that I am, and may even ask
this question, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Blessed be God if the Lord has
shown us the answer and persuaded us of this answer and Romans
8 be our chant and be how we live and how we walk. May the Lord bless the Word.
Amen. Hymn, 762. Tune, Staincliffe 418. The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.