Romans chapter 7. I have the very, very best that
a man could ever hope to have in this world. I have brothers
and sisters in the church, in Christ who love me, and whom
I love. I have a wife who loves me, who
I admire and love. I have a daughter and a son who
seek to honor their father and their mother. I have friends and family who
love me and proved to me continually that they would do anything for
me. And I have the best that a man
can ever hope to have in the world to come. I've got Christ Jesus the Lord. I have the grace of God. and steadfast in Christ Jesus
my Lord. It's not as though I've already
attained, it's not as though I'm already perfect, but right
now it is a reality in my heart that I am my Beloved's and He
is mine. And yet You would think somebody that
had that, somebody that had been given so much, so freely, so
abundantly by God, would never cry the words that we read here
this morning. And yet I find myself crying
these words continually. Verse 24, man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I am often in heaviness and I
sorrow and I'm unable to express it to those that are dearest
to me. And I come across a scripture
like this, and I read of someone like the Apostle Paul, somebody
who was saved by God's grace, called out of darkness into his
marvelous light, an apostle of Christ Jesus the Lord himself. And I hear him cry out, O wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? There's something I want you
to see here that I think will be a blessing to you. If the
Lord will give me the liberty to bring it. We have to be saved
from ourselves. That's what salvation is. It's
being saved from ourselves. Just this morning forget about
the world outside, forget about self-righteous people, forget
about rebellious people, this is just about me and you. We
have to be saved from ourselves. And there's three aspects of
how we have to be saved from ourselves. We have to be saved
from the guilt of sin. We've broken God's law. We've
broken it in Adam. We came forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies. We're guilty before God, before
his law. We've got to be saved from the
guilt of sin. Secondly, we're dead in trespasses
and sins in our heart, in the heart we're born with, and we
have to be saved from the dominion of sin working in us. And thirdly,
we have to be saved from this body of sin to be raised incorruptible,
to be with Christ. And Christ Jesus the Lord does
it. He does it. We don't do it. He does it. I want to look at
three headings this morning. First of all, the believers cry
the believer's cry. Secondly, the believer's deliverer. And thirdly, the believer's sweet
rest. The believer's cry is, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Some might ask, well, what sin
have you committed to cause you to cry out like this. What have
you done that has caused you to cry out, oh wretched man that
I am? Well, it's more than what I've
done. Although, that's definitely,
most definitely a part of it. What I do is sin. That's what
I do. I'm a sinner. You don't even
know the tip of the iceberg. But it has to do with what I
am. Oh wretched man that I am. I live in a body of death. A body of death. Does it involve sin I commit?
I commit. It involves everything I do.
It involves everything I think. It involves everything I say.
And it's so dreadfully, horribly evil that I can't make myself
understand it. I can't make myself see it. I
can't make myself turn from it. I can't control it. I can't do
anything whatsoever about it. I can't. That's what makes me
a wretched man. I can't do anything about it. Verse 14, if you look there,
it says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under sin. The Apostle Paul's a believer.
The Apostle Paul trusts Christ Jesus the Lord with all his heart
when he said this. The trouble is not with God's
law. The trouble is I wouldn't know this about myself if it
weren't for God's law. Before God made me hear the law,
I thought I was fine. Because of sin, I had no way
of knowing this sin about myself. I didn't have any way of knowing
this was the case with me at all. In sin's blindness, in sin's
corruption, I was blinded into using God's law, using God's
word, His very word. And sin blinded me into thinking
that I was really good, using that very law and His very word. Until God sent forth the commandment
into my heart and then sin became alive. And when sin became alive
and I saw, truly saw what sin is, you know why you haven't
come to Christ? You haven't come to Him? You
know why you haven't come to Him? You have no idea what you
are in the face of a holy God that knows every single thing
you've ever thought, done, and said in your heart right now
where you sit. That's why you haven't come to
Him. If you find that out, if He sends forth the commandment
and makes you know that, you'll come to Him. You'll come to Him.
And not just one time. Throughout the rest of your days,
it takes that same power and that same grace and Him making
that sin become alive over and over and over before you will
ever flee to Him and come to His feet. Look at verse 15, for that which
I do, I allow not. I don't consent to this. I'm
not saying that this is something that I'm just trying to make
an excuse. I don't allow this. For what I would, what I'm willing,
what I want to do, 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's good. The law is doing just
what it's supposed to do when it makes me confess that what
I really want to do, I don't do it. Do you think you do? You
know what the law will make us confess? You know what God's
power and grace will make us confess? Scott just read that
scripture where the Lord said, when you do your alms, if you
give to somebody, don't sound a trumpet, don't let people know.
Tell me one time, be honest, tell me one time you've ever
done anything for anybody and you didn't bust at the seams
to go home and at least tell your wife you did it. We can't keep that bottle corked.
If we do something, we got to let people know we did it. We
got to boast about it. And that's sounding the trumpet.
I don't care if you at home having pillow talk with your wife and
telling her in the privacy of your own bedroom, you just sounded
the trumpet. You had to let somebody know
about it. And I don't want to do that. I hate that. I hate
that about myself and I don't want to do it. I'm not willing
to do that or any other sin. But I cannot stop it. I cannot
stop it. And I consent, I confess, I take
sides with God in the law against myself and I say, the law is
good. It teaches me exactly what I
am. It's held up before me and it shows me that I am absolutely
a maggot before God Almighty. Verse 17, now then, it's no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now here is what aggravates
this thing and makes me to see myself as such a wretched man. Listen now. Paul's not giving
a cop out here. Paul's not making an excuse for
his sin. Paul's not saying, well, you're
going to have to overlook what I do now because I'm a sinner
and I can't help this. That's not what he's saying.
That is not what he's saying at all. Listen to what he's saying.
It's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For
I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, in my old nature, in
that carnal old man that I still am, dwelleth no good thing, nothing
good whatsoever. 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. Right now, still,
this very moment, there is a nature just as carnal, just as vile,
just as sinful, that hates God just as much as it ever did,
that is evil in me. In fact, that's all I am in my
flesh. There's nothing good in me at
all. You want to talk about a believer's
will? Here it is. I will to do that
which is honorable, but I can't do it. You know why a freewill
religionist tried to say that Paul was not saved when he said
this? Because they'd like to say after
they made that profession of faith that people will look at
them now and think they actually have it under control. This is
the will of man. This is the will of the flesh.
This is the will of what we are by nature. We can't control it
before we're converted and we can't control it after we're
converted. We can't bring ourselves to Christ before we're converted.
We can't bring ourselves to Christ after we're converted. We cannot
control it. There's a will there in the believer
that desires to stay on Christ, to hold fast with Christ and
trust Him alone, but there's another Nature there there's
another old fleshly carnal nature there that will not allow the
believer to do the things that he wills to do Can't do just
can't do a flat can't do it To will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good I find not. Now you try
to twist that around to where it says something other than
what it says. This is the Apostle Paul. He has been arrested on
the Damascus Road. Christ has called him. He is
in Christ's marvelous light. He knows Christ. He said that
right here in verse 20, Now if I do that, I would not. It's
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. He's talking
about, I'm a converted man, but sin's still dwelling in me. Now,
what is this I? He says, if I do it, if I do
that, I would not. It's no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. The I that Paul speaks of is
that new man, that new creation, that new nature that's born of
this holy, incorruptible seed of God that's created anew in
righteousness and true holiness that is actually Christ in you. Christ is the goodness. He is
the life. We don't have it without Him.
If He removed His presence from the believer, we would have no
life. We would have nothing whatsoever
at all. No hope. Darkness. That's all.
All that would be left is this evil that's present with me in
my flesh. That's all that would be left.
The only thing I have wherein I can can worship God and have
any hope and any confidence at all is because the Spirit of
Christ is in me. That's it. That is it. But now,
look at this. Stay with me here and look at
this. Let me show you a few scriptures. John 3, verse 6. You've got to
see what Christ the Lord said. John 3, verse 6. And I'm going
to try to keep this very, very simple. John 3, verse 6. John 3, verse 6. Listen to me
now. Now, He said in verse 5 that,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Now,
if he's born now of the Spirit, if he's been born of the Spirit,
Look at the next verse. That which is born of the flesh,
when you're born of your mother, that which was born of flesh
is flesh. That's what it is. It hadn't
been changed, hadn't been altered, hadn't been affected whatsoever.
Now look, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. That which is born of God, born
of the Holy Spirit, is Spirit. The flesh is flesh. It's what
it is, the Spirit. The new creation this is when
Paul says if I sin it's no longer I that do it He said I'm not
the old man. Um, that's that's me, but it's
not me. I Am this new man look over Galatians
2 20. I like this one Galatians 2 20 Here's what he's saying Galatians
2 20 I, that old man, that old, sinful,
evil, corrupt man, am crucified with Christ. When Christ died,
I died. When He went into the grave,
I went to the grave. And the law says now nothing
about me. I am dead. And the law has no
claim on me. The law has no claim on a man
that's dead. The law requires death. That's what it requires.
But once it has death, the law satisfies. So I'm crucified with
Christ. Paul says, nevertheless, I live. I live. Yet not I. Yet not I. But Christ liveth
in me. Do you see that? In the life
which I now live in the flesh. I live by not faith in the Son
of God, although that's how he lived, but the life I now live
is by the faith of the Son of God. It is quite literally my
life is Christ in me who is faithful, never to leave me nor forsake
me, who is faithful to do everything we're going to see this wretched
man cry out for right here. Watch now. And so then when John
says in John 3.9, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin,
he doesn't mean that you're born of God and now all of a sudden
you've got some power that you just don't sin anymore. He said
that new man that's born of incorruptible seed that is actually Christ
in you is not sinning. That's what Paul meant when he
said, if I sin, it's no longer I that do it. For his seed remaineth in him. Christ's seed is in me, and I,
being a child of God, his seed am in him. That's the hope of
glory. Christ in you, and you in him. One, united, joined together,
partakers of the divine nature. That's my life. That's my spirit.
That's who I walk in. That's the new me. That's the
new me. He's born of God. He can't do
it. But though I've been made anew by the Holy Spirit, still
in this body and in this flesh, in this old carnal nature, sin
lives. Sin dwelleth. That means continually
it abides in me. It's with me. It's with me. It's what I am in my flesh. It is the no good thing that
this flesh will always be until it returns to the dust. Do you see that? Now, verse 21,
verse 21, Romans 7, 21. I find then a law. I find then a law that when I
would do good, when I will to do good, when I desire to do
good, That's that new man desiring to do good. That's where the
desire is, is in the heart, in the new man. Evil's present with
me. Evil is present with me. Now
read, For I delight in the law of God, in His word, in everything
He says, from cover to cover in His book about Himself and
about me. I delight to hear it. I delight
in it. in that inward man. But I see
another law in my members. Warring. Warring. Waging war against the law of
my mind. Against that inner man. Against
that spirit that's willing to serve him. This outer man makes
wages war and brings me into captivity. Do you know what captivity
is? You're captured. It brings me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. That's all that's here. Do you
remember when Jacob and Esau fought each other in Rebekah's
womb, in her womb? And she said, why am I thus? And the Lord said, it's because
you've got two different people in you. You've got two different
kinds of people in you. That's exactly what the Apostle
Paul is saying. Oh, wretched man that I am. I have two different kinds of
people in me. I'm two different kinds of people.
I'm an evil man, and I'm a man that has been made new in Christ
Jesus the Lord. And the man that's been made
new in Christ the Lord wants to do that which is good. But the evil man does not want
to do that which is good. And this evil man wars against
the new man and brings me into captivity so that I can't do
the things that I would. Do you know what Paul is talking
about when he says, when I would do good? Do you know what he's
talking about? If you're thinking about some
acts of morality or reading your Bible and doing all those things
like that, just stop. Just stop thinking about that.
I'm not saying that that won't play a part, or you won't do
that, but stop. That's not what he's talking
about. You know what the good thing is that God speaks about
in this Word from the beginning of it to the end of it? You know
what the good thing is? The only good thing That new
man wills to do is trust Christ Jesus the Lord alone. That's it. That's the good thing
the new man desires to do. You know what the evil thing
is that the old man desires? The evil man desires for me to
do those lewd, immoral, sinful things that I love to do in that
old nature. And then once I've done those,
that evil that the old flesh desires for me to do, is to read
my Bible some more, and pray some more, and go to church some
more, and put on my suit coat, and tell folks what a sinner
I am, and that way, and to glory in that, and to make me to think,
now that's, you're better now. You're better now. You can have
some confidence now. You've made up for that sin you
did. That's the evil of that old man. The new man doesn't want to do
either one of those things. The new man just wants to trust
Christ alone. That's all I want to do. But because of that evil man,
I'm brought into captivity and I can't even just simply trust
Christ. I can't simply trust Christ.
Galatians 5.17 says, For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one
to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. That's a believer. Now that's
a wretched man. That's a wretched man. Why would the Almighty God, why
would the all-powerful God, why would the God who does according
to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, why would He leave this believer, this new man that
He's created in this body of death with such an unconquerable
foe? Why would He do that? Why would
He do that? It's so that we'll learn these
three facts concerning our deliverance from ourselves. We have to be
delivered from the guilt of sin. We have to be delivered from
the dominion of sin. And we have to be delivered from
this body of sin. This flesh has to be raised incorruptible. We got to learn those three things.
And we think we got it. We think we got it. We'll go
through a little something. Boy, we think we have got it.
And then we come along and a sin easily besets us. It gets us
back into that captivity. That's what easily beset means.
I'm brought into captivity again. Oh, and I feel it. I know it.
And I think to myself over and over and over, Clay, why? Can you not just stop? Why can't you just stop sinning? Why can't you do it? And I think, well, If I would
just go and get in my office, shut the door. What it is, I
have not been in my study enough. And if I stay in the word of
God, Christ always, it gives me fresh glimpses of Christ.
And if I just do that more, I know I'd be better. And so I'll go
to my study and I'll start reading. And I think, I lay down at night
and I think, Clay, if you just pour out your heart to God. Pour
out your heart to God. Because if you pour out your
heart to God, He'll hear you. And because you're following
on your face and you're praying to Him and you're crying out
to Him, He'll hear you because of that. And I go on and on and on in
this captivity and nothing that I do seems to be working. Nothing
I try seems to be working. Nothing I can say, nothing I
can do, whatever seems to be working. And I finally come to
the point to where I'm brought to the realization that I am
a carnal man. I am sold under sin. That which
I will to do, I cannot do. Lord, I want to trust you and
I cannot trust you. I want to turn from this flesh,
to turn from my self-righteousness, to turn from my sin and my rebellion
against you. And I just cannot do it, Lord. I cannot do it. Wretched man
that I am Lord who shall deliver me from the body of this death. That's what I am And then and then When he's brought
me to that place To where it's a cry of desperation to where
it's a cry of utter depravity to where it's a cry that is confessing,
Lord, if you cast me into hell, it's half of what I deserve.
And then like he said of the Apostle Paul when he brought
him down to the dust, he says, Behold, now he breatheth. Now he's praying. Now he's praying. And then he comes in sweet mercy
And He whispers. That still, small voice whispers
in the heart. And this is what I want to talk
to you about now, our Deliverer. Our Deliverer. He comes and He
causes me to say, verse 25, Romans 7, 25, Oh God, God, thank You. You alone can deliver me from
this body of death. And you do it through Christ
Jesus, my Lord. I began to see what I am before
God. And I think I've learned this
lesson. And so I take out the old dirty mop of my flesh And I take it to the old dirty
floor of my flesh. And I begin to try to clean and
clean and clean my old dirty flesh using this old dirty mop
of my flesh. And all I end up is twice dirty. Until I cry out in utter desperation
and he says, I'm your deliverance. I'm your deliverance. He brings us to see that He has
borne the justice that we deserve. That He went to the cross and
He laid down His life and when He did that, the guilt of His
people was put upon Him. And when He bore the justice
of God, He paid the price. He paid the price and guilt is
gone. It's gone. It's gone. Look, that's
where Paul started here in Romans 7. Look here with me. And you
go home and read it at your leisure. But look at this verse right
here. Verse 4. 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, Keep that in mind when we were in the flesh, the
motions 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, not in the oldness of the letter. So that's the first thing this
Deliverer reveals in me when He brings me to this place, is
He brings me to see that because God blessed me with all spiritual
blessings in Christ, because Christ went to the cross and
laid down His life for me, I'm free from the guilt of sin. It's
gone. God said, I don't remember it
anymore. The second thing I've got to be reminded of is that
the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made
me free, has delivered me from the law of sin and death that's
in my members. He releases me, delivers me,
sets me free from the captivity that I'm brought into in the
new man, in spirit, by my members. He sets me free from that dominion. And then I made to see, Lord,
this has been as foolish for me to try to stop this with the
works of my hand, by my strength, by praying and reading and going
to church and doing all these things to soothe my conscience.
This has been as foolish as for me to try to raise myself from
the grave and deliver this fleshly body and make it incorruptible
and without sin. That's what I've been trying
to do. I've been trying to make this body incorruptible and without
sin and all I've accomplished is making it look maybe a little
better on the outside and had other folks brag on me a little
bit and that old man just say see there they think the same
thing I do you're good and all the while I'm I'm evil against
God. Just evil. Because I'm not trusting
Christ to deliver me from the guilt of sin, the dominion of
captivity in my members, and my body incorruptible into His
presence. This thing's Him. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's not of us. Now, Paul is
brought into the joy. He's brought into the joy of
this by his Deliverer coming to him in spirit and saying,
Paul, I've delivered you from the law. And now I'm delivering
you from this captivity you're in, in your members. So you can
once again behold, I'm the one who's delivering you. And Paul
begins the eighth chapter here in that realization of that joy
filling his heart. And I have to say, I kind of
can enter into what he said here, how he must have felt, because
when I sat down to prepare this message, I wasn't sitting down
to prepare this message. I was sitting down to prepare
something else. And I looked, and I looked, and
I looked, and I looked, and all I discovered was, Clay, all you're
doing is trying to make up for the sin that you are. And I began
to cry out, Lord, I'm wretched. I am a wretched man. And he brought
me right here, right here to this spot. and delivered me. And as I came towards the close
of it, my heart began to brim, just to overflow with joy and
to see it. And here's what he said. He breaks
into chapter 8. And concerning Christ delivering
us from the guilt of our sin, verse 1, he says, There is therefore
now, right now, right this minute, no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. None, no condemnation. They can't
be condemned. The guilt's gone. And then concerning
Christ delivering me from myself, from my old evil nature, verse
2, he says, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made me free from the law of sin and death. And here's
how Christ delivered me from the condemnation, and how He's
delivered me from my own sinful depravity, and how He continues
to do it. Verse 3, For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, for me, for
this wretched man that I am, He condemned the sin that's in
my flesh. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. I'd like you to just go through
sometime and count how many times He says, not after the flesh. Not after the flesh. Not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit. We serve in newness of Spirit,
not in the oldness of the letter. And if He don't deliver us to
see what that is, we don't have any idea what the oldness of
the letter is. We don't have any idea. And He says, for they
that are after the flesh, they do mind the things of the flesh.
But they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Now,
we just saw that He was brought into captivity and began to mind
the things of the flesh. And we do that. But then Christ
comes again in the power of the Spirit and He causes us to mind
the things of the Spirit over and over and over. And He says
down here, verse 9, And ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells, abides, lives
in you. Now, that's how I'm delivered
from the guilt and how I'm delivered from this captivity. Now what
about this body of death? What about this body of death
that's going to perish and turn into dust one day? How's it going
to be delivered? by the same One. Look, verse
11. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. And so here's the grand
conclusion to the whole matter which Christ teaches us continually. Here it is, verse 12. Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, You see that? Not to the flesh, to live after
the flesh. You know what it is to live after
the flesh? It's thinking when you fall into that captivity
in sin, it's to think that you can... Go to church more, read
your Bible more, pray more, do something more that will help
correct you, abstain more from whatever that sin is that you're
doing, and that you're better then. That's living after the
flesh. We can't do that. That's the captivity we've got
to be saved from, brethren. Now look, for if you live after
the flesh, you shall die. Tell me now. Tell me. What's
the only way a sinner's going to die? By thinking himself self-righteous
or by living in his sin. That's what it is to live after
the flesh. If you do those things, you'll die. But if you through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.
What is it to mortify the deeds of the body? What does he mean,
me mortifying the deeds of the body? He just said, I can't do
the things I would. I'm helpless to do what I would.
How then can I mortify the deeds of the body? You know what it
is? It's not abstaining from this or abstaining from that
or doing more of this religious thing or more of that religious
thing. It's that thing that my inner man has been wanting to
do from the beginning and through the Spirit of God delivered me.
I just trust Christ. I just simply cast my care on
Him and trust Him. That's what I will to do all
along. And He brings us to see. Through
the Spirit, He brings us to mortify the deeds of the flesh by turning
us from everything that we've been trying to call righteousness
and that we've been looking to that's brought us down and tried
to lift us up to just Christ. And therein, the flesh is mortified.
It's treated like it ought to be treated, like it's dead and
it don't matter whether it does something to make you want to
commend it or does something that makes you discouraged. It's the same either way. It's
dead. That's the only way that we mortify it. Verse 14, for as many as led
of the Spirit of God, they're the sons of God. That's what
it keeps telling you. You're son of God. For you've
not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you've received
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. That's
how we mortify the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit. It's
a cry. It's a cry, it's a two-fold cry. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Father, Father,
I thank you. Through Christ Jesus, you've
delivered me. That's mortifying the deeds of
this flesh. And then he says, And the Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children
of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Now, here's the sweet rest that
Christ brings us into when he delivers us from this captivity
of our members. Look back at verse 25. He said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. That's how I'm delivered from
this body of death. And he comes to this place right
here. This is his rest. Listen now. So then, with the
mind, I myself serve the law of God. I myself, the man that
I am, the new man, the man I really am. I myself, that new man in
spirit, that's how I serve God. I see it now. I see that the
only way to mortify this flesh, the only way to serve God, the
only way to walk in His presence, to be accepted of Him, is in
spirit. That's it. That is it. And I
also know this, but with the flesh, law is sin. I'm not discouraged about it
anymore. It doesn't mean I go out now and I'm just going to
be a slave to sin. It means, just like it was discouraging
me a while ago, now it don't discourage me. I see what it
is. It's going to be what it is. It's going to be this struggle
from then on. The way I'm going to serve God
is in the inner man. Trust in Him to deliver me. For
God Our cometh and now is when the
true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is spirit, and
they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
You know what Paul is saying? You know what he's saying? Look
at Psalm 119, and I'll close. This is what he's saying. I hope you read this. Psalm right
here with me. And you see it like you've never
seen it before. Psalm 119. I'm going to speak up in verse 67. Psalm
119 verse 67. Before I was afflicted, I went
astray. Where did you go astray? right
here to these outer members, right here to this old man, right
here in his flesh, looking to it. I went astray before I was
afflicted. But now have I kept thy word. What word? Thou art good and
doest good. Teach me thy statutes. The proud
have forged a lie against me, but I will keep thy precepts
where with my whole heart." Now look now, their heart is as fat
as grease, but I delight in thy law. Where did Paul say he delighted
in it? In the inward man. Now listen, it's good for me
that I have been afflicted. You know what Paul said there
at the end of Romans when he said, I thank God. Thank God
through Jesus Christ. So then, now I see it's been
good for me that I've been afflicted. I've been brought to be delivered
one more time to see I serve God in the spirit, not in the
flesh. I serve nothing but sin with
my body and my flesh, my outward members, my old man. It's good
for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. The law of thy mouth is better
unto me than thousands of gold and silver. You know why? Because
the law of God's mouth from cover to cover says, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. Trust him. Cast your care on him. And He
brings me again to do that. And then, look, Romans 8.18. And all this comes across to
the believer when this happens. You know how He said, no chastening
for the moment is pleasant. It's grievous. It's not joyful
at all. But afterwards, it yields the
peaceable fruit of righteousness. Afterwards, after you've been
through this, it makes you to see why God would leave me in
this body. It makes me to see that He's
teaching me, that He delivered me, and that He continues to
deliver me, and that He'll yet deliver me. From guilt, from
the dominion of my members, and even from this whole body, He's
going to raise it new one day. And He makes me to behold that.
And you know what I say when I see that wisdom and that power
then? I see it and in verse 18 I say,
You know, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, if I've
suffered this little light affliction and I've seen this wisdom and
power of my God through this, they're not worthy to be compared
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. I haven't seen
the half. The half hasn't been told of
the wisdom and power of my great Redeemer. And so we're brought
This is how God keeps us from the evil of our flesh, of ourselves,
and keeps us sanctified in Christ, in Spirit, in truth. This is
how He does it. So that we cry, I thank God,
through Christ Jesus my Lord, I'm delivered. I'm delivered.