Let us turn again to God's Word,
to that portion of Scripture we were considering in the morning
hour. Romans chapter 7 and 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 Lord of Gods but with the flesh the law of sin. We were considering then this
cry of the godly. I did remark that there is some
controversy as to exactly who the apostle is speaking of, evidently
he speaks of himself, but is it Paul at the time when the
Lord began to deal with his soul in the way of salvation, or is
it Paul as he was more established, as he was living that life of
faith? Is it really the experience of
somebody who was known that regenerating grace, born again, of the Spirit
of God, a new creation in Christ Jesus. There is controversy,
but as I said this morning, the view of the vast majority of
the Puritans, amongst others, was that this is the cry of the
godly. The cry of the godly. And Paul,
of course, as I say, is that godly person. He speaks of himself. It's a largely autobiographical
chapter we might say and it's not the only occasion that Paul
speaks of himself in the epistles there are other chapters we could
turn to in the other writings of this man in 2nd Corinthians
12 doesn't he also speak of himself there as he defends himself against
those false teachers who had come into the church at Corinth
and turned the hearts of so many against Paul. And so he speaks
of himself and his experiences and his ministry. Again in Galatians
chapter 1 and the first part of the second chapter we have
a section in which he speaks. He speaks of the way in which
he was called by the grace of God. How he pleased God to reveal
his Son in him. And then also we have that portion
in Philippians chapter 3. Interesting when we come to the
writings of Paul to remember the manner in which he addresses
these various churches. As I've said many a time, the
epistles generally are divided into two parts. In the first
part, the opening part of the epistle, he will open up great
doctrinal truths and spell out the importance
of those doctrines. But then in the latter part of
the epistle he will also remind the churches of the importance
of the outworking of those doctrines. He will come to the practical,
as it were, and the necessity of really living in accordance
with those truths that they have professed. So you have the doctrinal
and you have the practical but then as I've said just now we
also have these various portions which are we might say more experimental
when he speaks of himself and he speaks of his own history
and his own experiences and it is necessary that he do that
because of the man that he was remember those words in 1 Timothy
1.16 where he says that he is a pattern to them who should
hereafter believe. There is that about Paul and
the way in which the Lord deals with him. There are principles
that we can draw from that man's life and his experience that
help us to understand something of the Lord's dealings with us.
Not that we're going to have the same depth of experience. He was being prepared for his
office as an apostle. None of us are going to be apostles.
and he was the Apostle to the Gentiles. It was a remarkable
ministry that he had to exercise. But there are principles, it's
a pattern. To them which should hereafter believe a pattern of
the life of faith and so there are principles. And that's the
case here when we consider the content of this controversial
chapter but he tells us a lot about what it means to be a real
Christian and what it means to live the life of faith and to
engage in that continual conflict as we were saying this morning
that conflict between the old nature and the new nature because
what he speaks of here is not those external events that he
knew in his life certainly when he writes to the Corinthians
as much to say with regards to the tremendous cost of his preaching. How he was persecuted by the
Jews. You only have to read through
the Acts to see the troubles that came upon him. How he was
beaten. He suffered beatings and stonings
and shipwreck and all sorts of things. But he's not speaking
of those outward troubles. In this chapter he is speaking
of those things that he feels in the depths of his soul. He
is so much aware of those inward pollutions. Verse 18 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. Verse 21, I find then a law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. Verse 23, 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. Well, Paul is so very conscious
then of indwelling sin. And now this torments him all
the time. What we have here is, we might
say, self-portraiture. It's the spiritual man that he
is. He's telling us about his spiritual life. And as I said
this morning, it certainly is personal. He uses the personal
pronoun. 7 I had not known sin, but by the
law. 8 I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 8 Sin taking occasion
by the commandment wrought in me. All manner of concupiscence,
all manner of lust, all manner of evil desire, each very person
or the language that he uses. And also we observed our He continually
speaks in the present tense. He speaks of the here and now.
He's not speaking of things in the past, but in the present. Verse 14, we know that the Lord
is spiritual, but I am carnal, souled, under sin. He doesn't
say I was. Carnal, of course, simply has
reference to the natural man, what he was by nature. and he
was born into this world, he doesn't say I was carnal, but
I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I.
What I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. It's his present experience that
he is speaking of so clearly, and then We came then this morning
to consider these words at the end, this cry, this cry of the
godly man, and I sought to say something of what lies behind
the cry. What was the cause? What was the cause of a man making
such a statement, uttering such words as this? O wretched man!
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Now what was the cause? Well,
we said this morning three things really, and just briefly to remind
you. It was his discovery of the spirituality of the Lord
of God. He knew the law previously, he was a Pharisee, he was an
expert in the Lord of God. Why touching the righteousness
of the Lord? He says he was blameless. He
lived in accordance with all its precepts. And yet though
he thought he knew it, he knew nothing. But now he's been taught
the spirituality of that law of God. It's a spiritual law.
And so, he says at verse 9, 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. All this commandment,
he couldn't live by it really. He thought he was living by it.
But he didn't really understand it. But he says in verse 14,
we know that the Lord is spiritual, it's a spiritual law, but I'm
a carnal man. Oh yes, he might outwardly be
a respectable man, but what was he inwardly? The Lord Jesus opens
up, doesn't he, as we said in the Sermon on the Mount, the
spiritual nature of the law. What is murder? It's unjust anger. What is adultery? Well, there's
the act, but there's also that that is in the heart, lust, wantonness. the Lord is spiritual and that was the cause of this
cry but then also when his eyes were opened to the truth of the
gospel or rather the truth of the Lord of God we should say
when his eyes were open to see what the Lord is there was in
him that reviving of sin the Lord as it were provoked his
sinful nation and it revives sin in him and as the law reveals
sin so it increases the transgression because the man is brought to
see that his life is really one of all sin he can't escape it
when he looks within there it is in the very depths of his
being it's out of the heart says Christ that all those evil things
proceed it's not what goes in at the mouth it's what comes
out of the hearts of the man that really defiles the man and
so there was such a reviving of sin he was so conscious of
his sinnership and then also in the final place this morning
we said the cause of this cry was that he was feeling himself
to be in an awful conflict there was such a battle going
on in the soul of this man his soul was like two armies engaged
in a dreadful warfare verse 8 sin taking occasion by the commandment
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence or loss for without the law sin
was dead I was alive without the law once but when the commandment
came sin revived And I died. Oh, what a conflict it was. What
an awful conflict. He speaks of it towards the end,
doesn't he? Verse 15. What I would, that
do I not. But what I hate, that do I. Verse 19. The good that I would,
I do not. The evil which I would not do,
that I do. Verse 21, I find in the law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. I want to do
what is right. I want to live in accordance
with the holy precepts of the gospel and yet I'm battling with
myself all the time. That's what he is saying. Well,
these are some of the things that we sought to say this morning,
but as we come again to consider the words of the text, I want
now to think more particularly of the consequences we thought
about the cause of the cry of the godly but what are the consequences
of this cry and two things as a consequence of this cry we
find him having to rejoice only in the Lord Jesus Christ I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord all his religion All his salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ and nowhere else. He rejoices in
Christ and then also we see there is such a resolution in the midst
of all his conflict. He will persevere, he will press
on, he will fight this good fight of faith. So then with the mind
I myself serve the Lord of God, he will serve the Lord of God.
That's his true self, but with the flesh the Lord of sin. He
will continue with this awful warfare. Well, let us consider
these two headings. First of all, the rejoicing in
Christ. Now, of course, in verse 24,
we have the question, as it were, he cries out to a wretched man
that I am the great exclamation as it were and then he asks the
question who shall deliver me from the body of this dead it's
a rhetorical question but then he does in what he says following
answer that question who is going to deliver him from himself I
thank God I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's all in Christ. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus.
Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. As it is written, whosoever glorieth
is to glory in the Lord. All his glorying is not in anything
of himself or anything that he has done. It's all together in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, of course, this is a
theme that runs so evidently through this great epistle. What
is the wonderful theme that we have in Romans? Is it not the
great truth of justification by faith? That the only righteousness that
will stand in the high courts of heaven is Christ's righteousness,
that the sinner cannot make himself righteous, but he must be satisfied
with an alien righteousness, a righteousness of another that
is imputed to him. This is the great theme that
runs through the whole of this epistle really, justification
by faith, the just shall live by Faith. And it's the faith
of Abraham. It's Abraham's faith. And he
speaks of that. He speaks of Abraham very much
in chapter 4. And there at the end of that
chapter, he speaks of Abraham who against
hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many
nations. According to that which was spoken,
so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body now dead when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded
that what he had promised he was able also to perform. What was it that God had promised?
God had promised today that Sarah would have a son, the promised
seed. And yet here is Abraham, he's
100, Sarah's 90. And she's going to be with child.
And she's going to bear this son, the son of promise. And
he is persuaded of it. What God had promised, he was
able to perform. Verse 22, Therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that he was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offences, and was raised
again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
What is he saying here? Well, He's speaking of Abraham
and Abraham's belief in God's promise that Sarah is going to
have this son. This is the seed, the promised
seed. But Isaac, of course, is but
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The true seed of Abraham, as
we see in Galatians 3.16, is Christ. Thy seed which is Christ. And what is imputed to this man,
it's righteousness. And it's not just written for
Abraham's sake that it was imputed, but for us also to whom it shall
be imputed. The whole purpose of what Paul
is saying here is that that righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
seed of Abraham, is that only righteousness that will prevail
before God. It is that that is imputed reckoned
to the account of all those who are putting their trust in the
Lord Jesus. Romans 10, for Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness, to everyone that believeth. And this was a precious truth
that the Apostle discovered. Or touching the righteousness
which is in the law, when he was a Pharisee, he imagined he
was blameless. As I said this morning, he didn't
understand. anything about the Lord of God
although he thought he knew all about the Lord of God and he
lived in accordance with the Lord of God he thought he was
blindness but now all of that had to be seen for what it was and what was it to him now? it
was dross oh it meant nothing at all to him we have that passage
in Philippians 3 which is also very much autobiographical and
he speaks of his desire to know nothing but the righteousness
of Christ. What does he say here? The first
part he speaks of his pharisaical life, then he goes on to speak
of how he was brought to count all that for loss. What things
were gained for me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."
What are they? Excrement. The sort of stuff
you get on your shoe and you want to wipe it off quickly and
be rid of it. all that self-righteousness gone,
and is one desire now to be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Oh, this
is the great theme then, that Christ is the believer's righteousness. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. That's what he says here. And
this is what he would be preaching. Throughout the Acts of the Apostles
we have the record of that sermon in chapter 13 of Acts when he's
at Antioch there in Pisidia. What does he preach? He preaches
the righteousness of Christ. By him all that believe, he says,
are justified from all things that they could not be justified
from by the deeds of the law. The sinner cannot make himself
righteous and just before God. And that theme is there in this
epistle to the Romans. But when we come to this seventh
chapter, In many ways, Paul here is more concerned with the doctrine
of sanctification rather than the doctrine of justification. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
righteousness of his people, but from whence do the Lord's
people obtain their holiness? That also must come from the
Lord Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification. and redemption all these inward
pollutions that he laments over that make him feel so wretched
or that he speaks of here in verses 18 and 19 and 21 and 23
where he feels these pollutions the flesh lusting against the
spirit, the spirit lusting against the flesh, and these so contrary
one to the other that ye cannot do the thing that ye would. Why is this? Because he has a
new nature, he's a new creature in Christ Jesus. He's been born
again of the Spirit of God. There is a divine life now in
the soul of this man. But there is the old nature still.
Oh, the Lord Himself says, doesn't He, in that third chapter of
John, that chapter that deals with regeneration, the new birth. What does the Lord say? That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of
the Spirit is Spirit. The flesh never improves. The flesh is always the flesh.
It doesn't become more holy. It's what it is. And this is the cause of the
awful conflict that this man is feeling. What is he to do?
He is to look to Christ. And he is to look to Christ for
sanctification. In chapter 6 and verse 14, Sin
shall not have dominion over you. For ye are not under the
law, but under grace. Grace and truth have come, and
they've come by Jesus Christ. So what is this man to do? There
is to be that mortifying, that putting to death all these deeds
of the body. That's part and parcel of his
sanctification. We read it there in chapter 11. Chapter 8 and 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. Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the
flesh. For 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. Or what is this? Mortifying. It's putting to death. Putting to death the deeds of
the body, crucifying the flesh. And how is this mortification
of sin? It's by the Spirit. It's by the
Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead. It's that
complete and utter dependence upon Christ who was lived and
died and risen again. They overcome sin only by the
Lord Jesus Christ. They have that new life, that
life of Christ in their soul. Or remember the language of John. There in that first epistle,
that first general epistle at chapter 5 and verse 4, whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. It's that faith in Christ. As
there is justifying faith, so there is that sanctifying faith.
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. For his seed
remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
What is that seed that's within him? That's the new seed, that's
the new birth, that's the divine nature, he's a partaker of the
divine nature. And this is the conflict, you
see. He's altogether complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
already referred to those words at the end of 1 Corinthians 1.
After me are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption. All ye are complete
in him. And so, here is the consequence. This is the lesson that Paul
has to learn that all his salvation, every aspect of that salvation,
his justification, his sanctification, every part of it is in Christ. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. And so, as he rejoices in Christ,
so there is this resolution in him that he will continue in
the conflict, painful as it is, painful as it is so then with the mind I myself serve
the Lord of God but with the flesh the law of sin notice here
Paul's resolution it's in this expression these two words so
then there's such a strong inference here he's thanking God through
Jesus Christ our Lord therefore He's determined. He'd experienced
two things in his soul of this man. He felt something of the
curse and the condemnation of the law. His eyes had been opened. He was, as we said this morning,
a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee.
and he was living the life of a Pharisee and he thought he was keeping
the law of God but he didn't really understand what that law was, the spiritual
nature of it. I don't want to repeat all that
I said this morning but I remarked on how it was the 10th commandment
in particular that seemed to be so significant in his experience,
and it's a striking commandment, isn't it? Thou shalt not covet. You don't covet outwardly, you
covet inwardly. It's that the word that we have
here is concupiscence or lust, sinful desire. and he saw that that was in his
heart he might be a respectable Pharisee and live an upright
life in that he was not murdering or committing adultery or stealing
or doing any of those things but when the Lord began to deal
with him when he pleased God to reveal his son in him or then
he felt the curse of the law because he had broken it he had
broken it he was under the condemnation of the law that was in his soul
but I said there were two things in his soul besides feeling the
curse and the condemnation of the Lord of God he had also experienced
the blessings of the gospel that consolation that is only in the
Lord Jesus Christ that one who has come into this world made
of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law Christ coming to stand in that law place for all his
people and to answer all the demands of that law on their
behalf That means he must answer the law in terms of all its precepts,
all its commandments. All those precepts and commandments
must be obeyed, they must be lived out in obedience. But he's not only honored it
in terms of the holiness, righteousness and obedience of His sinless
life. He's answered that law for His people also in respect
to all its penalties. And what is the penalty? The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. The wages of sin is death. And
Christ has died. And Christ has died the just
one for the unjust to bring sinners to God. all these two things
in his soul then the condemnation of the Lord of God and yet the
blessed consolation of the gospel as it were the aboundings of
sin within him and yet the super aboundings of grace where sin
abounds grace does so much more abound that's the gospel what
is in this man there's a real knowledge of self and yet there's
also that true knowledge of the Savior and it's life eternal
to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent well this is Paul's experience he knew it he knew that that
which is born of the flesh is flesh that's what he was, a sinner
but that that is born of the Spirit is spirit and how he says
here doesn't he in verse 25 he speaks of the flesh serving the
law of sin so then with the mind I myself serve the Lord of God
but with the flesh he doesn't say sin he says with the flesh
the law of sin the principle the principle of sin it's still
there within him but he's not at ease He's not at ease with
that awful facts. And that's why he cries out,
O wretched man that I am. He wants to be delivered. He really wants to live a life
that is altogether a holy life. That's his longing, that's his
yearning. To live a life as holy as any pardoned sinner ever could
live. he doesn't want to be at ease,
he's not at ease with himself because the flesh is serving
this principle of sin and he can't change the flesh, the flesh
is the flesh but do we not read well to them
that are at ease in Zion, are we at ease? oh we know Zion, that's the church,
the people of God But are we those who are at ease? Or are we those who want to engage
in that good fight of faith? Are we those who have such a
resolution as we see in this man? His determination. So then with the mind, I myself,
and I remarked this morning how emphatic that statement is. It
doesn't say, with the mind I serve the Lord of God. There's an emphasis
here. with the mind, I myself, that's
the real me. That's the true Apostle Paul. He will serve Christ, he will
serve the Lord of God, he will do the thing that he's right
in God's sight. But he knows he's got this whole nature. And
so there is this continual conflict, this need to be mortifying the
deeds of the body. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. Oh, it's that life. He's in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Is that
harsh, friends? Are we those who know anything
of this cry of the godly man? and this blessed consequence
of the cry, this rejoicing only in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
this resolution to continue in the good fight of faith, to be
seeking always to lay hold upon that eternal life, and knowing
that in all these things the Lord is working out His own goodwill
and pleasure, we concluded our reading with those great words Romans 8 and 28 we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God to
them who are the called according to his purpose whom he did foreknow
he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren that was
Paul's great desire to be conformed to the image of God's Son, the
Lord Jesus. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. And it's when the believer reaches
glory that all the fight of faith is over. Or then, you see, They enter
into all the fullness of that blessed rest, which is heaven,
where sin can no more defile. Sin, my worst enemy before, shall
vex mine eyes and ears no more. My inward foes shall all be slain,
nor Satan break my peace again. Heaven. All that holy, happy
place. That's what Paul is determined
to attain by the grace of God. Well, the Lord grant that we
might know such a faith as this, rejoicing in Christ Jesus and
resolving to fight that good fight of faith. Amen.