Always makes me cry before I
preach. Feelings mutual. Turn with me in your Bible to
Romans chapter 7 if you would please. I'll begin in verse 15, Romans
7 verse 15. I've titled this message The struggle
within. The struggle within I. I pray honestly, I've been praying
that this would be a comfort to you because it's been a comfort
to me. Here in Romans Chapter 7 verse
15, Paul writes for that which I do, I allow not now here. Paul is admitting to doing things
that he does not approve or consent to. And he continues, for what
I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. That describes a struggle within. The ongoing fight with temptation
and sin within. The results from the indwelling
sin in believers. It's the ongoing struggle. It's a conflict. Paul calls it
a war within my members. And this remains in God's elect
people until their sinful nature is fully and finally removed. That day's coming. It's coming
for all of us. It's coming quickly, coming quickly. No matter how young you are,
friends, this life is like a breath. It's like a vapor. It's here
for a moment and then it's gone. And this is what Paul is describing
in our text. For that which I do, I allow
not. That word allow there means no. In other words, I don't know
why I do what I do. I don't know why I allow, I don't
know why I do what I do. Why do I allow these things when
I know that they're wrong? You ever ask yourself that question?
I bet you do. Have you ever said, I don't know
why I did that? I say it daily. I don't know why I did that again. Why do I keep doing that? And that's what Paul's saying.
I don't understand why I do the things that I do, and I know
what I should do, but that I do not do. And then Paul adds something
that is very apparent to me about myself. He says, but what I hate,
that do I. I hate it. Isn't that what Job
said? I abhor myself. I hate myself. Even right before I do it, I
tell myself, don't do it. Don't think that. Don't say that. Don't act upon that. But I do. And I hate it. How do we as believers,
now I'm being as sincere as I know how to be. How do we as believers
find any comfort, any assurance, any encouragement that we're
saved when we do these things over and over and over again? We talk ourselves right out of
salvation because we look within. There's a struggle within. Don't
look there. So what do we do? We look to
Christ. We open the Word of God and we seek and we search and
we pray unto God. We ask the Holy Spirit to give
us comfort and hope and assurance in Christ, who is our only hope.
Isn't that what Paul said? Christ in you, the hope of glory. The only hope that any of us
have of ever being face to face with our Lord and Savior is Christ
in us. Why would we preach anything
else? It's the only message there is to preach. We just find different
texts and we preach in our own personalities and our own style,
so to say, but it's the same message. Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. My sin is so horrific that God
Himself, Jesus Christ, had to die to put it away. He's my hope. I've asked myself many times
over the years this question. How could someone who professes
and believes to know God and to trust Christ think and say
and do the things that I do? It's because sin's what I am.
I know you've heard that saying, I heard it many years ago, and
I remember when I heard it, I thought, that makes sense. You see, sin's
not just what we do, sin's what we are. We sin because we're
sinners, right? How could I, the guilty sinner
that I am, have such feelings of judgment towards others when
God spared judgment on me? The Lord Jesus said, Judge not,
and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not
be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Yet I still struggle with judging
others, condemning others, and forgiving others. And I hate
it. How could I, one with whom Christ
has been so patient, so long-suffering, so forgiving, be so impatient
and unforgiving to others? How could I, who the Lord has
every reason to ignore and discard, be so cold and distant to others
who don't act as I think they should? Who am I? Who am I? And many times, these
struggles within me cause me to doubt that I'm saved. How can I encourage sinners to
strive to press on when I myself struggle to do so? I'm ashamed
of what's inside of me. Why do I keep doing the things
I do? And then I see that I'm not the only one. Not that I
find comfort in that, but even the Apostle Paul, a man highly
used of God, said here in verse 19, look what he said. For the
good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would, would
not, that I do. And then in verse 21 he adds,
when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. God has caused me to love what
he loves, yet. He says, but, there's that word
again in verse 23, but I see another law on my members warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin which is in my members. And then he says these
words, oh wretched man that I am. He didn't say, oh wretched man
that I was. I remember when I was steeped
in religion, someone asked me one time if I was a sinner, and
I said, I used to be. No, old wretched man, I am. Still am. God sees me as my son,
and when he looks upon me, he sees his beloved son. That's
my only hope, but I, in and of myself, am nothing but sin, sin's
what I am. The old man within me is wretched,
wretched. It's deep within me, in my members,
by nature, sin and wretchedness is what I am. Look up at verse
18. It says, for I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwells some good things, no, is mostly good,
no, not perfect. How many times have people said,
well, you know, I'm not perfect, but, No, you're far from perfect. And then there is no buts on
that statement. Dwelleth no good thing. As we heard earlier this week,
our minds, our thoughts are only evil and only evil continually. Well, that's pretty bleak. My
thoughts are only evil. And they're only evil, there's
no good thoughts. And it's continuum. Wretched,
wretched. Lord have mercy. Verse 19, for
the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Paul is describing that battle
within. Within, it's within us. The inability,
We see the inability of the law to save because we can't keep
the law. Had a fellow tell me not long ago, he said, I've got
about seven of the Ten Commandments down, maybe eight. Listen, I've
never kept one of them. Not the way God requires. They've
got to be perfect. We've got to keep them perfectly
for God to accept them. Have you ever kept one of God's
laws perfectly? No. Law can't save us. We can't keep
the law perfectly. And most importantly, it always
comes back to this, our need of Christ. To a believer, our text is one
of the most relatable verses in all the scripture. There's
no one here that the Lord has truly revealed himself to that
cannot enter into the words of Paul in Romans 7. And most of the time when we
struggle with the sin within us, it's a sign of failure to
us. That's how we see it. And it's
always been my struggle. Our failures cause us to feel
like that we don't have any faith. Self-will's not enough. Paul's
frustration shows that just knowing the right thing isn't enough.
Many people try to overcome sin through the willpower, willpower
alone. We don't have any willpower. Men talk about their free will.
They will not come to Christ that they may have life. When Pilate, when Christ stood
before Pilate, it says that he delivered them who cried crucify
him, crucify him to their will. Let's don't talk about our will.
Nothing good to say about it. Oh, this is a struggle, a struggle
within. We cannot not sin. Romans 7 teaches that human effort
alone can't defeat sin. We need the power of the Holy
Spirit. Our struggle with sin should
cause us to see the importance of grace. And if it has, thank
God for it. It's so easy for us to start
looking to ourselves instead of looking to Christ. When I
preach and encourage sinners to look to themselves, listen,
I first and foremost need to remember that I have to do the
same. Preachers, pastors, the most
mature believers are not exempt from sin. It's something that
all of us have experienced. And I guarantee you all that
are here this morning that the Lord has revealed himself to
would disagree with one thing. Who's the cheapest of sinners? Oh, I am. No, no, I am. Well,
we just have to agree to disagree on that. The most mature, the most faithful
man has to keep our body under, keep our flesh in subjection
and keep believing or we ourselves will become castaways. That's
what Paul said. That word castaway, you know
what it means? I found this very interesting. It means disqualified. You know what it means to be
disqualified? It means rejected. It means unfit. No one is exempt
from unbelief. And that's what this is talking
about. Looking to self instead of Christ is the epitome of unbelief. It's the epitome of disobedience.
It'll disqualify you. It will make you a castaway. It'll cause you to quit and give
up. I've seen it time and time again. Paul said very adamantly
that a man can preach to others and be disqualified from grace,
be a cast away. We've got to endure to the end.
We must remain faithful for how long? To the end of our trial? Yes. To the end of our lives? Yes. And the Bible says this,
that the Lord Jesus, for having loved his own that were in the
world, he loved them to the end. That's the only way that you
and I can endure to the end, is that Christ love us to the
end and keep us to the end. And again, we see from the struggle
within our need of him. His love for us, His grace to
us that keep us enduring and persevering. We persevere only
because Christ has preserved us. What great encouragement this
is to me and my struggles of unbelief and sin within. Psalm 121, 7, and 8, the Lord
shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth even forevermore,
as he gave some the other night. That word preserve means to maintain. Spiritually, I am preserved and
maintained in Christ, and I am so perfectly. Christ makes me perfect, and
He keeps me perfect. He does so to the end, that's
why I endure to the end. Psalm 37, 28, for the Lord loveth
judgment, and forsaketh not His saints, and they are preserved
forever. Boy, that's a good word. Psalm
145, 20, the Lord preserveth all them that love Him, but all
the wicked He will destroy. In John 10, verse 27, the Lord
Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me. And I'll give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. That's a long time. Never. Never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. We're in the hand of the great
Preserver. Peter said in 1st Peter 1 5 that
we're kept how we kept Peter by the power of God Paul wrote in 2nd Timothy 4 17
and said God will preserve us unto his heavenly kingdom hmm
Jude 1 1 says that were preserved in Jesus Christ and called He said in verse 24, now unto
him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it. until the day
of Jesus Christ. What do we have to perform? We
can't perform nothing. It's just everything we do is
evil. Everything we do is wretched. He shall perform it for us. That's our hope. That's our comfort.
That's our encouragement. That's our assurance. Do you
have any assurance, Brother David? Not in and of myself, but I got
complete, full assurance in my Lord and Savior. How wonderful
and encouraging it is to know that though our battle will continue,
the victory's already served. Makes it a little easier to fight,
doesn't it? Our life as believers is not about us trying to accomplish
perfection, but relying on Christ who's already provided it for
us. How many times have we heard that word this weekend, finished?
Boy, that's a good one. He finished what God required
of me. And I won't be condemned for
all my insufficiencies. Why? Because I got a sufficient
Savior, Bob, a sufficient substitute, a sufficient Lord. I will not be condemned right
now if I'm in Christ. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. Did you hear that? Do you believe
it? Do you believe it? And why do
we worry and fret and doubt? Because we look within, but the
struggle within. Look up at Verse eight, the law
of God reveals our sin and our wrongdoing. It says, 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. And Paul here is making it clear
that God's law isn't the problem. Sin's the problem. The law itself's
not sinful, rather it reveals sin. Without the law, people
wouldn't recognize certain actions and desires as sinful. And in
this case, Paul's using coveting as an example, desiring something
that ain't yours. You ever do that? I did it before
I got in the building. I saw a few cars out there. I'm
like, I'd love to have that. A lot nicer than my truck. He says that he wouldn't have
even realized that coveting was wrong unless the law had pointed
it out to him. The law isn't sinful. The law
exposes our sin. The law is like a mirror. A mirror
doesn't make us dirty. It just exposes the dirt that's
already there. That's what the law does. The
law is holy, but it doesn't have the power to see. It reveals
our sinfulness, which shows us our need of Christ. See, the
problem relies within us. We're the problem. Oh my, it's
not in God's commandments. The good news of the gospel is
Christ came into the world to save sinners. Are you a sinner? Then this is good news to you.
Why do I keep doing the wicked things that I do? It's very obvious. I have no strength without strength.
I'm sold under sin. I'm in bondage to sin. I'm sold
under sin. I'm a slave to sin. And Paul
said back in Romans 5, verse 6, that when you and I were yet
without strength to do anything in and of ourselves, Christ died
for who? Good people? Ungodly. I don't want to offend you, but
that's what you are. You're ungodly, and so am I. And it's a struggle within. Paul's
emphasizing the persuasive nature of sin in human life, even for
believers. You know, I don't know where
people got the idea that you make a profession of faith in
Christ, and it's tiptoe through the tulips, as old Tiny Tim used
to sing. It's not at all. It's through
much tribulation that we enter to the kingdom of God. Isn't
that right, Martin? Much tribulation. Much tribulation. Verse 17. Now then, it's no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now, Lord, I ask the Lord
to help us to understand this. Paul here is not saying it's
not my fault. He's not trying to pass the buck
here. Instead, he's dissecting the human condition under sin.
He's describing the internal conflict within all of us. He's describing that struggle
within those who genuinely want to do good but keep falling and
failing. He's recognizing that there's
a deeper power at work here, and it's called indwelling sin.
Knowing what's right is not enough. The law shows us that, but it
can't fix our problem. The sin that dwells within keeps
pulling us off course. Paul is building a case here
that explains that without Christ and without the Holy Spirit,
we find ourselves stuck in a losing battle. Paul's explaining the deep frustration
of wanting to do right and at the same time being enslaved
by that sin that dwells in us. It's not a cover-up, it's not
a cop-out. Paul is talking about that old
man. that we must crucify daily. Someone
asked me not long ago if I believed in two natures. I said, there's
no other way I can explain me. Why do I do the things that I
do? That old man wants to have his way. The new man strives
to do what's right. It's a war, Paul in his writings
talks about this, talks about the old man a great deal. Turn
back just a couple pages to Romans chapter six, verse six. Paul says, knowing this, that
our old man, our old self, who we were before Christ, is crucified,
he's destroyed with him, with Christ, being put to death when
he was crucified, that the body of sin, the body ruled by sin,
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Sin
doesn't own us anymore. Verse 7, for he that is dead
is freed from the law. Death ends obligations. A dead man is not under any law. You know, if a man commits a
crime and he's charged and he dies before he's sentenced, can
he still be held responsible for his crime? No, he's dead. What are you gonna get from him? Verse eight, now if we be dead
with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more,
death hath no more dominion over him. And it doesn't you either
if you're in Christ. Christ died and then rose again
to new life. The believer now lives a new
life in him. Christ's sacrifice for sin was
final. He died unto sin once. once. Sin for the believer has
been put away forever. Verse 11, likewise reckon yourselves
also to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. How? Through
Jesus Christ our Lord. It's the only way. The child
of God is in the same way dead to sin. He was dead in sin, but
now dead to sin. We no longer respond to sin.
Takes two to argue. I'm not going to argue with sin.
Sin says, well, a believer wouldn't do what you do. Somebody say
something. We're disconnected from sin.
A dead phone can't answer a call. We all know something about that.
That's why we carry our car chargers with us everywhere we go, isn't
it? No, a dead phone can't answer a call. It's dead. We're dead
to sin, but we're alive unto God. How? Through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Verse 12, let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust
thereof, neither yield you yourselves as members of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. Sin doesn't have the right to
control you anymore. Christ paid for that right. Don't yield, don't give way to
the sin within. Yield, present, offer yourself
unto God. Beg God to help you to yield
to righteousness. We have not because we ask not.
And when we ask, we ask for the wrong things to consume them
upon our lusts. But God answers these kind of
prayers. Lord, help me to live unto you. Listen, I love my Heavenly Father,
I did, and I didn't want to disappoint Him. I did many times. I don't want to disappoint my
Heavenly Father. Lord, help me yield to righteousness. That word instrument there literally
means weapon. You know, words in the scripture
mean something. Our members, our hands, our feet,
our mouth, our minds can be a weapon for sin or a weapon for righteousness. Yield your weapons to what's
right. Let your words speak life and truth and grace, not gossip,
hate and manipulation. We must not use the time that
we're given on self-indulgence to consume these things upon
our lust. We must invest our time in things that matter to
God. We must strive to treat people
with love and forgiveness. And listen, I'm preaching to
me. I'm just allowing you to listen to me. Treat people with
love and forgiveness and kindness, not hatred, unforgiveness, unpleasantness. Verse 14, for sin shall not have
dominion over you. Sin is no longer our master to
rule over us. You're not under the law, but
under grace. The law condemned us when we
broke it. Grace sets us free from the law of sin and death.
I'm free from that. It has no claim on me any longer. We don't obey the law to earn
salvation. We try to strive to obey God
because we are saved. Verse 15, what then, shall we
sin because we're not under the law but under grace? You know,
if you were drowning and someone saved you, would you jump back
in the water just because you knew that they could save you
again? Well, of course not. That'd be stupid, wouldn't it? So it would be deliberately continuing to sin
while being under grace is abusing the very thing that rescued you. Grace isn't a license to sin. Grace is freedom from sin. If we use it as an excuse to
sin, then we really never understood grace at all. Paul wrote in Ephesians
4 verse 22 that you put off concerning the former conversation. That
means manner of life, way of life. The old man which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust. Our old man, our old self is
corrupt. Corrupt means rotting and decaying. We're to put it off, take it
off. Just like when you get dirty and you get some kind of a oil
or something on your clothes that you can't get out, you take
it off, you strip it off, and you throw them away. Don't try
to clean the old man up. Discard the corruptness, burn
it, starve it, crucify it. It's out to do you harm. I'm sure you've all heard this
old story. I love this old story. An old
Cherokee Indian chief was teaching his grandson something about
life. And he told the young boy, fight's going on inside of me,
son. It's a fight between two wolves. The dark wolf is evil. He's full
of anger. He's full of envy, sorrow, regret,
greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority. Lies, pride, ego. And the light wolf is good. He's
full of joy and peace and love and hope and serenity and kindness,
benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
In the same fight, he says, going on within you, grandson. And
Prince, it's going on within you, too, and me. And the fight
goes on within all of us on the face of the earth. And the grandson
pondered this for a moment. And then he asked, well, grandfather,
which wolf will win? Which wolf was going to win?
And the wise old chief smiled and simply said, the one that
you feed. The one that you feed. He said, I'm
learning. I haven't attained, I haven't
arrived, but I'm learning. I am growing in grace. I haven't
attained, I'm not far from perfect. But I'm learning that the old
man of sin, though dead in Christ, is still alive in me. And he'll
continue to rule as long as I feed him. And if I spend all my time
feeding the old man, I'll never have time to strengthen the new
man. Now look here, and I'll finish
up. Paul ended this letter in Romans 7 with a question. He
said, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Back
in Romans 7. Yep. Verse 24, wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And then
he answers that question by saying, I thank God, he's the only one
who can, see? He's thanking the one that can
deliver him. I thank God. How do I thank him? Through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Here we're back to that again.
That's what we always get back to. That's our message, that's
our hope, that's our confidence. That simply means that deliverance
is possible only one way, through Jesus Christ, the Lord. He's
our only hope. We must keep pressing toward
the mark of the high calling of God. Where's that at? In Christ
Jesus. We must keep feeding the new
man with the preaching of Christ, with the hearing of the gospel, That's what these men have done
this weekend. And that's what your dear pastor, Brother Gabe,
does weekend and week out. That's the heart of every true
gospel preacher. Necessity is laid upon him. Who
lays it upon him? God does. The Spirit of God does. God has made it necessary for
a true gospel preacher to declare the remedy for the struggle within. Now I want to end with a very
strong statement. If salvation is by God's sovereign
and electing grace, and it is, If salvation is based 100% on
what Christ has done and nothing that I have done, and it is,
if my righteous standing before God and the perfection that God
requires of me, he said it's got to be perfect to be accepted. If my righteous standing before
God My holiness and righteousness that Christ has charged to my
account, and it is. There's nothing that I myself
can do or not do to be lost. There's some people that would
say that was blasphemous. That's my hope. But if my salvation
doesn't depend on me in any way, it's all good. But that'll bring you peace, that'll
bring you comfort, that'll bring you assurance, and it's all in
Christ. You see, Jesus Christ is the
gospel. And woe unto me, and woe unto
us, if we preach in our name. Thank you for having me. First
and I appreciate your hospitality. We we love your pastor. We love
this church. Thank you.