Brethren, if you will, open your
Bibles to Romans chapter 7. I was going to say this evening
I don't want to preach to you. I just want to talk to you about
something that's particularly important. But that's not the
case. That's not so. I pray I can preach
to sinners this evening. I pray the Lord will use me and
give me the words and give me the boldness To abase man, put
man down and glorify Christ. I want to speak simply and plainly
so everybody can understand me. And I want to do something that's
very basic this evening. I remember whenever I was living
in Germany, my job was pretty intense. I was part of the quick
reaction force for all of northern Africa. We'd be ready to be on
a plane, have everything done, and that's a lot of stuff. Takes
a long time. You have to go through all those
things, get all those shots, and just as fast as you can go
through, get a wheel done, qualify on your weapon, and be on a plane
within 24 hours to go anywhere in Europe or Africa. And me and
a bunch of my friends went to go play paintball. Me and George
went off. There was a bunch of teenage
boys there, and I mean, they were putting it to us. We were
losing. Bad. And we had to regroup. I mean, we just got our tail
tucks between our legs two or three times. And we went back
in the huddle and said, boys, what are we doing wrong? This
is what I do for a living. With real stuff. Not pretend. We had to get back to the basics.
We were too far ahead of ourselves, thinking too deep into it. We
had to get to basics. I hope today I can be basic.
But what a blessing it would be for eternity bound men and
women, for their souls, if the Lord was pleased temporally,
just for what's going on around us, if he was pleased to bring
this country to its knees. That would be a great blessing. He would use it mightily, but
more especially, more especially, to bring you and I spiritually
to our knees, to bring us down low in front of Him. That's a
good place to be, good place to be. In the eternal salvation
of people's souls, is it good for us to know our sin, to know
how helpless we are, our utter unworthiness? Is it good for
us to know that? A better question might be, is
it necessary? Is it necessary for the saints
of God, men and women, boys and girls, those who Christ died
for, is it necessary for them to know their sin? I mean know
it. Do we need to choke down a few
drops of living water or do we need to be dry and thirsty and
guzzle down that water of life? Let's remember that the apostle
Paul here is speaking to those saints that were very familiar
with the law. He says there in verse 1 of chapter
7, For I speak to them that know the law. You and I know the law.
You children know the law. You know what's good and what's
bad. Paul tells us that we are freed
from the law because of the body of Christ. Because of His death,
we are dead to the law. Because of His fulfillment, we
have fulfilled the law. Because He satisfied divine justice,
we being made one with Christ, we have satisfied divine justice
in the eyes of the Father. There in Romans 7 verse 5 says,
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin 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 the oldness of the letter. We have spiritual life now to
serve God in truth and in spirit. We're not bound to serve that
letter of the law anymore, but we're bound to our new husband,
We're bound to Christ and we're willing bond servants. That means
we want to serve Him. Now concerning this law that
Paul's talking about, are we mad at it because it's an offense
to us? Do we throw it away? Do we tear
it down like a statue? Do we change its name because
it seems evil to us? Look here in verse 7, Romans
7, 7. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? Is it a bad thing? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law hath said, Thou shalt not covet. It was that schoolmaster
bringing us to Christ our teacher. Verse 8. But sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, by God's holy law, wrought in me all manner
of concupiscence. That means longing, desires,
lusts. For without the law, sin was
dead. Sin was not around. It was dead
to me. It was gone. I paid it no attention. Verse
9, 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, here's what you must do to live. That's what
it told us. I found to be unto death. I found
I could not live. I was dead in that law, for sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. My sin blinded my eyes, deceiving
my heart, and that law showed me that I was dead in sin. It
proved my death. Wherefore, with this in mind,
because of that revelation of sin, I see that the law is holy,
and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that
which is good made death unto me? Do I throw it away? Is it
gone from my thoughts forever? Do I never remember it again?
God forbid. But sin, that it might appear
sin, worketh death in me, that which is good, that sin by the
commandment might become exceedingly sinful." The more I see that
law, the more I understand what I am, my sin becomes more apparent
and I see it more exceedingly. Verse 14, For we know that the
law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. As we look Sunday
evening, that paralytic Would he have a need to be healed if
he wasn't paralyzed? Would that blind beggar call
on Christ for sight if he wasn't blind? Would that leper have
said to a master, if thou wilt, thou can make me whole, if he
wasn't covered in leprosy? That was needful. If we're given
spiritual eyes by the Lord to see our sin, we truly see our
own death. We truly see our nakedness in
His holy courts, how stripped we are. We then truly see our
need of Christ. And I mean we see a need. I don't
want a need. We thirst for that water of life.
Physically, we know right now that so many people in this current
time are worried about this temporal government. What are they doing?
What do they require? Is it unjust? And so on. But
do they not concern themselves with the government of God's
holy high command? They're more concerned about
what local politicians are going to do for them and not what God
requires of them. It's a much more important thing.
There's an epidemic of entitlement in mankind for earthly things.
And it spills over into a sense of entitlement for heavenly things.
Things concerning salvation. That's why the Lord is so particular
and gives such good instruction on how we raise our children,
how we conduct ourselves in our home. I've tried the hardest
I can through action and through metaphors and whatever them other
words are. metaphors to tell my children
that the Lord doesn't owe them anything. And this world doesn't
owe them anything. I've tried that hard. The Lord
has to teach that to them. The Lord has to teach us, don't
he? But spiritually, so many more
people, so many people are more worried about seeing if they
are saved rather than knowing they're lost. I spent some time
running a little low on water in the desert about 16 years
ago. First time I lived in the desert, we went black on water. That means what you got, you
ain't getting no more. And all of a sudden, things get
real serious. If we was out in them sand dunes on the way to
Yuma, and you say, here's a cup of water, that's it. You ain't
getting no more. You stop worrying about what
you're doing. You stop worrying about everything else. You worry
about where I'm going to get water from. So this illustration
I'm about to tell you, I heard years ago, and it was cemented
in my mind whenever I was about 3,000 miles away about to run
out of water. But a pastor's job, a preacher's
job, is to tell people about a well of water in the wilderness,
out in the desert. Stand on the roadside. There's
water here. Come get it. There's water. That desert that we live in is
man's depravity and death. And Christ is that living water.
I don't have to put it down their throats. I don't have to make
them drink it. I just tell them what that water is, where it's
at. But with that well, many will pass by. They'll keep on
going. They'll think they have their
own water. God, I'm fine. My water jugs are full. I don't
have to worry about that. I don't have to stop there. Some
will stop by for a bit, and they'll admire the well, and they'll
admire Maybe some flowers growing around it. And they might encourage
a little bit, say what a good job we're doing, telling people
about this well. That's a good work, you're doing
a good thing, good job, and then they move on. They keep traveling. But a remnant, that means a few
people, a remnant, not many. A very few elect people will
be thirsty. They're gonna be real thirsty.
Many may have trouble talking, their tongues so dry it's stuck
in the roof of their mouth. They may have trouble breathing,
their lungs are so dry they may have trouble walking to get there. But if those that are thirsty
hear of this whale, they'll knock you down to get to it. Now, if
you ever seen somebody really thirsty or really hungry, take
somebody and give them nine meals from their last one and they'll
do whatever they can to eat. It'll get violent. They will
beg, they will crawl, they will do anything to get to that life-saving
water. Believers not only understand
what sins are, that they have sins, they understand that they
are sin. That's what I am. Many have come
through these doors. Some have stayed a bit. They've
been encouraging, maybe told others that there's a well here,
but they did not have a need to stay by that well. They didn't
drink what they could and then go on to another faithful well.
Where's another place that tells me about Christ, who He truly
is, tells me the truth, that life-saving news of redemption?
I have to move. My job's moving. Can you tell
me where to go? They go dig a well at their house. They go to another
well that's dried up. One that's got poison water.
But a few, just a few here tonight, are thirsty. Just a few have
a true need. All prides out the window. Making
yourself look good. Worrying about what other people
think. It's all gone. No hindrance matters. No appearance
matters. Because there's a need and they
know it. Not just to understand it, but
know it. I wrote down hypothermia. Twice
in my life I've had hypothermia. Once I had a touch of it, another
time I come real close to dying. But before that, before I lived
through that, I taught it. I taught survival classes. This
is the signs of it. This is what it feels like. This
is what you'll experience whenever you do this. And I knew it. Oh,
I knew it inside and out. I could tell everybody about
it. I knew it good, but I was laying in a ditch one night,
about 25 degrees, I got soaking wet, and I started getting real
warm. And I was like, whew, I'm finally warming up. I'm not shaking
no more. I'm going to go to sleep. I'm real sleepy. When it was killing me, then
I knew what it was. I didn't understand it. I couldn't
just explain it. It wasn't just a truth that I
had in me. It's something I'd experienced. I knew it. Conviction
of sin always accompanies a work of grace in the heart. I wouldn't
say that it comes before a work of grace because it also is a
work of grace. When the Lord shows somebody
that they're a sinner, that's a work of grace. That's Him being
gracious to us. To truly know our need of Christ,
why He had to die for us is an almighty and perfect act of grace. To know what we are, not just
what we think we are, but to know what we truly are in God's
eyes, that is a miracle wrought in the purpose of Almighty God
Himself. A person does not come to know
Christ and then know their sin. As we are convicted of sin by
the Holy Spirit through God's perfect law, we then are made
to see the glory and grace and mercy of our Redeemer. What a
blessing that is. I pray somebody was convicted
of sin, know what they are, and then get to see Him. Oh, that's
something. But the first thing that happens
in true salvation is not seeing that Christ died for sin. The
first thing that happens in salvation is seeing the need of Christ
dying for sin. To see that need, to be thirsty.
Turn over to John chapter 16. Do we really need to know our
sin first, then see Christ's majesty, then understand that
He fully and completely accomplished all for His people? Is that the
order that I say it happens in? Or is that how God says it happens?
Look here in John 16 and verse 7. It's our Master speaking. And He says, Nevertheless, I
tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him to
you. And when he has come, he will
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."
Of sin, because they believe not on me. What sin? Which sin? Unbelief. These sin. Verse 10, of righteousness because
I go to the Father and you see me no more. Christ is the God-man. And His sacrifice on our behalf
was righteous. It was good. It was acceptable
by the Father. And how do we know that? He's
risen. It was effectual, wasn't it?
Verse 11, of judgment because the Prince of the world is judged. Anything in comparison to Christ
is lacking. It comes up short. Satan, religious
folks, grandma and grandpa, sweetest person you know, they will be judged, all be judged,
in comparison to Christ's perfection. If we are convicted of sin, convinced
of it, what we are, and we're convinced of what and who Christ
is, perfect godly holiness, what he came to do and what he accomplished.
We are convinced that judgment is for all of them that's not
in Christ. I wish I could cry tears for people walking down
the street. Every now and then I get a glimpse
of it. And I think of the millions of people I pass on the road
on a daily basis that have never heard of Christ. They don't know
him. And we're convinced that judgment,
because we see Christ as totally worthy of being the judge of
us all. all creation, all mankind. Look
at verse 12, John 16, 12. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the
Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. How is He going to do that? For
He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall
glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and it shall show it
unto you. All things the Father hath are
Mine, therefore I said, said I, that He shall take of mine
and shall show it unto you." I pray He shows us. I know He
will show His people, but we ask for it anyway, don't we?
We come to that throne begging for ourselves and for others.
The children of God are going to be dealt with by God the Holy
Spirit. He will convict us of sin, singular,
what we are. We will be shown the righteousness
of Christ and we will be shown His worthiness in all things
before the Father and before all creation. True revelation
of sin is a personal, it is real, it is humbling, and it is permanent. Every foundation we thought we
were standing on gets shook up. It gets turned to sand. He pokes
holes in every argument we have, don't he? And that conviction
of sin will remain until we are conformed to the image of Christ
in glory. My pastor used to tell us growing
up to find out what we truly are in God's sight is an experience
that in this life we will never recover from. That hits you,
doesn't it? We truly know what we are the
first time we see it. And as we grow in grace and the
Lord reminds us here and there, we forget. We get high up on
our horse of self-righteousness and pride and wisdom. He's faithful
to bring us off that horse and bring us down that ladder. But
a person that the Lord saves will find unmeasurable peace. You have true peace. It's the
only place peace can be found. But that sinner that's convicted
of sin, that's convinced of sin, convinced of it, you will never
lose that burden of knowing who and what you are. Why? Because
trials and the knowledge of what we are keep our eyes firmly fixed
on Christ alone. Every time I'm reminded of what
I am, all I can look to is Him. Every time a trial comes by,
knocks me down, I have to look to Him. That's a good place to
be looking at it. That's where that peace comes
from. The prophets and the apostles did not get past their sin. They didn't grow so much in grace
that it was something that was way back yonder in their past.
Oh yeah, I was convicted of sin one time. That was a long time
ago, but I've elevated to other things. Here's what Job said.
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has
seen thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and
ashes." He had heard about salvation for sinners, but then he saw
for himself as a sinner saved by grace, he saw the one that
came to save sinners. He experienced it. Isaiah wrote,
Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Four, how did
he come to know that? Mine eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of hosts. How did Isaiah know to bow before
the Lord in meekness of heart, to say, I have unclean lips?
He saw everything in him, and everything that came out of him
was unclean. That's the source of everything
that comes out of this mouth in here. He knew that. He was made
to know that. And he saw the majesty and the
glory of the King, the Lord of hosts. David put it this way,
wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For
I acknowledge my transgressions, plural, and my sin, singular,
is ever before me. Paul's progression was recorded
like this. He started out saying, I'm not
even worthy to be an apostle. And then as time went on, as
he grew, as he became from a child, one of those little children
to the young men, he said, I'm less than least than all the
saints. And then whenever he was a father, as John told us,
you fathers, he said, I'll show you guys what to do. He said,
I'm the chief of sinners. Aren't you glad we don't live
to be 900 years old? When the Lord saves somebody,
I mean saves them, not acts like He saves them, not tries to save
them, when the Lord saves somebody, they know what they are, and
they know what He is. And as the more we learn of Him,
the more down low we become, we see ourselves. And I've got
just that far of growth, I think, if I have any. Could you imagine
if we lived 900 years? Oh, I wouldn't be able to look
in the mirror. How could I shave? When I speak about a knowledge
of our sin, I'm not talking about people knowing one particular
sin, but who we are. What our true nature is in reality
in the eyes of God Himself. Not a handful of sins, plural,
but sin, singular, just one. If we see one outward sin or
two, if we acknowledge those things, we might think we're
alright if we could get over it. I quit drinking, or whatever. Quit smoking, or quit chewing
tobacco. Quit cussing. If we could get
over that one thing. If somebody harps in on one thing,
they're not convinced of sin, they're convinced of sins. But
we haven't got a hold of them yet. They can see what they are,
see what comes out of them, what they're the source of. But everyone
knows that we fell in the garden. What's our proof of that? We've
got hospitals and graveyards. That's true. Psychiatric hospitals,
all those things come from the fall in the garden. We know that.
But people really thirst, who really understand that I fell
in the garden. I know sinners need mercy. Do
I see that I need mercy? Do I look at that? To be saved,
we must be humbled, exposed, and stripped of our high-mindedness. We must be have our prideful
hearts broken, shattered inside ourselves, not to others, in
ourselves. Human race doesn't have a need
to tell someone else about their sin. We're in need of God telling
us about our sin. I don't need to tell man what
I've done. I need the Lord to tell me what
I am. But do we confess our sins? As David said, yes, we do. We
do confess our sins to the Lord. but not outwardly, not to other
men and women. But do we confess our true sin against God? That's
what David kept saying there in Psalm 51. Against thee and
thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Let's get back to our text. Romans
chapter 7. We have to be brought low in
our hearts all the way down Christ's feet. Let's see what Paul's experience
was. Romans 7 verse 8. But sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead. Paul knew the law and we do too.
He knew what it was. He was trained and he trained
others in it. But he's saying that before he was given an understanding
of what God requires and what he truly was, he was still nothing
but sin. He just couldn't see it. He didn't
know it. The law of God is a mirror. You
ever had something in your teeth? or something on your face. You
don't know it, do you? And you get home, and you look
in the mirror, and you go, oh, how long has that been there?
And you try to get it out, try to wash your face off or something.
It was there the whole time, wasn't it? We just didn't know.
We look to that law and start really seeing, like we read through
Matthew 5, not just on the outside, but on the inside, what God requires.
Now we see. We start seeing what we're covered
in. There in Romans 7, verse 9, for
I was alive without the law once, But when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died." Paul's saying, I thought the law was
what I was supposed to do to live, to have eternal life. Remember
what that Pharisee said in Luke 18? He stood and prayed with
himself, saying, God, I thank Thee that I am not like other
men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even as this publican over here.
I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. As Paul said, when that commandment
came, when I truly understood what God requires, and I saw
that it wasn't what I must do outwardly but inwardly, that
sin I didn't notice before, now it's made apparent. I saw that,
and then I realized that I, as Pharisee was talking about, that
I that I was talking about, It's dead. It died. I died. Men, women, and local assembly
of saints are seen, made to see how truly in need of mercy we
are when we're all brought to the feet of Christ with a humble
heart. All strife, all bitterness, all
bickering, it's gone. He takes it clean now. Henry
used to say, if I'm on a ladder and I'm a couple rungs up, I
can look down on somebody. But if I'm on that bottom rung,
if I'm at the base of that ladder, all I can do is look up. I can't
look down on nobody, can I? That is an experience most people
in this world have never had. They've never been brought down,
all the way down to cross feet. Being made to know what we are
in our hearts comes before faith, like we read there in Galatians
3. It is something that unquestionably accompanies salvation. It goes with it. If Christ never
breaks us, he'll never mend us. If he does not bring us down
all the way to the bottom, he'll not lift us up. If we cannot
understand grace without understanding a need for grace, Man's not been
lost, doesn't know the benefit to being found. If we ain't made
thirsty, we don't care for that water. We don't appreciate it.
Have you ever ate something when you're real hungry? I mean hungry,
like you missed a couple meals. You could eat a bowl of peas
if you don't like peas, they're delicious. They taste good when
you're hungry, don't they? But whenever you're full, and
I mean full, when you go out and fill up on a buffet, you
try to get your money's worth, The taste of the sweetest thing,
you can't swallow it, can you? We've got to be emptied. We've
got to be thirsty. When a man's a sinner, Christ
is good. Oh, it's tasty, isn't it? That's
good news when you hear of Him. When you're made to know your
sin. When we're thirsty, that delicious water quenches all
of our thirst, that living water. When we're starving, I mean hungry,
that manna from heaven is so filling. Oh, it's so appreciated. I pray our hearts are broken. I
pray all our pride is crushed. I pray our souls remain thirsty
for Christ. We will find Him more than gracious
if we come to Him, more than merciful, more than precious.
He'll be all we want. And when a sinner is made to
see their need of Christ, watch out. They'll knock you down to
get to Him. They'll do anything it takes.
I'll stay up late. I'll get up early. I'll work.
I'll not work. I'll sleep. Whatever it takes.
Get me to Him. I've got to hear about that again.
And they'll beg. Grown, strong, powerful men will
be brought to... kings will be brought to beg. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. And Christ will. You come to
Him. Come to Him begging for mercy,
and you'll find it. Come to Him thirsty, and you'll
be filled with that water of life. He won't come up short. He won't be found a failure.
He'll satisfy everything. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank You for
Your holy law. We thank You for that schoolmaster
that showed us what we are, how unworthy, how dead we are. Thank you for the forgiveness
of sins through Christ, Lord. Break our hearts to where we
have to come to Him. Give us boldness to come to that
throne of grace and mercy. Beg for it. Make us a choir of
you, Lord. We know you will. Add to your
church daily as you see fit, Lord, and in these trials, this
winnowing floor that's yours, give us the grace to steadfast
in Christ, stand on Him alone, not to take sides against one
thing or another, but to take sides with Christ against ourselves.
I ask to see that true need. I ask to see our true thirst,
Lord. Be with our brethren. Be with the hellers as they endure
their trial. Lift their spirits up, Lord,
and comfort them as you have. Stay with them and let them know
that you're with them. Be with our brother, Bob, and give us
the words to comfort those that are sick and those that are hurt,
those that are sad. Allow us to appoint him to be
a perfect son. It's in his name that we ask
it. Amen.