Alright, let's turn back in our
Bibles to Philippians chapter 3. Now, I'm going to preach several messages
out of the last part of this chapter because of the importance
of the subject. The title of the message is,
What is the Christian Life? You all, I know, have been confronted
with that question in some form or another. You may have even
asked it. You know, people say, well, to
be a Christian, you don't, you can't just say it, you've got
to live it. You've got to live it. You know, those who just
say it, talk about it, admire it, but don't live it, they're
not really Christians. Well, what is the Christian life?
What is Christian living? What is it to live life as a
Christian? And so you can see that subject
can't really be tackled in one one message. But I'm going to
be dealing, basically, with the last part of Philippians chapter
3. Look at verse 11, where Paul says, "...if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead." That is, if by
any means, literally, is in order that I might attain unto the
resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of the dead refers
to the last The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ on the
last day when all the Church of God, the elect of God, the
redeemed of the Lord, the called of the Lord, will be called up
unto him and be glorified. And then it will be pronounced
and manifested throughout this world who are the Lord's, who
belong to him, as opposed to those who do not and will enter
into eternal damnation." So Paul is talking about the resurrection
of the dead. Well, between our new birth and
our death and our resurrection, what's going to happen? What
are we here for? What are we doing? How do we live? What does the
Bible say about that? Well, first of all, let me take
you out of the book of Philippians. I want to ask you four questions.
Look over at Romans chapter 3. I'm going to give you four questions
here, and each question I'm going to direct you to a particular
passage of Scripture. And I want you to understand
that these passages of Scripture that answer the questions are
only representative of truth that is found throughout the
Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. For example, what I'm going to
read you in Romans chapter 3 is not the only place you'll find
the answer to this question, but it's one of the best. And
if you want to know the answer to the question, this is a good
place to start. It's a good place to go and understand,
to become skillful in the word of righteousness in the Bible.
And the first question is this, what is the gospel? That's a
good question. What is the gospel? Most people,
in this country anyway, most English-speaking countries, would
just assume we all know what the gospel is, we don't need
to hear that, let's go on. But not all do. And there are
many false gospels. Well, that question certainly
is answered throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. But
if I were going to direct someone who'd never heard the gospel
to a Bible passage to answer that question, this is where
I would start. This is where I would go. Look at Romans chapter
3 and verse 19. What is the gospel? He says,
Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God." Now, that word guilty is
a legal sentence of condemnation, deservedness of death and hell. So, first of all, we know that
the gospel is a message to the guilty. It's a message to sinners. It goes on, verse 20, therefore.
Now, how do we get out of that mess of guiltiness? How do we
get off death row? That might be a good way to ask
that question. Well, he says, therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. What is it to be justified? It's
to be declared not guilty. It's to be declared righteous
before God, accepted before God. It's to be saved in that sense. And how can that be? I who am
a sinner. You see, the gospel is a message
to sinners. Christ said it this way, the
whole need not a physician. If you're not sick, you don't
need a doctor. You don't need medicine. You
don't need a cure if you're not sick. But we're all sin sick. Some of us just don't know it,
you see. That's the problem with mankind by nature in Adam. He
just doesn't know. He either doesn't know his sickness
or he doesn't know the depths of it. And the cure for it, you
see, well, it's not our works. So this gospel is not a message
of salvation by works. Therefore, by deeds of law shall
no flesh be declared righteous, be declared not guilty in God's
sight. If you're going to be saved, you've got to be declared
righteous, not guilty. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. Somebody said the law is like
a mirror. When you hold it up, it exposes the ugliness of our
sin, of ourselves. I like this one better. And back
then when this fellow said that, they didn't have these things,
so I understand. The law is like an x-ray machine.
It just doesn't expose what we are on the outside, it goes to
the very heart. It exposes what I am inwardly. The filth and
the disease of sin, of my mind, my affections, my will, my heart,
you see. So the law, by the law is the
knowledge of sin. Well, what is the gospel? Look
at verse 21, but now the righteousness of God. Now, Paul said over in
Romans 1, 16 and 17 that the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
The gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God.
Now, what is that? Somebody says, well, it's God's
essential nature or attribute of righteousness. Well, God is
essentially righteous. But that's not what's revealed
in the gospel. If that's what's revealed in the gospel now, what
good would that do us? Would that be good news for you?
God is holy, and the gospel does reveal that, and gospel takes
that into mind. But the righteousness of God
spoken of here is to be good news to a sinner. And if it just
reveals God's holy, essential righteousness, all that would
do is condemn me just like the law. So what is it? The righteousness of God, here
he says it, by faith of Jesus Christ. It's by the faithfulness
of Christ. This righteousness of God revealed
in the gospel has to do with the faithfulness of a person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, to do something he was sent to do for
his people. He calls them his sheep. They're
called God's elect. They're called the church. So
the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ,
and it's unto all. That means it's to be preached
to everybody. This message of the gospel, there
are no barriers, no boundaries that it cannot cross. It's to
be preached to everyone without exception. Go ye in all the world
and preach the gospel. And this righteousness of God
is upon all that believe. I believe that's referring to
what Christ accomplished on the cross, the imputation, the legal
accounting of righteousness to the person of his sheep, and
it's evidenced by the, they come to believe it. By the power of
the spirit, they believe the gospel. Apart from that, they
wouldn't believe, but there's no difference. We're all in need
of it. We're all in need of it. It's just like trying to convince
somebody they're sick. They need the cure. They just
don't know it. There's no difference. Verse
23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've
all missed the mark. That is the mark of the law's
demand, the mark of God's demand, the mark of holiness, the mark
of righteousness. The best of us have missed it
and the worst of us have missed it. We're all in need of grace.
It's the gospel of grace. And he says being justified,
look at verse 24, being justified. When were we justified? Look
at it. Being justified freely, that is, without a cause, unconditionally,
there was nothing in me, nothing in you, nothing done by me, nothing
done by you, to bring this about. This is an act of God's free
and sovereign grace in Christ. Being justified freely by His
grace, when? Look at it. Through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. When did Christ redeem you? When
did He redeem me? When He died. When He bore our
sins away. And that's when we were in the
eyes of God, declared not guilty, declared justified, declared
righteous in the sight of God. And he goes on, he says, whom
God has set forth or foreordained to be a propitiation, that word
propitiation means a bloody offering that brings satisfaction. That's what that means. That
means peace with God. God is at peace with his people. How? through faith in his blood,
they're brought together by the blood of Christ and we look to
him. And it says to declare his righteousness for the remission
of sins that are past. That's the sins of the Old Testament
saints, I believe. When were Abraham's sins paid
for? Same time yours were paid for on the cross of Calvary,
when they were laid upon Christ and he took them and drank damnation.
You see, Abraham looked forward to that. Moses looked forward. to that. David looked forward
to that. We look back at the finished
work of Christ. The gospel is the message of salvation, not
based upon what you do for God, but what God has done for you.
It's the message of a finished work, sin paid for, law and justice
satisfied, righteousness established in Christ, what he accomplished
on the cross. And he says in verse, he says,
through the forbearance of God, verse 26, to declare, I say at
this time his righteousness, that God might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. That's the gospel. What is the gospel? It's the
gospel of grace to sinners. A work finished by Christ. Turn
over to Philippians chapter 2. Paul alludes to it here in Philippians
chapter 2. He's writing here to believers,
those who know the gospel. And he brings it forth here in
the book of Philippians. He says in verse 8, talking about
Christ being found in fashion as a man, that's the incarnation
of Christ, God in human flesh. He had to take upon himself human
flesh in order to shed blood for the payment of our sins.
And he humbled himself, and he became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. That's where the matter was settled
in the eyes of God's law and justice, right there. And for
that reason, God hath highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, things in heaven, things in earth, and things under
the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God. Now, what a great gospel that
is to a sinner seeking mercy. Oh, it's a gospel of grace, a
gospel of mercy. It's a gospel of love, but not
without justice, not without holiness. Christ and Him crucified. Now, here's the second question.
Look over at Philippians 3. What is a Christian? I answered
that a couple of weeks ago. And again, that's another question
that's answered all through Scripture. You could go to a lot of different
passages, couldn't you? What is a Christian? Christian
is described in so many ways, but verse 3 of Philippians 3
is one of the best. He says, for we are the circumcision. That's a symbolic term that refers
to the new birth. In other words, a Christian is
one who's not only been redeemed by Christ, he's been chosen of
God before the foundation of the world, He's been redeemed
and justified by Christ on Calvary, but he's been born again of the
Spirit. You must be born again, Christ said. What the Spirit
does in him in the new birth is the fruit and effect of what
Christ has already accomplished for him 2,000 years ago on Calvary. So he's one who's been born again.
That's circumcision of the heart. That's spiritual circumcision
there, not physical. The reason Paul used that language
is because he was challenging the self-righteous Judaizers
who were saying that physical circumcision had something to
do with salvation and being a Christian. And he says, no, sir, we're the
circumcision. Jew and Gentile who's been born
again by the Spirit, who spiritually has undergone that spiritual
circumcision of the heart, the cutting away of the filth of
the flesh, to the point that he sees his sinfulness and he
looks to Christ. Look at it. Verse 3, we worship
God in spirit. That means we worship God according
to his truth as he reveals himself. And we worship God from the circumcised
heart. Not outwardly, not in form, not
in ceremony, not just in words, but from the heart. It's a heart
worship. It's a worship of love. That's
a Christian. He goes on. We rejoice in Christ
Jesus. The word rejoice there means
to glory. It means to have confidence.
Our confidence is in Christ and in him alone. It's not in ourselves,
it's not in our denomination, it's not in the preacher, it's
not in our baptism, it's not in our giving, it's not in our
doing, suffering, dying, it's in Christ and Him crucified.
God forbid, Paul said, that I should glory save in the cross of Christ.
That's what a Christian is. And then he says in verse 3,
and have no confidence in the flesh. The best of the flesh
and the worst of the flesh, we have no confidence in. What's
he talking about? What we do or not do. What we're
unable to do. My confidence is not in anything
but Christ and Him crucified. Now that's a Christian. Third
question. What is salvation? Remember I
said last week or a couple weeks ago salvation is a big term.
We could talk about salvation in the mind and purpose of God
before the foundation of the world. We could talk about salvation
as we already have on the cross of Calvary. We were saved. But
I'm talking about here the new birth. What is the new birth?
What is salvation? Well, Philippians chapter 3 and
verse 7, here's what it is. When the Spirit of God gives
life, when the Spirit of God imparts life, spiritual life
and knowledge, faith, repentance, here's what it is, verse 7. But
what things were gained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ. Everything that I thought, before
conversion, before being born again, could recommend me unto
God, now I see as loss. You know why? Look at verse 8.
Yea, doubtless I count all things lost for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. When I saw by the power
of the Spirit through the Word what it took for God to save
a sinner in the bloody death and obedience of His Son than
I saw then. In comparison with that, all
that I used to highly esteem and value and plead before God
was nothing. All those things that I used
to think. would save me, or keep me, or earn my reward. Now it's
nothing, because I've seen Christ, for whom I suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them dumb, that I may win Christ."
You can't get any more graphic than that, can you? That's the
new birth right there. That's regeneration. That's conversion. Here's the desire of the one
who's been regenerated. Verse 9, I want to be found in
Him. That's my hope. I want to be found in Christ.
Right now, and at judgment, I want to be found in Christ. He says,
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, that is,
I don't want to be found before God in my works under the law. They're not good enough. Even
now, as a converted sinner, they're not good enough. Now, they're not. The only way
that our efforts can be accepted before God even now is as they
are washed in the blood of the crucified one. He says, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, I don't want to plead my work, I want
to plead his. I don't want to plead my righteousness, I want
to plead his. And he says the righteousness
which is of God, it's of God. He purposed it. He sent it through
His Son, wrought it out, worked it out, and we receive it by
faith that I may know Him. That's what a regenerate person
does. He wants to know Christ. And the power of His resurrection,
the power of His resurrection when He satisfied law and justice,
justified me and came out of that tomb, the power of His resurrection
in the new birth when He brings me to see and to know and to
love all that He accomplished for me. And the fellowship of
his sufferings, taking sides with Christ against the world,
against all opposition, loving those whom the world hates,"
John says in 1 John 3, taking sides with Abel against Cain.
That's right. And he says, that's the fellowship
of his being made conformable unto his death, if in order that
or by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
dead. Now, here's the fourth question. What is the Christian
life? What is that? How do we live
from then on? And I believe that from Philippians
3, 12 to the end of the chapter, you find one of the best explanations
of that in the Bible. And like I said, I'm certainly
not going to try to tackle it all in one message, because it
would just be too much. But you think about this. A Christian,
one who's been elected by God, chosen from the beginning, based
on anything in him, not based on anything God foresaw he would
do, but pure, unconditional, sovereign grace election, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb, justified by his righteousness imputed,
regenerated by the Spirit of God. Is that where it all stops? No. It goes on, doesn't it? It
doesn't stop there. The Christian life is a life
to be lived. Back over in Psalm 118, I think
you have a good description of that. When he says in verse 14
that I read in the opening of our service, the Lord is my strength
and song and has become my salvation. And then go down, he says in
verse 17, now here's the Christian life, I shall not die. But live. But live. Christ told his disciples
that. He told Martha and Mary that.
He said, if I go and do my work, he said, Lazarus, he'll live
again. We'll leave this physical existence
here on this earth, but we're not going to die, we're going
to live. Huh? You're going to live. Your death
is not the end. And that's for believer and unbeliever.
But if the Lord is not your strength and your song and become your
salvation, how will you live eternally? In damnation, what
the scriptures teach. But he says here in verse 17,
I shall not die but live, and listen to this, and declare the
works of the Lord. That's a good sentence to describe
the Christian life. And he declares the works of
the Lord. Look back over in Philippians 3. How do we live the Christian
life? What is it to live the Christian life? The Bible says
three times, it's quoted in the New Testament from one of the
Old Testament prophets, the just or the justified shall live by
faith. What does that mean? It means
the justified, those who are saved by the grace of God, shall
live looking to Christ. Now hear that well. When it says
the just shall live by faith, it doesn't mean that the justified
shall live by the strength of their faith, or the power of
their faith, or the degree of their faith. All saving faith
looks to Christ. We live looking to Him. It may
be weak faith. Do you have times in your life
as a Christian living the life that you have weak faith? Doubts,
misgivings, fears, grumblings, complainings. Huh? Who are you
looking to? Look to Christ. That's how you
live. Do you have times in your Christian life when you think
that you've got the world by the tail on the downhill slide
and everything's just working out the way you want? How do
you live then? Looking to Christ. The just shall
live by faith. That's what that means. It's
not that the justified lives by himself, but he lives by the
strength of the one in whom his faith resides and rests in. The
Christian life is living out of and upon Christ, continually
looking to and resting in him for our whole salvation. That's
what the Bible teaches. We have all kinds of opposition. We have opposition from the world.
We have opposition from men. We have opposition from the flesh
within ourselves. How do we live? looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Many times the
Christian life is described as a race. That's what Paul is doing
here in Philippians chapter 3. He talks about pursuing the prize.
Look at it in verse 12. Philippians 3 and verse 12. He
says, brethren, I count, or verse 12, not as though I had already
attained Either we're already perfect. Paul says, I've not
already attained something. There's something I have not
yet attained, experienced, and I'm not already perfect. Now,
who's talking here? One of God's elect. Who's talking
here? One whom Christ redeemed and
justified on the cross. Who's talking here? One who's
been born again by the Spirit of God. Somebody said this letter was
written about 30 years after Paul's conversion on the Damascus
road. And yet, what is he saying? I'm not yet perfect. Now, I want
to tell you something. When we compare men with men,
if anybody could have achieved it by then, it would have been
the Apostle Paul, wouldn't it? But he said, I'm not yet perfect.
What's he talking about? Preacher, am I not perfect in
Christ? Yes, in Christ. But what about
in yourself? As to your experience of it?
Not yet. That's what he's talking about.
He says, but I follow after if that I may apprehend. Brother
Bill read that means to lay hold of. It's like grasping, reaching.
You're reaching for something. He said, I follow after that
I may apprehend that for which I'm also apprehended of Christ
Jesus. Now Christ has already reached
down and laid hold of me. That's what he's saying. He's
got me in His hand, and you know what He said? He said, no one
shall pluck them out of My hand. He's got a grip on me that can't
be flinched, can't be moved. When God chose me and Christ
redeemed me, He put a grip on me, and He will not let go. I'm already apprehended by Him.
And so Paul says, well, I follow after, if I may lay hold of,
that I may grasp that for which also I am apprehended of Christ.
See, I want to lay hold of, I want to grip it too. I want to experience
it. Look at verse 13. Brethren, I
count not myself to have apprehended, I haven't yet laid hold of it.
Of what, Paul? That for which I'm reaching.
that for which I'm following after. I'm not there yet. I'm a work in progress. That's
what he's saying. Not yet finished in me. Christ
finished His work on the cross. He settled the matter on the
cross. He finished my justification. He finished my redemption. The
adoption papers were signed. But you know what? We just sang
a song a couple of songs ago. Oh, to be like Him. Oh, to be. I'm not there yet in this fellow
you see standing up here. And you all sitting out there.
You're not yet perfectly conformed to Him. You who are in Him, you're
perfectly justified already. You're perfectly righteous in
Christ. But not yet in yourself. You're
not yet glorified. You're not yet perfect within
yourself in any way. That's what Paul's saying here. Somebody says, well, I am. Well,
you're above Paul then. When you get to heaven, you can
tell him how wrong he is, or he was. Teach him a lesson. You've
got new life that Paul didn't have. Paul says, I'm not yet
there. Let's not fool ourselves. Let's
not lie to ourselves. On down in here, he speaks of
those who are reaching for the prize. Look at it. He says, brethren, verse 13,
I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto the things
which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. walking by faith. He talks about
pressing forward, pursuing, reaching, running for the finish line.
And it takes some effort. Is he talking about salvation
by works? No, absolutely not. That's already
been settled. Paul had already been saved from
that. He'd already repented of that. He lists all his works
over here as dung. He's not running in a dung heap.
trying to gather more dung. Is that too crude? That's what
he says. That's already been settled.
As one old preacher said, when God found us we were living on
dung heat drive. And he reached down, he grabbed
a hold of us and lifted us up and cleaned us and gave us a
robe of righteousness. But he left us here on this earth.
And now he says we're running. Running for the finish line.
Not in order to be saved, but because we already are. There's
the difference. Not in order to get life, but
because God has given us life. You think about that. The just
shall live, the just shall walk, the just shall run by faith out
of, upon Christ in Him crucified. And the motivation is not to
be saved or to earn God's favor or to earn our rewards in heaven,
but because we're already saved and we're already in Christ right
now, reality. We already possess all spiritual
blessedness in heavenly places in Christ. We just haven't realized
it all yet. We just haven't experienced it
all yet in our minds, in our affections, in our will, in our
experience of it. This has to do with serving God
out of love, not because of what we can get out of Him, but because
we love Him for what He's already given out of Himself. The Bible
says, look back at Romans chapter 8, look at this, verse 32. He says, now listen to this,
this is good, He says, He that spared not his own son, God spared
not his own son, for our salvation. That means God gave His best,
His Son, the apple of His eye, the Son of His love. God gave
everything, His Son, Christ, but delivered Him up for us all,
all for whom He died. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? You see, the all things come
with Him, don't they? So we serve God out of love.
We serve God out of grace. Nothing we have spiritually,
nothing we have in salvation, nothing we possess, nothing we
have of blessedness, nothing we will attain in glory. Nothing. We deserve. We deserve none of
it. We've earned none of it. But
we'll have it. We already have it in Christ.
We'll have it all in our persons when we experience that. It's
grace. And then gratitude. Thank you,
Lord, for saving my soul. And that's not just looking up
in the sky and saying thank you. That's giving thanks unto the
Lord by serving him. It's not legal fear. It's not
serve or be damned. It's not give or burn. It's not work or lose it all. That's legal fear. It's not mercenary
promise of earned reward. You're not a mercenary. You're
not a hireling. If you're saved, you're a son
or daughter of grace. You're a child of God. You're
in His family. When did you become A child of
God. You became a child of God by
divine election when God chose you, and that was before you
were ever born, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Election of grace. You were made a child of God
by redemption and justification and adoption at the cross. That's
when the legal adoption papers were signed on the cross of Calvary. You became a child of God by
regeneration and conversion. You were spiritually born into
His family by the power of God's grace. That's right. You're a child of God. God didn't
strike a bargain with you when He saved you. He didn't come
to you and say, now here's your duties and you do them and I'll
let you in. No. No. He brought you in. Made you a son. cleaned you up,
dressed you up, gave you the whole inheritance of grace and
glory in Christ, and you're a full, free-fledged son of God, child
of God, with total access into the holiest of all, into the
holy place of the Father, by the blood of Jesus Christ, the
firstborn, the preeminent Son, the forerunner. That's how. If we're fully saved, by the
finished work of Christ, if we're to rest in him, then for what
are we to run and strive for? Well, he says it, the resurrection
of the dead here in verse 11. By any means, or in order that
the resurrection of the dead, final glory, where we, now listen
to me, where we who are already perfect in Christ by his righteousness
imputed, by his blood washing us from all our sins, where we
who are already perfect in Christ, We'll be made then perfect in
ourselves. No thought of sin. No attitude
of sin. No measure of sin. Sinlessly
perfect and not able to be contaminated. Then and only then. We'll experience
within ourselves what we already are right now in Christ. That's
what Paul's talking about here. Now, this Christian life is a
high calling. You know why it's a high calling?
Well, first of all, it's a calling from God, who is on high. It's
not a call of man. I didn't call you to it, and
you didn't call me to it. God called it. God makes the call
here. Secondly, it's a high calling
because it's a calling to perfection within ourselves, to be perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ. Oh, to be like him. He says in verse 12, look at
it again, not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect, not yet glorified, not yet sinlessly perfect within
himself. You know, sinless perfectionism
in this life is a myth concocted by self-righteous men. Some believe it can be attained
by works of the flesh. Paul dealt with that in Galatians
when he talked to the Galatian believers when those self-righteous
religionists came in and said, well, you believe in Christ,
you're saved by grace, but that's not enough. You've got to be
circumcised. You've got to keep the law. Remember
what he said to them? He said, O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you? Galatians 3. You know that word
bewitched means put a spell on you, literally? Who put a spell
on you? Having begun in the Spirit. Now
how do you begin in the Spirit? If you begin in the Spirit, you
begin by looking to Christ. Because that's what the Spirit
does. Read in John. John 14-16. Having begun in the
Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh? No. Look to Christ. Some believe
that sinless perfection is attained in the new birth, but Paul had
been born again, as are all Christians, and he says, no, that's not the
case. I'm not already there. He said, look over at Romans
chapter 7. Here's what he said of himself as a born-again person. Verse 14, now the same person,
who by inspiration of the Spirit, who writes here is the same one
who wrote Romans chapter 6 when he said we're dead to sin, freed
from sin, which literally means justified in Christ. But here
he speaks of his own experience as a Christian living here upon
earth. He says in verse 14, for we know
that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. I am carnal, Paul said. He didn't
say part of me, he said I. And he goes on, he says, for
that which I do, verse 15, I allow not. I, Paul, do not approve
of what I do. In other words, here's what he's
saying. Nothing I do measures up to my desire. Nothing I do measures up to sinless
perfection. And he says, for what I would,
that do I not. I want to be like Christ. But
I don't. But what I hate that I do. I,
the same I now. Not another I, but the same I. I, what I hate that I do. What
is it he hates? Sin. And he said, everything
I do is tainted with sin. Look on, he says in verse 16,
if then I do that which I would not, if I do that which I desire
not to do, I consent unto the law that it is good. In other
words, I consent. The law of God is good. In other
words, you know what happens when people who get caught up
in their sin, they go to blame in the law, they go to blame
in God, they go to blame in others. Paul says, I can't blame God.
I can't blame others. I can only blame me. Me. And
he says in verse 17, he says, Now then, it is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now, this is a verse that
people take out of context and milk it dry trying to prove.
This Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde attitude of
a Christian. As if Paul would be shifting
responsibility. As if he's saying, well, it's
no more I, the regenerated I, but it's the unregenerated I,
sin that dwelleth in me. That's not what Paul's doing.
That's confusing. And it's just not true. What Paul's simply
saying here, he's tracing it to its source. It's sin that
dwelleth in me. I'm a sinner. And as long as
I'm on this earth, I'll be a sinner. Now, I'm a sinner saved by grace.
And the source of all of it is sin that dwells in me. But look
at, look here now, verse 18. For I know that in me that is
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's the best of the
flesh, the worst of the flesh. For to will is present with me,
to desire to do right is present. But how to perform that which
is good, I, the same I, the same I that says there is no more
I that do it, the same I says to perform that which is good,
I find, how to perform that which is good, I find not. In other
words, here's what Paul's saying. He's saying as a born again person,
I know what I ought to do, but I don't know how. Can you identify with that? You
say, well, I want to be like Christ. But I don't even know
how. Because I'll tell you something,
the first little thing that crosses me, what is usually my first
reaction? Sin. Selfishness. Vengeance. Am I right? How do you get rid
of that? If anybody knows, come on up
here, I'll sit down and let you tell us. You've got the flow. You know
better than that. How do you get rid of that? That's
what Paul's saying. The same eye now, the regenerate
eye. Paul was regenerated. And he
says here in verse 19, he says, for the good that I would do,
would I do not. The good I desire to do, I do
not. The same eye. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. The same eye. What I'm saying
is the same person. It's not another person or another
person running around inside of him. He says, now, if I do
that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. Again, he's not shifting responsibility. He's not trying to confuse it.
He's just tracing it to its source, sin, the sin of the flesh. So he says in verse 21, I find
in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man." The inward man is Paul the Regenerate. It's
not another person other than Paul running around inside of
him. It's his heart. It's the spiritual Paul who knows
what to do, who desires to do it. But he doesn't know how.
There's a battle within him. It's a war, Scripture says. But
he says here, verse 23, I see another law in my members, in
my bodily members. Another law, warring against
the law of my mind. The law of his mind is the law
of God, the Spirit of Christ, telling him to be like Christ.
But there's another principle, there's another law, warring
against that law and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man. that I am." Who? The chosen Paul, the redeemed
Paul, the justified Paul, the regenerated Paul, the Christian,
all wretched man that I am. was he asked, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Who's going to deliver me from
this sin, this sinful flesh? Huh? I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, my desire,
my heart, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh,
the law of sin. Paul's talking about himself
here. Look back at Philippians 3. That's what he's talking about. I'm not already perfect. I haven't
yet attained. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but I desire to lay hold of Christ. Now, I'm going to continue talking
about the Christian life here, but that's what a Christian is. He's an enigma. He's opposites. All of that. We can't theologize it or explain
it all, but it's there. But who's going to deliver us
from the body of this death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ,
my Lord. That's our only hope for sinless
perfection within ourselves. That is to be in ourselves what
we already are in Christ. All right. Okay, we're going
to sing, Have Thine Own Way, Lord, 388. Brother Joe comes
to lead us.