We ought to pay careful attention
and heed to what Paul has written here. He uses himself as an example
and applies these things unto himself. Watch as I read. Verse
14, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not,
but what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that
in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for the
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. Now, if I do that that I would
not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me. I find then 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, but 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. 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 a mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Look at verse 18 again. For I know that in me that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. That's our subject today,
nothing good in the flesh. Let's work our way into the text
by this manner of introduction. We know that this text catches
Paul in the middle of giving a description of an encounter
that he had with the law and his struggle with indwelling
sin. And it is almost impossible to
completely isolate the few words from our text from the larger
or the overall context that leads up to it. And me thinks that
we this morning of necessity must spend about as much time
on the context surrounding it as we do the text itself. Now, in the former part of this
great epistle, the apostle had spoken at length of two things. Number one, of sin, and number
two, of the law. And he speaks a lot about the
relationship one unto the other. E.T. has mentioned it numerous
times. And there is an especially significant
saying in Romans chapter 6 and verse 14, that sin will not have
dominion over you because you are not under the law, but you
are under grace. And the clear implication being,
if you were under the law, If you were yet under the law, sin
would have dominion over you. That the only way to be free
of the dominion of sin, not just in its condemnation when it reigned
unto death, but also to be free from its practical dominion leading
to our depraved conduct, is to become free from the law. The only way to do that is to
become free from the law. Or, as Paul puts it in the first
part of Romans chapter 7, to become dead to the law by the
body of our Lord Jesus Christ. But first of all, let's consider
some of the connections that Paul makes between the law and
sin in his writing. We'll scan back over this particular
book first, and in chapter 4 and verse 15, he said, the law works
wrath. But where there is no law, there
is no transgression. In Romans 5 and verse 13, sin
is not imputed where there is no law. He said in chapter 5
and verse 20, moreover, the law entered that the offense might
abound. When the one sin of Adam became
mini transgression. There's an amazing statement
in chapter 7 and verse 5 where Paul speaks there of the motions
of sin, but look, which were by or through the law. Now let's note this word motions
here in Romans 7 and 5 is some 16 times in the New Testament
out of the Greek. This is the only time at least
in King James that it is translated motion. Most often the word is
translated suffering or affliction And Vine's dictionary gives it
the meaning of suffering or a passive emotion, from a root word meaning
passion, or concupiscence, or affection, or lust. And Paul
identifies this as being the motions of sin. Now, rather than subdue them,
the law, rather than subdue them, rather than suppress them, rather
than smother them out, the law actually irritates and agitates
the passions of sin when they're brought to bear upon a man. For example, hear what Paul says
of his own experience with the law, and now we're in that section
from verse 7 to verse 13. Let's look at them. In the 7th
verse of Romans chapter 7, Is the law sin? God forbid. I had
not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Again in verse 8,
Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscent,
for without the law sin was dead." Again, in verse 9, I was alive
without the law once. But when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. In verse 11, for sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it slew me. Now, all of these statements
and more linking sin and the law together. Where there is
law, there is sin. Where there is law and one is
under law, they will be under the dominion of sin. You will
notice that Paul is careful to say, even though this is true,
yet the law itself is not sin in verse 7. In fact, the law
is, in verse 12, holy and just and good. And again, in verse
14, he says that the law is spiritual. Now, at the same time, as John
writes, defining sin to be a transgression of the law, 1 John chapter 3
and verse 4, and Paul even tells the Corinthian assembly something
that has always seemed amazing unto me. In 1 Corinthians chapter
15 and verse 56, the apostle writes, the strength of sin is
the law. And we need to understand that.
The strength of sin is the law. Thus, Paul speaks of the believer
as having undergone a dual death, and both of those deaths are
in connection with Christ and His death upon the cross. Number one, we have been made
dead under sin. Number two, we have been made
dead under the law. Dead under sin. Romans chapter
6, 1 through 13. They that are dead under sin
cannot live any longer therein. Secondly, we are dead to the
law, Romans 7, 1 through 4, that we might be married unto another,
even unto him who has died and is risen again. Now, I tell you,
there is no secret about it. There has always been a very
strong contention and disagreement about the middle part of Romans
chapter 7. Arminians generally holding to
one opinion and Calvinists holding onto another. And the question
is, or the point of contention is, whether Paul is describing
one as regenerate or unregenerate in these passages of the scripture
in 7-13 and 14-25. Now, when considering this section,
it seems best if we make a division. that we consider verse 7 to verse
13 as one half of it and verse 14 to verse 25 as the other half. Then we also notice that Paul
uses himself as an example and that he speaks in the first person,
I and me, and then he changes tenses from verse 14 down to
the end of the chapter, speaking in the present, or rather in
the first person, I and me, and then from past tense, in verse
7 through 13 to present tense in verses 14 through verse 25. And it seems that verses 7 through
13 are to answer an objection or some wrong conclusion that
one might draw from his statement in verse 5 that the law stirred
up the motions of sin in us when we were in the flesh. And while in the flesh, the law
stirred passions of sin, working death. So Paul meets the objection. Does this mean that the law is
sin? Does this mean that the law is
sinful or that the law is on the side of sin? Paul's patent answer? God forbid. Is the law the cause of sin? Nay. God forbid. And the apostle illustrates what
he means by his own experience, saying, it was the law that brought
me under the conviction of sin. I had not known sin, except the
law had exposed it in me. Now, we remember that Saul slash
Paul once considered himself blameless before the law while
he lived a fair, cynical life. Philippians chapter 3 and verse
6, touching the righteousness of the law, he said, blameless. And yet when the law came, in
its spiritual way, it found sin in him, and it slew him, and
it worked death in him. Paul has already said in Romans
3 and verse 20, by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now, please
note, Paul is speaking not of the ceremonial law. He's not
speaking at all of that law, but he is speaking of the marvel
law, and this is clear from what he says in verse 7. Thou shalt
not covet. This slew him. He found out that
the law forbids even sinful thoughts and desire. And as John Murray
wrote, Apparently, covetousness was the last vice of which Paul
suspected himself. For after all, he was not an
idolater, he was not an adulterer, he was not a thief, he was not
a Sabbath desecrator. But alas, the law shot a fiery
dart into him when he thought all was well, hitting the target
and striking a nerve. Then, in verse 14 to verse 25,
the apostle describes his personal experience with remaining sin
or indwelling sin in him after his conversion unto God. Now, in this study, we have no
time to argue the question at length whether Paul speaks from
the standpoint of being a regenerate or an unregenerate person. We have done so before. Suffice
it now to say, the holiest saint upon the earth, The most devoted
Christian in the world could sign his name to this confession
of Paul and say a hearty amen. So let us repeat. He speaks in
the present tense and he speaks of himself. He found that while
the law was holy, He was carnal that is he was fleshly and even
sold Under sin, but not in the same way as we read of Ahab in
first Kings chapter 21 and verse 20 He found that when he would
do good or he had good intention and desire But he found that
when he would do good Evil was present. In fact, he found it
in as a law, that when he would do good, evil would rise up against
that good in verse 21. And though he delighted in the
law of God after the inward man, yet he saw another or a different
law warring against the law of his mind and bringing him into
captivity to the law of sin which was in his member. He did not
only do evil, and he did not always do evil, but he found
it always present, and operating in him with the regularity of
a law, confessing that sin dwelt in him." In verse 17 and in verse
20 here of Romans chapter 7. Evil was present, verse 21, so
much so that in verse 24 he cries out, O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from this body of death? Now, let's focus
on verse 18 and the words that the apostle said, for I know
that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. Nothing good. Now, there's some
connection as noted by the word far. Far, I know that in me,
that is, in my flesh." And this word for requires us at least
to look back to verse 17, which is then an inference that has
been drawn from the preceding verses describing the conflict
in him and the contrary actions that he found in himself. Verse
17 said, It is not me. No longer I that do it, but sin
that dwells in me. Notice that he distinguishes
between his person or ego that delighted in the law of sin and
sin that dwelled in him. However, this is not offered
as an excuse for doing what he would not, but as a reason why
he did so. That when he sinned, it was not
from the impulse or prompting of the new man or the spiritual
man that dwelled within him. But it was because sin yet dwelled
in him. And in verse 18, He confirms
what is said in verse 17, for I know that in me, in my flesh
dwells no good thing. The words are emphatic. I know. I know from first-hand knowledge
and I know from first-hand experience. I know assuredly and beyond any
doubt whatsoever. Now, let's notice a distinction.
Calvin called it a correction, which Paul makes here in verse
18, if you're looking at it, to disavow any personal goodness
in him, not content to say, I know in me dwells no good thing, but
he adds this, in my flesh dwells no good thing. I know that in
me, as to the flesh, no good thing dwells as far as the endowments
of nature. In me as a natural man, is no
good thing, and I know it. Calvin wrote this on this passage. He checks himself here, lest
he insult the grace of God that had come and worked in him. For he was a regenerate man.
He had been given grace. The Spirit of God dwelled in
him as did the Word of God. So he is not denying the good
work of grace that was going on in him, but he shows exactly
as the Lord said in John 6 and verse 63, the flesh profits nothing. So where there is a contrast,
it is the spirit that quickens. The flesh profits nothing. That verse in John 6 and verse
63. Now, at this point, it will better
help our understanding, I think, of Paul's meaning if we take
the time to consider the various meanings and applications of
the word flesh. Flesh is one of those words in
the New Testament particularly, that is not used in any one sense
meaning. We cannot make it mean one and
the same thing every time that we see it. It does not mean the
same thing where it appears in every place in the Scripture, and therefore
the meaning must be determined by the context in which it is
used. As an example, there is a trio
of words used in the New Testament of which the same thing is true. They do not mean the same thing
every time that we see them. And those three words are, and
there might be more, those three words are world, law, and flesh. Armenians are fond of saying,
look, world means world. Yet it has several meanings and
application in the scripture and from the same Greek word. Paul uses the word law in different
ways, especially in Romans 6 and 7 and 8, and mostly from the
same word. So it is with the word flesh.
Sometimes It means the natural body. Sometimes it means food
or meat for the body. Sometimes it means nationality. Other times it refers to the
sinful nature. Sometime to mankind, as in Genesis
6 and verse 12, all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And at times, it is a description
of the incarnation of the humanity of Christ. John 1, 14, the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. Same word Paul uses of himself
in chapter 7 and verse 18 In my flesh dwelleth no good thing,
nothing at all. Now, surely there are none that
are Bible believers or Christian that would say of Christ what
Paul said of himself, that in his flesh dwelled no good thing. For our Lord was the God-man
incarnate, impeccable, and without sin. So which of these meanings
then does Paul have in mind in saying, in my flesh dwells no
good thing? Linsky wrote that in the Greek
it would be good does not dwell in my flesh. How do we take this? What this word flesh that we
see here. Certainly, he's not referring
to his fleshly body. He's not referring to his nationality
as being a Jew after the flesh, nor is he speaking of flesh good
for food and that might be eaten. Gil called Paul's flesh his carnal
self, and the old man that was in him, as refers to the limiting
clause that Paul adds, that is, in my flesh. Now, before we proceed
with Paul's very humbling confession, let's recall what the Lord told
Nicodemus as he made a distinction to the ignorant Jewish rabbi
in John chapter 3 and verse 6. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. Here is a wonderful contrast
between the two things. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. Now this flesh, the Puritan Thomas
Goodwin called the corruption of nature, which passes upon
all by natural generation. That flesh begats in its own
likeness and after its own kind, as we read in Genesis. The flesh
can only begat flesh. It can rise no higher in its
own strength or ability. It will only act and think in
accordance with the fleshly desire. Now it might be in our mind that
Paul may well be the last person that we would expect to hear
say, in me, in my flesh, is nothing good. Nothing good dwells. For notwithstanding all that
he had been before the time of his conversion, he was called
personally by Christ in Acts chapter 9. He had received divine
revelation of the gospel. He at one time was caught up
into the third heaven. He'd made a minister of the Gentile. He had worked the signs of an
apostle in his ministry. And his confession of carnality
and fleshly bankruptcy is not to be explained away by referring
it to the time preceding his regeneration and conversion. For he says this as one who delighted
in the law of God after the inward man, while with the law, or with
the mind, he served the law of sin. With the mind he served
the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. I'll get
it right in a moment. Now, let's hone in a little bit
more. Focus in a little sharper on
this thing that Paul calls flesh in his writing, and so do others. Thomas Goodman described the
flesh, quote, as a corruption or bias in the nature of man,
unquote. That is, flesh in this sense
of the word. Even the corruption of nature. If we remember the words of our
Lord in speaking of the necessity of the new birth to Nicodemus,
that the subject there is the new birth, and the necessity
of the new birth is because, John 3, 6, that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. It cannot see, it cannot enter
into the kingdom of God. That born of the flesh, flesh
is. That thing, that one which is
born as a partaker of the nature of the begetter. and it is not
to be restricted to the corporal or the material body. For even
if one is born into great wealth or born into nobility or privilege,
yet are they but flesh in the sight of God. They will never
rise any higher by their own efforts, if born into a famous
family, yet are they still stained with the corruption of sin. On the other hand, that which
is born of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is spirit, so that the
fruit of the sovereign operation of the Holy Spirit in regeneration
is a spiritual life. It is the creation of a new man. See how most versions of the
scripture capitalize the first spirit in John 3, 6, but not
the second. For as Gil said, the first spirit
there is a reference to the Holy Spirit, the author of regeneration
and sanctification, and the second spirit refers to the internal
work of the grace of God in the soul, and it brings forth the
spiritual man and spiritual work. And again, the words of the Lord
in John 6, 63, the flesh profits nothing. It is the spirit that
quickens. Now, the flesh and the spirit
are antagonistic one under the other. They are opposites, and
they lust and fight and strive against one another, as set forth
by Paul in Romans 8, 1 through 13, but particularly in Galatians
5, 16 through 26. Paul says, to have the mind of
the flesh is death. The flesh and the spirit strive
or fight or lust against each other. And if you look there
in Galatians 5, the works of the flesh are partially listed
there in verse 19 through verse 21, and the fruit of the spirit
in verse 22 and in verse 23. I take it with Goodwin, several
others, that spirit here in Galatians 5 and verse 17 is not the Holy
Spirit, but the spiritual man, and yet the flesh still fights
for mastery. But the spiritual man fights
back, or struggles back, or strives back. Paul described this so
well. In Romans chapter 7, the flesh
has lost its dominion and strives to bring the saint again to walk
in fleshly way. But the spirit pushes back, the
spirit strives back. And we need to take note of that
statement in the heart of Galatians 5 and verse 17. And these are
contrary one unto another. Marshall's interlinear has rendered
it this way. For these each other opposes. That is, they are opposed one
to the other. There is no common ground to
be found between them. There's no place of agreement. There is what John Eady called,
quote, reciprocal animosity, unquote, which again exists between
them. For the two, flesh and spirit,
are contrary. Again, exists between them. For they are opposite and contrary. One strives against the other
and the other strives back. When the saint wills to do good,
evil is present. If he wills to do evil, then
the spiritual resist and lust against that. Whenever he would
do cause, whatever he would do, causes a conflict in the individual. It is a warfare, if we may use
that term. And we might caution here, lest
some people mistake their experience, or in some ways, some ways, to
some degree, the conflicts of conscience, natural conscience,
and the work of the law written in their heart, described in
Romans 2, 14 and 15, might be mistaken for some for the warfare
of grace. An unregenerate man might say,
I have those feelings in me. I ought to do something. When
I don't, I feel bad. I ought not do this. And when
I do, I feel bad. And so one might mistake that
for the warfare of grace in a spiritual man. But before conversion, only
the natural conscience we have to fight off sin. After regeneration,
we have the spirit dwelling and the grace of God that works mightily
in the children of God. So the apostle said, in my flesh
dwells no good thing. There is in it what Thomas Goodwin
called a vacuity of good." In Philippians 3, 3 through 7, Paul
said, we have no confidence in the flesh, meaning there his
Jewish descent and his external privileges and his religious
background. Paul said we have no confidence
in that. We are the true circumcision,
the circumcision of the heart, and have no confidence in the
flesh. If any, Paul said, any had a
warranty for trusting in the flesh as to its advantage, it
was Paul. And he sets that out in Philippians
3, 4 through 6. He yet comes to the conclusion,
I count it but dung, I count it but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ and the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Sometimes we sing that hymn that
has these words in it, For nothing good have I whereby thy grace
to claim. Nothing but Calvary's land. Paul, therefore, came to count
his Judaism lost for Christ, and he had no confidence in it,
none whatsoever. But he had the true circumcision,
not of the flesh, but of the heart. So in that sense, he had
no confidence in the flesh, nationality, earthly religion, outward ceremonies,
and that kind of thing. I close by asking you again,
could not we all sign our name to the confession that Paul has
made? For this is the experience of
every child of God. When he would do good, evil is
present. The evil that he would not, he
does at times. But thank God, not being under
the law, he or she is not under the dominion of sin. In us dwells no good thing. In ourselves, in us separated
from the grace of God and the regeneration of the Spirit is
nothing good. Only that is good. what God has
worked and is working in his people. But as to the flesh,
there is nothing good in any of us.