Good evening. Let's stand together
and sing hymn number 39. Number 39. If you don't have
it written in, the third verse, the second to the last line,
the second half, after it says, this is my father's world, the
battle has been won. Jesus has died. God is satisfied. Oh, the wonders of his grace. This is my father's word. And to my listening ears. nature sings and round me rings
the music of the spears. This is my I rest me in the thought of rocks
and trees of skies and seas and the wonders wrought. This is my father's work, the
birds their carols raise, Sing like the lily white, declare
their maker's praise. This is my father's world. In the rustling grass I hear
him pass He speaks to me everywhere This is my father's world Oh,
let me ne'er forget That though the wrong seems all so strong,
God is a ruler, yeah. This is my father's world. Be seated, we'll sing hymn number
452. 452. And on that third verse there,
the first of it, instead of in pity, I like to say in wonder. I stand complaced in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, And wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Is my
Savior's love for me For me it was in the garden He
prayed not my will but thine He had no tears for his own crease
But sweat drops of blood for mine How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Is my
Savior's love for me In wonder angels beheld him And came from
the world of light To comfort him in the sorrows He poured
for my soul that night How marvelous, how wonderful And my song shall
ever be How marvelous, how wonderful Is my Savior's love for me He
took my sins and my sorrows, he made them his very own. Duke of Brooklyn took Calvary
and suffered and died alone. How marvelous! And my soul shall live. Is my Savior's love for me When
with her ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see It will
be my joy through the ages To sing of His love for me Romans chapter 7 Romans chapter
7 I think that all of us can identify
with what we're going to deal with tonight. Start in verse 7, read to the
end of the chapter. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? He says that three different
times. What shall we say then? What shall we say then? 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. But sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead. And I was alive without the law
once, but when the commandment came, sin, sin revived, and I
died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death, for sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which
is good made death unto me? God forbid, but sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. 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 I do not,
but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent under the law that is good. Now 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 to will is
present with me, but to 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, 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, 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 this
body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So with the mind, I myself serve
the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Our father in the blessed, blessed,
blessed name. of our Lord Jesus Christ, your
only begotten, beloved, glorious son, who you sent into this world,
and he came so willingly to take our place, to bear our sin, to
bear our shame, to bear our guilt, to save us from condemnation
and judgment and wrath, Save us from the law of God. Save
us from the justice of God. Save us even from our sin. And
Lord, we ask that you would enable me tonight to deal with these
things honestly, truly, and God honoring, and Christ glorifying,
and make it understandable. Lord, who is sufficient for these
things? Woe unto me if I preach not the
gospel, So Lord, enable me to speak tonight. Enable the dear
saints of God to hear. And Father, we pray for those
who are not with us through weakness of the flesh or providentially
hindered. We ask for your great blessings
upon them. And Lord, preserve this body
of believers. Bless the preachers that's gonna
come and preach in my place and in my stead. Lord, use them greatly. and cause them to be a blessing,
cause this congregation to be a blessing to them. Lord, bring
glory to yourself through this body of believers, through ourselves,
and do it for Christ's sake, for he alone is worthy of the
praise, honor, and glory, for he alone is our Savior. Amen and amen. On page 30 in our course books,
we'll sing Living by Faith. Page 30 in the course book. I care not today what the morrow
may bring, If sad or sunshine or rain. The Lord I know ruleth
for everything, And all of my worry is vain. Living by faith
in Jesus above Trusting, confiding in His great love Safe from all
harm in His sheltering I'm living by faith. Though tempests may blow and
the storm clouds arise Obscuring the brightness of life I'm never
alarmed at the overcast skies The Master looks on at the sky
Living by faith in Jesus above I'm trusting, confiding in His
great love. Safe from harm in His sheltering
arm. I'm living by faith and filled
with love. I know that He safely will carry
me through, no matter what evil be done. Why should I then care though
the tempest may blow, if Jesus walks close to my side? Living by faith, in Jesus above, I'm hiding in His great love. Safe from all harm, He is sheltering
all. I'm living by faith. Our Lord will return to this
earth some sweet day Our troubles will then all be over The Master
so gently will lead us away Beyond that blessed heavenly shore Living
by faith in Jesus above. Trusting, confiding in His great
love. God won't let us live any other
way. He won't let us live any other way. He sure won't let
us live by feelings. He won't let us live by emotions. The only way He'll let us live
is by faith. He won't let us live any other
way. I want to talk tonight about
the confessions of a believer's inability. the believer's inability. And when you go through these
verses we'll see that we have two natures, the believer has
two natures. He has the nature of Christ,
the new nature, born again by the Spirit of God, and yet he's
got his old nature with him which is called the flesh, the flesh. And he said there in verse Let
me get back over to it here. He said here in verse 7, What
shall we say then? Is the law sin? No. No. No, the law is not sin. The law
is not sin. It reveals sin. It takes sin. And so the apostles now taking
up the subject of the power over sin in our flesh, and that flesh,
when you find the word flesh, it means our own nature. Our
Lord Jesus Christ Himself said in John 6, 63, He says, The flesh,
the old nature, anything you try to do, profits nothing, nothing. The words that I speak, they're
spirit and they're life. He talks about two natures right
there. And so, he's taking up the subject of the power of sin
in the flesh, you know, our own nature. And then it's the flesh
that makes the law weak. Ain't nothing wrong with the
law, the problem's with us. That's why he calls it just,
holy, and good. And no man, no man can be saved
by the law because the law can't deliver us from ourselves, can't
deliver us from our flesh. But the law in the hands of the
Holy Spirit does not stop sin. Why does God allow us to sin?
Why does He could have stopped it just like that? to show us
first and foremost how utterly and absolutely we're dependent
upon Him for everything. You know, but what the law in
the hands of the Holy Spirit doesn't stop sin, what it does,
it REVEALS sin. It makes sin to be what it is.
It doesn't give life, it KILLS. That's why Paul said, I died.
It doesn't make men holy, it EXPOSES their unholiness. You know, We've seen that the
law cannot justify us, but old John Bunyan said this about the
law, To run and work the law commands, but neither gives feet
or hands. But better news the gospel brings,
it bids us fly and gives us wings. That's the difference of the
law and gospel. And we also, here we see, The law can't justify
us, and the law can't sanctify us, make us holy. And we see
the struggle that goes on in a believer, in their heart and
in their very soul, and it's because of the power of sin in
our own nature. We have two natures. You know,
Peter said it like this, being born of incorruptible seed, He
says, there's a corruptible seed, that's what we was. Being born
again, not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible seed. So he's
talking about two natures. There's a corruptible seed and
an incorruptible seed. And that's where the war starts. You never had a problem with
your flesh or anything about yourself until God gave you a
new nature. And then that's when the fight
started. THAT'S WHEN THE STRUGGLE STARTED. THAT'S WHEN THE PAIN
STARTED. AND YOU KNOW IT'S A STRUGGLE
IN A BELIEVER THAT IT'S IN THEIR HEART AND SOUL BECAUSE OF THE
POWER OF SIN IN OUR OWN NATURE. WE'VE BEEN REGENERATED. WE'VE
BEEN REGENERATED. CHRIST IS IN US AND WE'RE IN
CHRIST. AND PAUL SAID I DELIGHT IN THE
LAW OF GOD. I LOVE IT. I REJOICE IN IT. I
REJOICE IN GOD'S CHARACTER THAT MADE IT. But I STILL, STILL feel
my inability and my imperfection. And the apostle here proves from
his past experience that the law can't make a sinner righteous.
He tried it. He tried it. He tried the law
to make a sinner righteous. He said, I didn't even know what
sin WAS! I didn't have a CLUE what sin
was until the LAW came! And when the law came, what happened?
Sin rose up in me. It became ALIVE in me! And that
which I thought was going to be my life, that very life that
I thought was going to give me, it turned around and slew me
and told me what a mess I was, and revealed to me what a sinner
I was. And that's what he's talking
about. And he proves from his present experience that the law
can't make a saved man holy. Justification and sanctification
is in one place, and that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you
keep Romans 7? Look in I Corinthians 6. Look
in I Corinthians 6. You know, God made Christ unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God made Christ
to be all those things to us. We didn't make OURSELVES righteous,
we didn't make OURSELVES sanctified, we didn't make OURSELVES wise,
but look what He said here in I Corinthians 6 and 9, Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God." Now, watch it, "...and such were some of you. But you have been washed," In
what? "...the blood of Christ, washed by the word of God." And
you are sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ by the Spirit of God. Justification and sanctification
go together. You can't have one without the
other. And where do you get them both at? In Christ. And I want to tell you something.
This is back over here in Romans 7. You know how many times I
is mentioned in these verses that I read? thirty times. He mentions I thirty times. The
Holy Spirit is not mentioned. And why He says I? Because when
He talks about I, I cannot do anything. I being the flesh,
I being the apostle, I being saved man, I being a regenerated
man, I cannot do anything but fail when this flesh is involved. There is nothing but condemnation
and powerlessness under the law. Now look at Paul's confession. Let me look in verse 12 and go
down through here and deal with these things. Look here at what
a statement, what a confession he makes. He says, First of all,
wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and the
commandment holy, just and good. Was then that which was made
good death unto me, God for sin? It wasn't the law that that done
that to me, but sin did it to me, that it might appear sin,
working death in me by that which is good, by the law, that by
the commandments, sin, by the law of God, by the commandments
of God, might become exceeding sinful. And I tell you, and oh
my, he says in verse 14, here's his confession here. There's not a thing in the world
wrong with God's law. All it does is just point at
us and say, You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong.
You know, Scott used to say all the time, he said, When you put
a plumb, Bob, on a wall, on a crooked wall, it don't make the wall
straight, it shows how crooked it is. And that's what God's
law does, it shows us, it's the plumb line that shows us how
crooked we are. And oh, he goes on to say here
now, he said, FOR WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL. I DEALT
WITH THAT LAST WEEK. IT DEALS WITH YOUR THOUGHTS,
IT DEALS WITH YOUR ACTIONS, IT DEALS WITH YOUR ATTITUDE, IT
DEALS WITH EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. FOR WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL. IT'S A SPIRITUAL LAW. IT COMES
FROM THE SPIRIT OF GOD, IT COMES FROM THE THRONE OF GOD, IT COMES
FROM THE NATURE OF GOD, AND IT COMES TO THE SPIRIT OF MAN. And
what it does, it requires holiness in the inward parts. David said
it like this, Thou requires truth in the inward parts. That's what
he does, inward parts. But oh my, and you know, and
this is what he's talking about, the law's spiritual, but I'm
carnal, so to understand. And this is what the law, you
know, they asked the Lord, said, What's the greatest commandments
in the law? What's the greatest? He said,
Love, God. Love your neighbor. Love, on
all the law, hangs on these two things. Love. So you see, love with a
heart. Service out of love. Obedience
out of love. And that's what it says required
truth in the inward part. But he says, but I'm carnal.
I'm carnal. I'm a fleshly man. I'm a natural
man. And I tell you what, I'm sold,
I'm carnal and sold under sin. I became a slave under sin. I became a slave and sin controlled
me. You know, here's the thing, the
nature of the law and the nature of my flesh are entirely opposites. It demands perfection and I ain't
got it. IT DEMANDS TRUTH IN THE INWARD
PART, AND I CAN'T PRODUCE IT. AND ALL MY FLESH AND THE NATURE
AND THE LAW ARE ENTIRELY OPPOSITE. AND THEN LOOK WHAT HE SAYS HERE
IN VERSE 15 AND 16. I THINK EVERYBODY CAN RELATE TO
THIS. HERE HE CONFESSES HIS CONSCIOUSNESS OF ENSLAVEMENT. FOR THAT WHICH
I DO, I ALLOW NOT. THAT WORD ALLOW NOT MEANS to
approve. And oh, what I would, that do
I not, but what I hate, that I do. Self, let me tell you something,
self is unable to hinder what it disapproves of. I disapprove
of so many things in myself. How can I stop it? How can I
stop it? I disapprove of being ill. I
disapprove of being angry. I disapprove of being hateful.
I disapprove of being impatient. I disapprove of any sin that
I've ever committed. I disapprove of it. And oh my,
but he goes on to say, that which I do, I don't approve of it.
And what I would, for what I would, that do I not. What I would do,
I don't. Is there a believer anywhere
who has not thought or done that which he disapproves of? Have
you ever done or thought of anything that you disapprove of in yourself?
And that's what he's talking about, the things that I think,
say, and do, I don't approve of them. And he said, I do the
wrong, but I hate it. That's what he says, but I HATE,
I HATE that I do. I hate it. I hate it. And oh
my, I tell you what, oh my. If any believer here has not
thought or done that which he disapproves of, I do wrong, but
I hate the evil that I do. He said, I condemn my evil, I
mourn over my transgressions. And oh my, and look what he goes
on to say. Then I do that. IF THEN I DO
THAT, WHICH I WOULD NOT DO, IF I ENDED UP DOING SOMETHING AND
I SAY, I WOULD NOT DO IT, I WOULD NOT DO IT. HOW MANY TIMES DO
YOU SAY, I WOULD NOT DO THAT? WELL, I WOULD NOT DO THAT. YOU
BETTER PRAY, GOD, KEEP ME FROM DOING THAT. BECAUSE HE SAID,
IF THEN I DO THAT WHICH I WOULD NOT, I GOT TO ADMIT, THAT THE
LAW IS REALLY GOOD BECAUSE IT MADE ME TO UNDERSTAND THAT I
GOT NO POWER OVER MY FLESH, NONE WHATSOEVER. AND I'LL TELL YOU
SOMETHING, THERE'S NOT A BELIEVER NOWHERE THAT DON'T KNOW WHAT
IT IS TO FIGHT AGAINST THIS FLESH. AND WHEN I TALK ABOUT THE FLESH,
I'M TALKING ABOUT THIS OLD NATURE THAT WE HAVE. GOD, WHEN HE SAVED
US, HE DIDN'T IMPROVE IT AT ALL. He did not improve it at all.
In fact, what God did when He gave us a new heart and a new
nature, He left that old man there, and that's why Paul says,
you know, there's a war, there's a war going on, and that's what
he says. He said, It's the law, I admit
and acknowledge that the law is good. Instead of being sin
to me, it's a good thing that it made me and revealed to me
my inability to do what I'm supposed to do. And I tell you what, who
was I talking to? Anyway, there's a freewill Baptist
church, and he said, I don't want to go, I don't want to go,
all it is is motivational, motivational, always telling you to do, do,
do, do, do, live, live, live, live. But how in the world can you
live when it's left up to you? What does the law say? It says
you're a sinner. It proves that you're a sinner.
It makes sin exceeding sinful. And then we go on and say, I
wouldn't do that. And then what we say we wouldn't
do, that's exactly what we do do. And we say, I'm not gonna
do that. We do it. But oh my. I admit and acknowledge
that there's nothing wrong with the law, the problem's me. And
then look what he says in verse 17. Now, this is what's so hard
for folks to understand. Now, it is no more I that do
it. He just talked about that I wouldn't
do, that's what I do. What I wouldn't do, I end up
doing it. And that that I do, I absolutely
hate it. I hate it in myself. That's no
more I. It's not me that's doing it.
What is it then, Paul? It's sin. Sin. Singular. That dwells in me. Sin that dwells in me. Sin that
dwells in this body. Sin that dwells in this mind.
You know, God, there's seven abomination that God's hatin'.
You know what the first one is? He said pride. Pride. Any of us ever been guilty of
being proud? Feeling good about ourselves?
Oh my, that's what he's talking about. It's not me that's doing
this. It's really not. It's not my
new nature that's doing this. It's sin that's in me. It's sin. It's a nature that's still with
me. And oh my. In all the conclusion
he says here, oh my, sin dwelleth in me. And Paul's not excusing
himself. He's not explaining his FAILURES,
THAT'S NOT HIS PURPOSE IN THIS. HE IS SHOWING US WHAT AN AWFUL,
AWFUL TYRANT SIN IS WHO COMPELS HIM TO ACT AGAINST HIS NEW NATURE
AND ACT ACCORDING TO HIS OWN NATURE. ACT ACCORDING, YOU KNOW,
ALL OF US, AND WE'LL GET TO THIS IN A MINUTE, THERE'S NOT A SOUL
IN THIS BUILDING. You know why we want to go to
be with Christ? So we won't have to deal with
sin no more. Go to that place where sin no longer dwells. That's
why we want to go. And oh, he's showing, he's not
explaining his failings, and that's not his purpose. I hear
people talking about, you know, they go off and do things and
stuff like that, and they profess to be believers, and they say,
well, I just really made a bad mistake. If mistakes all we made,
we'd be in good shape. We'd be in good shape. But people,
we don't make mistakes. Now if you're doing arithmetic,
you may make a mistake in math. You may make a mistake in measurement.
But you don't make mistakes with sin. No, no you don't. And I tell you what, he's not
denying his responsibility for sin. That's not what he's doing.
He's not laying the blame someplace else or on somebody else. He's
not like Adam, the woman that thou gavest me. And Eve said,
the serpent beguiled me. And that's what, let me show
you in 1 Corinthians 15. This is what he's talking about.
You know, there's two people, and he makes this so very plain
over here in 1 Corinthians 15. And look down in verse 10. You
know, he said, But by the grace of
God I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. Now listen to this. I labored
more abundantly than they all. Listen, here's what he said.
Yet it wasn't me. It was not me that done this labor, but
the grace of God, which was in me. And that's the same thing
he meant when I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. So He's taking responsibility
for His sin. He's taking responsibility for
what He's done, and oh, my! And I'll tell you, it isn't saying,
you know, I live because of Christ. I live by the FAITH of Christ,
and He's INDEBTED to Christ because He gets His LIFE from the Lord
Jesus Christ. But yet He says here in verse
17, Now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. But now let me tell you something. Sin by itself cannot
act. Sin by itself, just standing
here, sin by itself can't act. The man must act. The man himself
must act. But sin is the influence that
motivates the act. Sin is what, the man's, Paul
said, I sinned. I sinned, I sinned. But then
look what he confesses next. In verse 18. Oh, what a confession
here. For I know, I know some things
here. I know that in me, and this is
what he's talking about, in my flesh, in my own nature, dwells
no good thing, nothing good whatsoever. In my own nature, in my own carnal
nature, thank God the flesh is not all we have. And he said,
oh, there dwelleth no good thing, no good thing in me. Oh my, I
know that. I know that. And watch what he
says now. He said, this is what, he said,
the will is present with me. I've got the will. The will is
present with me. The will to be perfect in the
sight of God. The will to never sin. The will
to always live in the Spirit. The will is with me to live holy
and perfectly in God's sight, but I can't perform it. I have
the intention. I have the urge. I have the desire. to be perfect, but I don't have
the power to, but how to perform it? How do I do it? How do I
have this perfect will that wants to honor God and live perfectly
before God, sinlessly before God, and be done with this flesh? The will is present, but how
in the world do I stop it? How do I perform it? How do I
carry it out? How do I carry it out? And this
is what he says, and I tell you, every one of us know what this
means. For the good that I would, I
don't. I don't. But the evil which I
would not, that I do. Now, now, oh my, oh my. He repeats verse 16 and 17 again. He says, now if, If I do that
that I would not, it's no more I that do it. But if I have this
desire to perform, I find then is sin that dwelleth in me. And
oh, when I would do good, I don't. I have the intentions of coming
in. and being kind and gracious and understanding and say something
good to somebody and lift somebody up and edify them and build them
up. But I don't do that. What do
I do? Let this old flesh, let this
old nature. And he says in verse 20, now,
if I do that, that I would not do. It's no more I that do it,
but again, he said, it's sin, sin that's in my own nature. Sin dwells in me. And on his,
look at this principle now, look at this principle here. He said, I, I find then a law
that I find this principle that when I would do good, evil comes
right alongside me. That's what we mean when we say
we have to repent over our tears. He says, you know, I find this
principle, when I would do good, evil's right there beside me.
Make me either feel good about it, make me think I've done something
good, but oh my, evil's present with me. Oh my. You know, what a description.
He concludes that sin, is not his master, his sin that dwells
in him. Evil, what I would do good, evil
is present with me. What is description of the awful,
dreary struggle that goes on within us? There's no more I,
but sin dwells in me. As a preacher got here one time
and he got feeling good and he was preaching, you know what
I mean? He was preaching good. He was preaching good. And he
stopped and said, boy, ain't that good preaching. He was really doing good. And then backed up and said,
boy, that's some good preaching. That's exactly what he's talking
about here. But we would laugh at that. But
God don't laugh at it. But that's exactly what we do.
We'll just, oh, we get, just bragging and going along with
somebody, and then we'll get back and say, boy, I, I did good
there. Oh, oh, what a tree of scripture,
an awful tree of struggle that goes on within us. Oh, no more,
ah, it's not us, but sin that dwells within us. And then look
at another confession he makes. Verse 21, I find in the law that
when I do good, evil is present with me. And look what he says,
I delight, I rejoice, I enjoy, I delight in the law of God after
that new nature. I don't find anything wrong with
God's law. God's holy, it's just, and it's
good. There's nothing wrong with it.
It's us. It's us. We delight in God's
law. Oh, we delight in it. We think
it's, you know, it's the right thing. You know, if men, if people
that could keep the law, if they could keep the law and really
do it, we wouldn't have to lock any door. Wouldn't have to lock
any car. We would have to, people would
be, you know, if they kept the law, I would never, nobody do
anything against anybody else. But why does people do that?
S-I-N. Dwells in us, huh? Then look at this verse. And
he said in verse, 21. And then he said, I delight in
the law of God after the inward man. My new nature delights in
God, delights in God's character, delights in God's nature. But
then he says, but I see another law. I find another law. And that word law there means
principle. I find the law in my members.
That means in my hands, in my eyes, in my ears, in my mouth.
in my flesh and my thoughts, my imagination, everything about
me. You know, I see another law in
my members, warring, there's a war going on, bringing me,
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my
members. This old body, this old flesh,
and all its thoughts, and all of its attitudes, and all of
its nature, and all of its things that just makes us who we are.
It works in our minds, and in our imagination, works in our
hands, and works in our eyes. That's why our Lord said, it's
not a man takes another man's wife if he just looks, looks,
that's a member, and just looks. And there's wars against my mind.
And the mind means the heart. The mind and the heart means
the same thing in the scriptures. He said, oh, the law of my mind,
my heart, bringing me in captivity to the law of sin that's in this
old body. In this old body. Oh, he says,
because of the principle of sin, the power of sin, by my own nature,
I do good and evil is present with me. And then, oh my, warring. And there's four laws
that are mentioned in these two verses. First there's the law
of God, God's law. In these last two verses there,
I see a law in my members warring against the law of sin, which
is in my body. The law of sin, then he talks
about the law of the mind, which is your heart, the man, and law
in my members, four different laws mentioned here, and it's the flesh you're dealing
with here. And then look what an awful conclusion he comes
to. Look what he comes to. Verse 24, after he deals with
all these things, what I wouldn't do, that's what I do. And what
I would do, I don't. And what I do, I absolutely hate
it. I have this principle in my flesh. When I do good, evil
presents itself with me. I love God's law. I've got nothing
wrong with God's law. And look what he says here. He
comes down, and after all's been said and done, wretched man that I am. I'm a wretched man to have this
struggle in me. Oh, it comes to the conclusion,
oh, wretched man that I am. Sin is here, and it roars against
men. Here's my new nature, and it
delights in God, and it loves God, and His law's just holy
and good. But here's this old fleshly nature. Oh, wretched man, that I am,
not that I was, not that I used to be, but that I am. Oh. I am. Why doesn't he cry
guilty? Because instead he cried wretched. You know why? Because the conflict
isn't over guilt and condemnation, but the indwelling power of sin,
which we can't overcome by our natural strength. We can't do
it. We can't do it. We can't do it. And all wretched
man that I am, and look here, who shall save me? Who shall
save me? Who shall save me from this body,
this body of death? Death is written on me. That's what he called it, a body
of death. That old man that he's carrying
around that would do good and can't and that wouldn't hates
what he does, he said, it's a dead man on me. Who's going to save
me from this dead man? Who's going to save me from this
dead man? Oh, my. He said, I thank God. First thing
I want to do is I want to thank God. And who are you going to
thank him for? Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Oh, thank God for the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank God that we're not going
to be in this flesh for the rest of our lives, but oh, when God
comes and gets us. So then I thank God through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. So with the mind, with the mind,
with my heart, with my soul, and that's what mind and heart
means the same thing. I myself serve the law of God. I delight in the law of God.
I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH GOD'S LAW, BUT THE FLESH I SERVE THE
LAW OF SIN. And everybody knows what Galatians
5.17 says, quoted it too many times. The flesh, the flesh,
our own nature, wars against the Spirit. In that word it's
capitalized, Spirit of God, wars against the Spirit. And you cannot
do the things that you would. You can't be as spiritual as
you wanna be, and you can't be as carnal as you wanna be. You
know why? Bam, bam, bam, bam. There's this war going on. Sometimes it's really, really
bad. Sometimes it's not so bad. But you know when that war's
gonna stop? Oh, would we go to that place
where sin and sense molests no more. Oh, my. There's not a soul
in this building that if we could, if we could, we would never,
ever, ever sin if we had the ability, but we don't. But thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ain't you glad it ended
up like that? Who's going to save me? Thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Father, oh, blessed God in
heaven, I thank you for your word. Lord, I pray that in your
sovereign mercy that you enable me to unpack this tonight, that
it made some sense. Understandable. Lord, I know
that we all have this awful struggle. Oh, we would honor you and glorify you
with every breath, with every word, with every thought, with
every motive, with every desire. But yet, Lord, this old rotten,
corrupt nature that we have, God help us. Lord, please keep
us believing, keep us cleaving. Never let us turn to the left,
never let us turn to the right. May we keep our eyes on the Lord
Jesus Christ. When we feel like we can't go
on, Lord, we have to go on. because you keep us keeping on.
God bless these dear saints of God and please meet the needs
of this congregation and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. There is a name I love to hear,
I love to sing its worth. It sounds like music in my ear,
the sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus, oh, how
I love Jesus, because He first loved me. Well, I'll see you
in a few weeks. Lord bless you.