Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
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for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. For the past few weeks, I've
been preaching through the last part of Romans chapter seven,
if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles. And this is the
fourth part of a series called The Believer's Inner Warfare. A Believer's Inner Warfare. This
is part four. This'll conclude that series.
And I'm gonna begin today in Romans seven, verse 22. That's
where I ended off last week. And Paul is talking about the
inner struggle between the flesh and the spirit. And you can look
at it this way. In every true believer, every
child of God, in everyone who has been born of the Holy Spirit
and within whom the Holy Spirit resides, there is an inner warfare,
a conflict, a struggle between doing good and sin. And the doing good there has
to be measured as God measures goodness, not as man by nature
measures goodness. In other words, the goodness
there has to be consistent with the perfection of the law of
God. Now, when we say the law of God,
we're not just talking about the Ten Commandments, we're talking
about all that God requires. It's everything that equals the
perfection of righteousness which God requires and which God provides
for His people in the person and work of Christ. But in every
believer, there's a struggle. A struggle of conscience, a struggle
between the flesh and the spirit. And you can look at it this way,
the spirit gives spiritual life to believers so that we who by
nature were spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, now we
have the spirit of life. We have the Holy Spirit. We are
spiritual people now. We have spirits. So the flesh
lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.
That's the Holy Spirit and our spirit in connection with the
Holy Spirit. So you can look at it that way.
The principle and the power of life within. But I wanted to
make this point because someone may ask this question about,
well, don't even unbelievers struggle, have struggles of conscience,
struggles to do right and do wrong? Well, yes, they do. Even as an unbeliever, going
through life, you'll have struggles of conscience. But they're not
the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. The struggles of
an unbeliever are only struggles of legal conscience. And that's all it is. Paul dealt
with this over in Romans 2, where he talked about the Gentiles
who have not the law of Moses that Israel had. This is Romans 2 and verse 14. He says, for when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, talking about the law of Moses there,
he says, do by nature the things contained in the law, that is
the law of conscience, These having not the law are a law
unto themselves. They have a conscience. The Gentiles
didn't have the two tables of stone that began with thou shalt
not kill. But the Gentiles in their conscience,
they knew it was wrong to kill, wrong to murder, they had laws.
And so he says, verse 15, which show the work of the law written
in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness and their
thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another. So yes, unbelieving people have
struggles of natural conscience conviction. But that struggle
is different from the struggle that Paul was talking about here.
The struggle that Paul's talking about here is the struggle of
the spirit against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit.
And it is known because the desire, look at verse 22, he says in
Romans 7, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Now to delight in the law of
God, the Bible says that when we're born again by the spirit,
that God actually writes his law on our hearts. The mind,
the affection, the will, that's the heart. Now you know it's
not with a literal pen and ink and all of that. But he brings
a sinner to delight in the law that by nature condemns him.
How in the world could I delight in a law that shows me all the
time that I'm a sinner? and that I deserve death and
hell, condemnation, that I am worthy of nothing but eternal
damnation. How can I delight in such a law? Well, the only way that I can
do it rightly is as the Spirit convicts me of my sin, and listen
to it, here's the most important part. and drives me to Christ
who kept the law in my stead. That's how. I delight in it as I see the
perfection of the law fulfilled completely and perfectly for
me, not by me, but for me in the glorious person and in the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is my law keeper. Galatians 4.4 says, in the fullness
of the time that God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. Christ
is my surety. My sins were charged to Him. Before the foundation of the
world, God set Him up to be my surety. and send him into the
world made under the law as God manifest in the flesh to keep
that law perfectly and die under its penalty for my sins imputed
to him. And in exchange, God gives me,
imputes to me, charges me with his righteousness. And so we
say, as Romans 10 and verse four, Christ is the end of the law,
the fulfillment, the perfection of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. So that's how I delight in the
law of God, after the inward man, in my heart, in my spirit. But let's go back to Romans 7,
22 and 23. Verse 22, for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man, That's the spiritual man, that's
the spiritual part of me that looks to Christ, and he says,
but I see another law in my members, another powerful principle, another
nature, if you will. Again, don't take that too far.
He says, 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. Now that's the flesh,
what he's describing there. I have a powerful principle of
grace and love and gratitude implanted, imparted in me by
the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. that causes me
to look to Christ and risk in Him and delight in the law after
the inward man, that causes me and motivates me to be like Him,
to try to do right according to God's standard. But there's
another powerful principle within me. There's another law in my
members, the members being the physical body, and talking about
the mind, And so he says, it wars against the law of my mind.
It wars against what I know to do right. I know what to do. And you can use so many examples
here, just like losing our tempers, things like that. Or somebody
does something wrong to us and we get angry and we want vengeance,
you see. We know that's not right. The
Bible teaches us vengeance belongs to God, not us. And yet we always
have those thoughts and feelings, even believers say. But where
do we find our relief? Well, we delight in the law of
God after the inward man. We look to Christ. We rest in
Him. That doesn't excuse our sin.
It does not promote sin. It does not cause us to give
up and say, well, if that's the way I am, I'm just not even gonna
try. No, it's a warfare. That's what I'm saying. That's
what this verse is saying. This is a warfare. If you're
engaged in a warfare, you're fighting against something, and
something is fighting against you. So the fact of salvation
by grace does not tell any sinner to give up. No, sir, you fight
the fight of faith. You war against the flesh, and
the flesh will war against you. It's a conflict, it's a continual
thing. It's an everyday thing. And somebody
might say, well, when you describe it that way, being a believer
just doesn't look like that much of a great life. Well, it's not
a bed of roses, as the song says. It's not a rose garden. It's
not an easy life. It's a warfare. And so Paul comes
to this conclusion. Look at verse 24. He says, oh
wretched man that I am. What a statement. Wretched. Do you know that's what true
believers are? We are all wretched people. going through this life in a
struggle, in a warfare. But as I said last week, what
we have to realize is this, the victory is already won by Jesus
Christ, our Lord. If I go through this life in
this struggle, and if I give into the flesh, you say, well,
you failed then. Well, I failed in that warfare,
but the warfare still won. Christ won the warfare. If I
go through this life and I struggle and I gain victory over the flesh
and walk in the Spirit, let me tell you something, I'm still
the same wretched man, still struggling, and Christ is my
victory even then. And so look at what he says in
verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death, or this body of death? Now, he's talking about the physical
body which contains the mind, the affections, the will, the
spirit and the flesh. And the flesh is often connected
with this physical body because this is the medium by which the
flesh operates. And that's why Paul said in verse
22, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. I can use
my hands for various purposes. I can use my hands to slap somebody,
and that's sin, that's the flesh. I can use my hands to open this
Bible and read it. That's motivated by the Spirit.
But this wretched body, this body of death that's dying, and
that's what it is, that's one of the consequences of sin. See,
believers have to be delivered from this body of death and give
it a new body. 1 Corinthians 15 says we have
to be changed in the twinkling of an eye. This corruptible must
put on incorruption. And so we'll have a new body.
I don't know much about that new body. We can study a lot
in the Bible and it doesn't answer a lot of questions, but we know
that it's a body that'll never die, never grow old. You won't
see the wrinkles and the gray hair and all of that. And so
we could talk about that in another message. But this body has got
to die. And when this body dies, the
flesh dies with it. All the sinfulness that resides
within my mind dies with it. And so he says, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? Verse 25 is the grand conclusion
that shows us the total victory that believers have in Christ.
Verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. There it is. My hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's what
he's talking about. I cannot win this battle, but thank God
it's already been won. Christ has already done it. And
so what's the conclusion? Well, is the conclusion that
we should come to this whole thing, this believer's inner
warfare, which shows us that we cannot attain in this life,
in this body, the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ. Is the conclusion we should come
to, well, let's just give up and go out and sin all that we
want to and don't even worry about it? No, listen to verse
25. Paul says, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind, I myself serve
the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. There's
the conflict again. He says, with my mind, I have
it in my mind, my purpose, my desire, my goal, to be like Christ. Again, to love as he loved, to
obey as he obeyed, to sacrifice myself as he sacrificed himself
in the sense of his love for his people. That's what I have
in my mind. But I cannot fulfill that completely
in this body of death because I'm a sinner saved by grace. So with the flesh, the law of
sin. Realizing that I cannot attain
perfection, attain righteousness, but knowing that in Christ I
already am. Now that may sound confusing
to some of you, but it's not. You know there's a difference
between a believer standing before God in Christ and a believer's
state in this world. Our standing before God in Christ
is righteousness. We are righteous in Christ. We have attained the perfection
of the law, not by our works, not by our efforts, but in Christ,
by his obedience unto death. And God says it this way. He
says for all that Christ has done, we're perfect in him. He'll lay no sin to our charge. The Bible, in Romans chapter
four, quoting the prophet David out of the Psalms, listen to
this in verse six, Romans 4.6. Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works. God has imputed righteousness
to me. That means He's charged it to
me. He's laid it to my account. And
He will not charge me with my sins. He charged my sins to Christ. And He's charged Christ's righteousness
to me. How do I know that? Because He's brought me to believe
in Christ and rest in Him. So my standing before God in
Christ is already completed, already attained, it cannot be
contaminated, it cannot be taken away, it's firm. And therefore, look over at Romans
eight. Now this is following up on chapter
seven and verse one. He says, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. I cannot
be condemned. I'm struck, now, as to my state,
that's my standing, and I'll go on to the rest of that verse,
just hold on. Now, as to my state here on earth, I'm a sinful man,
a sinner saved by the grace of God, a spiritual man, because
I have the Holy Spirit who's given me life, a spirit, and
a struggling man going through the inner warfare, the flesh
and the spirit, not attaining the perfection of righteousness
in anything I think, say, or do. I'm constantly plagued by
the flesh, but that's my state. I'm a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.
Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story. To God be the
glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.
And so I cannot be condemned. The evidence of that, look at
verse one now of Romans eight. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Now, what is it to walk after
the flesh and to walk after the spirit? Well, to walk after the
flesh in Romans eight, what he's talking about, is an unregenerate
unbeliever. One who's never been born again
by the Spirit. They walk after the flesh. Now
they may be religious. I was religious before I was
saved. They may have been baptized in the waters. They may have
given their hearts to Jesus, as people say, under a false
gospel. But they're walking after the
flesh. They don't just have the flesh, They are the flesh, walking
after the flesh. So what is it to walk after the
Spirit? It's a sinner saved by grace, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of his faith. A believer, a struggling believer,
one who's got an inner warfare that just plagues him or her
all the time. but looking to, believing, resting
in Christ for all righteousness, for all forgiveness, for all
eternal life, and the assurance of glory. And look at verse two
of chapter eight. He says, for the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death. Now, what is it to be free from
the law of sin and death? It means I'm not condemned. The
law cannot condemn me for my sin. The law cannot charge me
in the court of God's justice with my sin. Now you may see
me commit a sin and you say, well, that man's a sinner and
you're right, but I'm a sinner saved by grace. The same law
by which you condemn me cannot condemn me in God's court because
I'm free from the law. What does that mean? Does that
mean I can go out and live as a lawbreaker? No, it means the
law cannot condemn me. because I'm in Christ who was
condemned for me. Look at verse three. He says,
for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh. All right, the law could not pronounce me righteous because
it was weak through my flesh. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh. Christ had a fleshly body, but
he wasn't sinful. But it was like ours, and he
says, likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, or as a sacrifice
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. In his human body, Christ
made an end of sin and condemned sin as it was imputed to him,
the sins of his people, God's elect, and he condemned it in
the flesh, verse four, that the righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled in us, that is, in our stead, in our place, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now, who's
he talking about here? He's not talking about everybody without
exception here. He's talking about believers. He's talking about God's chosen
people, given to Christ before the foundation of the world,
for whom he was made surety, for whom He substituted Himself
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for whom He died on the cross.
You see, everyone for whom Christ died on that cross, He satisfied
the justice of the law for them, and they will be saved. They
will be born again by the Spirit under the preaching of the gospel.
They will be given faith to believe, Faith is the gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. They'll be brought to
repentance, because God is not willing that any of them should
perish, but that they should all come to repentance. And they
will persevere in the faith. They will continue in this warfare
by the grace of God, in the power of the Spirit, and be brought
to final glory. in Christ. And that's why Paul
says back here, I thank God, verse 25 of Romans 7. I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, what am I gonna
do? Well, with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Serving
the law of God. The only way we can serve the
law of God are right is to look to Christ, who kept that law. who fulfilled that law, who is
the end of that law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And
that involves following him, listening to him in his word,
serving him. The Bible in Romans chapter six
calls it being a servant of righteousness. Look over at Romans six, verse
17. He says here, but God be thanked
that you were the servants of sin. That's an unbeliever now. Now, believers are still sinners,
sinners saved by grace, but they're not slaves to sin in the sense
that the unbeliever is. He says, but you have obeyed
from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you, being
then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Now, what is it to be a servant
of righteousness? It's to be a servant of Christ.
And even though we struggle, Even though we are involved in
this inner warfare of the flesh and the spirit, even though we're
carnal, sold under sin in that sense, but not condemned, free
from the law. That's the whole issue because
of Christ. Even though we serve Christ, we look to Christ, we
preach Christ, we witness Christ, We let our light shine. That's
the light of Christ. That's the gospel. So that men
may see our good works and do what? Glorify God, which is in
heaven, not glorify us. We're not trying to draw attention
to ourselves. I'm trying to point you to Christ
because he is the victory over the world, over the flesh, over
the devil. And he's the only victory. He
won that victory. And we know that because He died,
He was buried, He arose from the dead the third day. He ascended
unto glory and He sat down at the right hand of the Father.
I hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's
Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.