Welcome to 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. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
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now for today's program. Welcome to our program, I'm glad
you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm dealing with Romans chapter seven, beginning
at verse 14, but I've been giving some background on this, talking
about the believer's inner warfare. And we're talking about a true
believer, one who's been saved by the grace of God, the inner
warfare of a believer concerning sin, fighting sin. the warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. I'll show you that in just a
moment. But last week, I started on this message. If you didn't
hear last week's message or watch it, get a copy of it or go to
our website and order and watch it or listen to it on the website.
I'm giving some background on what Paul's saying here. He mentions
this, look at verse 14 of Romans 7. For we know that the law is
spiritual, that's the law of God, which reaches the heart.
which gives a, it's against not only the acts of sin, the deeds
of sin, but also the thoughts, reaches the heart, and I'm gonna
show you some background on that today. He says, but I am carnal,
that's fleshly, I'm still, even as a believer, a sinner saved
by grace, even as a spiritual person, I still am carnal, I
still have to deal with the sinful flesh. sinful human nature, so
much so that I'm sold under sin, he says, like I'm a slave to
it. I can't get away from it. I can't rise above it. And he's
going to describe that in Romans 7, 14 through 25. But I wanted
you to have some background on this before you go through those
verses. And I talked about how here, Paul says, I'm a slave
to sin, basically sold under sin while in this flesh. And of course, The Bible teaches
that believers are in this sinful flesh, and understand now, when
we talk about sinful flesh, we're not talking about just the human
body itself, because Christ had a human body. He was made of
the seed of David according to the flesh, but he was not sinful
at all. There was no sin in him, no sinful
thoughts or sinful corruptions in him. But in us, there are. And even in believers, when we're
saved by the grace of God, we're set free, legally, in justification,
and spiritually, in the new birth, or what we might call sanctification
of the Spirit, being set apart by the Holy Spirit under the
preaching of the gospel. Wherein we're born again by the
Spirit, we're given spiritual life. were raised from the dead
spiritually. And I was dealing with that up
here in Romans 7 and verse 4. Now look at verse 4. Paul writes,
wherefore my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by
the body of Christ. Now what is it to be dead to
the law? It means that the law cannot
condemn us. And I dealt with that last week
over in Romans 8, verse 33, where the apostle writes, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. In other words, God has justified.
What does that mean? It means he's forgiven all of
our sins based on a just ground. the blood of Christ. He's declared
us righteous in his sight, based on a just ground, the righteousness
of Christ, imputed, charged, accounted to us. And he goes
on in verse 34, he says, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ
that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Over in
Romans eight and verse one, there's therefore now no condemnation.
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Now, who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? Who is, back here in Romans seven,
verse four, who is dead to the law by the body of Christ? That
refers to any sinner whom God sent Christ to die on the cross
for. When he says God's elect, he's
not talking about everybody without exception. The death of Christ
on the cross was no blanket pardon to the whole world if they will
do their part. No. He died for his sheep. He died for the elect. Now, how
do I know if I'm one of God's elect? Well, over in Romans 8,
1, it says there, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. What is it to walk after the Spirit? It's to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ by God-given faith. For by grace you're saved,
through faith, that not of yourselves, the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? A person who goes through this
life in unbelief and dies in that state is a person who has
always been under the sentence of God's wrath. And they're not
elect, they're not one of his sheep. He said, my sheep hear
my voice and they follow me. I know them and they know me,
he said. They'll never perish. I quote John 6 and verse 37 all
the time. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, Christ says, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. I was talking to a fellow one
time who didn't like the doctrine of election. He says it was unfair. And I told him, I said, well,
read Romans 9. Paul answers the question there. If you think
it's unfair for God to choose his people, read Romans 9. There's
your answer. That's the only answer you'll
get from scripture. But the fellow told me, he said, well, he said,
I've got it figured out. He said, when I get to heaven,
I'll see over the gate of heaven a sign that says, whosoever will,
enter in. Well, the Bible does say whosoever
will. Says it right here in this book.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The problem is, is that man by nature, you and me by nature,
that is as we are born into this world spiritually dead, we will
not if left to ourselves. If salvation were left up to
you and me of our own wills, which people say free will, but
that's a misnomer. If salvation, the Bible teaches
this now, if salvation were left up to you and me, we would not
enter in. But the fellow said, he said,
the sign says, well, whosoever will enter in. He said, when
I enter in, I'll look back and the sign on the back says, chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. I said, well, all
that's true. If you're willing to come in
to God's way of salvation, God has made you willing. That's
right, that's what he's done. And you were elect before the
foundation, but you don't have to wait till you get to heaven
to read the sign up here. Read it right here in this book.
It's right here in God's book. You don't have to wait till then.
And what he's saying is, well, when I read it in this book,
I'll reject it, but when I get to heaven, I'll accept. My friend,
that's not scriptural. That's a pipe dream that that
man had. But look at Romans 7 and verse
4. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. I'm justified
before God, forgiven of all my sins, righteous in his sight,
not because I believed, not because I'd done good, but by the body
of Christ, by His death on the cross. There's the ground of
my justification. There's the reason I'm forgiven.
It's not because I believed or I repented. I have believed and
I have repented, but that's the fruit of Christ's death, not
the cause, not the ground. That's the fruit of my salvation,
not the cause or the ground. And verse four, he goes on, he
says, that you should be married to another, that's marriage to
Christ, that's union with Christ by faith in him, even to him
who's raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God. And that fruit unto God is the
fruit of the Spirit that's listed in Galatians chapter five. Verse
five of Romans seven, he says, for when we were in the flesh,
now in the flesh there means unregenerate, an unbeliever,
spiritually dead, spiritually depraved. He says the motions
or the passions of sins, which were by the law, did work in
our members to bring forth fruit unto death. And the passions
of sins there has to do with any activity that we performed
and did sincerely, morally, as lost people, unregenerate people,
there were nothing but fruit unto death. Even the best, even
our religious activity. Paul wrote about that in Philippians
chapter three. He said, before I was converted,
before I saw the glory of Christ, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised
the eighth day, tried to keep the law, But he said, when I
saw the righteousness that God requires that can only be found
in Christ, I counted all that but dung that I may win Christ
and be found in him. So when you see the motions of
sin, don't just think about the immorality of people, think about
the religious efforts. Remember Christ said in Matthew
5 20, accept your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Now having said all of that,
we need to understand that even as justified, set free legally
by the blood of Christ, by His righteousness imputed, and even
though liberated, set free by the Spirit in new birth to be
brought to see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ and believe on Him, we are still in this life, If we're
true believers, sinners saved by Christ, we are still sinners
within ourselves. And we are to do our best to
obey Christ and to follow His word and to be the best we can
be, but we can never rise above our sin in the sense of attaining
the perfection of the law that can only be found in Christ.
That's what I'm telling you. The best that you can do will
always come short of perfection that can only be found in Christ.
Now, that's what Paul's talking about in Romans 7, 14. For we
know that the law is spiritual. Now, somebody says, well, I'm
gonna do my best to love everybody. Well, do your best. But I'm here
to tell you that even if you are a believer, Even if you are
a sinner saved by grace, your best is still not good enough
to make you righteous. Your best is not good enough
to secure your place in heaven. Your best is not good enough
to make you holy. I'm telling you. But I'll tell
you whose best is, His best. Christ's best is good enough.
And He's my hope. He's my savior. He's my surety. He's my substitute. He's my redeemer. He's my mediator. He's my advocate. He's my Lord. My hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not
trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On
Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
Should I do my best? Absolutely. Why? out of grace
and love and gratitude to God for giving me all spiritual blessings
and heavenly places in Christ Jesus? Should I look to my best
to be my hope? Absolutely not. Should I depend
upon my best to assure me of my salvation? No. Where am I
gonna find assurance of salvation? Where am I gonna find the comfort?
the surety of salvation. Hebrews 12, two, looking unto
Jesus, salvation, the author and finisher of my faith. Look
unto me and be you saved, all the ends of the earth, he said.
And so Paul says this in verse 14, for we know that the law
is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. Now, what are
you talking about, Paul? Look at verse 15. For that which
I do, I allow not. What are you talking about, Paul?
What are you doing that you don't approve of? I'm still falling
short of the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in Christ.
I want to be like Him. Paul says, for what I would,
what I want to do, that do I not, but what I hate, that I do. Paul says that in having grown
in grace and in knowledge of Christ, I hate the fact that
my love still falls short of perfection, my obedience still
falls short of perfection, my sincerity falls short of perfection. So where's your hope, Paul? Where's
your assurance? In Christ. Do you understand
that? That's what people by nature
do not understand and don't want. People by nature wanna feel good
about themselves based upon what they're trying to do. That's
what it is. Somebody asked me one time, said,
do you think you've done enough? And I said, enough for what?
Enough to make myself righteous? No, but Christ has and he's my
hope. To wipe away your sins? No, but
Christ has and he's my hope. And so Paul writes, look at verse
16. Paul says, if then I do that which I would not, I consent
unto the law that it is good. Now what he's saying here is
the fact that I don't attain and cannot yet reach the perfection
of the law that can only be found in Christ, it's not the law's
fault. Somebody might come along and
say, well, it's not my fault, God's just requiring too much.
He's being unreasonable. Oh no, friend. God cannot require
anything less than perfection. Now why? Because He's holy. He's just. He's righteous. For God to accept anything less
than perfection would be to deny Himself. He's God. But you see, that's not unreasonable
because God has provided the way. of righteousness that can
only be found in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God, manifest
in the flesh. He's the only way. Christ said,
I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man, no sinner,
man or woman, can come to the Father but by me. Without Christ, there's nothing
but condemnation and death. That's what he's saying. And
so he says, if then I do, verse 16, that which I would not, I
consent unto the law that it is good. The law of God is good.
There's nothing wrong with the law. The problem is me. Somebody asked an old theologian
one time, said, what's wrong with the world? And he just looked
at the, it was a reporter, and he looked at the reporter and
he said, I am. I'm wrong with the world. What
he's doing, he's admitting his sinfulness. What's the problem
with this world? We are sinful people and we can't
rise above that. That's why we need salvation
by grace. That's why we need Christ. That's
why we need mercy. If we could do anything about
it, we wouldn't need him. That's why Paul said in Galatians
2.21, if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in
vain. What does he mean? Christ came
to bring the law, to bring the perfection of the law. If we
can do that by our obedience, our sincerity, our efforts, then
he died in vain, but he didn't die in vain. Now, let me say
this before we go any further in Romans 7. What Paul is describing
here is a spiritual warfare, the believer's inner warfare
between what the believer knows to be right as measured by Christ
and what he knows to be wrong as measured by Christ. And this is a spiritual warfare.
Now there are people who look at these verses And they say,
well, Paul's describing what he was before he was saved. Oh,
no. Paul's talking about a spiritual warfare here. In fact, he says
in verse 21, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. That law is the spirit of life,
which no unbeliever has. And if you look over in Galatians
chapter five, Paul describes it here also. He talks about
believers here in Galatians who are not acting the way they should
act. They're doing things, arguing with each other. He calls abiding
and devouring them. Not doing what they should as
loving the brethren. And he says in verse 16, this
is Galatians 5 and verse 16, he says, this I say then, walk
in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
You see, Believers have the presence of the Holy Spirit within, who
constantly focuses their attention on Christ and the Word of God,
motivating them by grace, love, and gratitude to do better in
all areas of obedience. That's the Holy Spirit's motivation
and power and energizing. But we also have the lust of
the flesh. the desires of the flesh. We
have the Spirit of God who has given us a new spirit, that the
Spirit of life within, knowledge and faith and repentance, perseverance,
but we still have sinful desires, fleshly desires, unholy, unlawful
desires, selfishness, hatred, He told the Colossians, he said,
stop hating each other, love one another. See, we as believers
still have to be told those things. We have to be motivated. And
inside of us, there's a warfare. He says in verse 17 of Galatians
5, for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit. Whatever the Spirit
of God is motivating me to do by the Word of God, My old sinful
flesh. Some people call that an old
nature and a new nature. And that's okay if you don't
take that too far and try to rationalize it as many do. But
he said the flesh, my own sinful desires, lust against the Spirit. When the Spirit motivates me
to love God perfectly and love my neighbor as myself, so many
times my own selfishness enters in to corrupt it, my efforts
to love God perfectly. and my neighbor is myself. Like
Paul, what I want to do, I can't do because of my own self. I'm
the problem. That's what he's saying. Oh,
I'm not blaming on others in certain things, you know, trying
to justify myself, but I'm the problem. And if you're a believer,
you're the problem too. He says, the flesh lusteth against
the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. Thank God we have
the spirit if we're believers. Because if we didn't have the
Holy Spirit within, We'd be overtaken and consumed by the flesh, and
that would mean we'd be lost, spiritually dead. He said these
are contrary to one another. These aren't compatible. The
Holy Spirit, the new life that He's given us, and the fleshly
nature, as people want to call it, and that's fine, they're
not compatible. Within every believer, there's
a warfare. There's a conflict. You see,
the believer's inner conflict, inner warfare that's going on,
and it's every day. It doesn't let up. Somebody said,
well, when's it gonna be over? When we die and leave this body
of flesh and go to be with the Lord? It's a continual fight. And how are we to fight it? Well,
number one, we're to fight it knowing that the victory has
already been won by Christ. Now that's what Paul concludes
Romans 7 with when he says, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. The victory's
already been, just like our victory over Satan, a believer's victory
over Satan. Satan still plagues us and still
bothers us, but the victory's already been won by Christ. He
won it on the cross. He said the prince of this world's
been cast out. So when we fight against Satan,
We know that Christ has already won the victory. He's won the
victory over the world. The world is against us. Marvel
not, he said in John 15, if the world hates you. It hated me
before it hated you. He told his disciples in John
16, I believe it's verse 33, he said, be of good cheer. He
said, in the world you'll have tribulation, trouble, but be
of good cheer, I've overcome the world. So we fight this warfare,
number one, knowing that Christ has already won the victory,
and our victory over our sinful flesh is assured because of what
Christ has accomplished to put away our sins and to make us
righteous before God. Secondly, we fight this warfare
seeking to look to Christ, rest in Him, and follow Him through
His word. The Spirit gives us the weapon,
the sword, to fight this warfare, and it's His Word. It's not our
opinions. It's not human psychology. It's
not 12-step programs. Don't get me wrong now. The 12-step
program is good for alcoholics, and that's fine as far as their
physical makeup goes, but that's not the way we fight the warfare
of the flesh and the Spirit. We fight it through the Word
of God. Reading, studying, The Word of God becoming a part of
us, written on our hearts by the Spirit. And the sword in
our warfare is the Word of God, the Gospel. And whenever Satan
comes against us, or the world, or even our flesh, we go to the
Word of God. And so secondly, by the Word
of God, which is our sword. And thirdly, by continually looking
to rest in Christ, praying unto the Lord. to pray to God through
Christ. Lord, help me. Lord, save me. Lord, bless me. Look back at
Galatians 5 and verse 17. For the flesh lusteth against
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that
you would. You can't do the things that
you want. Now, one old preacher said this, and I believe it's
true. Here in this body, we have two principles, two laws. Some people say two natures,
and again, that's okay if you don't take that too far. It's
not like there's three me's. There's me, and then the spiritual
me, and then the fleshly me. No, there's only one me, one
person, that's me. But within myself, I have two
powerful principles tugging at my mind, my affections and my
will. One is the principle of life and holiness, godliness
by the Spirit of God. and he's gonna win this battle.
The other is the spirit of me, my selfishness, all right? And
what he's saying here is you can't go, you can't do what you
wanna do either way. I can't go the full measure of
the flesh, which would be to be lost and forsake Christ, but
still I can't go the full measure of the spirit is to be totally
like Christ. So I'm in a quandary here, I'm
in a battle. The battle's won because Christ is my hope. But
he says in verse 18, if you be led of the Spirit, you're still
not condemned. Now we'll pick up there next
time, and 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.