You will turn back with me now
to Romans chapter 7. Romans 7 is one of those chapters
in the Bible that throw false prophets and their proselytes
into a tailspin. They, or at least the ones that
I were affiliated with in my youth, they would say that a
man's saved, and then he's lost, and then he's saved, and then
he's lost, and they talk about backsliding into perdition, but
then coming back again, and being born again, over and over and
over, and all this kind of nonsense. It throws them into a tailspin. Romans 7 is about the freedom
of justified regenerated believers who struggle with a duality of
natures within. That's what it's about. He knows
the will of God and approves of it. God's sovereign will. God's will, his redemptive will. His son, our salvation, all of
these things, we know. It says that he chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, now
listen, according to the good pleasure of his will. Believers
approve of the will of God. What will? His predestinated
will. That will in which he has good
pleasure. We're not fighting that. We approve of it. We love it. We know the will of God and we
approve of it. This man has proper motives to
encourage him, the love of Christ to encourage him. My soul, what
greater motive does a man need that Christ died for you, shed
his blood for you, lived a life of pain and persecution for you? What greater motive does a man
need? This man knows the will of God and he approves of it
and he has the proper motives to encourage him. He has a complete
canon of scripture and a pastor to teach him and the Holy Ghost
to confirm it. He has these things. To will,
Paul writes, is present with me. It's present. I know to do these
things. To will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good, I fall short of it, I find
not. This chapter addresses the everyday
life of the believer. That's what he's talking about
here, your everyday life. You experience this every day
of your life. It's talking about what's going
on inside of him. He wants to do that which is
honoring to God, that which will not bring shame or reproach upon
his Lord or his gospel. That's what we want to do. Yet
sometimes we're made to cry with Paul, the good that I would,
I do not. Whatever you think of grace,
And you think of a believer, who comes to mind? The first
man that pops in my mind is John Newton. Amazing grace. Well John
Newton wrote this song too. When I turn my eyes within. Now that's what you don't want
to do. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild. Filled with unbelief and sin,
can I deem myself a child? Don't we all struggle with that
when you look within? Am I really a son of God? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will.
Find my sin a grief and thrall. Should I grieve for what I feel
if I did not love at all? Could I enjoy his saints to meet
and choose the ways I want aboard? Find at times the promise sweet
if I did not love the Lord. Lord, decide the doubtful case. Thou who art the people's son,
shine upon thy work of grace, if it indeed has begun. Let me love thee more and more.
If I love it all, I pray. If I have not loved before, help
me to begin today. That's what Romans 7 is talking
about. Talking about your everyday life.
Everyday life, the struggles within the believer. And I titled
this message this morning, The Sinner and the Savior. And my text is the last two verses
of Romans chapter seven. In verse 24, he asked this question. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? This body that so sins against
such light and such grace and such mercy. Such a will, such a glorious will. Just think on
that for a minute. Before he ever created a world,
before there was ever a star in the heavens, before there
was ever a moon or an earth or people to dwell on it, long before
any of this stuff was, he set his heart on us. His love on us. His whole deity from that second
become involved in our salvation. He made provision for us, and
he never backed up. No matter what we did, no matter
what this race did, no matter who was in power, no matter what,
he never changed. That love stayed the same. And yet, When we sin, we don't
sin against law. We sin against love. We sin against love. Oh, wretched man that I am. That's what this body is. It's
a body of sin. I'm carnal, sold unto sin. And
yet in me is a new man, Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus, that's that
new man. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, I don't know what you think
about this. I don't know if you just think, well, there's a something
in there and it's doing this and that's doing, he's talking
about Christ is what he's talking about within. Because I ain't
even hoping anything else. Paul's already said, the good
that I would, I don't do. The best that you can do, not
going to get it. That's what Paul's telling you.
But yet, that's what you struggle with every day. I prayed this
morning. Why didn't I pray for those that
I know are sick and hurting and suffering a lot? Why didn't I
pray for them? Oh, my soul. We sin against love. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And that's what it is. It's just
death. It's dying all the time. We die
daily, Posse. We're dying all the time. That's
why it's all this flesh. It's going back to the dust.
But what do we pamper? The new man? No. No, we pamper
the flesh. Pamper the flesh. He calls it the body of this
death. In Romans chapter five verse
12 it says, as by one man's sin entered into the world, now watch
this, and death by sin and so sin passed, no I ain't gonna
say it, death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. The judgment of sin is here called
death because death is the end of it. Sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death. It's called death because it
works corruption in us. Do you know the one disease that
the Lord pictured for sin more than anything else is leprosy? Leprosy, the skin is just corrupting
and rottening and falling off the bones. And they had to cover
their face with rags. They couldn't come near anybody.
And if somebody came their way, they were to cover up and wave
their arms and say, unclean, unclean, unclean. That's sin. That's us. That old wretched
man that he's talking about, that's us. Yeah, but you said
I'm saved. That old man ain't saved. That
old man, he hadn't dwindled one eye older. He's just as evil,
just as bad, just as corrupt as he ever was. Now people think
I'm reformed. You can't reform the old man. You can't reform him. He's not
going to change. That's why it's called death. Sin works in me, Paul said. In verse 8 of Romans 7, Paul
said, but sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in
me all manner of concupiscence. The commandment was good. Paul
read the Bible. He gloried in the law. He gloried
in those things. He actually thought when he persecuted
the church that he was doing God a favor. That's how sin works
in man. That's exactly what he's talking
about. Sin taking occasion. It'll use the commandments, it'll
use anything. Anything it can. Twisted God's
commandments and rested the scriptures to his own destruction. Killed
true Christians in the name of God. And this sin, this death,
is a nature. It's a nature. He said, can the
leopard change his spots? Can he just one day just walk
out of the woods and say, I don't want any more spots? Can he change
his spots? Why not? It's his nature. Can
an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? No. Why not? It's his nature. It's his nature. Sin entered and death passed,
and this nature is inherited from our father Adam, and the
proof of it is that all have sinned. All have sinned, Paul
said, and come short of the glory of God. He said in Romans 3,
9, we have before proved both Jews and Greeks, or Gentiles,
that they're all under sin. under the power of it, and influence
of it, and curse of it. And this nature of sin is not
taken away in regeneration. Regeneration is the creation
of that image of Christ in you. In you. He becomes all. For me to live,
Paul said, is Christ. And here he asked, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? Now let me read verse
25 and I want you to listen as I read. I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. That's the only deliverance there
is. Who gonna deliver me from the
body of this death? It's obvious that I can't do
it. Even being born of God, I still
sin. And now I don't sin against the
law like I used to, but now I sin against love. I sin against mercy. I sin against pardon. Who gonna deliver me from the
body of this death? This is death right here. All God has to do to condemn
you is leave you alone. If he just lifts his hands from
you, he doesn't intervene, he doesn't talk to you, just leave
you alone, just let you go your way. That's all he has to do to destroy
you in hell, just leave you alone. And there can't be Judgmentally,
any worse thing to hear than what Christ said about the Pharisees,
he said, leave them alone. Leave them alone. But the Son of God ain't gonna
leave you alone. And that's where the struggle is. He won't leave
you alone. This nature of sin is still here. Regeneration is a new man. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. There's only one way to walk
in this world and in these bodies of death, and that is by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said this to the Galatians,
walk in the spirit. This is Galatians 5.16 and 17. Walk in the spirit and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 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. Even a saved man, even a man
who knows the gospel, even a man who's been broken by God. Paul
said the sin was revived and I died. Even that man who died
in his mind, he died under that sin, he judged himself dead.
Even that man born of God, he still struggles, still struggles,
still struggles. Why does he struggle? Because
these two things are contrary, the one to the other, so that
you cannot do the things that you would. Even a saved man,
all his days, every breath he takes, every step he takes, all
of these things, he's totally dependent on Christ. Constantly. Constantly. You can't say a word,
you can't do a thing, you can't do anything without Christ. What'd our Lord tell him? Without
me, you can do nothing. That's what you can do. One thing
I can do. No, there ain't one thing. Without
me, there's nothing you can do. Nothing you can do. So what in the world is he talking
about when he says walk in the Spirit? Walk in the Spirit. Boy, these Pentecostals have
a ball with that, don't they, Russell? Walk in the Spirit. You gotta be in the Spirit. All
these things. Well, what's he talking about?
Well, in John 16, 13, and 14, or John 16, yeah, 13 and 14,
he tells us that the Spirit, when He's come, He's not gonna
speak of Himself. He's gonna take of the things
of mine, Christ said, and gonna show them to you. If you walk
in the Spirit, you're gonna walk with the understanding that the
Spirit gives you concerning the things of Christ. Is that right? Now that's what that scripture's
saying, isn't it? Exactly what it's saying. Well,
what things? What's he talking about? Well,
he's talking about the eternality of Christ. Is Jesus Christ God? Scripture says He is. Scripture says He is. He's God. I tell you, even now, sometimes
I have the tendency when I think on Christ to think on God and
then think on Christ. Christ is God. Fact is, He's
the only understanding of God that we have. The Scripture said
He's God come into the flesh. Great is the mystery of God-likeness. God was manifest in the flesh. You want to know what godliness
is? Study Jesus Christ. He's God. That's God-likeness. He's God. He who thought it not
robbery to be equal with God. Oh, my soul. I can't imagine. I can't imagine. over all God
blessed forever. Jesus Christ is God. And He's
God our Savior. That's what the scripture said.
He tells us something about the eternality of Christ. He was,
He is, and He ever shall be God over all blessed forever. And then secondly, he's gonna,
the Holy Spirit's gonna tell us this and he's gonna show us
Christ's appointments of God. Christ's appointments. God chose
a people, he chose them in Christ. He chose them before the foundation
of the world and made provision for them in his son. He made his son the covenant
head and representative of all his elect. And by way of divine
election, he put us into an eternal covenant union with his son.
We're actually in him, one with him. He said, I in them and thou
in me. That's what Christ said, that
we all might be one. Boy, it's a whole different deal
if you can imagine God not looking at you, but looking at his son. You think God's watching you
every day, everything that you're doing, and He's well pleased
on some days and some days He's not. You couldn't walk that way.
That's what Paul's talking about. Can't do that. But imagine, in
your mind, this is the mind of Christ. It perceives that when
God sees you, He sees His Son. Now you can walk that way. You
can walk that way. He put us in His Son. Before
ever the universe existed or an earth spoken into existence
or a man or a woman appeared in the garden, there was a people
chosen of God in Christ and predestinated under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ. What else does the Spirit show
us? He shows us Christ's appointment as our mediator, as God's mediator. They're one mediator between
God and men, one to resolve the differences, one to make up the
head, stand in the gap. One mediator between God, one
maker of peace between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Now, I get my own inabilities When I start
studying and thinking about God, this gets lost in the immensity
of his character. I just get lost in it. It's just
so far past anything I can even imagine. This is a being without
beginning. My mind can't even wrap around
that. I have a beginning and an end. He don't. He don't. He God. Absolute, sovereign will. Nobody can go against his will. Nobody. They can yell and say
that they are, but they're not. They're just doing exactly what
God's allowing them to do. His will and everything. I get
lost in it. And to think that of God in the
person of a man Think about it, Russell. A man
like me, like you, this is God. When I think about the incarnation
of Christ, I think about the humility of God coming down to dwell in the person
of a man. And as near as I can tell, that
never changes. That was a permanent, that was
a permanent union between God and man in the person of Christ.
This is the God man. There's a man in glory right
now. When he went up, he didn't sit up there again the same as
he sat with the Father before the world was. There's a man
in glory. And if you'll carefully read
Isaiah 14 where it talks about the fall of Satan, And you listen
to, he said, how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of
the morning? What happened? You said in your
heart, I'm gonna sit over the congregation. He heard from God
what God intended to do in his son as a man. And Satan said,
no. No. I deserve that. I'm the one that's
going to do that. He despised that gospel of the humanity of Christ. And he never actually said anything. It just entered his head. He
was gone. He was gone. Oh, my soul. He's the one mediator, one propitiation,
one way of peace. The man, Christ Jesus, and not
the Pope. The Pope ain't gonna do you no
good. Mary ain't gonna do you no good.
None of the saints are gonna do you any good. It's the man,
Christ Jesus. Everything's given into his hands
for he alone is worthy to loosen the seals and to look in the
book. Nobody else, not angel or man or saint or nobody worthy
to even look on that book, let alone take it and unloose the
seals. But they found one worthy. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He came and took the book and
he loosed the seals and he opened the book and he revealed it to
us. All the counsels of God. Or what
else does the Spirit show us about Christ? Well, he shows
us Christ as our substitute. Isaiah said, God made his soul
an offering for sin. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. He was wounded, Isaiah wrote,
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquity. The only way
to put away sin is by way of substitution, and our substitute
is Christ. The scripture said, once in the
end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Now that's what he came to do,
and that's what he did. He put away sin. Now if he died
for everybody, then everybody's sin has been put away. because
for whoever he died, he put their sin away. Now you either believe
that or you don't. One time in the end of the world
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. In Hebrews 9, 27 and 28 it said,
and as it is appointed unto men once to die and after that to
judgment. So in the same manner Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. He's not coming the second time
to put away sin. He's coming to gather his saints
whom he redeems. In the first appearance, he came
with sin, not his own, but those of his elect. And he died as
he was appointed to do, and he suffered the judgment of God
in their stead. And now he's gonna appear without
sin unto salvation. This is substitution. Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. And then Christ
is revealed to us by the Spirit of God as our righteousness. Of all the natural sons of Adam,
the Scripture says there is none righteous. I used to have hope that I was
righteous. I was ignorant of the Scripture. I didn't know
the Scripture said there's none righteous. And Paul knew he was going to
receive an objection to that, and so the Holy Spirit inspired
him to write this. He did it after two things that
he declares. the goodness of God and the righteousness
of God. He said there is none righteous,
now listen, no, not one. And there's none good, he said,
no, not one. Not one. Isaiah says all our
righteousnesses, what's that talking about? That's talking
about my prayers. That's talking about my gifts. Talking about
my preaching. Talking about my love for Christ. All our righteousnesses, now
listen, are as filthy rags before God. We are all, he said, as
an unclean thing before God. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Paul writes, by the deeds of
the law, There shall no flesh be justified in his sight. If
that's your hope, I'm keeping this day, I'm doing this, I'm
doing that, keeping the law, if that's your hope, you're lost.
There's no hope for you. No flesh be justified by the
law in his sight. To be righteous before God as,
now I want you to hear me, To be righteous before God is to
be righteous as God. Let that sink in, let that sink
in a little bit. To be righteous before God, for
God to look on you and say, that man is righteous. He said that
about Job, didn't he? He's not a man like him, he's
a righteous man. He said that, I read it to you
this morning, about Elizabeth. Huh? And Zacharias. They're righteous. Righteous before me. For God
to say that means you're as righteous as He is. That's the only way you can do
it. And Christ is our righteousness. He's the only one who could be
as righteous as God. To be good is He said, there's
none good but God. That's what that rich young ruler
said, good master? He said, just stop right there.
He said, there's none good but God. So if you're calling me
good master, you're calling me God. Peter said, now I want you to
listen to this. He said, if the righteous scarcely
be saved, Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? And what he's saying here is
that God requires absolute, complete perfection. When he talks about
righteous man, he's talking about perfectly righteous, perfectly
holy, perfectly good, perfectly just. He requires a complete
perfection in us, and if we should obtain it, there'll be nothing
left over. God is as righteous as righteousness
can be. He is the standard of it. He
requires total perfection. To reach that, Russell, there's
nothing else above. Now, if the righteous scarcely
be saved, he comes up to that point. If he's scared, where
is the sinner and ungodly? How are they going to appear? How are they going to appear? There's nothing left over. And
this perfection of righteousness is given to the believer in Christ. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes. But how can we obtain
that kind of righteousness? Well, the preaching of the gospel,
he said, is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. That's how you obtain it. All right, here's the fifth thing.
What does the Holy Spirit show us? We're going to walk in the
Spirit. He's going to show us something.
He's going to show us, fifthly, the person and work of Christ
is the manifestation of the love of God. There's no other reason
for Christ to appear among humanity except to manifest the love of
God. He didn't come because you have
potential. He came because He loved us. Herein is the love of God manifested
while you was yet sinners, while you yet enemies, Christ died
for you. That's the love of God. He said herein is love, not that
we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. The love of God is not in return
for ours. but freely, completely, and unchangeably
given toward us. And those he loves, he said,
I love to the end. I love them always. Those upon
whom he directs his love can never be separated from him.
If God has set his love on you, Brian, he'll never take it away,
never. Though I could justify him if
he did. But he won't. He won't. Oh, the love of God, and the
grace of God, and the mercy of God. He shows us that in Christ. Convinces us of that. And then
Christ is our intercessor. Now, he's not up there... People get this all twisted around
in their head. They think, well, I preached
this, I did that, I said this, I did that, and now God's mad.
Boy, he's just fighting mad, and Christ is up there, and he
said, now wait a minute, Father, wait a minute, wait a minute.
And he started talking. No, that's not intercession.
Intercession is His presence as our victorious Lord, our righteousness,
our salvation, Our being with God, redeemed, reconciled. It's his presence at the right
hand of God that intercedes for us. He's the only reason God
won't just burn this world to cinders. He's the only reason
he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Now I said all that to say this.
This is the mind of Christ. This is how the mind of the believer
thinks as he walks. Now, if he thinks any other way,
he's in trouble. He's in trouble, he's gonna fall.
You know, when Peter said, bid me come out there with you, Lord,
on that water. He said, come on. Peter got out
of that boat and he walked on water in the middle of that storm
for just a minute. And then he looked towards him,
big waves coming up, down he went. Save me lest I perish! And the Lord reached out and
got him and put him up to the boat. We got to fasten our eyes on
him and don't take him away. This is the mind of Christ. The
mind of Christ. Faith sees and understands and
walks accordingly. Now let me ask you something.
Do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal God?
You believe that? You believe God's witness that
his son is God come into the flesh? Then walk that way. Walk that way. To see him is to see the Father.
To know him is to know God. To worship him is to worship
God. Do you believe that God has made a full provision for
the salvation of his elect and his son? That we were chosen
in him before the foundation of the world, predestinated under
the adoption of children by him? That he's the covenant head and
representative of all his elect, the one mediator between God
and men? Everything in respect to God's
eternal purposes of grace has been trusted to his son, and
he's fulfilled it all. You believe that? Then walk that
way. Walk that way. You believe that
Jesus Christ died for our sins, all of the sins of his elect,
perfectly satisfied the law of God, and not one accusation from
heaven or hell can be brought against God's elect? Because
God justified. You believe that? Then walk that
way. Walk that way. Oh, walk knowing
that your account's been paid in full. Walk that way. You believe Christ
is your righteousness, then in Him you're always considered
and judged as a righteous man. No flaw, no blemish, without
taint of any kind. Paul said, right now. He said, right now, with the
understanding of what I've been preaching to you, he said, right
now, the righteousness of God, without the law, is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith or the faithfulness of Jesus Christ,
and it's unto all and upon all them that believe. You believe
that? then walk that way. Walk that
way. You believe that there is a man
in glory, the God-man, who's now having accomplished our redemption,
he's seated at the right hand of God, he makes intercession
for us, he's arranging providence in our favor, that all of our
standing and relationship with God is secured by his presence
at the right hand of God. then walk accordingly. But this
flesh, until the day that we close our eyes in death, will
always be drawn to sin. He said, 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, upon this, upon
this understanding, So then, I myself, Paul said, serve the
law of God with the mind. What mind? The mind of Christ. That's how I do it. That's how
I walk in this world. The life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by Jesus Christ. For me to live is Christ. Oh,
Buddy, you do this, and you do that, and you said this, and
you said that. Take that charge before God and
see how far you get. Who is he that lays anything
to the charge of God's name? Ain't gonna do it. Can't. Can't. Can't do it. Keep that in mind
when we start looking down our noses at each other. Keep that
in mind. All right, thank you.