Romans chapter 7. If you want
to turn there with me this morning, I hope you would. If you don't
have your Bible with you, get a few Bibles. I want you to keep
it because I've got two or three passages of Scripture in just
a minute I want to turn to. But I want to begin by reading
my text in Romans chapter 7 and verse 6. I don't intend to look
at this verse by verse. I want to mainly look at the
principles that the Apostle Paul was teaching here. So let's read
our text in Romans chapter 7 and verse 6. But now we are delivered
from the law, that being dead wherein we are held, that we
should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the
letter. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid. Nay, 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, taken an
opportunity, occasion, by the commandment, wrought in me all
manner of concupiscence, evil desires. For without the law,
sin was dead. For I was alive without the law
once, but when the commandment came, Sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taken opportunity,
occasion, by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and
the commandment is holy, and just, and good. Was then that
which is good made death unto me? God forbid. 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 do I not,
but what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would
not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with a mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with a flesh the law of sin." The
warfare within the believer. That's what I want us to think
about for a few minutes this morning. The warfare within the
believer. I could have called it the struggle
within the believer or the contest within the believer, but I don't
think that's strong enough language to describe what goes on within
the believer's heart. The Bible calls it a warfare,
and I think it calls it a warfare for a good reason. That's a military
term. Warfare. It gives the ideal of
opposing armies locked in battle against one another. There's
screams, there's groans, there's wounds, there's fears, there's
tears, there's blood. There's victory and there's defeat. But one thing there never is.
When mortal enemies lock in battle against one another, there's
no truce. There's no truce until one surrenders.
There's no truce until one is dead. And that's the way it is
with this Christian warfare. There can be no truce with this
warfare. It's a fact. It's a battle until
the end. Paul talked about this warfare
in 2 Corinthians 10, 4. Listen to this. The weapons of
our warfare are not carnal. But they're mighty through God.
Warfare. We're in a warfare. And God is
helping us. And He provides us with the weapons
to fight with. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the casting down
of strongholds. Back in the Old Testament when
one army made attack upon a city, sometimes they tore the walls
down. They tore them down. And that's
what he's talking about here. Casting down these strongholds. Pulling them down and casting
down. Listen to this. Casting down
imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God. And bringing every thought into
captivity to the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes
when they would fight against an army. I remember when the
children of Israel, the children of Judah went against Mount Seir
and they killed 10,000 men. And they tucked 10,000 up on
the mountain and threw them off and busted their bodies. But
that's what you do with enemies, isn't it? That's the warfare.
It's violent. And that's what Paul says, you're
casted down. These imaginations that exalt
themselves against the knowledge of God have no pity upon them.
Do what Judah did to the wicked men of Mount Seir, cast them
over headlong. It's a bloody, violent battle. We see this handed at in different
places in the Old Testament, so many different places as well
as the New. In Songs of Solomon, chapter
3 and verse 13, they were talking about the little Shulamite woman,
Solomon's lover that we find so much written about there in
the Songs of Solomon. And they were looking at her
and they said, when we see her, what shall we see in that little
Shulamite? And he answered his own question
and he said, as it were, the company of two armies. And that's
what he's talking about. The company of two armies locked
in battle, one with another. Another illustration, example,
is in Genesis 25 when Rebekah, Isaac's son, wanted children.
And she was barren, and Isaac went to the Lord and besought
the Lord to give his wife children. And she conceived, and she had
twins in her bosom. But they struggled in her bosom.
And she was confused about it. She said, ìIf God has blessed
me with these children, why are they fighting in my womb?î And
she went to the Lord and asked the Lord, and hereís what the
Lord told her about these two children in her womb. He said,
ìElizabeth, there are two nations within you, and there are two
manner of people that shall be separated from your womb.î And
we find out about those two men, donít we? Jacob and Esau. Jacob wanted God's blessing from
the time he was in the womb. Now that's what the Scripture
teaches us. When his brother came out before he did, he had
a hold of his heel. What was he doing? Trying to
prevent him from coming out. He wanted the Lord's blessings. He sought that blessing. Was
even willing to connive and deceive his brother to get that blessing.
That was Jacob. The beloved of the Lord. He was
in the womb. Then we have that one in the
womb that the scripture later called that profane person, Esau. That despised his birthright
and sold it for a pot of soup. So you have these two nations.
You have these two manner of people and they were in her womb
and they struggled. Because they were two manner
of people, you see. And it confused her as to why
they were struggling until the Lord enlightened her to show
her that what was happening to her was going to happen to believers someday. Now, why do we call them two
people? And that's what I call them.
I'm not here to argue this morning. I've got my own opinions. If
you call them natures, if there's two natures within a believer,
if there's two principles within a believer, sometimes our forefathers
interchanged those two things. One time Pink would call it two
natures, the next time he called it two principles. And I'm not
here this morning to argue all about that. You're welcome to
whatever you believe about that. But I thank you this morning
we can all be in agreement if we stay in the Scripture and
use Scripture terms. And when we talk about the warfare
within the believer, we're talking about two different people. And the Bible calls them that.
It calls them men. It's called the new man and it's
called the old man. And when you've got the new man
and the old man together in this one person, you're going to have
this warfare. I want us to look at two of the
places where that's mentioned this morning in the Scripture.
You can go ahead and hold Romans 8 and turn over to Ephesians
chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. There was
a time, and each of us here this morning, if you're here this
morning, You're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. You've
been begotten of God. You're a new creature in Christ.
You have this warfare. There's a warfare within you.
There was a time when you didn't have this warfare. You were dead
in sin. You were in the flesh. And you
didn't have this warfare. But I tell you, when it started,
it started when God made you a new creature. It started when
He created a person in you that never existed before. Now look
at it here in Ephesians chapter 4 and look back in verse 19. He's speaking about those who
don't know the Lord. They're alienated from the life
of God. In verse 19 of Ephesians 4, who
being past spilling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness
to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not
so learned Christ, if so be that you have heard him and have been
taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning
the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lust. Now there you have an old man.
That's what the scripture calls him, an old man. And it gives
him his nature. What's his nature? Corrupt. He's vile. He's corrupt. Verse 23, And be renewed in the
spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man. Now what do we have here? We
have two persons, don't we? We have an old man that we're
to put off And we have a new man which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. We have two persons. Now call
them what you will. I'm not going to argue with you
about that or anybody else. But I'm going to stay in Bible
language, Greg. And we have a corrupt man and
we have a righteous man. We have one man that obviously
loves his sin. and goes after them. And we have
another man who is holy and hates that which is evil. Now you bring
two people like that together, and bud, you've got a conflict.
You've got a war. You've got a struggle. And that's
exactly what he told Rebekah. There's two nations. There's
two manner of people within you. And that's the same thing it
is with a believer. Look how he mentions this in another place
in Colossians chapter 3. He mentions Colossians chapter
3, and he mentions it just a little bit different. And look in Colossians
chapter 3, and look in verse 8. He not only mentions these men,
but he mentions more about the difference in these two men.
He elaborates on it just a little bit. Look in verse 8 of chapter
3 of Colossians. But now ye also put off all of
these, anger, and wrath, and malice, and blasphemy, and filthy
communication. Put it out of your mouth. Lie
not one to another, seeing you have put off the old man with
his deeds." What's some characteristics of the old man? We just read
them, didn't we? We read them. You have any trouble with that? Have any trouble with lying?
Being tempted to do it? Evil communication? Filthy language? That's the old man. Put him off. The best thing you can do with
him is not listen to him. Put him off. Crucify him. Beat
him down. And verse 10, and you have put
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. Now, brothers and sisters, there's
a reason why that I do not hold to the opinion that regeneration
is a makeover, a remodeling of what's already there. Because we find this in the Bible,
created. The new man is one who is created. He never existed before. I can
explain that. I'm like poor Nicodemus, how
can these things be? But they are, aren't they? If
any man be in Christ, he is a new, new creature. And he gives some characteristics
of it in verse 12. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgive you, so do you. And above all these
things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness, and
let the peace of God rule in your hearts." That's some characteristics
of the new man. Humility, love, gracious, merciful, forgiving. I want you to look at one more
passage of Scripture over in 1 Peter chapter 1. Look how the
Apostle Peter says this in 1 Peter chapter 1. And look down in verse 22. Peter
mentions really where all this began. Where this warfare began. When the Lord saved us. When
He begot us in His image. Look what he says in chapter
1 and verse 22. Sin, you have purified your souls
and obeyed the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart firmly, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of the incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass, and all
the glory of man is as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof fadeth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you." He talks about two different
kinds of seed. He talks about a corruptible
seed. And what is that? When my dad begot me, It was
corruptible seed. Biological, my dad was corrupt
himself. And biologically speaking, he
was corrupt because his dad was corrupt. And it goes all the
way back to Adam, doesn't it? Adam failed, and when he had
two sons, it was in his fallen likeness. And I'm just like my
fallen dad. I have his characteristics. I
was born a sinner. I was born a sinner. That's why
we think like we think. You don't have to teach a young
child to be a sinner. You have to restrain them from
their sin. You don't have to teach them
to lie and cheat. They do that because they're
born of this corruptible seed. Boy, that's led to all kinds
of trouble in society. Led to all kinds of trouble within
our hearts, hasn't it? Because it's corruptible seed.
We're not surprised when we act like our parents. Because we're
born of our parents. But he speaks of another seed,
doesn't he? And just as we're born corruptible
and have the image of our parents within us, so when we're born
of this incorruptible seed, what do you think the person's going
to be like? If a person is begotten of God,
begotten of the Word of God, you know corruption don't beget
incorruption. And incorruption don't beget
corruption. My dad had a poor little sinner boy. I'm sure my
mom looked at me and squinted at my little cheek. Oh, you little
saint. No, he's a little devil. But when you're born of God,
that inner man, He's holy. He can't be corrupted. He's incorruptible
because he's born of God. But you have these two. You have
this corruptible and you have this incorruption. And here's
the thing. When you're begotten of God,
when you're brought to a work of grace in your heart, and you
have a new creature within you, you have made a new creature,
you don't lay aside what you were before. You don't cease
to be what you were before. If you could, there'd be no conflict. If you could remove one army
and let the one army be there by himself, you'd have peace.
But what causes the conflict is the old corruptible seed is
there in the form of a fallen nature. and the other seed is
there in the farm of God. That's where you have the conflict.
Look how Peter goes on in chapter 2 to say it. Wherefore, laying
aside all malice, and guile, and hypocrisy, and evil envies,
and evil speaking, as newborn babes. What does this newborn
babe look like? What's his character? Man, he's
holy. He's incorruptible. I don't understand
that. I just believe. I just believe. He's a newborn baby and He's
holy and incorruptible. And because you have this corruptible
and incorruption in the same person, you have this warfare.
And this is what Romans chapter 7 is about. Now turn back over
again to Romans chapter 7. Paul is explaining here in verses
7 through verse 13 his past conversion. And I think this is very important to understand just a little bit
of him being a Jew. But here in verses 7 through
verse 13, he's explaining that he once was dead in sin, and
he tells us basically what his whole problem was. That he was
ignorant of these two things. And because he was ignorant of
one, he was ignorant of the other. He was ignorant of the spiritual
nature of God's law. He didn't understand it. Now,
that's amazing. Wanda's teaching the babies to
memorize the books of the Bible. And while she was... Oh, my mind just went blank.
What's... Shane, what's your daughter's name? The other one...
Brooklyn. While Brookie was telling me
the first ten books of the Bible, I was thinking, do I even know
them? Do I know them? You know something,
this Apostle Paul could have told you the books of the Bible
backwards. You think you could stand up this morning before
us and give all the Ten Commandments? He could, buddy. He could. He probably had much of the Old
Testament memorized. But here was his whole problem.
He didn't know the meaning of them. He didn't know what they
meant. He was ignorant of the spiritual
nature of God's law. And because he was ignorant of
that, he was ignorant of being a sinner. Sin is the transgression
of the law. And because he didn't understand
that to break the law of God was to be a sinner. And he didn't understand the
nature of the law. He didn't know what the nature of sin was. He said here in verse 7, 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. Gil had it interested. paragraph
on this word lust. I had not known lust. And he
said, it's not just talking about open and profane lust. This is
something that Paul become very sensitive to when the commandment
come to him and said, you shall not covet. Boy, then he said,
all of this lust, all of this evil concupiscence, began to
stir up in my heart. And then I saw, oh my, you're
a covetous man. You're a sinner. Gill had this
to say about this word lust. He said, by lust is meant the
inward motions of sin in the heart. Any and every desire of
the mind after it not only studied and concerted schemes, how to
bring about in compassion an evil action, but every loose,
vagrant thought of sin and inclination to it. Yea, every imagination
of the thought of the heart before the imagination is well formed
into a thought. Man, that's deep, isn't it? We think lust is after we've
thought about the opposite sex for five minutes. Uh-oh, I've
lost it. No, Gil said he's talking about something that's not even
formed into a thought yet. It's something that's still there
in the recesses of the soul. But the law has shined into it
and you see it. And it's lust. Not only a dallying,
with sin in the mind, dwelling upon it with pleasure in thought,
but even sudden motions and starts of the mind to sin, to which
we give no assent, such as are involuntary, yea, contrary to
our will, being the evil that we would not." That's pretty
deep, isn't it? Paul said, I have not known lust.
until I felt this down in the bottom of my soul. These two verses here, verse
11, Paul is deceived about something. Look what he says. For sin, taken
opportunity by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. This man was deceived of the
true nature of the law. He didn't know it reached his
heart. He thought as long as I didn't lay with a woman, I
don't commit adultery. But the Lord Jesus said, if you
lust, if there's the least degree of lust, undetected, rising up
in your heart, that's adultery. And the Jews thought if you didn't
hate somebody and kill them, you weren't a murderer. But the
Lord Jesus said, if there's a spark in your heart of unjust hatred
towards a man, you've murdered him. And that's what Paul said,
I was deceived. He said, I was deceived about
these two things, the nature of the law, how spiritual it
was, and the nature of sin. You know, that's why he was ignorant
of the nature of the Savior. It's like the best illustration,
it's a very weak illustration, probably the best I can give
you. Take a fellow that's lived out in the woods in the back
country all of his life. And he just ran wild and did
what he pleased. There was no law there. Whatever
he wanted, he did. Whatever he needed, he took it.
And he comes into town and he keeps living that way, doing
whatever he wants to do. And they arrest him and take
him before the judge. And here the ignorant man stands
before the judge, and because he don't know the law, he don't
realize he's a lawbreaker. And he stands there with this
little smirk on his face, thinking, boy, the judge ain't going to
find any fault with me. Until the judge begins to tell
him, we've got laws in this country. And you broke those laws. We've
got a law that says you shall not do this, and you've did it,
and here's the consequences of what you've done. Boy, that smirk
will go off of his face pretty quick, won't it? His little smirk turns to a frown
and fear, and then he starts pleading, is there any mercy?
That's what Paul said. He said, I was deceived. I was
deceived as to the holiness of God's law and what He required
in my heart, my thoughts. And because I was deceived of
that, I didn't think I was a sinner. I had no sin. He said in another
place, I was perfect, didn't I? I was perfect. And He comes here
to verse 13 and He says this, and here's what He says, here's
exactly the reason that the Lord opened his heart to let him see
the true nature of the law. Was then that which is good made
death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear sin, work in death in me by the law which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Oh, anything that brings us to
see how bad sin is, is a good thing. If it brings me to see
the corruptions of my heart, then that's a good thing. And
that's what the law does. And it did that especially with
the Jews. Now in verses 14 through verse
25, he comes to the present tense. He leaves his past conversion,
he comes to the present tense, and he describes this inward
warfare between the old man and the new man. His sinful self
and his new self. The new man that delights in
the law of God, delights in God, he delights in Christ, he delights
in the gospel. And this old man that he calls
in verse 18, my flesh in whom dwells no good thing. In verse
17 and 20, sin that dwells in me. And in verse 21, the evil
that is present with me. That's strong language, isn't
it? Boy, that's strong language. The evil that dwells in me. The sin that dwells in me. And this is the way he says it.
I'm not going to comment on it much, but let me just read it
to you and see if we can get the principle of it. Look at
some reasons why it's good for us. For that which I do, I know
not. I don't approve of. I don't allow.
For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that I do. But if I do that which I would
not, I consent, I agree with the law that it is good. The
law is perfectly good when it judges me. Now then, it is no
more I that do it, not the new I, not this new creature, but
sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me. The will is present. Oh, I want
to do what's right. And I want to do it perfectly.
But how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
that I would, the good that I want to do, I do not. But the evil
which I would never do, that I do. Now if I do that, I would
not. It's no more I that do it, not
the new me, but this sin that dwells in me. I find in the law
that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now, what
does he mean by all of this? Well, let's look first of all
at what he obviously doesn't mean when he said, I would do,
but I can't do. I want to do, but I can't do.
I don't do. He cannot mean this. He cannot
mean, I don't want to lie to people, but I lie to people anyway. We can't stretch that to mean
that. I don't want to get drunk, but I get drunk anyway. I want
to quit telling these filthy jokes, but I tell them anyway.
We don't dare stretch that to that. He's not speaking of any
outward actions at all. This is an inward warfare. This is what he sees going on
within his heart. Neither does he mean that he
sits around and meditates on evil things. He don't sit around
and contemplate about getting his neighbor's property. He don't
sit around and think about getting even with someone who has mistreated
him. It's nothing like that at all
when he says, I would do, but I can't do. and the things that
I would do I allow not. It means he's very sensitive
as to what's taking place within him. He truly realizes that he's
two persons. On one hand, he sees the grace
of God in him that's made him new because he hates sin. He loves righteousness. But he's
conscious of another person in him that he calls evil. The evil of self. The sin of
self. And boy, here's where some people
bail out when they read Romans 7. I read Adam Clark and he said,
the fact that Paul was calling himself these names was blasphemy. He said he would never think
this way about himself. So Adam Clarke proceeds to say
that Paul was either talking about his pre-conversion experience
when he was lost. Do you ever know of a lost man
that could truly say and have God to bear witness to it? I
delight in the law of God. That's giving a lot of credit
to a lost man. If you think that about a lost man, then you don't
believe in the depravity of man. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. It don't delight. Oh, the Jews
said they did. This is one of the examples that
Adam Clark brings up when he comments on this. That the Jews,
they delighted in the law of God. And I've kept all of these
from my youth up. I tell you, there's a big difference
in a man saying, I've kept all of these commandments. Saying
that with his lips and do it in his heart. And the Lord Jesus
discerned and told him, didn't He? You think you've kept these
commandments that you've not lusted? Then go sell everything
you've got and come follow Me. Wait, now wait a minute. Pre-conversion
experience. And Adam Clark and Some of the
dear ones like him also say this. If it's not his pre-conversion
experience, then it is his experience before, and if I hadn't read
this, I'd have never believed it. Before the apostle was completely
sanctified from the working of sin within him. You know there was, I don't think
there's anybody of this help left in our day. But especially
in the 18th century and the 19th century, there was a few men
around that believed in complete sanctification. They believed
that you could reach the state where you were conscious of no
more sin and working of sin in you. The Nazarenes used to call
it blowing out of the old root of sin. I'd be scared to death
to be around a person like that. I've seen people that lean to
that direction, and that turned out to be some of the meanest,
sneakiest people in the world. You follow them around a while,
and you'll see how sanctified they are, before he reached the
state of complete sanctification. And they say that was when he
said in verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord.
I've got the victory. That's what they say. He got
the victory in verse 25. Well, that's strange because
he went on in verse 25 to say, So then with a mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with a flesh the law of sin. I'm two servants, he said. I'm
two servants. And if this is not your experience,
this probably would upset you. We can't explain this, but the
Apostle Paul just proclaimed it. He said, I'm two men. I love
the Law of God. I love God. I love the Son of
God, the Gospel of God, the ways of God. I delight in them. But I see another man in me,
he said, that delights in sin. that serves the law of sin. He's evil. He's evil. Those dear commentaries that
think this is so foreign to the Scriptures, I wonder about them. They say they have no more sin.
They've been sanctified from the whole knowledge of it and
the workings of it. What did John say about such people? If
we say we have no sin, We deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. Here is the testimony of a man
who knows himself. Here's a man who is perfectly
honest with himself. And here's a man who is so sincere
that he admits it to you and me. You don't find many people
that honest and that sincere to you. You find this not only in your
own personal experience but to our own comfort. We find this
whole attitude all through the ages in the Old and New Testament.
Abraham was called the friend of God. And you know what that
man said about himself? I'm nothing but dust and ashes. I'm ashes. That's all I am. Jacob, that wrestled with the
Lord and was blessed of the Lord, he said, I'm not worthy of the
least of your mercies. I tell you, in the day when self-esteem
is run amok, I think this is a good attitude to have, don't
you? I ain't worthy of anything. There's no merit in me. I don't
deserve anything from God but His judgment. Holy Job. There's no man like
him. That's what the Lord said. You
know what that man said about himself? I am file. I reward myself. Job, get your
self-esteem up, man. You need to go counseling. Look up that word sometime. Peter
said, Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. And John said, if we say we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And
Paul said, I am the chief of sinners. I am the chief of sinners. And our Lord Jesus said to his
apostles one day, he said, if you've been evil, know how to
give good gifts. If you've been evil. You think somebody jumped up
and said, wait a minute, Lord, wait a minute. You're talking
to me? You've chosen me to be an apostle. I've cast out devils. I preach. Me, evil? Not a one of them said that,
because they knew it. When the Lord teaches us about
ourselves, Shannon, we don't deny it. We don't deny it. That's this warfare within. How does this warfare affect
us? Let me give you five quick ways in closing how it affects
us. One, it makes us miserable. There is the aspect of it that
makes us miserable. This word in verse 24, O wretched
man, that word means miserable. O miserable, miserable man that
I am. In verse 23, he laxens it to
be in captivity. I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin. He likens it to being taken in
a battle or arrested and put in a filthy jail, the jail of
sin. How would you like to be stuck
in a jail cell where there's no bathroom, where there's no
showers, everybody in there is a criminal, there's no clean
clothes, And you're stuck in that place. You know, there's
countries that do that. We've seen them. We've seen them.
It's filthy. People die of diseases in there.
That's what He's saying here. That's what He likened that to.
I'm a captive. I've been taken captive. And
then in verse 24, He refers to it being a body of death. I was reading one account on
this, and they say, we do have it on record. tyrant, despots,
leaders, that they had it in their laws that if you committed
murder, they literally tied the dead man on your back. And you carried him around until
he stumped and swelled up and began to come apart. You carried
that man until he literally come out of the ropes from which they
had him bound to your body. Can you imagine that? Oh, miserable
man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this
stinking body of death? Do you think he was a happy man
about this whopper? I tell you, it made him miserable.
It weakened him. Do you know what it feels like? After a while, it weakens you,
doesn't it? It discourages you. And if the
Lord Jesus Christ didn't strengthen us and uphold us by His grace,
we'd faint. We would just faint. Because
it's misery. It's misery. Oh, be a happy Christian. I know, bless God, I know there's
joy and peace, but this is the miserable aspect of it too. Secondly, how does it affect
us? Well, it keeps us down. It keeps us low. It keeps us
humble. And the day when self-esteem
is run amok, we need this. We need this, don't we? Worthy
of nothing. Worthy of absolutely nothing.
God owes me nothing but judgment. I don't have any marriage to
profess. We're sinners. who are taken captive by our
own sinful nature. You know, if God condemned me
to hell today, I don't have a plea against Him. What could I say? Because He's taught me what I
am. I know I'm wretched. All the years of my rebellion
against Him and all of this warfare now that I experienced, No, if
He damned me tomorrow, I'd say, Bless Your Holy Name. You're
right. You're just. It keeps us low. Thirdly, it should make us watchful
against sin and self. Watchful. If there is within
us such a nature of sin that is so bold and willing to rise
up against the Spirit of God, and oppose Him. Galatians 5.17
says that's what He does. The flesh lusteth, He wars against
the Spirit. That's pretty bold, isn't it?
And if there is within us this old man that is that willing
to oppose all that's good and wholesome and right, what would
we do with somebody like that? We shouldn't accommodate him.
Would we aid and give comfort to our mortal enemy? We'd never
do that, would we? If we got him down, we wouldn't
let him up and hand him a sword. And what am I saying, brothers and
sisters? We're such foul people. We can't trust ourselves. And
it calls upon us to be so careful in our daily life and prayerful
and watchful. and subdue this old man by the
grace of God. I tell you, if he gets out of
control, he's going to do more harm and bring more shame than
you and I can ever imagine. Don't feed him. Don't feed him. Whatever strengthens the old
man, deny him of it. You can't kill him Paul said
we crucify Him, but He hangs there like the thieves on the
cross and complains and casts it in the Lord's teeth and blames
Him for everything. Don't feed Him. Don't feed Him. Don't encourage Him. Don't comfort
Him. He's your enemy. That's the enemy within. Fourthly, this should keep us
cleaving. to the Lord Jesus Christ, our
dear Savior, with all our thankful hearts. I thank God, Paul said
in verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
my Lord. I thank God for Jesus Christ,
my Lord. I thank God for that exceeding
great grace that's in Christ Jesus, the Lord. His mercy, His
love, His faithfulness, His power, His intercession. And you know
why we thank God for Jesus Christ the Lord? Nothing less and nobody
less can save us. It takes the merits of a mighty
Savior to save us. It takes His power to save us.
To get us through this sinful, wretched world, being the people
that we are, is going to take a miracle. Only Jesus can do
it. Jesus upon His throne. Nothing
else and nobody else can save us. Better to see our sin that keeps
us cleaving than to be lifted up in the pride of self-righteousness
and fall to our own shame and confusion. Fifthly, and lastly,
to feel this warfare and to be involved in it puts us to hoping
for a complete an eternal deliverance. Who shall deliver me? Is there
a deliverance? Could there be a deliverance?
Oh yes, thank God there is a deliverance. Who shall deliver me? Thank God
through Jesus Christ my Lord. He will deliver me. Paul said,
He hath delivered us from so great a death He doeth deliver
us, and He will yet deliver us. We're waiting for His Son from
heaven, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come. And
Jude said we're looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life. We're looking. We're hoping. We're waiting. It's like that
captive in the filthy cell. I used to see them down in Jamestown
where I was raised up at. We'd go by the jail and they
had these old bars on the windows and they'd be standing there
looking out the windows, breathing the fresh air. That's the way Paul was feeling. He's in this stinking cell with
all the filth. that he's having to live with.
And he's got his mouth up to the bars of the window. And he's
breathing some fresh air. And he's longing for freedom. And he said, Who shall deliver
me? Who shall deliver me? And he's hoping. And he's waiting. Let me show you one verse in
closing. 2 Timothy chapter 4. This same
man who said, Who shall deliver me? Look what he says when deliverance
came. 2 Timothy chapter 4. Look what he says in verse 6.
2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 6. He was telling Timothy to be
faithful. For I am now ready to be offered. This word offered,
they say, means to be poured out, like a sacrifice, poured
out. And the time of my departure,
I was reading this this morning in the little Greek book that
I had, and you know what it literally says? I am being poured out like
water, and the time of my release is come. My deliverance has come. What is he talking about? I am
ready to get out of this cell. I am ready to escape this vile
body of death. I am ready to depart and to be
with my Savior where sin and sense will molest no more. Will there be no more tear-dimmed
eyes? And no more sinning hearts? where
the agonies and the weakness and the discouragements and the
fears of this warfare will be known no longer, where every
tear will be dried, where there will be no more death or sorrow
or crying or pain, when He that sits upon the throne makes all
things new. Boy, that helps in this warfare,
doesn't it? That helps you from despairing. Deliverance is coming. Hang on just a little longer.
Pray just a little longer. Read just a little longer. Wait
just a little longer. Deliverance is coming. Let's pray.