Romans 7. I want to read verse 25, and
then I want to look at the context. Romans 7, verse 25. 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, I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord." I tell you, everybody
and everything should lift up their beings in praise and thanksgiving
to God. Everything that has a being,
we owe our being to God Himself. I think one of the first evidences
of reprobation is an unthankful heart. When they knew God, they
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful. And one of the
best evidences of grace in the heart is to be thankful. And
if we are seeking after God's will, one of the ways that we
can know it is this, in all things give thanks. For this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, to be thankful. I thank
God. You mentioned it this morning,
Wayne, in the first chapter. And here this great apostle is
still thanking God. I thank God in everything. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts to the which you are called, and be ye thankful. Be thankful. I want to see what
the Apostle Paul was thankful for here, and for that we've
got to go back and look at the context. And I want to look at
the Sabbath chapter of the book of Romans. I want to begin here
in verse 1, and this chapter is concerning the law and the
believer. The law and the believer. I want
us to look at it. Look in verse 1. If you don't
have your Bible, please find the Pew Bible, and I want you
to read this with me. Let's look at it as we read it
together. Look in verse 1. Know you not, brethren, for I
speak to them that know the law. What law is he talking about?
Is he talking about the ceremonial law, the sacrifices, the feast
days? Or is he talking about the moral
law? We're talking about the moral law, what you and I call
the Ten Commandments, the law. We know that because in verses
2 and 3, he speaks of a woman committing adultery. If she be
separated from her husband, divorced from her husband, and marries
another man, she shall be called an adulteress. That's the commandment,
isn't it? And there in verse 7, Paul said,
I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt
not covet. That is the Ten Commandments.
So when he says here in verse 1, Brethren, I speak to them
that know the law. He is speaking about the Ten
Commandments law, what you and I call the moral law. And in chapter 7, he tells us
the necessity of being delivered from this law. Now, I fear that
we are living in a generation that knows very little about
the Ten Commandments. They know very little about the
authority of the moral law. He said here in chapter 6, verse
14, that sin shall not have dominion over you because you are not
under the law. You are not under the law, speaking
there to believers. What does it mean, and why is
it necessary to be delivered from the law? Well, let's look
at this. First of all, here in verse 1,
he says, No you not, brethren, for I speak to them that know
the law. How that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he lives. The law has dominion over a man
as long as he lives. Now, what does he mean by that?
Well, he means this. The law has legal dominion. The Ten Commandment law regulates
society. Society is under this moral law
and it has dominion. It exercises that dominion. Hold
that chapter right there and look and I'll show you what I
mean back in the third chapter. Look back in the third chapter
and look in verse 19 and verse 20. Here's what I'm talking about. It has moral authority over a
man. Legal dominion. Look here in
verse 19. No you're not. that whatsoever
things the law says, it says to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." Now, think of the law as our judicial
system. The law is like our judicial
system. The law sees sin. If you go out
here and you drive up State Road 3, 75 miles an hour, and the
law clocks you, you're a lawbreaker. It charges you with that sin.
If it has to, he'll take you to court, he'll bring the evidence
against you, he'll find you guilty, and he will impose the fine for
your law breaking. That's what the law of God is.
It has dominion over everybody. The moral law. He'll arrest a
man if he sinned. It brings him up to the court
of heaven in his conscience. It proves his guilt. It sentences
him, the proper and just sentence, and in time, at the proper time,
it will render execution. And every step of that way, from
the arrest the law makes, to charging you, to proving your
guilt, to sentencing you, in every step of the way, it has
dominion over you. The law tells a man what he can
do and what he cannot do, and it will always bring him to account
for his sin. Now, why can it do that? How
can it do that? Well, he tells us back over here
in our text. Look back again in chapter 7. When the law does this, it exercises
this dominion over people. It can do so in a just way. And you can appeal the verdict. Because look what he says about
the law in verse 12 of chapter 7. Wherefore, the law is holy,
the commandment is holy, and it is just, and it is good. See why we have no appeal? We
may have crooked prosecutors in some community. We may have
laws that are really unjust, but it is not so with the law
of God. When He accuses you of sin, then you are guilty. And
you have no defense against it because it is right, it is just,
and it is holy. And here in verses 2 and 3, Paul
gives an illustration of the law's dominion. Look here. Look
at what he says in verse 2. Here's an illustration of the
law's dominion. If a woman which hath none husband
is bound by the law, the woman which hath none husband is bound
by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the
husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then, if, while her husband lives, she be married to another
man, she shall be called nanadulterous." Why is she called an adulteress?
Because the law says, thou shalt not commit adultery. What is
that, the seventh commandment? I think that's the seventh commandment.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. But if her husband be dead, she
is freed from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man. So Paul is saying here, the only
way for her to be freed from that law, without breaking that
law and being guilty, is for her husband to die. Death dissolves
the obligation to her husband. It releases her and it freezes
her, and she no longer is under that law. It no longer applies
to her life and her situation. Now look in verse 4. Paul is
going to tell us the only way that we can justly be delivered
from the law that has dominion over us is by death. Just as the woman is released
from the law of the husband, You and I cannot be released
from the law except through death. Now look at what he says in verse
4. Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that you should bring
forth fruit unto God. Death. You are become dead to
the law. How? by the body, the dying body,
the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how does the body
of Christ deliver us from the dominion of the law? Paul said
it's necessary. You've got to be delivered from
the dominion of the law. And the only way to do that is
just like this woman is delivered. Death. Death. But if it's our death, Then we're
in trouble, aren't we? If we die under the law's dominion,
we'll die and suffer forever. Under our guilt for the wages
of sin is death. But he says here that when Christ
died, we're delivered through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And let's look at it this way. The law is our first husband. And it bound us. And as long
as we were alive, he'd exercise dominion over us. If we personally
die, then we're lost forever. We're guilty, we're damned. So
one who is able, who has married enough, must be willing and able
to die in our stead. We can't die for ourselves. But
some able person Namely, the Lord Jesus Christ must die in
our place. But he has to be one the law
approves of, doesn't he? He can't be just anybody. The
law has to approve of him. God has to approve of him. He
has to be one fit and fully able to satisfy the obligations of
the law, the demands of the law. And he's one, he must be one,
who is able to suffer the penalty of that law, which is death. And Paul said this was done in
the very body of Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to hold Romans
7, and I want you to look with me in Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, he speaks of this
very thing, the body of Jesus Christ. Look in Hebrews chapter
10. When he speaks of the body, Most
of the time he is speaking of the entire man, the entire person,
not just the physical body, but he is speaking of the human soul
of Christ. His body was made a sacrifice
of sin, but so was his soul. So when he is talking here about
the body, he does talk about the physical makeup of Christ,
but he doesn't always exclude the soul. Look what he says here
in verse 4. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Well, we know
that, don't we? Wherefore, when the Lord Jesus Christ cometh
unto the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me." A body? He was speaking
to his father, and he said, You've prepared me a body. God was involved
in the preparation of the body of the Son of God in Mary's womb.
He ordained it, the Holy Spirit moved up on her, and she conceived
in that womb. We know God approved of the virgin
birth because He made the body. A body has fallen for me. And he says here in verse 6,
in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure,
look at this, then said I, lo, I come to do thy will, O my God,
to do thy will. And if you'll read this in Psalms
chapter 40, he adds something to this. He says, thy law is
within my heart. So here we have a body. We have
a body, we have a human soul, the person of Jesus Christ. He's
been born to the Virgin, and He says, this is why I've come.
This is why I've come. To do the will of my Father. His law is within my heart. He came to render perfect obedience
to this law. How many times did the Father
say of Him, this is my beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased."
I tell you, brothers and sisters, he saw something in his son that
he didn't see in us. And here's what it was, perfect
obedience. Obedience in motives, obedience
in thought, perfect obedience in word, perfect obedience in
deed. That's why he came in his body,
his soul, he did what you and I could not do. He rendered perfect
obedience to the will of God. He magnified the law and he made
it honorable. This is my beloved in whom I
am well pleased. And the law searched him and
there was nothing in him but pure holiness in his soul and
in his body. He was holy, harmless, undefiled. He was separate from sinners.
No violence was felt in his mouth, or no guile, and when he offered
himself to God, the Bible says he did so without spot. I came to do my Father's will. Thy law is within my heart. You know your eternal home, your
salvation rests upon this. Paul said you must be delivered
from the law and you can't deliver yourself. The only way to be
delivered is through death of a body. And here that body is. There are three things said about
the body of Christ when he suffered upon the cross. And the first
one is this. He bare our sins in His own body
on the tree. His body. You have become dead
to the law through the body of Christ. He bare our sins. Those sins of yours that were
against the law. But more importantly, those sins
of yours that the law was against. That the law had charged you
with. and found juviality of it and was going to damn you
because of it. Now, where are those sins? Peter says he bore
them in his own body upon the tree. That's the first thing.
The second thing is this. 2 Peter 3.18, Christ suffered
for sins. Christ hath once suffered for
sins in his own body. In his body. The law charged
him, the law found him guilty, and the law carried out the execution
for our sins. He died for our sins. His body died. The third thing, and this is
a mysterious thing, and listen to Colossians 2.14. Listen to
this about the body of Jesus Christ. Paul said he blotted
out. the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us and which was contrary to us, and took
them out of the way, nailing them to his cross." He took the
ordinances that was contrary to us. What was contrary to us? Thou shalt not covet. That is contrary to us. We are
so fallen, it is just our nature to covet. Here's the law that's
contrary to us. And it's against us. And He took
that law out of the way. We talk about Him taking the
sins out of the way. He took the law out of the way
also. That's a wonderful blessing,
isn't it? He took them out of the way. I was reading a man
told that they had a law, I think it was in Asia, the same time
that He was coming on this verse, he nailed this ordinance to the
cross. And he was telling the head of
a law in Asia at that time, that if you were indebted to somebody,
and they were going to cancel your debts, they had to take
a piece of paper and they would write how much you owed, and
then they wrote what law it was that required you to pay it.
They actually wrote down the law and the number. We see that
all the time. We charge you with so and so, you know, and they
give the number and everything. The statue that we broke them.
And they would take that piece of paper, and they had a specific
place, they'd take it and they'd nail it into that wood. And you
could go there, and there that piece of paper was nailed to
the wood that said, His debts that he owed because of certain
and certain law is now counsel. And it was now. That's what Christ
did upon the cross. He not only took our sins, but
Paul says here, he took those ordinances. He took the ordinances. And there's all kinds of different
opinions of what these are. Some say, well, that's the covenant
of works that Adam was under. that we broke, that we sinned
against, that He took that? Well, that's so. That's wonderful
land. He took those Ten Commandments
upon Mount Sinai that was given to Israel. Well, those are against
us. He took any and all laws and ordinances that was against
us, and He nailed it to the cross. Our sins and the law that was
against it. He nailed it to His cross. And he says in Colossians 121,
you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, listen to this, yet now hath he reconciled hell in the
body. There's something to his body,
folks. There's something amazing to his body. There's something
vicarious. There's something meritorious
about his body. You were reconciled to God in
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross. He made peace
through the blood of his cross, the blood that was poured from
his body. And here in Hebrews chapter 10,
look in verse 9 and 10 what he goes on to say. Then said he,
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first covenant.
that he may establish the second covenant, by the which will we
are sanctified, were set apart, were made holy to God, how? Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once and for all." Now, since I said all of
that, go back in Romans chapter 7 and read verse 4 again. In
the light of everything that I have said, see if this does
not make some sense now. In chapter 7 and verse 4, wherefore,
my brethren, you also are become dead to the law. You have died
to the law. What happens if you die to the
law? It doesn't have any more dominion, does it? It can charge
you all it wants to. What good will it do? You're
dead. You're dead. You have become
dead to the law. by the dying dead body of Christ. Ain't that wonderful? The law
has no more power. The law has no more authority.
It has no more dominion over the believer to arrest him and
try him and sentence him to death because Christ has died in his
place. And when Christ died, you died. You died. Because he was your
representative. You see, everything he did, he
did nothing for himself. Old Luther used to say, Christ
is a public person, not a private person. That means everything
he did, he did as a representative of others. The law says, I've
charged you with sin. The law says, I've condemned
you and I've cursed you to death. Who's that talking to? Christ!
My representative! He was made a curse for us. And the law says, I've killed
you for your crimes. And there He hangs dead upon
the cross. Now, what can the law say? Nothing. The law is satisfied. The law
says, I've charged Him, I've cursed Him, I've put Him to death.
I'm satisfied. But when He died, you died. And the law has no more dominion
over you. Now, brothers and sisters, that's
wonderful if you know the power of this law, if you know the
holiness and justice of this law. Look at the last portion
of verse 4. Here's why it's necessary to
be dead to the law. That you should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit. Unto God. You've got to be married to Christ.
But you can't, as long as you're married to the Law. You'll be
called an adulterer. But when Christ died, that freed
you from the Law. Now you're married to Christ,
who died for you and rose again. You're married to Him, and the
Bible says now you bring forth fruit unto God. What's marriage about? You're
married to Christ. So what's marriage about? Remember
what the Lord told our first parents, Adam and Eve, when He
brought them and joined them together as man and wife? Remember
the first thing He told them? Be fruitful. Be fruitful. And multiply and replenish the
earth. That's what marriage is about,
isn't it? Being fruitful. What is it about marrying to
Christ? It's about bearing fruit, isn't
it? If we're married to Christ, we bring forth the fruits of
love. and joy and peace and long-suffering
and goodness and faith and forbearance. Bearing fruit. That's what it's
about. When we're free from our first
testament and married to Christ, then we bring forth fruit. Look
in verse 5. He reminds these Romans and us
what their life was like before the Lord saved them, before they
were regenerated. And look how he says in verse
5. For when we were in the flesh, the motions, the passions of
sin, which were by the law, they were aroused by the law, did
work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." What
an awful, awful way, if you know anything about flesh, to have
your unsaved life described as simply being in the flesh. That's the lost person's trouble,
is it not? He's just in the flesh. His whole
life is just in the flesh, serving his sin. And what does the Bible
say about flesh? All flesh has corrupted itself.
They that are in the flesh cannot please God. All this flesh is,
is that old fallen, corrupt nature. And Paul said that's all you
had. Fallen nature. Fallen flesh that is the enemy
of God. And look what he said about the
law here. When we were in the flesh, the
passions of sin which were by the law, that word means aroused
by the law. Do you know why sin? Well, let
me say it this way. Down home, they grew a lot of
watermelons in their gardens. We never thought much about it.
We passed their gardens up and never bought them until they
put up a sign that said, no trespassing. There's something about being
forbidden to do something that makes you want to do it. Makes
the fallen nature want to do what's forbidden. And Paul said
here, these passions, these sinful passions were aroused by the
law. You never thought much about
it until the law says, don't you do it. And then you thought,
well, boy, that's curious. And then you become aroused.
The sin becomes aroused. Someone said it's natural for
corrupt flesh to desire what's forbidden. And it's a mysterious
thing that the law arouses sin. But it's because of our sinful
natures. The Bible says stolen waters
are sweet. Back in the east over there,
they didn't have very many wells. And if you got stuck out in some
of those wilderness, you could die first. And when they found
water, sometimes they were roped off. They had do not drink, do
not trespass. And boy, you could get in one
of those wells and steal you a glass of water, and it was
so sweet because it was stolen. Like those watermelons stolen. Look in verse 6. But now you are delivered from
the law, that being dead wherein you were held, that we should
serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. Now let me read this like this
to you. But now we are freed from the law, And we are dead
to that which held us captive and in bondage." Now, we are
freed from the law which held us captive. It held us in bondage. The believer is dead to the law,
and listen, the law is dead to the believer. The relationship
between them has been terminated, just as that woman's Obligation
to the law was terminated when her husband died. Now your termination
with the law is justly terminated because Christ has met all the
demands of the law and fulfilled all its penalties. And now, this
verse says, we serve a new husband with a new heart and a new spirit
and a new life. New motives, new desires, new
loves, and newness of spirit. And you know something about
this spirit, the newness of it? It never wears old. It's always. I've been on the
way over 40 years, and you know something? Serving Him today
is just new. It's just as new as it was when
I started. Newness of spirit. When you're
serving the law, it's a drudgery, isn't it? Boy, it's a drudgery. Putting on a front. Remember
that? Oh, you had to put on a face,
you know. You had to be religious. Extra
religious when somebody was around. And it was such a burden. But
boy, now, there's a newness of life. There's a new heart. There's
a new spirit. And it never gets old. It's always
newness. Newness of spirit. He's born
of the Spirit. He's strengthened by the Holy
Spirit. He's upheld by the Spirit. He prays in the Spirit. He's
alive in the Spirit. He lives in the Spirit. Newness. Newness. That's why you never
get tired of coming here. That's why you never get tired
of seeking the Lord in prayer. That's why you never get tired
of communion with Him. It's always new, isn't it? You're
dead to that old law that helped you and accused you. That old
mean husband. We see some women and you know
their husbands are scoundrels. You feel sorry for them. We know
some. I know a lady that sometimes I want to whip her husband myself.
He's a scoundrel and I know it. If he ever dies and she gets
her a real husband. Man, I didn't know marriage was
like this. I didn't know marriage could
be so good. When we were under the law, He just accused us.
He cursed us. He threatened us. He worked us
out to death. But now we're dead to that first
husband and we're married to a good husband. Oh, He loves
us. When He commands us to do anything,
He gives us grace to do it. And we just love to serve Him,
don't we? We serve Him from different motives out of love, a freshness,
a newness of our spirit. In verses 7-13, Paul is going
to relate his personal experience with the law. He is going to
tell us how the law came to him when he was unsaved and began
to work with him and converted him. Look what he says in beginning
verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? You know we would think that
because he seemed to imply that, didn't he? Because he said there
in verse 5, when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin which
were aroused by the law. So now he comes here and he asks
this question, is the law sin? Then he says, God forbid, no,
it's not the law. And then he begins to give his
personal experience. I have not known sin except the
law hath said thou shalt not covet. But sin, taken occasion,
opportunity, by the law, by the commandment, brought in me all
manner of concupiscence, 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 by
the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore,
the law is holy. And the commandment is holding
good and just was then that which is good made death to me, God
forbid, but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in
me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might
become exceeding sinful. He proves that the law is not
bad, but what he does prove that the sin that the law reveals
And here's the way he does it. Here in verse 9, Paul said, I
was alive without the law once. Now, it's his manner of speaking.
Just like he said concerning the law, I was blameless. Here
he thought he was alive even when he was lost. He thought
he was doing the will of God while he was persecuting the
church. He thought he was doing God's will. I'm alive to God.
In all this time, he says, I never even knew that I was a sinner. I didn't know that I was void
of that righteousness that God requires me to have. That's what he said there in
verse 9. For I was alive without the law once. I thought I was. He says there in verse 8, look
in verse 8. But sin, taken occasion or opportunity
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
For without this holy and good law, sin was dead in me." Now,
I can't completely understand this, I'll be honest with you.
Some of you probably can. But here you have a grown man
that said, the knowledge of sin was dead in me. Here he lived
to be twenty-something years old, and he says, I had no knowledge
of sin. Sin was dead in me. I've heard
people say that, that they lived to be thirty years old or more.
And they had no knowledge that they had ever committed one sin
against God. That's the way he was. He had
no knowledge of sin. He said it was dead in me. Now
in the last portion of verse nine, something happens. Boy,
something happened. In the last portion of verse
9, look at this, But when the commandment came, sin revived,
and I died. When the commandment came, how
did it come? Well, he tells us, look up here
in verse 7 again, I had not known lust, except the law had said,
the law said, Thou shalt not covet. Now, he memorized this.
He knew this was the Ten Commandments. He memorized this. He could quote
it in his head. But then one day, the law spoke
to him. It come to him with so much power,
just like it did on Mount Sinai. the angels and the trumpets sounding
and the fire and the smoke. And the Word come to him and
said, Thou shalt not covet. And he came in so much power,
convincing power. Paul said it stirred up all kinds
of evil desires in me. All manner of sin and concupiscence. I tell you, brothers and sisters,
the Law, when it comes to us and its power, It can see sin
in us that we've never seen in ourselves. The human heart is
extremely wicked, but it's deceitful. And he'll say, I'm good. I am
so good. I want you to believe me. I'm
so good. I would never do this. I would never do that. I'm too
good a person. I just do a bad thing on occasion,
but I'm good. And the law shines into that
dark heart. And boy, what happened? That
sinful heart, that wicked heart, all this corruption is stirred
up. And what did Paul say? Sin became
exceeding sinful. Can you imagine him on the Damascus
road? When the Lord struck him down,
here he was, a self-righteous Pharisee that said, I have no
knowledge of sin. And boy, when the Lord sent the
light of His law into his dark heart, can you imagine what he
went through for those three days and three nights? He was
horrified. He was devastated when he began
to see himself. And all it took was for the law
to say, just to say it, oh, here we go along and we think
we're pretty good people. One fellow said, you don't commit
adultery unless it's the physical act. He don't know the law, does he? One man says, it's not really
adultery in your heart unless you drive around the block and
come back to look at her again. The first little thought. Oh, the first thought of another
woman. The first thought of another
man. The thought of it. The law shines in the heart and
says you have committed adultery already and you're guilty. That's what the law does when
it comes. When it came to this self-righteous
Pharisee. And oh my, it humbled him, it
tormented him. Until finally, this is what it
did. This is what it did. He died. He died. Sin revived and I died. Now he didn't die. He was much
alive. A man came and laid hands on
him and his eyes opened and he took him and baptized him. He
didn't die. What does he mean? Sin revived and I died. I died
to self-salvation. I died to human merit and power
and ability. I died to myself. And then that's when I found
out if I could not find salvation in another, Then the law has
arrested me, the law has proved my guilt, and I will be sentenced
to eternal ruin. That's when he looked out of
himself and found salvation, found righteousness, found life
in another. This is why we preach the holiness
of God. This is why we preach the depravity
of man. the justice of God's law and
our sinfulness. Because man must be brought to
the end of himself. The end of these silly attempts
to save himself. He must die to himself. And then
and only then will he look out of himself and find salvation
in Jesus Christ and His work and His righteousness. The law is a killing letter.
It's a killing letter. Now, this is very important.
From verses 7 through verse 13, he was dealing in the past tense.
You notice there. All of this is in the past tense. I had not known sin. That's in
the past tense. And all the way down through
verse 13, he's in the past tense. From verse 14 down through the
remainder of the chapter, he goes to present tense. And this
is so important. It's so important. Let's read
this. Look here in verse 14. The law is spiritual. I am carnal. For that which I
do, I know not, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not,
but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law, I agree with the law, that is
good. The law is good. Even when it
condemns me, 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 dwelleth 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
in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
I delight in the law of God. I love it. I delight in God,
the gospel of God, the Son 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 Well, here's every Christian's
experience. I just read to you every Christian's
experience. I can't even explain all these
verses. And you may be a Christian and
you can't articulate it either. But as you read these verses,
can't you relate to them? Isn't that your experience? When
you would do good, Evil is present with you. Paul is speaking here
in these verses as if he's two persons. Did you notice that?
I and I. There's a good I and there's
a bad I. He says here that he's carnal. I am carnal. And yet
I'm spiritual. He says here that he has this
inner man that delights in the law of God, and then he has this
carnal man that is fleshly that he calls him wretched. And I'll
remind you again there in verse 23 and 24 what he says about
him. I see another law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind. And look at this. Bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin. He says I'm a captive. to this sin. Ain't that awful? That's the most blasphemous sound,
isn't it? I'm just a captive to sin. Paul, you're a captive
to sin? This old man, this old carnal
nature is captive to sin. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? He says, I'm a new
man. I have an inner man that loves
the law, that loves the gospel. Oh, I do love God. I love the
Son of God. But he says this inner man is
inside this body of death. So you've got spiritual and you've
got carnal. You've got holiness and you've
got sin. You've got the working of righteousness
and you've got the working of depravity in the same human being. It comes down to this. He has
this new man and an old man, and what he's finding working
in him, neither the new man or the old man is able to do perfectly
what he wills to do. He has this inner man. He longs
to love, and he longs to serve. He longs to be free to do it
all without any taint of sin. He longs to believe perfectly.
He longs to walk humbly before his God. But when he tries to
do that, this old man pulls him back down. And he said, what
I would do, I cannot do. And then on the other hand, he
has this old man and he wants to serve his sins. He wants to
live in open and profane sins. He loves his sins. He laps it
up like a hungry, thirsty dog lapping up water. But just as
he goes after it, the new man grabs him and pulls him back. So you've got this conflict.
Neither the old man nor the new man can do what he wants to do. And that's the way Paul said
in Galatians chapter 5, because we're in the flesh. We cannot
do what we will to do. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit. That word means war in it. And
the Spirit wars against the flesh. And these two are contrary one
to the other. So that you cannot do the things
that you would. You cannot. Is that not your
experience? The Lord tells you to fear not.
Trust Me. Fear not, dear child. And what
do you do? You fear. And you say, I hate
that. He tells you, simply believe.
All things are possible to him that believeth. And here you
are, fallen into unbelief. And what do you say? I hate that.
I hate that. What's going on within you? This
warfare of these two armies within you. Pulling in both directions. Oh, he says here, verse 25, I
thank God. I thank God. William J. gave four things, and let me
give you these four things right quickly and I'll close. Four
reasons to be thankful to God. The first one is this. I thank
God through Jesus Christ, my Lord, that my sin, my corruption,
is my complaint. I thank God that I can complain
now about sin. It's not always been that way
with you, has it? Before the Lord saved you, did
you have this warfare? Were you crying, O wretched man,
that I am then? No, you had a hard heart then,
didn't you? You weren't sensitive. But boy, now it's changed. Don't
you thank God that you're in a war with sin? What if you weren't? Oh, I thank God. I thank God. I thank God that He's made me
to know the evil of my sin. I thank God that He's took out
the old stony heart and He's given me a heart of flesh that
I now can feel. Yes, I'm burdened. Yes, I'm worn
through this struggle. But I know someone who will sustain
me. Someone I can lay my weary heart
upon and find rest for my soul. I thank God. Oh, brothers and
sisters, next time you're weary, fighting with yourself, thank
God. Thank God. Secondly, I thank
God through Christ Jesus, my Lord, that I'm not conquered
by indolence. I'm not conquered by it. The
war is raging. It hasn't conquered you, though,
has it? The enemy is still there within you, but he is dethroned. Sin is dethroned. He used to
reign. Oh, it threatens to take the
throne again, and sometimes it makes you fear. But has His grace
not abounded over your sin? For sin abounded. Grace did much
more of that. Paul said, having obtained help
of the Lord, I have continued to this day. He that hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Oh, I thank God then that sin
hasn't conquered me. Ain't it amazing? How long has
some of you been in this battle? How long have you been struggling
with sin and fighting it and standing against it within your
own heart? Oh, I look at you, and most of
you look like you're not having any problems at all. I know better. And I know where your troubles
are. It's right in here, bud. And it's been going on for years. You've stood with the sword in
one hand and the shield in the other. You've put on the whole
armor of God. And you're in a battle, aren't
you? Isn't it amazing that after all these years, you've not been
overcome? And here's the reason. He's begun
a good work in you. The Holy Spirit's upholding you
in your battle. That's why. Thirdly is this. I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord that my final victory is certain. It's certain. The very fact that you're in
the midst of the war should tell you that your victory is certain.
He didn't call you to fight this battle, and then he's going to
leave you on the battlefield wounded to die. He's never done
that. The captain of our salvation
won't do that. He will not do it. I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed to him against that day. Fourthly is this. I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord that my deliverance is near. Life is not very long,
is it? Life is short. Then the battle
is short. If life was long, if you're going to live to be 150
years old, then you still should be patient and wait upon the
Lord, because your battle is near. It's ready to end. But our life is not 150 years.
Some of us ain't going to have much longer, are we? So we know
that our deliverance is near. Now is your salvation near than
when you first believed. Brethren, the Lord standeth at
the door. The night is far spent, the day
is at hand. Though painful at present, it
will cease before long, and then, O how pleasant, the conqueror's
song." It is about over with. It is about over with. There
is coming a day soon when this enemy within will be seen no
longer. And we'll go rest with the Lord
Jesus Christ from our labor and from our warfare. And we'll wait
until this poor body of death is completely annihilated, rotted,
decayed, and this physical being will be raised again and end
corruption and be joined with our perfect souls. And we'll
forever be with the Lord. And then, I'm going to love this. I'm going to love this. You know
what I'm going to tell myself when the Lord finishes His work
in me? When I don't have to say, oh, wretched man, I am anymore.
When He finishes His work and His image is perfect in me, when
He looks upon me glorified and says, you look just like me.
You know what I'm going to say to myself? I love you. I can't say that now. If I say
that now, oh man, it turns on me. But I'm going to say, when
he's finished with me, and there's no more sin in me, I love you. Man, I love you. I love what
you are. I love the way you look. I just
love you, Bruce Crabtree. I love you. What a day that will be. What
a day. Oh Father, oh wise Father in
heaven, you've made us to laugh. Your salvation, the hope that
you've given us, you make us to laugh in our souls. Our hearts
are cheered with hope that someday we'll be delivered from this
battle, this warfare. Oh Lord, but now we're in the
midst of it and you've called us to fight. Lord, don't let
sin get the upper hand in us. Oh, Spirit of God, Spirit of
Christ our Lord, take hold of Shil and Buckler and fight for
us and fight with us and fight in us. Help us to subdue this
old man and keep him down. Strengthen the inner man. Give
us grace that we may be strong in the Lord, in the power of
His might. And when we're discouraged, Lord,
help us to remember that we don't have much longer to fight. And
then you'll take us to rest. And we'll rest with you for all
eternity. We ask these things in your precious
and blessed name. Amen. Be careful going home.