Romans chapter 7, and I want
to begin looking here in verse 6. Romans chapter 7 and verse
6. If you have a Pew Bible, it's
on page 1,228. Romans chapter 7 and verse 6. But now we are delivered from
the law. We are delivered. We who believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we who are new creatures in Christ,
we who have believed the doctrine that has been preached unto us
concerning the grace of God in Christ, we who are new creatures
in Jesus Christ, we are delivered from the law. We are delivered
from the law. Why is it necessary to be delivered
from the law? It curses us, doesn't it? It
accuses us. The Lord Jesus said, I'm not
accusing you to the Father, but there is one that accuses you,
that's Moses, in whom you trust. The law judges sin, it accuses
and curses. We must be delivered from the
law. And He says here, we are delivered.
You're no longer under the law, but you're under grace. You who
have believed in Jesus Christ, You're free from the law, oh
happy condition. And he says, now, now we are. Now we are. Used to be we were
under the law. It cursed us, but now, now. Oh dear child of God, you're
standing with God. Your position with God is a happy
one. You're delivered from the law
right now. There's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
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." Newness. Serve God now. A new life, a
new heart. In verse 7 through verse 13, speaks here about the law. Why
is it necessary to be delivered from the law? Is the law bad?
Verse 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. No, it's not the law that's bad. It's me that's bad. It's you
that's bad. I had not known sin but by the
law, for I had not known lust. except the law hath said, Thou
shalt not covet." And he goes on down through verse 13, and
he tells about his three days and three nights there on the
street called Straight. Remember that? The Lord sent
him to the street called Straight, and he went to Ananias and said,
Behold, he prays. Here is a man that is under conviction. I'm showing him his sin for the
first time in his life. I'm showing him his sin. And
here Paul is going to tell us what happened in his conscience.
I had not known sin. Ain't that amazing? I lived all
my life. I prayed, I read, I gave. I was
a religious man and never the first time did I have the knowledge
of sin. That's amazing, ain't it? except the law hath said, Ye
shall not come. And then sin, taken occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of evil desires,
concupiscence. For without the law, without
a knowledge of the law, and how it condemned sin, I was alive. I was alive without that law
once, but when this commandment came in its power to search out
sin in my conscience and my heart, sin revived. It was there all
along, but it was like a sleeping monster. But when the law came
and said, You shall not desire evil things, oh, that showed
me what I had been desiring and what I was desiring. Evil things. Sin revived. You know everybody's
got sin in their heart. They just don't know it. Everybody's
a sinner. They just don't know it. And
let God, the Holy Spirit, come and take this holy and just and
good law and apply it to the conscience. Man, you'll see sin
in you where you've never seen it before. Paul said it revived. And I died. I died to what? My old way of religion, my old
way of being saved, of human merit and power. I died to all
that. In verse 10, in the commandment
which was ordained to give life to those who keep it, I found
it to be unto death. For sin, taken occasion by the
commandment, it deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore,
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and it is good. Now, beginning in verse 14 through
verse 25, he speaks in the present tense. He had been speaking about
his conversion experience. Now, from here, he begins speaking
in the present tense, and look what he says. Verse 14. Verse 13, Was then that which
is good made deaf unto me? God forbid. that it might appear
sin, work in death in me by that which is good, that sin by the
commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the
law is spiritual, but I am carnal, I am fleshly, soul under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. But what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, that's what
I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent, I agree with the law, that it is good. Now
then 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,
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
in the law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. I delight in the law of God after
the inner man, but I see another law in my members. It's bringing
me into the law of sin, it's bringing me into to the law of
sin which is in my members, is to warn 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 my Lord. So then with a mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." Now
let me give you two views of these verses, how people interpret
them, especially here from verse 14 down through verse 25. The
first view is usually those who lean a lot to the works for salvation. We call them Armenians or free
willism. And they say here Paul is speaking
in all of this chapter that I read to you about his conversion experience
before he was saved. before he was regenerated. He
was struggling with sin. He was trying to free himself
from its guilt and its power and working in him, but he couldn't.
And then he finally comes to the end of himself and says,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? And then he
turns to Christ, he looks to Christ, and he says, I thank
God through Jesus Christ my Lord. And then he's saved. And he says
there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now, this is not a regenerated
man who is speaking here, but it is a lost man. Well, here
is the fault I find with that view. First of all is this. In
verse 14, the apostle is speaking in the present tense, isn't he?
He is not speaking in the past tense when he was on the Street
calls straight, but he's speaking in the present tense. Notice
that in verse 14. We know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal. And through the rest of the chapter,
he speaks in the present tense. As he writes this epistle, he
says, this is the way I'm feeling about myself. This is the struggle
I'm having within myself with my sin. So he's not speaking
in the past tense. Secondly is this, this is not
the language of an unsaved man. He says there in verse 18, to
will is present with me, but how to perform that which is
good I find not. Does a lost man have a will to
truly please God? The Lord Jesus said, You will
not come to me. That's a man's whole problem
is his will, isn't it? His will is just as depraved
as his understanding is, as his affection is. No unregenerated
man ever had a will to please God and do what's right in His
sight. Now, that's so is it. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. And he says also here in verse
22, I delight in the law of God after the inner man. No unsaved
man can delight in the law of God. The carnal mind is not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. And he makes another
statement here, after the inner man. Here's the whole problem
with the lost man. He don't have an inner man. He
doesn't have two men, does He? He's just one man, the natural
man. When the Lord saves a man, He
puts a new man in him, a new heart, a new creature. And that's
the man Paul was talking about, this inner man that delights
in the law of God. The outward man perishes, but
the inward man is renewed day by day. Who is that inward man?
It's this new creature that's created in righteousness and
truth. And in verse 25, if they say
that Paul finally won the victory and he looks to Christ and he's
thanking God for Christ, well, it's strange that in the last
portion of verse 25 he goes right back to saying the same thing
that he had. I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin. The second view is this, that
the apostle here is relating He has inward struggle with his
sinful nature. He's a new creature in the Lord
Jesus Christ, but he still has this old nature. And it's this
new nature and this old nature, this new man and the old man,
and they're struggling with each other. God hasn't removed the
flesh, the old nature. He just doesn't rule anymore.
But he's still there. God has put a new man in his
heart. And the new man is holy. He's
created that way. And you've got your new man,
which is holy, and your old man, which is evil, and they're struggling
with each other. And even this great apostle is
saying, here's what's going on within my soul. My old man is
struggling with the new man. And it's a constant battle with
sin. That's what he says. In verse 14, he tells us what
kind of man he is now, in and of himself. What kind of a man
is he in and of himself? The same man he was before the
Lord saved him. He's carnal. The same man he
was when he came into the world. He's a carnal individual. And he says here again in verse
18, regeneration has not changed his natural man. And he keeps
making these statements. You know this, he says this here
five times, in me, in me. And every time he says in me,
it's always bad. Death worketh in me. Sin dwelleth in me." Evil. Evil. Where's the evil at? It's
in me. It's in me. Can you imagine this
great apostle? I don't know if there was a man
in the New Testament among all the apostles that was more dedicated
and holy in his service and worship of Christ than this man. Can
you imagine him writing this and saying this about himself?
Evil. Desire says, in me. Death is
in me. Sin is in me. And he says there
in verse 18, in me dwelleth no good thing. I believe this to
be the right view and right interpretation of these verses because it's
so consistent and it's so easy to read that way, isn't it? And
it's so honest. It just fits right together that
way. I think if any honest person
read these verses that I read to you, he'd reach the same conclusion
this morning, that here was a man who was struggling with sin. A new man and an old man. And I believe also another reason
that this is the true interpretation of this passage, because Paul
is describing a struggle here with inward sin and conflict
that other great men of God have had in the Scripture. This is
nothing peculiar to him. Abraham said this about himself,
ìI am dust and ashes.î And Jacob said this, ìLord, I am not worthy
of the least of your tender mercy.î David said every man at his best
state, in and of himself, is altogether vanity. Solomon said,
There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and
never sins. Peter said in his converted state
now when he was an apostle, a lover of Christ, Depart from me, Lord,
for I am a sinful man. And John said, If I say I have
no sin, I deceive myself. And the truth is not in me. And
Paul said again, this is a faithful saying, that Jesus Christ came
into this world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief. And this is not only their experience,
but isn't this your experience? Don't you struggle with sin? Don't you long to love the Lord
and obey Him? And everything you do is with
perfect motives and for His glory? Don't you long to do that? But
aren't you hindered from doing that? You would never go after sin.
You would never have a desire for something that's not yours.
You would never be lustful or greedy, but yet that's what's
there. And there's this inward struggle,
this conflict. Now, here's the question. Why
did God leave this remnant of sin? in His people. Don't you
think He could have removed it all? He could have made us, when He
saved us, holy both in soul and body, so holy that we'd never
have a thought or sense of sin. He's God. All things are possible
with Him. But why did He leave this remnant
of sin in us to struggle with constantly? Let me give you six
quick reasons, and I'll try to be real quick. The first one
is this. This struggle, this inward conflict
that we feel daily, it keeps us from putting confidence in
our flesh. One thing I'm convinced of, brothers
and sisters, God cannot endear to see us stand before Him with
any confidence in our flesh. He can't endure that. Let him
that glories glory in the Lord. And he told his prophet, you
cry. And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. It's grass. This was Paul's whole
trouble before the Lord saved him, wasn't it? I have not known
sin. I have no knowledge of So what
did he do? He went about to establish his
own righteousness. But here the Lord shows him what
he is, and he leaves this remnant of sin in him to struggle with,
and it makes him say, Oh, wretched man that I am. And now he comes
and he tells us this. We're of the true circumcision. Our hearts have been circumcised.
And we worship God in spirit, we rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
we have no confidence in our flesh. We don't trust it. Why? Look at it. Look at it. How could a man have confidence
in his flesh? I'll tell you why. The flesh
can do a lot of things. The flesh can sit down and read
its Bible. The flesh can be baptized. The
flesh can go to church. The flesh can preach. The flesh can give. The flesh
can do a lot of things. The flesh can put on a show before
other people. It can look so holy, the way
it dresses and the way it handles itself. It can look so holy. It can speak such fair speeches. It can do such wonderful deeds
before the world. And as men do that, they say,
man, I am impressing God. But get beyond that facade. Get beyond the flesh, that scene
of men. Get to the heart. Get to the
nature of the flesh. What do you see then? sin that
dwelleth in me." And it's a humbling thing, isn't it? And I tell you
what, it will beat you off from trusting in the flesh. It will
absolutely humble you down. And when you think of bringing
any things in your hand to make yourself accepted with God, I
tell you, it will humble you. It will shame you. It will embarrass
you. And you'll say, in my hands no
price I bring, simply to the cross I cling. That's what this
warfare does for us. We may go to church, but I'll
tell you this, evil is mixed with it. We may pray, but evil
is mixed with it. We may put our checks and our
bills in the little box in the back, but every dime you drop
in there, evil is mixed with it. I'm preaching to you this
morning, but there's enough evil in my preaching to send me to
a devil's hell. God forbid that I ever should
look at anything I am or anything we do and take any kind of confidence
in it that it's acceptable to God, apart from being washed
in Jesus' blood. Dear old Bunyan, the writer of
Pilgrim's Progress, he began to attend the worship
services. And he made a profession of faith,
and he said, I was amazed how I cleaned up my life. And he said he began to brag,
and how long he had prayed, and how many chapters he had read,
and how often he had gone to hear And he said, I began to
see one day that in all my going and all my doing and all my prayer,
that evil was mixed with it all. And he said, I began to see if
God didn't give me a righteousness outside of myself, then I had
committed enough evil in my religious duties to bring God's wrath down
upon me. Are you struggling with your
sin? Are you involved in this inward conflict? I tell you,
it's good for you. It keeps you from trusting in
yourself. That's the first thing. The second
thing is this. Our struggle with our inward
sin makes us to know that salvation is all of grace. Here's our general experience.
See if you can't relate to this. The Lord comes to us, He saves
us, and all we knew was that we were a poor sinner and nothing
at all, and that Christ was our all in all. That's all we knew. We were poor lost sinners, and
the Lord had had mercy upon us and saved us, and we rejoiced
in that. Remember that? He had accepted
us. He had forgiven us. And we were
happy and we began to tell others, Oh, the Lord has saved me. But
then something else began to happen. We began to see ourselves
as perhaps we had never seen ourselves before. We got a deeper
view of ourselves. We thought all the sin was gone. But then we begin to get a view
of this old man that was still there, and he's working in our
heart. And then perhaps we became even
doubtful of whether the Lord even saved me or not. Wait a
minute. What's going on? I thought He'd
saved me from my sin. And maybe we've fallen into some
fear about it. Oh, we begin to see ourselves
as evil. We begin to see and feel the
work of this sin. But you know what that does?
You know what that does? You know what the Lord will do
with that? I tell you, we'll begin to seek Him earnestly.
We'll begin to read His Word. And after a while, after a while,
we'll come to a greater realization of what we have been professing
all along. That salvation is by grace. Oh,
when the Lord saves you, you profess that, didn't you? Oh, He saved me, and He saved
me by His grace. But now, boy, you feel this conflict
in your soul with sin, and you're struggling with it. It's against
you. And now you say, not only am
I saved by grace, but if I'm not saved by grace, I'm not saved
at all. Not only was I saved by grace,
I must still be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you feel that way about yourself? Do you feel this morning, if
the very heart of Jesus Christ is not full of grace, sovereign
grace, free grace, To save you by Himself that you'll never
be saved. That you're such a miserable,
vile wretch, if He don't save you freely by His grace, you'll
be lost forever. Do you feel that way? What is
making you feel that way? Sin that dwelleth in me. Sin that dwelleth in me. Brother Mahan said, if you get
us within ten feet of heaven's gate and tell us to make it the
rest of the way by ourselves, we'd never enter in. That's what a desperate situation
we're in because of this sin. Do you believe this morning that
you're saved totally and freely and absolutely by the grace that's
in the heart of Jesus Christ? You say, Bruce, if I believed
that, I'd just turn loose the reins of my lust and I'd live
like the devil. Let me tell you something, dear
soul, you're already a devil. You probably got a legion in
you this morning. You just don't know it, you see. And if God opened our hearts,
and if God opens your heart to see yourself as you are, you'll
be horrified at yourself. And you'll say this about yourself,
that Paul said, O wretched, O wretched man that I am. And then when
grace, when you see grace and how free it is, and how powerful
it is, and how saving and keeping it is, oh, I tell you, you'll
rejoice and you'll say, Lord, there's no other way. There's
no other way but grace. Thirdly, it brings us to this
realization. and brings us to this appreciation
that we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. You can leave Romans chapter
7 and look over in 1 John with me, over to your right, way over
to your right, page 1328 in your few Bibles. I don't know what these people
do who say they haven't sinned in a year or two. I don't know what they're going
to do. What do you do when this sin has got you down? When a
temptation has got you on your trail and it's just been on your
mind and finally you've yielded and there you lay in your pollution
and the guilt upon your conscience. What do you do? What can we do? I can't believe that there would
be such a struggle going on within a man and it would never finally
somewhere trip him up and get him down. What happens when we've
sinned? When we've yielded? When we've
spoken? When we've done an awful deed?
In the heart or with the hands or with the eyes? Look in 1 John
chapter 2. My little children, my little
darlings, these things write unto you that you sin not. Resist
it. Stand against it. Pray against
it. And if any man sin, but if you
sin, don't despair. Don't throw up your hands and
quit. Don't say there's no hope. We have an advocate with the
Father. You know what an advocate is.
He's a lawyer, isn't He? He's a mediator. He's a go-between. He's somebody that represents
you before the judge. That's who an advocate is. He's
a counselor, not attorney. You mean we have an advocate
with the Father? Yes. Yes. He's there at the right
hand of the Father. And who is He? Jesus Christ. He's Jesus. Now why is that so
important? Because that means He's a man.
Jesus is His human name. That's a name that they gave
Him when He was eight days old. Jesus. The Son of Mary. The Son of Man. He's a man. Just like you and just like me. Sin accepted. But look here. He's the Christ. What is that? That's Christ Jesus in His office. That means He's anointed of God.
He was sent to do the work of God. The will of God. What was
He sent to do? To keep the law as a man? To die upon the cross? To suffer? To be punished for
sin? He's the Christ. And look at
this. Look at his character. He's the
righteous. He's the righteous. He's the
only man while he was upon this earth that could work his way.
You talk about confidence in the flesh. He could have it. He worked his way in the presence
of God. He could pray and there's no
sin mixed with it. He gave and there's no sin mixed with it.
He's the righteous Son of God. Well, he's an advocate. He's
an advocate there with the Father. Now somebody said one time, I
forgot who it was, but I read somebody said, if you ask Jesus Christ to preach
your cause, if He's your lawyer, you better make sure your case
is good. If your case is good, you don't
even need a lawyer. Do you? You may have missed court
the way it's set up, but you will need a lawyer with God if
your case is good. The case is not good. If any
man sin, is sin good? Our case is bad, isn't it? Look
at us. Look what we've done. We've sinned.
And now we've come up to the court of heaven. But thank God
we've got a lawyer. We've got an advocate. And what
does he do? He stands up for you, doesn't
he? You don't sit there and talk to the judge. Your advocate does
that. You sit there and shut up. If you say anything, you're
going to be out of order. You're going to be fined. Haul
him off to jail until he shuts his mouth. You don't come into
my court and speak. There's a time to speak when
I tell you to speak. What's your plea? Deal me. Okay,
sit down and shut up. Your lawyer will handle it now. What does this lawyer plead?
He's got to have something to plead. I'll tell you what he
pleads. Father, you know Bruce. I tell
you what, I know he slipped a little bit, but you know him. He's basically
a fine fellow. Look over here at what he's done.
Remember what he's done over here. Remember how he visited
that poor widow lady and had prayer with her and read? Oh,
just overlook what he's done. Is that what he pleads? Well, verse 2 tells us what he
pleads. And he is the perpetuation. He is the atoning victim for
our sins. What does he plead? He pleads
himself. He says, Father, look at my hands. Father, behold my side. He sins. He's broken your law. He sinned against you. He sinned
against me. He sinned against the Spirit.
But for my sake, but for my blood's sake, for my marriage's sake,
forgive Him." And what happens? The Father hears Him. He always
hears His Son. And the Father is merciful. And
the Father says, All is forgiven. Why don't the world come to God
by Christ? Why don't they say, praise be
to God, we need an advocate and God knows it and He's given us
one. Why don't the world say that? The world don't need Him. Oh, they don't recognize, but
you do, don't you? You do. And when you fall, when
you slip, when you sin, you go to God through Christ. And you
say, Lord Jesus, plead my cause. One commentator said, just one
reason why you have to be careful reading commentary. One commentator
said, when all the redeemed are home and there is a new heaven
and a new earth, all these wounds in Jesus' hands will finally
be healed. I hope not. I hope not. I think myself that these wounds
are wonderful, in beauty glorified. That's what the songwriter said.
He stands as a lamb slain, and I just hope that in eternity,
when we stand before Him and worship Him, we'll be reminded
by the wounds in His hand and the pierced feet and the hole
in His side, there's how I've got you. There's why I'm here. an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, your righteousness. Fourthly and quickly is this.
This inward struggle with sin teaches us to be patient and
forgiving towards the poor, sinful, evil saints. Now, you ain't offended
that I called you that, are you? Little group around him one day,
his little blood-brought family. And he says, if you've been evil,
know how to give good gifts. Always like that. And I bet you
nobody didn't say, now wait. You know, as you and I fellowship
one with another, week after week, you know why we love each
other. You know why we pray for each
other. You know why we forgive each other. All of us are in
the same boat, aren't we? You may fall today, and I may
see tears running down your eyes because of it, but I'm going
to forgive you so freely. You know why? I may fall tomorrow. And the reason I haven't fallen
today is because the Lord has helped me up. I tell you what, I used to be
so separatist and legalistic. I hate myself because of that.
And I still to this very day, and I bet you're the same way
too, you judge others and condemn others for doing the same thing
that you do. And you start to say something
about it and you catch yourself and realize, oh my soul, I'm
just as bad. That's why we love each other.
That's why we don't go home saying, Glenn, I doubt that Glenn White
is even saved. I doubt he's even saved. Well,
if I say that about Glenn, better say it about myself because me
and him are just alike. Fifthly is this. Our inward struggles
work in us to wean us from this world. Look back over quickly
at this passage. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
5. Let me show you this. See if you can fit yourself into
this. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. It's
on page 1258. Look at this. God uses this inward struggle
to wean us from this world. Look in verse 1. Look at this. 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians chapter 5. Look in verse 1. We know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle, this old body, if
it was dissolved, if we could lay it aside, we have a building
of God and a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
We have that. Heaven is sure for us. For in
this, and because of this, we groan, earnestly desiring to
be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that
are in this tabernacle, this tent, this body, do groan, being
burdened." Not that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon. that mortality might be swallowed
up of life. Look at this. What's going on? Why do we feel this? He that
hath wrought us. It's God. He's wrought us for
the self-famed thing who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit. We're growing. We're longing. Old Job said, I'm vile. I'm vile. Well, God taught him something
about himself, didn't He? I'm vile. I repent in dust and
ashes. But that's not all Job said.
He said this, too. I know my Redeemer liveth. And
all of my appointed days will I wait till my change comes. He's going to call me. I'm going
to come out of the grave. I'm waiting. I'm longing. I'm
burdened with myself. David the greatest king up until
his time that ever lived and probably the most rich king.
He had servants, he had houses, he had lands, material, but he
said, I'm not satisfied and I never will be until I see his face. There's nothing in this world
that will satisfy a heaven Barn spirit. That man that has felt
in his conscience the liberty that Jesus Christ has given it
from sin. And he'll never be satisfied.
Listen to me. There's a creature, a new creature,
that inhabits this clay frame. And he'll never be satisfied
until he beholds the face of Him that created him. This world
is not my home. Don't we sing it sometimes? I'm
just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere
beyond the blue. And the Savior beckons me to
heaven's open door. And I can't feel at home in this
world anymore. You're longing to be free. Or
you're saying with the apostle, who shall deliver me? Oh, I tell
you, brothers and sisters, this inward conflict does nothing
else. It makes us homesick. It makes us long to be worse.
We'll never be molested by sin and sense anymore. Can you imagine
what it would be to be free from sin? We've never had that in our lives,
have we? We were born sinners, we live
sinners, and we die sinners. Oh, to be free from sin! What a surprise. And lastly and
sixthly is this. Our inward struggles with our
sin makes the gospel more precious to us. Somebody said, why do you guys
just keep on talking about the gospel? That's all you want to
talk about. Can't you get on with it? We've
got all these issues in the world and in our country. All these
moral calamities. Can't you start talking about
them? Why, why, why do you just keep
on with the gospel? Well, here's the reason. We've
found ourselves to be such vile sinners. It's the only thing
that will meet our needs and suit our conditions. And we just
can't let it go. We say with Peter, Lord, to whom
shall we pray? You have the Word. God bless His Word. Let's pray.