Okay, we're looking now at Romans
7 verse 15 down through verse 25. Now I pointed out last week
from verse 14, if you want to take a look at verse 14, Romans
7 verse 14. We know, Paul says that the law,
the holy law of God given by the Spirit of God is spiritual. It demands an absolute, perfect,
spiritual obedience. Paul said, I'm a fleshly man.
Paul the Apostle. I'm a man of flesh, and this
flesh is sold out to sin. Sold out to sin. Now, I pointed
out last week that in verses 7 through verse 14, Paul speaks
of his past experience as a lost religious Pharisee who thought
at one time that he kept the law. You remember from Philippians
chapter 3, he said, According concerning the law, he said,
I was blameless. He thought one time he kept the
law. And then the law came in the power of God the Holy Spirit
in conviction of sin and showed him that he did not keep the
law. The law of God revealed to his
heart by the power of God the Holy Spirit, he found out he
was a sinner who had never kept the law of God. He says, sin
revived and I died. You remember back in verse 9. For I was alive without the law
once, Romans 7, 9. 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 taking
occasion by the commandment deceived me, and by it, it killed me."
It didn't give me life, it killed me. Killed me. Killed me. Now, today in our study, the
Apostle Paul speaks of his present experience as a believer. He
proves from his past experience that the law cannot make a guilty
sinner justified or righteous in God's sight. Remember from
Romans chapter 3, for by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh
be justified." Now, he proves also from his present experience
that the law of God cannot make a justified sinner holy or sanctified. We are never, never said to be
sanctified by looking to the law, are we? Christ is our justification. Christ is our sanctification. Don't ever be so deceived as
to think that you produce a holiness by looking at the Ten Commandments
and saying, well, I've kept that. I've done that. You're deceived
if you think so. Now, we know the law is spiritual.
It requires a spiritual and perfect obedience in word, deed, thought,
and motive. But Paul said, I am carnal, I
am a fleshly man with a sinful nature that cannot honor the
holy law of God, not in my flesh. Now look just across the page
at Romans 8 verse 7. He says, the carnal mind is enmity
against God, it not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now how can a sinner please God?
Only in Christ. The Father speaks from heaven,
said, this is my beloved Son, I'm well pleased with Him, and
He's well pleased with those in Him, in Him. What Paul described
in these verses is the daily inward struggles believers face
between the old Adam sin nature, there is that warfare, and that
new sinless nature implanted or imparted in the believer's
heart when he's given a new heart in regeneration. Now, I quoted
this verse a moment ago. Don't turn them and just read
it to you. Over here in Galatians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul says
exactly the same thing. Galatians 5, 17. For the flesh
lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.
These are contrary one to the other, so that you cannot do
the things that you would really like to do. Paul said, I don't
do that. I don't do that. Paul describes
himself as one person with two natures, a spiritual nature given
in regeneration. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things pass away. Behold,
all things become new. And that carnal fleshly One nature
that's given in regeneration is holy as God. The other, Adam's
sin nature, that's all it ever will be is sin. The nature of
sin was displaced from its dominion in regeneration, but not from
dwelling within us. Sin does not reign over us. Christ reigns, but sin does remain
in us. It does. We are dead, as Paul
says, to the guilt of sin. We are dead to the condemning
power of sin, dead to the curse of sin, but we're not dead from
its presence, not dead from its influence, thoughts, or motives,
or actions of sin. Now, wouldn't it be nice if we
never had a sinful thought? But that's not reality, is it?
That's not reality. Now, this is what every believer
finds to be true in his own experience of grace. Look at verse 15, 16,
17 of Romans 7. For that which I do, I approve
not, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that's what
I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent, I agree unto the law. The law is good. The
problem, as I pointed out before, is not with the law. It's with
the flesh. The flesh. The law is good. It's the flesh that's weak. Now
then, It's no more I that doeth it, that's the I, the new man,
regenerated man, but it's that sin that used to be in me. Look at the word there, dwelleth.
Get hold of that word, dwelleth. Paul, are you telling us that
you're a sinner? He said that he was the chief
of sinners. I've got to shove him out of
the way and say, Paul, get out of the way. I'm the chief of
sinners. Don't you feel that way about yourself? We are sinful. Only believers have this struggle
within, between the flesh and the spirit. Unbelievers don't
have this struggle. The old sin nature and the new
nature given in regeneration, there is a ongoing battle. Every believer desires to worship
and obey God perfectly, but we are greatly hindered from doing
so by our sinful, fallen, wicked flesh. That's what I found in
my heart. Matthew Poole, one old preacher
from the past, way back, 1700s. He said, even now in my converted
and regenerated state, I find I am many times greatly divided. I feel a strife or combat in
myself, a feeling of strife and combat in myself, so that the
good I would do upon the motions of God's Spirit in me, I do not. And the evil that I hate, and
am utterly opposed and adverse to so far as I am regenerated
by the Spirit of God. That's what I do. He being honest. He being honest. Our problem
in doing the evil thing that we hate this is our problem,
is our sinful, wicked nature within us. We consent and we
agree with the law of God. The law of God is holy, just,
and right to condemn us as guilty. We mourn over the fact and we
grieve over the fact of our sinful thoughts that still dwell within
us. Now, isn't it It's a horrible
thing. And even when you are dreaming
in the middle of the night, of course, your dreams are sanctified,
aren't they? You never have some of the most
wicked, wicked things that flood through my mind. And sadly, I
am reminded when I wake up in the middle of the night, What
in the world? Why don't I have sanctified dreams
about preaching in heavenly places and spiritual things? Don't get
me wrong, sometimes, most of the dreams I have about preaching
are nightmares. Because I'll dream that I'm preaching
somewhere and I get up to preach and I have no socks on. Or I'm
preaching somewhere and I can't find my notes. I'm unprepared
and I don't know, it's a nightmare. I don't ever have dreams and
I can never remember of preaching the gospel and lifting up Christ. It's always these crazy things.
You see, even in our sleep, when we're sort of unconscious to
some degree, we have these horrible thoughts, don't we? I love when
you go and have a medical procedure done and they give you that drug
that completely puts you out. They put you to sleep. Well, I can wake up and I can
never have a bad thought about going to sleep. I mean, because
you don't know anything. I love to sleep that way. But
that's just not the reality. Now, I'm being honest. I'm being
honest. We consent and we agree with the holy, just law of God,
it's right to condemn us, and we mourn over the fact that we
are sinful. We're not trying to excuse our
sin, but we are identifying the source. It is our own wicked,
sinful nature. You remember, look at verse 18. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth." There's that word
again. Dwelleth. Dwelleth. No good thing. Nothing good. There's none righteous.
No, not one. For to will is present with me. But how to perform that which
is good? My performance is terrible. My performance is sinful. Now,
you remember what Robert Hawker said. I've given this to you
before. He said, Regeneration makes no alteration on the flesh,
but the Spirit. There is nothing in the flesh
made holy. Nothing. And nothing in the Spirit
left unholy. There is that old sinful eye,
and there is that inward man created in Christ Jesus, a new
creature. The Lord put it this way in John
3, 6. That which is born of the flesh, flesh, all that ever will be. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. Now he didn't say it's spiritual,
he said it's Spirit. It's Spirit given of God. Our
will and our desire has been changed by God's regenerating
grace. Paul said, for the will is present
with me, that people shall be willing in the day of God's power.
I would worship God perfectly in spirit and truth if I could,
but I can't. How to perform that which is
good? I don't. Our will and desire has been
changed in regeneration, but how to perform that which is
holy, good, Paul said, I find that I cannot do it. In our flesh
dwelleth no good thing. The Lord describes Noah and his
generation after the fall. God saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth and that every imagination, that every
imagination of his heart was only evil continually. And that is before I'm a believer
and after I'm a believer. Now, look at the text again.
He repeats what he says. Verse 19 and 20, "...for the
good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not..."
Paul, why do you do evil? He said, "...the evil which I
would not, that I do." Paul, are you telling us that you're
a sinful man? Exactly. Aren't you glad salvation
is by grace? For now, he said, verse 20, now
if I do that, I would not, it's no more I that doeth it, but
sin that dwelleth, dwelleth. He keeps using that word over
and over again, doesn't he? Sin that dwelleth, sin that dwelleth,
dwelleth, dwelleth in me. One fellow said, well, I don't
sin anymore. I make a few mistakes once in a while, but I don't
sin anymore. That man is deceived. He doesn't
know what the law of God requires. He doesn't know he's a sinner.
Therefore, he doesn't know that salvation is by the grace of
God. Sin dwelleth in me. He says this
twice. But thank God also in the regeneration
that Christ also dwells in us in the power of God the Holy
Spirit. Now, Lord, remember when he was in the garden praying
to do the will of God in Gethsemane? He's praying to do the will of
God in taking away our sin. And he told those disciples to
watch and pray. He went over here and prayed.
And when he came back, you know what he found? They were dead
sound asleep. Boy, how weak we are. And here's
what he said. Watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh Weak, weak, weak. He's talking about John. Talking
about Peter. Talking about Andrew. These apostles. Another commentator, Matthew
Poole again. He said, every new man in Christ
has two natures. He said, two men. There is in
him an eye and an eye. The apostle in his unregenerated
state could never make such distinctions as he does now. He would never
say that sin dwelleth in me. Now look at verse 21. I find in a law when I would
do good, verse 21, I find in a law, and this word is being
used as a principle and a fact, In other words, he's saying like
the law of gravity. The law of gravity has a principle. That which goes up must come
down. He's saying, I find a principle,
a truth, a precept of God. He said, I delight in the law
of God, verse 21 rather, for I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. Evil is present with
me. We're born with an evil and sinful
nature, and it will always be present with us until we put
this rotten flesh in the ground, back to the dust. Verse 22, For I delight, I do
delight in the law of God after the inward man, Now what's this
inward man? That's that new nature given
in regeneration. Paul said this, 2 Corinthians
4, for the which cause we faint not, though the outward man perish,
there's that sinful flesh that dwelleth. No good thing. For the outward man perished,
yet the inward man, there's that new man, is renewed day by day. When we talk about growing in
grace and in the knowledge of Christ, it's not talking about
the flesh getting better. As you grow in grace, you see
that the flesh is more wicked. You have more wickedness, you
see, in this flesh as you grow in grace. the inward man, the
new man, or the regenerated part within us, that's called the
hidden man of the heart. Every believer does delight in
the holy law of God, the just law of God, as it's honored by
the righteous obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
we have honored the law, only in Christ. Our blessed Lord said,
I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to honor that law
of God for you." And then over here he said, do we make void
the law of God through faith? God forbid. We establish it in
Christ who is our righteousness. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and He
will make it honorable for us. Now, look at verse 23. But I
see another principle. Another law in my members, in
my body, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me,
notice present tense, warring, bringing me into captivity, into
the captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. another law or principle, a present
battle, warring, warring in this body, between the flesh and the
spirit, a civil war, if you will, within us, as it were, two company
of armies, the flesh and the spirit, sin and grace, combating
together So it will be as long as we are in this body of death,
in this tabernacle of flesh. Now he mentions two principles
there in verse 23. The law of my mind, you see that?
The law of my mind. That is, the new man with a spiritual
nature who is a partaker of a divine nature, and then the law of sin,
the principle of sin. This is original sin, corruption
of our sin, of our fallen flesh, which brings us into the captivity
of sin. It is only by the grace and power
of God that we are delivered from this. Verse 24. Romans 7, O wretched
man that I am. Now, can you put yourself in
there? Can you put yourself in there,
O wretched man that I am? Who shall deliver me from this,
as the marginal reference has, This body of death, or the body
of this death. Wretched man. Now, I remember
reading some years ago, the Romans years ago, in the Roman Empire,
when you were convicted of murder, You murdered someone, your neighbor
or someone, you murdered someone. Part of the punishment that they
would give the man who was sentenced to die, they would take that
dead body of the man who he had killed and tie a rope to him
and then tie it to that man's body and make him drag that dead
corpse around until they executed him. And that's exactly what
Paul is saying here. We drag around with us every
day this body of death. This flesh, it's the body of
death. Don't trust the flesh. You remember
Jeremiah 17? Cursed is the man that trusteth
in the flesh. Why would you trust the body
of death? It's insanity. And yet, that
is exactly what goes on in religious circles today. They want you
to cooperate with God to accomplish salvation, as if God needs your
help. No, He doesn't. Salvation is
all of the Lord. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? Oh, I thank God. I thank God,
and that's where we must put the emphasis. I thank God. It's
not I thank Mommy. It's not I thank Daddy. It's
not I thank the preacher. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Remember, we're justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. What did He do? He accomplished salvation for
us. Honored the law of God for us. So then with my mind, I do
serve the law of God in my heart, in my spirit, in that new man.
But with the flesh, what does the flesh do? All it
can do, sin, constantly. Sin, constantly. in this flesh
dwelleth no good thing.