The songs that magnify our Lord's
love for us and speak of our love for him, they never grow
old, you never get tired of them. How many times have you heard
that hymn? I enjoyed it as much then as I ever have. He's so
precious to me. To you that believe he is precious,
that's what scripture says, to you that believe All right, Romans chapter 7. This is not an easy chapter to
teach. It presents some difficulties,
but I've looked carefully at it again, and I plan to begin
speaking at verse 7, where we left off this morning, and show
you some things I believe that the Lord has revealed to me in
this chapter. Now, in verse 6, where we left
off today, Paul declares that we're delivered from the law.
Now, right now, we are delivered from the law. It's rule, it's curse, it's condemnation. We're delivered from the law.
that being dead, wherein we were held, that we should serve in
newness of spirit, not with the oldness of the latter." Now,
our being delivered and being dead to the law is because of
two things, arises from two things. First, it arises from our Lord
settling our account. Back years ago, people didn't
pay their bills, they settled their account. They went down
to the store to settle my account. And the Lord Jesus has fully,
completely settled our account. And the second reason why that
we're delivered from the bondage of the law is because of our
union with Christ. We were crucified with Christ.
We're buried with Christ and risen and seated with Christ.
And we're forever joined to Christ. We're married to Christ. And
therefore we're free from the law. But not to continuancy,
and Paul continually emphasizes that. He says, though, that we
are redeemed, that we should serve our Lord, verse 6, that
we should serve our Lord. Not in duty and forced obedience,
the oldness of the latter, but in the newness of spirit. We
serve him and obey him because we love him. The obedience, the
required obedience of a person under law is the obedience of
a slave. That's right, the obedience of
a slave. One whose obedience is demanded
and required upon threat of punishment is a slave. But the obedience,
the loving, willing obedience of a believer is the obedience
of a son who loves his father, of a wife who loves her husband,
of a father who loves his children. That's obedience. That's the
newness of spirit, as opposed to the oldness of the latter.
Well, verse 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Is
the law the cause of my sin? You know, it seems like that
people have the idea today that if you are too strict, and if
you require certain obedience, that you drive your children
away from you. That we, by laws and rules, make
a good boy go bad. Paul says, is that true? Is the
law saying that? of rules of sin? The fault is not in the rules,
it's in the person who will disobey them. That is where the problem
is. Don't blame the law. People do that, though. But I'll
tell you why. Because the law uncovers what's
been there. That's the reason. It uncovers
our evil nature. It exposes our rebellion. and our evil thoughts. It exposes
our evil desires in ways men hate the law and they hate the
preaching of the law. Not because the law is bad, but
because they are. That's the reason. You know they keep talking about
everybody in America having an ID card and people are raising
canes about that. You know why they don't want
one? I don't mind showing my passport wherever I travel. I
don't mind showing my social security card. I don't mind showing
my driver's license. I don't mind, because I ain't
up to nothing. But people who do not want guidelines
and rules, and do not want surveillance cameras, and they don't want
cameras down over in Australia when I say, if you run a yellow
light, you get a ticket in the mail the next day. They've got
cameras on the light post, and they take a picture of the back
of your car and that light. And when you run it, you're arrested. They send you a ticket, and you
may be bailed in. We don't want that in this country,
because we're a country full of rebels. That's the reason. It's our policy. Is the law sin? The law is not sin. We are. That's
exactly right. Innocence doesn't mind questions. It doesn't mind surveillance.
That's right. Not innocent. And it's not always
standing up fighting for its rights. That's exactly right. God forbid. That's what Paul
said. Is the law sin? Is the law the cause of my sin?
No sin. My evil heart is the cause of
my sin. That's right. He says in verse
7, I wouldn't have known sin, but by the law. That's how I
found out what it was. when God told me who he is. That's
how I found out what I am when he told me what he is. That's
how I found out who I am when he told me who he is. You see,
Paul was a religious Pharisee. If Paul lived today, Saul of
Tarsus lived today like he was before he met God, he'd be a
bishop in a leading denomination. That's exactly right. He'd be
president of Southern Baptist Convention. That's exactly right.
He'd be teaching in the seminary. He was a scholar. He was a Pharisee. He was in the highest board of
directors in the Jewish nation, the Sanhedrin. He was a friend
of the high priest. That's exactly right, before
he met God. After that, they didn't have anything to do with
him. But that's what he was, you see. He was a Pharisee. And
he was, he was, his, his, his righteousness was confined to
his outward deeds. That's what he thought sin was,
is violating the law outwardly. He said, I wouldn't have known
what sin is. I would not have known that desire
is a sin. Evil desire, evil thoughts is
a sin, is sin. Anger is sin, pride is sin, envy
is sin. Rebellion sin. He said, I wouldn't
have known that unless I had been taught by the Holy Spirit
the tenth commandment. The tenth commandment. Everybody
knows the first nine. Do you know the tenth commandment?
Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not covet. That's
what he said. He said, I would not have known
lust Except the law says, thou shalt not covet. When man can't
see covetousness, he can see murder, theft, adultery, idolatry,
misuse of parents, disobeying the Sabbath day, name every one
of them. He can see every one of them. But covetousness is
a hard sin. That's what he said. I knew what
was wrong outwardly. But I wouldn't have known what
sin really is, except the 10th commandment said, thou shalt
not covet. You see, the apostle Paul looked
on the law just exactly like people today look on it. An outward,
outside disobedience of a rule, or a law, or a form. Paul was
a strict doer of the law. He had no God but Jehovah. He
abhorred idolatry. He never bowed to an idol. He
kept the Sabbath day. He paid his tithe. He never committed
murder. He never committed adultery.
He never committed robbery. But then he found out, the Scripture
says, thou shalt not even desire what's forbidden. Thou shalt
not even look with lust. Thou shalt not even consider
in thought anything that's contrary to God's perfection." He said, I didn't know that.
I really didn't know that. He said, considering concerning
the law, I was blameless. And there are a lot of your religious
friends that feel like they're living, they say, above sin,
because they're living above adultery, murder, Idolatry, robbery,
misuse in the holy days, but thou shalt not covet can't be
seen except by God. But that's where all the outward
things come from. They start in here. That's the
reason our Lord said to think evil is to be guilty of it. Sin, he said, I wouldn't
have known it. I wouldn't have really known
what it was, except the Lord said, Paul, thou shalt not covet. To covet is to be dissatisfied
with what I have. That's why scripture says, be
content with what you have and avoid covetousness. Covetousness
is idolatry, the scripture says. Covetousness is a sin of the
heart. Now look at verse 8. But sin,
this sin, this inward sin, Paul really hated people in his heart.
He hated them. He went after those believers
like a mad dog, do you remember? But he felt like he was serving
God. He said, but sin taking occasion by the commandment.
What does that mean? Well, here's what it means. Sin
taking occasion. or advantage of my ignorance. I did it, he said, ignorantly.
I was ignorant of the law. Sin took advantage of my ignorance
and literally brought in me innumerable swarms of lust. Sin, taken occasion by the commandment,
by my ignorance of the law, and by my lack of understanding of
the law, it wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, all
manner of evil. On the outside I was clean, Christ
said, you're clean. On the outside, on the inside,
you're full of dead men's blood. You're clean as a sepulchre.
You're clean as a piece of marble. Washed off and cleaned and hosed
down and steamed clean, just spotless. But on the inside,
dead men's And Paul said on the outside, I was clean as a sucker. I didn't know what sin really
was. And because I didn't know, I
was ignorant in darkness and blindness. Then sin took advantage
of my ignorance and wrought in me all manner of concupiscence,
innumerable swarms of evil. When I was without light and
knowledge of the holiness of the law, I fancied myself to
be pure and righteous. That's what they say, I'm livid
about sin. I wouldn't do those things. I wouldn't do those things. I wouldn't do those things. I
wouldn't go to that place. I wouldn't do this. I wouldn't,
you know. And this is what upset the Pharisees when our Lord taught
them about the evil of the heart, turn to Matthew 15. This is what
upset those religious fellows like us. Saul of Tarsus' friends,
his friends in Matthew 15, the Lord said in verse 10, now look
at this, Matthew 15, 10. He called a multitude and he
said, now hear me and understand. It isn't that which goes into
your mouth that defiles you. They wouldn't eat pork, like
a lot of folks around today won't drink a glass of wine. They'd
rather be shot at sunrise. It would contaminate them. And these Jews, Paul and these
Pharisees, they wouldn't take anything. They wouldn't eat with
unwashing hands. They wouldn't sit down and eat
with a Gentile. But Christ said, it's not what
you put in your mouth that defiles you, it's what comes out of your
mouth. Then came his disciples, and
they said, Lord, do you know that the Pharisees were offended
when they heard this saying? Well, he answered, Every plant
which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.
Leave them alone. Just leave them alone. They're
blind leaders of the blind. The blind lead the blind. They
both are falling into the ditch. And Peter said, Lord, declare
unto us this parable. And the Lord Jesus said, Are
you yet without understanding? Do you not understand that what
you put in your mouth, enters into the mouth, goes into
your belly, into your colon, and cast out into the draft?
But those things which proceed out of your mouth, they come
from your heart. That's what defiles you. Out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts. Is that sin? Paul didn't know
that. Out of the heart, perceive murders.
You really despise people, dislike them. You don't. Thievery, false witness, blasphemy,
these are hard sins. Paul said, these are things I
didn't know. I didn't know this. And these
are the things that defile a man. This is where God judges us. He said when they
were going to ordain a king, when Samuel was going to order
a king, and he picked out one that looked pretty good to him,
and the Lord said, I've rejected him. Don't look on his outward
countenance. I've rejected him. I don't see
like you see. You look on the outward countenance.
I look on the height. And that's our judge. That's our judge. And that upset
those fellows. I look back at my text. We're
looking at verse 8, aren't we? He said, Sin, taken occasion
by the commandment, my ignorance, my darkness, wrought in me all
manner. I was just loaded with sin. For without the law, sin was
dead. Without an understanding of the law, sin is dormant. It's
there. It was in Paul, but he didn't
know it. He didn't feel it. he wasn't convicted over it,
he didn't regard it to be sin at all. Without the law, without
a proper understanding of the holiness of God, sin in a person
is dormant. And there's folks out here that
are very religious and very clean morally, outwardly, but if they
just had some understanding of what God sees when he looks on
our hearts, they'd be devastated. That's right. So verse 9, and
I was alive. I thought I was alive without
the proper knowledge of the law. I was alive. He said, here's
what I was. I thought myself spiritually
good. I thought myself healthy and
whole, wholly sanctified. I was in a state of self-satisfaction,
in a state of self-righteousness. I felt good about myself, good
about my profession, good about my religion, good about my knowledge,
good about my relationship with God, because I was doing the
very best I could. That's the way I was. I was alive.
I thought I was. I was somebody. One time. But now what happened? But then the commandment came.
Then the law came. Then the spirit of conviction
came. Know about this, don't you? The gospel of Christ came
in the hands of, not in the hands of a preacher alone, but in the
hands of the Holy Ghost. The commandment came. It came
to my soul and my spirit and my heart. And what happened? Sin revived. That which lay dormant
got up and stood up. That which was like swarms of
insects in the darkness Turned the light on and... That's terrible. I wouldn't even come down in
this basement if I know it's like that. Last time I was down
here, I didn't turn the light on. But I'm getting out of here. That light shows me what's down
here. Then the commandment came. Then the light was turned on.
And seeing with our That's what it did. It stood up in its awful
ugliness, in its true form. It lifted its ugly head and its
rebellion against God. And I was guilty in thought of
the same sins I condemned in others. That's what happened
to him. The same sins that he condemned
in others. They were going on right in here.
Unchecked. Unrepented out. Unknown. Unrecognized. But destroyed. And I died. I died. That's what happened.
And I died. I was alive. I was Mr. Somebody. I held an
office. All these things, but I didn't
know what it was. I didn't know what was going
on in my heart. But when the commandment came in the light
of the Holy Ghost, that sin revived. It got ugly, ugly, ugly. And then I died. I saw I was
a dead sinner. I was under the sentence of death. All my hopes of eternal life
by my obedience to the law died. I didn't have a hope. I died. That's a painful experience,
and it's one most of your religious friends just won't even think
about. They're not even going to think
about it. They're not even going to consider
it, and they're not going to listen to anybody that talks
that way. The way they get out of chapter
7, they say, well, Paul was an unsaved man when he wrote this.
But I can kill that with one statement. When did God ever
use an unsaved man to write the Bible? When did God ever use an unsaved
man to write the Bible? It's a painful experience, and
it's one that folks just don't want to face. They don't want
to consider. They don't want to look at this
sin thing, heart sins, soul sins. But when God is pleased to visit
us, when the commandment came, And it's not just the commandment,
and the Holy Spirit's not just roaming around here, seeing who
will let him come in. God sends him. When the Lord
fires an arrow, he's got a target. That's right. When the Lord fires
an arrow, he's got a target. And it came, and I died. And God's pleased to reveal our
sinful nature, our sinful thoughts, our sinful desires, and our just
condemnation. It's the greatest thing that
can happen to you. Tears of repentance are the sweetest tears that God
ever sees, that ever fall. Tears of repentance. Because
when that happens, I say it's the greatest blessing that can
take place in your life, because it puts you on the road to peace
and eternal life. Because you'll never be found
to your loss. See what I'm talking about? painful
experience, finding out who we are and what we are. We'd rather
talk about what they are and what they do, what they did,
not what we are. We don't talk that way. That
scripture you read tonight, Paul, David said, my sins are ever
before me. I know about you, but I do know
about me. A painful experience. But when God's pleased to shut
our mouths, and reveal our sinful nature and sinful thoughts and
sinful desires in wicked ways and just condemnation, the greatest
thing that can happen, because it puts a man or woman on the
road to peace, on the road to favor with God, on the road to
eternal life, because you're not raised till you're killed. That's right. You're not raised from the dead
till you die. And you're not clothed till God
sticks it. Got to rip off all our fig leaf
aprons and all our coverings and our excuses and alibis and
strip us naked and you close us in the beauty of Christ. You
got to be ungodly to participate in the atonement. Because Christ died for the ungodly. For whom did Christ die? The
ungodly. You know, you think about Adam
in the Garden of Eden. He never shot anybody. He never cut down all God's trees.
He never killed all the animals. He just disobeyed God. And God
killed him and his whole procession. Sin is just to disobey God. The
gospel is a sinner's gospel. The blood is a sinner's atonement.
young godly. He said John came with a gospel
and you religious fellows didn't believe him. The gospel of God's
righteousness in Christ and you didn't believe him. But the publicans
and harlots did. They believed him. And you, when
you had seen it, afterwards you repented that you might believe
him. But they didn't. That's powerful. Powerful. Those publicans the
hardest didn't stay publicans the hardest, but that's what
they were and what God gave them to God. Look at verse 10 of my
text. The commandment which was ordained
to life I found to be unto death. What is this commandment ordained
to life? Well, when God gave Adam that commandment, he said
do this and live. Keep on living. Obey me and live. Commandment was ordained to life.
You got to obey me to live. If you don't obey me, you'll
die. And that commandment was ordained to life. But it wasn't
that way to me, Paul said. The same law struck down all
hope because I didn't obey. It left me a dead, hopeless sinner. You see, the law cannot give
any truthful person any hope of life. You can't give any truthful person
any hope of life. He calls verse 11, for sin taking
occasion by the commandment. Where did we read that before?
Back in verse 8. Sin taking occasion. He says
it again, verse 11. Sin taking occasion by the wrong
interpretation of the law, by my ignorance of the truth, by
my ignorance of the holiness of God. by my ignorance of his
righteousness. Sin took occasion and deceived
me. I was in religion, I was deceived.
Sin deceived me. Satan deceived me. Told me I
was alright. Told me that outward obedience
to the law was sufficient. That if I kept the Sabbath day
and was circumcised and paid my tithe and went to church and
didn't do these different outside things, that I was alright. Satan
deceived me. And he said my heart deceived
me. I thought I was alright. And religious leaders deceived
me. The men who taught me, they deceived me. They did. They deceived me. It
took occasion of my ignorance. It took occasion of my My wrong
interpretation of the Lord. They didn't tell me the truth.
They deceived me. And that's what's happening in religion
today. These fellas are deceiving people. They won't back them up to the
wall and say, you're wrong now. This is the truth. The Lord Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm the chief. The way
to glory is not the way of religion. It's the way of the cross, the
blood. And they deceived me. They seduced
me, he said. They deceived me and they entrapped
me in a false security. And by this deception, they destroyed
me. They destroyed me. Took away
all hope. They got me in the quicksand
of religion. And the more activity that I
exerted, the deeper I got. You know what I'm talking about?
Got me in this deceived and seduced. Got me in religious. In religious
duties and all this stuff. And the more, the more activity. Somebody said, you're getting
quick, Sam, be still. That's hard to do. But the more you
move, the deeper you get. You get your car stuck in the
sand down in Florida, don't sit there and drive those wheels,
you'll get deeper and deeper and deeper. Activity just puts you deeper. and false religion. But he says in verse 12, I've
got to move on. The law is holy. The law is holy. God's law, the commandment of
God is holy, just, and good. You know something? You have
this argument in America about putting the Ten Commandments.
If somebody told me the Ten Commandments were up there in the... Isn't
that right, Don? Aren't they on the Supreme Court?
door wall up there somewhere? It's the Ten Commandments. But
you don't want them in school or in public places. But listen,
the Ten Commandments forbid nothing but what's good. What's bad,
I mean, it forbids nothing but what's bad. The law of God forbids
nothing but what's bad. The law of God requires nothing
but what's good. The law in its nature and design
and rule is worthy of its wise creator. God wrote that law.
You go somewhere and you see on the wall something, something
famous. George Washington wrote it. Thomas Jefferson wrote it. Everybody just goes crazy. God said, you bring me those
tables and I'll write down the law. I don't know of any other
time, I know of three times when God wrote something. If you know of any more after
church service, but I know of three. One, he wrote the Ten
Commandments on the tables of stone. Secondly, he wrote on
the wall in Belshazzar's palace. You weighed in the balances in
town morning. scripture says he wrote is when
our Lord himself stooped down and wrote in the sand. He that's without sin, that in
further first song. That's all I know that he wrote. But he wrote this law. And you
know something? It's good. It's good. It's good. And it's holy and
it's just. And when the law becomes an occasion
for conflict, when the law of God becomes an occasion for conflict
in this country and for division, it's our fault, not the law's. But I'm going to wind this up.
Let me show you something here. Verse 13, 14, I'll put them together. Was then that which is good made
death to me? which is holy, just, and good.
Is it the cause of my death, my condition? God forbid. The law, the law revealed my
sin. The law is a mirror in which
I saw my true nature. Listen, 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. That's what the law did. It didn't
make me evil. It showed how evil I was. Exceeding
sinful. It didn't make me what I was,
it revealed what I was. That's what's possible. And I
know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal. That gives a
lot of people a problem there. You mean a Christian says he's
carnal? Well let me show you what he's saying to them. He says the law is spiritual,
I'm carnal. soul under sin. All right, let's
look at the law first. The law is spiritual. It comes
from the spirit of God. It reaches to the spirit of men.
It requires holiness of spirit inwardly. It consists and hangs
on two things. To love God with all your heart,
soul, and spirit, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. That
law is spiritual. Everything about it is spiritual.
From God, of God, and turns me into God. I am carnal. I'm flesh. I'm a creature of the soil. I
came from the... My daddy came from the dirt.
We're going back to it. That's natural, isn't it? I'm sold into the slavery of
sin by my great-grandfather. We rebelled against God and put
all of our family in sin, in carnality, in flesh. It's the
nature of every creature, a carnal fleshly
nature. That's what I am. I'm carnal. We're all spiritual,
but I'm carnal. That's just so. And then he says, and this is
what the result of that is, the result of that is. I've got two
natures. I've got a spiritual nature and
I've got a carnal nature, fleshly nature. And he says in verse
15, and that which I do, too often I allow not. I don't approve
of it. I don't condone it. I don't condone. But what I would, that do I not,
and what I hate, that do I, too often. I think and do and say
things that I don't approve of and don't condone, and I'm embarrassed
and ashamed I said them or thought them. But they still there. Now if then I do that, which
I would not, if I'm really, if I'm really opposed to some of
the things I think and say and do, then I confess and consent
that the law is good. I don't justify any wrong thought
or wrong act. And the fact I don't justify
it and I recognize it's wrong, that's evidence that I acknowledge
that the law of God is good. Does that make sense? When I
condemn myself, even for imagination, this is what Paul's talking about
here. Paul wasn't a a problem to the community and a rabble
rouser and a drunk and things like that. No, no, no, no. He's
talking about conflicts of spirit, thoughts, imagination, and these
things that go on in the spirit and heart of man. That's right. So when I, when I, if then I
do that which I would not, I would not think that, I don't want
to think that, then I'm saying the law is good. I agree with
it, love the law. Now it's no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me. Now this is important that I
stay here just a minute or two. It is no more I that do it. Did
he ever say that before? It's not I that do it? Now he's
not denying his responsibility for his thoughts and deeds. What
he is doing is accounting for the presence in him, in a believer,
the presence of an That's what he's accounting for,
the presence of a carnal nature, fleshly nature, human nature. Now, number one, our Lord recognized
that. Turn to Matthew 26. Our Lord
recognized that in Matthew 26. Now, I want you to look at this.
Matthew 26, verse 40. He and his disciples had gone
up on the mountain, and he told them to watch. And they did,
and they went to sleep. They went to sleep. So he said
to them in Matthew 26, 40, he came to his disciples and found
them asleep. He said, Peter, what? Could you
not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. I know your spirit's willing,
but your flesh is weak. They didn't want to go to sleep.
They meant to stay awake, but that old flesh just The Lord
said that. You've got two natures. You've
got a nature that loves me. You'd die for me. And you'd stand
with me. You'd watch with me. But you've
got a flesh that's weak. It's carnal. That's right. Paul said, it's
not I. It's not my new nature. It's
sin that dwells. The presence of sin dwells. And
it'll stay there. It'll bury this body. And then
you'll be through with it. You'll be through with it. But
he said on two other occasions, yet not I. Let me show them to
you. Yet not I. Galatians 5, 17. Galatians, where is it, two spirits
here, Galatians 5, 17. Now listen to this, two spirits. And this is Paul writing to the
Galatians. He says, Galatians 5, 17, lusteth against
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary. One is spirit, one is flesh.
One is spiritual, one is carnal. They're contrary to one another.
You just can't do what you would. Can't do what you would. Now, while you're in Galatians,
go back to Galatians 2, verse 20. And here he says in Galatians
2 20. You remember back there he said it's no more I that do
it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Well look at Galatians 2
20. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I. It's not the old Saul. This is
Christ living in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved and
gave himself for me. This new man is not that old
man. It's a new man. In fact, yet not all. Let me
show you another. In 1 Corinthians 15, he said
that. In 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 10. 1 Corinthians 15, 10.
Paul said, here he's talking about doing good. By the grace of God I am what
I am and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain
and I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I. Not that old man. It's the grace
of God in me. Now you can't see that. You can't
see truth. Everybody sitting here before
me who loves Christ, knows Christ, loves His word, loves His gospel,
you've got a nature which is born. That's schooled in the
flesh. It's got motions of the flesh,
and passions of the flesh, and temper of the flesh, and pride
of the flesh, and envy of the flesh, and desires of the flesh,
and you're going to have to handle this rascal the rest of your
days. And to deny that is foolish. Deny the Word of God, do not
just deny the truth. Verse 18, Paul says, in my flesh
dwells no good thing. The will is present with me.
What would you like better than anything to be just like Christ? Why don't you do it? Why not? And in the flesh, I'm
carnal. I'm carnal. The good, verse 19, that I would,
I do not. The evil which I would do, that
I do not. The evil I would not do, I do. Well listen, let me tell you
something. We talk about evil, Paul talks about evil here. We
wouldn't use that word evil, but that's what it is. Even a
thought contrary to perfect holiness is evil. Isn't it? Even imagination contrary to
holiness is evil. It's either good or evil. When
that young man called Christ good, he said there's none good
but God. And there's nothing good but
God. Well, what's opposite of good? It's evil. Might as well
use these words because he does. It's evil. Evil. I find the love when I would do
good, evil is present with me. That's what it is. It's evil.
If it's opposed to God, it's evil. I delight in the love of God
after the inward man. That's that man again, that inward
man, that new man. But I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man
that I am." Is anybody here, anybody between
these walls, totally satisfied with what you are? Anybody? David wasn't. He said, I'll be satisfied when
I wait with his likeness. So that's what Paul's saying,
wretched man that I am. I'm not satisfied. Who's going
to deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ the Lord. I've already been delivered.
It's just a matter of putting in the time. So then with a mind,
I serve the law of God. I'm going to keep on serving
the law of God. And this place is going to keep
on antagonizing me forever. That's right. Now my friends, that's the truth.
That's the truth. That's what the scripture says.
I've told you the truth. But you know something, to an
honest person, to every honest person here, he knows that's
the truth. You could have preached this
sermon just like I did. Any one of these fellows could
come right up here and say these very things out of their own
experience. Paul just gave our experience.
He just, he said what I want to say. I fit with it.