Now there are few passages in
God's Word that have caused more discussion and more disagreement
than Romans chapter 7. Some people say that Paul is
writing in Romans chapter 7 as an unsaved man, that he is giving the experiences
of an unsaved man. I am carnal, sold under sin. That which I do, I approve not. What I would, that do I not.
What I hate, that do I." Others say that Paul is speaking here
of his own inner feelings and his own conflicts at the very
time he wrote the epistle. that these are the daily experiences
of a regenerated, renewed, redeemed individual. And I believe that
most people overlook the purpose of Romans 7 in their arguments
over whether or not Paul is writing as an unregenerate man or a regenerate
man. What is the purpose? What's the
object? What's the object of Romans chapter
7? I think I can sum it up in one
paragraph. Here is the purpose of this entire
chapter. The law, that system that makes
obedience the condition of life, and that's what the law is. Obedience
is the condition of life. God, when he gave the law, said,
do this and live. The law, that system that makes
obedience the condition of life, that system that makes righteousness
depend on perfect obedience, for to offend in one point of
the law is to be guilty of the whole law. That system can never,
can never deliver a fallen man from the dominion of sin. It
can never justify, it can never sanctify, it can never make anybody
holy. It is absolutely necessary for
a man to be both justified and sanctified that he be delivered
from the law, that he be delivered from the law as a method of obtaining
life and be brought under the grace of God by receiving wholeheartedly
and completely the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Now that's the purpose of Romans
7. In the first 13 verses of Romans 7, Paul shows his own
past experience. He uses terms like this, while
in the flesh, while in an unregenerated state. Paul knew the Paul was
raised on the law. Paul was a student of the law. Paul admired the law. Paul felt
an obligation to keep the law. Paul thought that he did keep
the law. He wrote on one occasion concerning
the law, I'm blameless, but when he saw the law of God in its
spirituality, Now before Paul was regenerated, while he was
in the flesh, he studied the law, he knew the law, he thought
he kept the law, he felt an obligation to keep the law, but when he
was regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and when God the Holy Ghost let
Paul see the spirituality and power of the law in its authority,
in his far-reaching power, not only outwardly but inwardly,
he said, I died. When the law came, I died. Far from becoming better, he
became sensibly more depraved. Paul was worse off after the
law came than he was before the law came. So far from becoming
happier, he became more miserable and wretched. He said, I had
not known lust, except the law said, Thou shalt not covet. The truth seen here in the first
thirteen verses is this, no unregenerate man, under the law, can through
its instrumentality obtain dominion over sin. It's impossible. Paul
couldn't do it. You can't do it. I can't do it. No human being can do it. If
we continue under the law, we continue under sin. Under sin's
condemnation, under sin's curse, under sin's condemning power.
If we continue under the law, we continue under sin. You that
would be under the law, Paul said, do you not hear the law? Beginning with verse 14 here
in Romans 7, Paul makes a transition from the past to the present.
Now up to verse 14, he's been speaking of his past experience. He says words like this, I was
alive without the law. I was deceived. I was slain by
the law. I died. These are all past tense,
past experience, prior to verse thirteen. Now, up to verse thirteen,
he uses terms like this, I was alive without the law, in an
unregenerated state, in an unsaved state. I was alive without the
law. I was deceived. The law deceived
me, he said. I was slain by the law. I died. This is all past tense. Now then,
here it is, I am Verse fourteen, carnal. I am carnal. And we go on through these next
few verses. He uses words like this, I do
what I would not do. I consent to the law that is
good. I find the law that evil is present
with me when I do good. I delight in the law of God.
You see what I'm saying? Verses one through thirteen.
Paul is talking about what did exist. While in an unregenerate
state, he found the law to have a killing effect. When he discovered
the law in its spirituality, in its holiness, in the hands
of the Holy Spirit, he said, I died. It slew me. I found it
the impossibility of any natural man ever achieving dominion overseen
by the law. I found the impossibility of
any natural man ever attaining holiness through the use of the
law, but rather the law rendered me wretched, depraved, sinful,
naked, and dead before God. Now then, I'm saved. I'm a child
of God. I am carnal, he says. I am carnal. I do what I would not. to the
law that it's good. I find a law that evil is present
with me, and so forth. Now then, what's the Apostle's
purpose in this present tense, in stating his present condition,
but to carry forward his demonstration that the law could not make a
fallen man holy, and the law cannot promote holiness
in a saved man? That's exactly what he's As the
law cannot make a fallen man holy, the law cannot make a regenerated
man holy either. The law cannot promote justification,
and the law cannot promote sanctification. As one writer says, the law cannot
make a bad man good, and it can't make a good man better. Now you'll
see that as we go through these next verses, but here is the
psalm of chapter seven. Now listen to this. Paul says,
when I was an unregenerate man, when I was wholly depraved, I
found the law could tell me what was right and what was wrong.
I found that the law could command me to avoid wrong and do right. I found that the law could threaten
me, curse me, condemn me if I didn't comply. But I found that the
law could not change my sinful inclination. but rather the law irritated
my sinful inclinations. The law stimulated my sinful
inclinations. Under the law I could never become
holy. I found, Paul said, I needed
Christ. I needed Christ. I was powerless,
hopeless, helpless, dead. I needed Christ. I needed his
righteousness, for I had none. I needed his holiness, for I
was holy to pray. I needed Christ. All right, even
now, and see if this is not your experience, if you'll be honest.
I'm talking to honest people now, not talking to crooks. Even
now, I'm a regenerated man. I know it, God knows it. But
even now, that I am brought under the influences of the Holy Spirit
which make me love God's law, and make me delight in God's
law, and the influences of the Holy Spirit that make me hate
all that violates God's law. And yet I still feel my imperfections. I still experience the influences
of a depraved nature. And the struggle in me is like
a civil war. But Paul said, I know where to
look for deliverance. And it's not to the law, but
to Christ. That conflict within me between
the flesh and the spirit is like a civil war, the conflict between
the North and the South. But I know where to look for
deliverance, and it's not to my resolutions. and it's not
to my flesh, and it's not to the ceremonies of religion, and
it's not to the law, it's to Christ. Now the main reason that
I believe that the whole chapter, Romans 7, is the experience of
the same man, is that the Apostle Paul proved from his past experience
that the law couldn't make a bad man good, and he proves from
his present experience that the law cannot make a good man better. That's what he's showing us all
the way through Romans 7. The law cannot justify and the
law cannot sanctify. From verse 14 to the end of the
chapter, which we're going to look at in just a moment, from
verse 14 to the end of the chapter, Paul gives an account of the
power of indwelling sin within him. Paul knew what was good, and
he approved of it, but he didn't do it all the time. Paul hated
sin, yet he committed sin. Paul talks about indwelling sin
and the conflict between grace and corruption, between the law
of sin and the law of God, between his mind and his nature. And
that's what he's dealing with here, verse 14 to the end of
the chapter. He's dealing with what's so right
now. Not fantasy, not what's supposed
to be. Like John Newton said, I'm not
what I want to be, I'm not what I'm going to be, I'm not what
I ought to be. But thank God I'm not what I
used to be. And the Apostle Paul, in verse 14 through 25, is not
dealing in fantasy. He's not dealing in what ought
to be. He's dealing with what is, is, is, what is truth, what
is present. And let's look at it now. He
says in verse 14, we know that the law is spiritual. That is,
it comes from the Spirit of God. The law comes from the Spirit
of God. and it reaches to the spirit
of man. The law is a director of conduct,
it's a discerner of thoughts. Our Lord said, when the law says
thou shalt not kill, it also means thou shalt not be angry. When the law says thou shalt
not commit adultery, it also means thou shalt not harbor a
lustful When the law says, Thou shalt not take the name of God
in vain, that means that God's name is never to be used or thought
in any way but absolute holiness and perfection. It requires holiness
in the inward part. The law is a spiritual service
and a spiritual obedience. It is serving God with all the
heart, all the mind, all the soul. It is loving God with all
the heart, all the mind, all the soul, and loving our neighbor
as ourselves. The law spiritual, you that would
be under the law. Have you not heard the law? We've heard the recitation of
the Ten Commandments, and Paul had two. But one day, bless your
heart, that glorious apostle Paul ran into the spiritual law
of God. And that law by which he measured
his righteousness and measured his religion, that very law in
which he trusted and found his satisfaction, was the instrument
of God that killed him. killed him. He says the law is
spiritual. The law is not a list of do's
and don'ts. The law is spiritual. The law
is the very summary of the character of God, of the holiness of God,
of the glory of God, of the very presence of God. To talk about
obeying the law is to talk like a fool. The law is spiritual. Secondly, I am carnal. Now, when
Paul was comparing himself with his former self, this was not
true. I am carnal. When comparing himself
with weaker brethren, this was not true. I am carnal. Certainly not. If he compared
himself with what he used to be, He wasn't carnal. If he compared
himself with some of the weaker brethren, with you or me, he
certainly wasn't carnal. But he's speaking of himself
in reference to the spiritual law of God. That's what he's
talking about. He says the law is spiritual,
and in the light of that spiritual law, in the light of that law,
I'm carnal. C-a-r-n-a-l, carnal. Don't be
afraid of it. That's what he says. You are
too. Just like Job, when he saw the
Lord, he said, this man of whom God spake, my servant Job is
a perfect and upright man that runs from evil. This same Job
said, I am what? Vile. V-I-L-E. I am vile. But he didn't say
that until he saw the Lord. He didn't say that until he saw
God's holiness. He didn't say that till God unbared
his arm and let Job see God. He said, I see you, Lord, and
I hate myself. I'm vile, dirty, corrupt. What'd Isaiah say? I'm a man
of unclean lips. Unclean lips. So when Paul says
here, the law is spiritual. The law is spiritual. There hasn't
been a day in your life, and there never will be a day in
your life when you'll ever obey the law of God. Not one. There never has been, and there
never will be. I doubt that there'll be a day
in your life when you'll ever obey one of God's laws. That,
to me, It's the truth, whether you like it or not. Because the
law is spiritual, and you're carnal. Now, compared with old
Joe Brown down the street, you're a pretty nice fella, but compared
to God, you're a hellcat. That's what you are. You're a
demon. You're a vile mass of corruption
that God shoveled off the dunghill. That's right. You're a wiggling
maggot, you're a wallowing sow, you're a vomiting dog compared
to God Almighty. That's what Paul said. I'm sold
under sin. He said, I sure don't like pets.
You know what he means by that? Here's exactly what he means.
This seems stronger than I'm carnal. Paul regrets that his heart and
his life are not entirely spiritual, and they're not, neither is yours
and mine. It's not in perfect accord with God's holiness, and
Paul said, I'm a slave to a fleshly nature. You say, well, I'm not
a slave to a fleshly nature, then how about tonight when you
go to dream, you dream something holy instead of something sinful? How about the next time somebody
crosses you, you rejoice and quote a verse of scripture instead
of saying what you usually say? How about the next time one of
your children or your wife agitates you, you fall down on your knees
and pray for them instead of bawling them out? You are sold
under sin. You are a person who responds
without even thinking to the leadership of an evil nature.
That's right. Somebody crosses you. You get
mad. I'm talking about me, too. I'm
not talking about just you. I'm saying when we are, just
as we blink without thinking, we respond to our Master the
Flesh without thinking. Without even thinking. That's
what Paul's talking about here when he says the law's spiritual.
But I'm carnal compared to that law, and I'm a slave of sin. I'm sold under sin. I'm completely soul under sin. And you think you're not, because
you don't know yourself, because you're unwilling to admit it.
That's what it is. We're unwilling to admit it.
That's the whole thing. We respond like that without even thinking. Look at
verse 15. For he says, For that which I
do, I don't approve of it. I do that which I do not approve
of." There isn't a sane man in this building that does not do
things all too frequently or think things all too frequently
that you don't approve of. You don't approve of them in
other people, and you don't approve of them in yourself, but you
still do them, don't you? And that's what Paul is saying
here, that which I do, I don't approve of it. It's against my
principles. It's against my convictions.
And what I would, that do I not. I do not practice what I wish,
but I do the very thing that I hate. Can you say that? I don't practice the thing that
I wish, but the very thing that I hate, that's what I do. If
then, verse 16, if then, I do that which I would not, and that
which I don't approve of, then I consent to the law that it's
good, it's right. Here's what he means there. Now,
if I do that which is contrary to my real desire, if I do that
which I don't approve of, and contrary to what I'd like to
be and like to do, this is proof, this is living proof that I acknowledge
and agree that God's law is good, and I don't take sides with myself
to justify myself, but I take sides with the law of God, that
it's good for man and it's good for me. I approve of the law
of God, I agree with the law of God, if then I do that which
I do not approve of. And I condemn myself, and I sit
in judgment on myself. If we judge ourselves, we'd not
be judged. And Paul said, when I judge myself,
instead of justifying, I condemn myself. I'm showing that I'm
on the side of God's law even against me. That's hard to do,
even against me. Now, verse 17 is very important. I want you to listen to it. Now
then, here we come into this two-nature thing. Now then, it
is no more I that do it. but sin that dwelleth in me."
Here's the problem. Now I want you to listen real
closely here. I've got a little help here. Paul is not denying his responsibility
for his failures. He's not denying the responsibility
for his sins. We don't ever want to get into
that. That's a terrible pit. That's a bottomless pit. Paul's
not laying the blame somewhere else or on someone else, but
what he's saying is this. He is saying that flesh and the
old nature, though not dominant, is present in him, and the influence
of that flesh and that old nature and that old man accounts for
this rebellion and accounts for this sin and accounts for this
diversion. Now then, in another place, Paul
said of his apostolic labors, he said, now listen to what he
said, It's not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Now
Paul's not saying there that he didn't perform these labors,
he did. He did the preaching. He did
the missionary work. He did the traveling. He did
the witnessing. But he said, it's not I that
did it, but Christ that was with me. He's not denying that he
did these labors, but he performed them under the influence of the
grace of God. It's not I, but the grace of
God in me that did these things. He's not denying that he did
them, but he's simply saying that he did them under the influence
of the grace of God. Also, listen to this. Paul said,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me." Now, he's not saying he's dead. He's not saying he's dead,
but here's what he is saying. When he says, I live, yet not
I, but Christ lives in me, what he's saying is this. I'm indebted
to Christ for the origin of that new life, and for the maintenance
of that new life, and for the nourishment of that new life,
and for the very existence of that new life. I live it under
the influence of Him who gave it to me. And when he talks here about
the old nature and says it's no more I that do it, he's using
the same reference and the same application when he talks about
his preaching. He says, it's not I, it's the
grace of God in me. Well, Paul was preaching. And
somebody comes and says, Paul, that was a good sermon. Paul,
your message helped me. It's not I, but it was you too.
It was you. It was the grace of God in you,
but it was you also. And even so, sin is an abstract
quality. Sin cannot act. Sin causes man
to act, but man does the action. Sin is the influence that motivates
the act. And that's what he's saying here
when he said, when I do the things I don't approve of, and when
I fail to do the things that I do approve of, it is a revelation
that there's in Paul another nature. that accounts for these
deeds, and accounts for these thoughts, and accounts for this
rebellion. And it's not I, but sin that
dwelleth in me. Clear as mud. Does help some,
though, doesn't it? He's not shifting the responsibility. He's not shifting the accountability.
He knows he is responsible. He knows he is accountable. When
I think what I shouldn't think, I can truly say, it's not I.
That's sin that dwells in me. When I preach a good sermon,
I can say, it's not I. It's the grace of God in me.
But it is I. In one sense of the word, I'm
accountable. I'm responsible. When I fail
to preach what I ought to preach, it's my fault. If I withheld
from you something I knew I ought to present, I'll have to pay
for it." You see, I'm responsible. So that's what Paul is meaning
when he says here. He says, it's no more I that
do it, but Paul, that doesn't mean you're not responsible.
Paul, that doesn't mean you're not accountable. He knows he
is. But he's accounting for the thing. He's accounting for the
act of rebellion by saying there's a law in him, there's a nature
in him that's an evil nature. And that accounts for it. Don't
be surprised, you who are newly converted, don't be surprised
when you think what you shouldn't think. I didn't say don't be,
that to be satisfied, don't be satisfied with it either. And
don't justify yourself and don't make excuses and alibis for it. It is you, then again it isn't
you. It's not the new you, it's the old you. Now here we come
to verse 18. I want you to listen to this
carefully. that in me, that is, in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing." Now here's what he's saying. He listened
to me. The spirit and the flesh are often personified by the
Apostle Paul, and he means by that the spirit, the new man,
the new nature. He means by the flesh, the old
man, the old nature. The flesh is natural to man.
He was born with it. The spirit is produced in regeneration. It's a new heart, it's a new
nature, it's a new life. The old man is totally corrupt. It'll never change. The new man
is totally holy. That's right. The old man can
do nothing but sin. That's what he says here, I know
that in me, that is in my old nature, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. The old nature can do nothing
but sin. The new man cannot sin. John says it is born of God and
cannot sin. That new heart cannot sin, that
new nature cannot sin, that divine nature cannot think evil. That
old nature cannot think good, the new nature cannot think evil.
And these two persons exist together in the same body, and they're antagonistic. And
they draw swords, and they battle, and they draw in opposite directions.
Turn to Galatians 5. Hold your finger there in Romans
7 and turn to Galatians 5, verse 17. Look at it, Galatians 5,
17. For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. Now, every born-again
person knows what that's all about. And I'm warning you, if
you don't know what that's all about tonight, you'd better examine
yourself, whether you're in Christ, if you don't know what that's
all about. These are contrary, the one to
the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
They're there. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Look at Matthew 26, verse 41. When Christ was talking to his
disciples, in Matthew 26, verse 41, It says here, Christ is in
the garden there, and he went forward to pray, and he came
back, and the disciples were asleep, and the Lord Jesus said
in Matthew 26, 41, watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. Now, brethren, when I act entirely
under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, I don't sin. When I act
in the flesh, I do nothing but sin. But when I act as I generally
act under the influence of both natures, my thoughts are good
and evil. Don't anybody nod their head
yes, somebody thinks you're a sinner. depending on which nature prevails. When I act as I generally do,
under the influence of both natures, my thoughts are good and evil. Now then, verse 19 and 20, 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." Didn't
used to dwell in him, it's dwelling in him. Sin that dwells in him. The Apostle Paul is repeating
what he said back in verse 16, 17. Nothing, listen to this,
nothing could express more fully The dreary struggle that goes
on and on and on and on in the life of a believer. Experience
convinces us that human resolution is weak. You ever had that problem?
The heart is deceitful. Know anything about that? Sin
is wedded to mortality. And somebody said one time, the
past makes me tremble for the future, and assures me that temptation
will return, and that all my days on this earth will be stained
by sin, and I have to continually say with David, I won't be satisfied
till I wake with his likeness. Now then, let's look at verse
21. I find then a law. Now brethren,
this is to be understood of the corrupt human nature which is
found in Paul and you and me. Why does he call it a law? I
find a law. Here's why he calls it a law,
because it's a power, because it's a force, because it is exerted
with such tremendous force. The Jews used to call it the
evil imagination that dwells in every man. I find a law that
when I would do good, as soon as good resolutions come to my
mind, as soon as good thoughts arise in my mind, and I strive
to live as I desire to live, watch it, evil is present with
me. evil which came into the world
with me, evil which stays so close to me, evil that is so
well known to me, evil exerts itself and causes me much distress. And then he says in verse 22,
I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another
law in my members Now watch verse 22 and 23. Let's read them carefully,
then let me make a comment. I delight in the law of God after
the inward manner, but I see another law in my members. The
amplified version reads it like this. I endorse and I delight
in the law of God with my new nature in my inmost self. And
then he quotes Psalms 1, 1, and 2. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, his delight is in the law of
the God, and in that law doth he meditate day and night. But
I discern in my bodily members. Verse 23. I discern in my bodily
members. I see another law in my bodily
members. In the sensitive appetites and
the sensitive wills of the flesh, I see a different law, a rule
of action at war against the law of my mind, and making me
a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs,
in my eyes, in my ears, in my heart, in my mind, in my affections,
and those things. In the sensitive appetites and
wills of the flesh, he said, I see another law. Do you see
it? I'm not talking about going out
and getting drunk now. I'm not talking about killing
your neighbors. I'm not talking about robbing
a bank. I'm talking about those sensitive appetites and sins
with which every believer is acquainted. I'm talking about
jealousy and envy and malice and lust and covetousness and
idolatry and hatred and variance and emulations and failure to
believe, lack of faith, to know to do good and do it not. I'm
talking about those things. I'm talking about that inward
warfare, that inward conflict that goes on day after day after
day after day, dissatisfied with what God has given me, coveting
after that which God hasn't given me. All these things. And then
he goes on, verse 24, and says, O wretched man that I am. He wasn't a wretched man in Christ,
he was a happy man. He wasn't a wretched man in Christ,
he was blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. He wasn't
a wretched man in Christ, he was free from wrath and condemnation. He wasn't a wretched man in Christ,
he had peace and rest and pleasure in the joy of the Lord. But brother,
he was a wretched man in that continual combat between the
flesh and the And because of that body of sin
which he carried about with him all the time, that not anybody
else saw but him, not anybody else had a conflict with but
him, not anybody else engaged in battle but him. that old monster,
that old two-headed monster, that old green-eyed monster,
that old monster that he had to deal with inside of him all
the time, that old body of death. He said, Who shall deliver me
from this body of death? He knew he couldn't do it. He
knew the law couldn't do it. He knew that human resolutions
couldn't do it. He knew that Thank God, O thank
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. He will. God will through Christ, the
Anointed One. God will through Christ. The
good work is begun, and he that hath begun a good work in you
is going to perfect it in the day of Christ, when this old
nature is going to be eradicated. This old nature is going to be
destroyed. This old nature is going to be
buried in the dust. That good work's going to be
perfected in the day of Christ. That's the reason Paul said,
I'm in a straight betwixt the two, having a desire to depart
and be with Christ, which is far better. So then, with the
mind, I serve the law of God. He's saying here, as far as I
am a renewed man, so far as I am under divine influence, I serve
the law of God. and conformed to his holy, just,
and good nature, but with the flesh so far as I am not renewed,
so far as I am under an unchanged, fallen nature, I serve the law
of sin. It was not law that delivered
me from the guilt of sin, And I'm not looking to law, but to
the grace of God to deliver me from the presence of sin. God
will, he said. Oh, wretched man that I am. Best thing, best way in the world
to deal with anything that troubles you is to deal with it as it
is. To face it as it is. God knows. God knows. And that's what Paul
does here. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ the Lord. With my mind I serve the law
of God. Peter said, Lord, you know all
things. You know I love you. You know I love you. A lot of folks didn't think he
did. That bunch sitting around that fire didn't think he loved
the Lord. He said he didn't. Pilate and Those bunch of soldiers
didn't think he loved the Lord. He wasn't anywhere around when
his Lord was tried and sentenced and crucified. I suspect the
disciples had their doubts about it, too, when old Peter arose
and said, I'm going back where I started from. I'm going fishing.
They said, well, if you're going, we might as well go, too. But
when they sat around that fire and the Lord Jesus looked at
them and said, Peter, you love me? He said, Lord, I don't think
he better than I. You know all things. You know
I love you. You know all things. And that's what Paul is saying
here, in spite of all that others might say, and that warfare within
me, and that conflict in which I'm engaged, and that battleground
on which I find myself day after day. And it's not me, it's sin
that dwells in me. Lord, you know I love you. And
you know I love your law. And you know I want to be holy.
And who's going to deliver me from this mess I'm in? Who's
going to finally wind this battle up? God will, he started it and
he'll wind it up, and I'm going to get to victory through Christ.
Our Father, we want to be taught by the Holy Spirit. We don't
want to be left to our carnal understanding. We can say with
Paul, thy law is spiritual, thy word is holy and perfect and
true, but we're carnal, sold unto sin, and left to our natural
thinking, we'll go astray. that our natural will will fail,
not only in righteousness, but in understanding. And our thoughts
are not your thoughts, as a way that seemeth right unto man,
the end thereof is death and destruction. Our ways are not
your ways. But you're going to have to reveal your thoughts
to us. You're going to have to direct our minds and turn them
into channels of holiness and channels of truth, that we might
make the right application, that we might put forth the right
truth and that we might experience that which is written, and not
that which we think, that we might be brought down at the
feet of Christ, and find in him everything we need. In his name
we pray, amen.