It's good to hear the laughter
and the giggling. Good fellowship this morning.
Glad to see y'all. Well, the pastor's not here this
morning. You're stuck with me again, so
here we go. Anyway, well, we sure want to
remember Davey and Tim. They're up in Kentucky this morning. We need to pray for them. When
they leave the United States, it's dangerous. So we need to remember them in
our prayers and pray that they have a wonderful worship service
at 13th Street. And do we have any requests this
morning? I've got a prayer list here printed
out, but I don't know if we have any new to add to it or not. OK. OK. Remember Jimmy. All right. Well, we remember Jim. All right,
we want to begin our service this morning with hymn number
236. And again, my voice is awful,
so I'm not going to be able to sing, but I've got a wonderful
song leader that's going to sing. He's going to lead us in song
this morning, and I know he'll do a good job. Hymn number 236. I once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see. was grace that taught my heart
to fear, and grace my faith to believe. How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed. Through many dangers, cold and
sad, I have already come. His grace hath brought me safe
thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there 10,000
years, This morning I'm just going to
read one verse as our text this morning. It's Romans 8-1. It says, There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Our Father, we approach you,
your throne of grace once again, thanking you, Lord, for this
day and for each one, Lord, that you have been pleased to gather
here in the assembly. We're thankful, Lord, for those
who may somehow hear us on the live stream, whatever the case
may be. We pray, Lord, that your word
would go forth with power and help us all, Lord, to understand
your word. We pray, Lord, for myself, that
you'd enable me, Father, honor and bless your name and lift
up the name of the lord jesus christ help us lord always to
walk in your light cause us to say right things about you lord
we ask you father to remember jimmy and as he has the eye surgery
tomorrow we pray lord that for others that are on our prayer
list are too numerous to name But you know who they are. You
know their needs. You know the individuals. Lord,
we thank you for this wondrous time, Lord, that we live on this
earth, that you've given us grace, mercy, and light. You've given
us eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to receive your word.
Help us this day to receive it with thanksgiving. We ask these
things in Christ's name, for his sake, amen. All right, you got to... Thank
you, Lord, for the way that the Christ of the ? And with his grace he died in
good place ? ? The burdens of God to fulfill ? ? So on Jesus,
Christ of the cross, let me die for you ? ? I will change to the Christ of
the cross ? ? For he is the king and the crown ? ? The Christ of the cross ? ? To
the skies I'll go ? ? With wonders of attraction to the Lord ? In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. ? I will cling to the Christ of the
cross ? ? For he is the King I must crown ? ? The Christ of
the cross and his blood so divine ? And only when Thine arms were
drawn, You again fell on His throne. So I'll cherish the price
worth the frown, And before His throne I bow down. ? I will cling to the Christ of
the cross ? ? For he is the king I must crown ? ? The Christ of the cross I must never
resume ? ? His shame and reproach can't be undone ? ? For in love he constrains ? ?
Till all shall be gained ? ? He's more than forever I'll share
? ? So I'll cherish the Christ of the cross ? ? And before his
throne I'll stand ? Amen. You notice I was just mouthing
the words. In front of this microphone,
if I tried to sing, I would just mess everything up. But I was singing in my heart,
and I was mouthing the words. And the Lord knows all about
it. I need you to pray. My voice
is getting worse. I've been to a doctor about it.
Nothing they can do. My vocal cords are getting weak.
And there's no way to remedy that. Well, I went to a speech therapist
and took some exercises and it helped a little bit. It didn't
solve the problem, let's put it that way, but it helped a
little. But that's bad for a public speaker. So, anyway. Well, you understand
my situation there, so. All right. Jimmy, if you would play a hymn,
we'll have the obituary. Stan, would you and Stevie come
up and receive the offering this morning? Our Father, again, we come to
you with thankful hearts, knowing, O Lord, Your goodness and mercy
has been abundant towards your people. Lord, what we have, we
can't call our own because you've given us not only life, health,
and strength, but you've given us a means, Lord, to live on
this earth. We thank you, Father, for every
gift, Lord, that we've received at thy bounty. We ask you, Lord,
today to bless in the offering this morning, Lord, and help
us all to understand that what we have, Lord, has come from
you. Let us return a portion of what
you have given us with joy in our hearts. In Christ's name
we pray, and amen. Okay. Thank you, Jerry. That was beautiful. He's been getting pretty good
for a fellow who's just been playing the guitar for a couple
of weeks. Well, things are always unusual when
Tim's not here. I'm not used to doing a whole
lot of this. I want to make another apology.
This thing sitting up here is not usual for me. But I prepared my message this week. Saturday evening I
decided it's time to print it. Guess what? The printer let me
down. So I'm sorry you have to see
this, but I had quite a few notes and there
was no way I could memorize all of them. All right, reading our text again,
it said, There's therefore now no condemnation to them who are
in Christ Jesus, which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh but after the spirit. Now, the law of God is perfect. You cannot add to it nor take
anything from it without spoiling it. The commandments are far-reaching
and they deal with every sin. Think about that. How in-depth that ten things in the law are that far-reaching
that it covers everything, every sin. So it is the expression
of the nature of the eternal God and reveals His holiness
and justice. Paul is saying in these verses
that first law can never deliver a person from the curse and dominion
of sin. The law cannot produce a new
heart. It cannot save a lost soul. It cannot produce a new heart.
It cannot save a lost soul. It can't justify a guilty person. It cannot remove his sinful inclinations. In fact, we become more depraved
as knowledge of the law is increased. The law in the hands of the Holy
Spirit does not stop sin. It reveals sin. It does not give
life. It kills. It does not make men
holy. It exposes their unholiness. It strips the sinner of his filthy
rags and of self-righteousness and exposes his corruption before
God. The law is good. It is perfect. It is necessary
and it's useful because the law was designed to declare men and women guilty
before God. to strip them of any hope of
coming to God by keeping the law. The law can tell a man what's
right and wrong. It can command him to be perfect.
It can threaten him. It can condemn him and curse
him. Humanity has fallen far from
God, fallen so far that it cannot get back. Man cannot get back. There is no possible remedy that
man could ever conceive to restore himself to a right standing with
his creator. When Adam fell, he fell completely, and all his posterity,
all who came after him, come into this world with Adam's sin. fallen from God. Now we know
that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law. Who's under the law? Every creature, every man and
woman on this earth that don't know God are under the law. So it says, what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no man shall be justified
before God. Therefore, the deeds of the law, by the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in sight.
For the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 7. Go back and just follow me in
your Bibles, if you would. Go back to Romans 7. Look in
verse 5. It all speaks of a nature that
every believer has to deal with that he calls the flesh. Our
old man, our corrupt nature, and this made the law weak as
far as justification and salvation is concerned. We have laws in our land to protect
honest men and deter many from committing crime. Well, we used
to, but that's the fact. The law was
out there to protect us, but it is practically powerless to
stop habitual criminals. The deficit is not in the law,
but it's in the person with whom it has to deal. The law becomes
weak through our weakness. It sets before us a straight
path and it tells us what we ought to do, but it does not
enable us to do it. It shows our defects and our
stains like a mirror. It is weak for that purpose because
it was never intended for that end. The Christian still feels his
inability and imperfections. though he is regenerated in Christ
and he delights in God's law. I cannot look to the law for
justification nor sanctification, but I look to Christ, who is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The law cannot make a sinner
righteous. Nor can it make a saved man holier. Verse 7, it says, What shall
we say then? Is the law sin, God forbid? Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. In the law, Is the law the cause of my sin?
Most people look at the law in the coldness of the letter. And
by that I mean they look at the law like thou shalt not steal. I'm not a thief. Thou shalt not
kill. I don't kill anybody. I don't
want to kill anybody. That's how people look at the
law generally. It's the coldness of the letter.
And, you know, it used to be if you smoked or had long hair,
all kind of rules popped up, you know, with men. And they
put those things under the law. But the law deals with much deeper
matters. It deals with thought, attitude,
nature. and the will and intense of the
heart. I got an example, a lady, a lady
that I know on Facebook, very religious. And she's always putting
religious things on there. And I don't usually, I don't
usually react, even though sometimes I want to. When you put something
on there, you're gonna get all kind of whack. I generally don't,
but I know this lady. And she was saying, oh, I won't
eat pork because the Bible is against eating pork. And I knew what was in her thought.
Well, I didn't put it on Facebook, but I went to the messenger and
I messaged her. I said, look, I said, you know, if you don't
want to eat pork, that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that.
A lot of people don't, and that's fine. But if you think not eating
pork is gonna make you any holier before God, then you're sadly
mistaken. But that was her, that was her
whole thing, and I knew that's what she was thinking. And I
said, I said, I said a person, the reason why a person does
something sometimes is more important than what they do. The motive
they do it, that was what was wrong. And I got a reaction I
didn't expect. She sent me a message back and
she said, you're right. She said, and I really appreciate
you. I really appreciate she's treating
me out on that. So that turned out good, but
sometimes things like that don't. But I don't like to get involved
in that. But sin, taking occasion, verses
8 through 10. Look at verses 8 through 10. This is where it gets complicated,
having to go back and forth. Chapter 7, 8 through 10, it says,
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me, all
manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead. For I was alive without the law
once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Now, he said, but sin taken occasion
by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Well, I had that already in here.
So, Paul was saying that without this spiritual knowledge of the
law, sin was there, but it was dead to Paul. He thought himself
to be righteous, but upon his spiritual awakening, he found
himself dead in sin to God and condemned. So, for sin, take
an occasion. Verses 11 through 13, for sin,
taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which
was good made death unto me, God forbid, but sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me, by the which It is good
that sin, by the commandment, might become exceeding sinful. Paul, you know, he had credentials. He said if any man could make
it by keeping the law, he said, I'm above all of you. I've done
it all. I've kept it. Nothing. But in his spiritual awakening,
when he saw the spirit And the Spirit revealed unto him, he
found out that he was dead and not alive. He is saying that
my sinful nature used the law to deceive me. He thought he
kept it. The law is just and holy and
good. It requires only what was right
and forbids wrong. He said in verse 14, he said,
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, soul under sin. The law comes from the spirit
of God and reaches to the spirit of men. It requires holiness
in the inward parts. It requires spiritual service
and obedience. Loving God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself, but
the nature of the law. And my flesh is opposite. Verses 15 and 16, he said, for
that which I do, I allow not. Or what he meant there was, I
approve not. For what I would, that I do,
that do I not. But what I hate, that I do. If
then I do, that which I would not, I consent under the law
that it is good. And so, Allow here means approve. Believers do not always approve
of what they do or think, but we approve of the law and take
sides with it, for I condemn my evil and mourn my sins. And the child of God, who has
been spiritually awakened, realizes that he still has the old man
to deal with and that the sin is still there. And it is by
the grace of God that it is subdued by the Spirit. The influence
of Paul's old nature accounts for his sins. Paul also said
in 1 Corinthians 15, 10, he said,
but I labor more abundant than they all, yet not I, but the
grace of God, which was with me. cannot act, the person must
act. But sin is the influence that
motivates the act. Verses 18 and 19, he said, for
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good
thing. For the 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. So Paul is speaking of the old
man. There is nothing in or about
the old man that is good. If anything good is accomplished
by us, it is God who brings it about. The old man, or the flesh, as
Paul says, is incapable of good. Man will always wind up on that end of the deal. He's always, it is the Spirit
that overcomes. The Spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak. So verse 20, he says, now if
I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. Now again, Paul is not excusing
his sin. but he is tracing it back to
the source. It is the inbred corruption of
the natural man. Adam is still with us, even though
we have been regenerated by the Spirit of God, and we have a
new heart, and we have underwent the circumcision of the heart
by the Spirit of God. where the heart of stone is now
a heart of flesh and it's separated, it's cut loose from the flesh
and it's two. We're no longer one but two.
And we, there's where the warfare begins. There's no warfare before
a person is regenerated. You know why there's no warfare?
Because heart, soul, body all agrees. There's no conflict. It's all downward. It's all evil. But when God intervenes in behalf
of one of his sheep and he regenerates that soul, now he has the mind
of Christ. But the flesh is still agonizing
with him. The flesh is still there to buffet
him. In verses 21 and 22, he says,
I find then a law that, when I would do good, evil is present
with me. We understand this as the corruption
of nature, which is found by experience to be in him, and
which, because of its force, power, and prevalence it sometimes
had in him, he calls a law. It is so strong that it's called
a law. forcibly demanding compliance
with its lusts, and is the same with what he calls evil. Verse 22, he said, For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. So the believer receives
a new nature. At that time, at the time of
regeneration, the old man or nature is not destroyed but remains
in us, but is no longer the dominant. The strong man, the strong man's
house is taken by a stronger man. The older shall serve the
younger. Does that sound familiar? Now,
a stronger man has took charge of this life. So there are many
trials, but at length, that which is born of the Spirit will overcome
that which is born of the flesh. John 3 and 9, 1 John 3 and 9,
he says, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born
of God. So being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. I spoke once before, everything
on this earth that has been developed for good, man has figured some
way to corrupt it. But when a man is regenerated
in his heart, has been purged by the spirit
of God, He has a seed. Being born again, not of a corruptible
seed, but of an incorruptible. That's something that Satan cannot
touch. People talk about being saved
today and lost tomorrow. That'll never happen. If a person
is truly saved, he has an incorruptible seed within his heart that cannot
be corrupted and will not be corrupted. He may stray. He may fall. But ultimately, if he's one of
God's sheep, he will come to God. He will always return. This an unregenerate man cannot
do. And he said, it abideth forever.
It liveth and abideth forever, this incorruptible seed does. This an unregenerate man cannot
do. He does not like its commands.
They are contrary to his corrupt nature. And as it is a threatening,
cursing, damning law, it can never be delighted in by him. the moralist, the Pharisee, who
obeys it externally, do not love it, nor delight in it. He obeys
it not from love to its precepts, but from fear of its threatening,
from a desire of popular esteem, and from a low mercenary. If
they're false believers, they may be in the church, but their
motives are all wrong when it comes to serving God, because
they're doing it from selfish motives, mercenary, and they
desire popular esteem. or the applause of men or the
favor of God. Only a regenerated man delights
in the law of God, which he does as it is fulfilled by Christ,
who has answered all the demands that is required in God's holy
law. And as it is written upon the heart by the Spirit of God,
he said, I'll write these laws in his heart and in his mind.
And that's what God does, to which he yields a voluntary and
cheerful obedience. He serves it with his mind, of
a ready mind, freely and without any constraint of love. So, he delights altogether with
the law. Verse 23, he said, but I see
another law in my members. That is, he saw it by experience. He felt its force and power of
inbred corruption working in him, and as a law, demanding
obedience to it. and which he might well call
another law, opposite to the law of God he delighted in. It
exerted himself by them. It made use of his members to
fulfill its lust. Thus, there is no peace in my
members because of my sin. And he continues to say, warring
against the law of my mind. By the law. of his mind is meant
either the law of God written on his mind in conversion and
which he delights in and served with his mind and renewed by
the Spirit of God or the new nature in him, the principle
of grace wrought in his mind called the law of it. because it was the governing
principle there, which reigns and will reign in every person
born of the spirit through the righteousness unto eternal life. Though the law of sin is opposite
with all its force, power against it, the state of regenerated
persons is a warfare They have many enemies to combat with,
as Satan and the world within themselves, in their own hearts,
are the worst of all. This is a civil war with them,
as it were a company of two armies, flesh and spirit, sin and grace,
combating together. And so it will be as long as
their life lasts. True is the saying of the Jews
in which they agree with the apostle. As long as the righteous
live, they are at war with corruption of their nature. And when they
die, they are at rest. And I thought about the Jews
are so hated on this earth. Countries have vowed they'll
destroy them, they'll wipe them out, and there's no reservation,
and it's going to be that way until the end of time, until
the Lord comes back. There's not going to be any peace
for them, and there's no peace with God's people as long as
they live on this earth. But we enter into the rest of
Christ. And we find comfort and solace
in him. So the very phrase of bringing
into captivity supposes that a person before was not incaptive,
not a captive, whereas an unregenerate man always was. He never was
otherwise. And to all this, and this captivity
concerning Paul was very distressing and uneasy to the person and
makes him cry out, oh, wretched man. that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death. Whereas the captivity of an unregenerated
person, he prefers his prison. He loves his chains, and he does
not choose to be in any other state and condition. He was born
in those chains. He come into this world speaking
lies. He's always been there. It's
home to him. He's comfortable there. He don't
want to change. Praise God! The Holy Spirit gives
Paul more to say on this subject, and that was our text today.
Romans 8, 1-4 says, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 10 verse 4 says, For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Thank God. Thank God for his son who shed
his blood at Calvary and redeemed poor sinners like us. Give us
light and life, joy in our hearts. Thank the Lord. Father, we thank you again for
this time. worship we thank you father you
made us able once again we pray lord that you'd go with each
one back to our homes on the boat help us lord to honor and
bless your name each day because we love thee because you loved
us first in christ's name we pray amen