1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 One of the joys I have is reading each month through the testimonies of those who are coming 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:08,160 into our membership. 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:14,500 That is part of our membership process, that is each one who is coming writes out a personal 4 00:00:14,500 --> 00:00:19,240 testimony as to how he or she trusted Christ. 5 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:24,600 This last week it was a joy to read, 27 or 28. 6 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:33,040 I remember one in particular in which a wife commented about the fact that her husband 7 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:40,760 came home and expressed to her that in the church they had been going to that point, 8 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:46,400 they had heard a lot about the love of God, but now he said, I've heard about the holiness 9 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:48,920 of God. 10 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:56,200 As a result of that he became a Christian and she later became a Christian. 11 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:01,640 I wonder if in some circles our theology isn't a little off balance when we talk a lot about 12 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:08,520 the love of God, but we seldom stop to consider God's holiness. 13 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:18,680 That holiness is condensed and brought to our attention in the law of God. 14 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:23,040 We've been talking about the law of God in Romans chapter 7. 15 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:28,160 I invite you to take your Bible and turn there again with me as we complete the chapter this 16 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:29,160 morning. 17 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:35,400 We'll begin reading in verse 14 of Romans 7. 18 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:50,160 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 19 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,360 For that which I am doing I do not understand. 20 00:01:54,360 --> 00:02:01,040 For I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 21 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:06,400 And if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the law confessing that it 22 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:08,680 is good. 23 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:15,680 So now no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. 24 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:20,960 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. 25 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,760 For the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 26 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:34,300 For the good that I wish I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. 27 00:02:34,300 --> 00:02:39,920 But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but 28 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:43,280 sin which dwells in me. 29 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:50,520 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. 30 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:56,680 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law 31 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:04,520 in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner 32 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:11,040 of the law of sin which is in my members, wretched man that I am, who will set me free 33 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,200 from the body of this death. 34 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:18,400 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 35 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:24,320 So then on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other 36 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:30,000 with my flesh the law of sin. 37 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:36,060 This is probably one of the most controversial passages in the book of Romans. 38 00:03:36,060 --> 00:03:44,200 And it has been controversial and misunderstood by some probably for close to 2,000 years. 39 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:50,640 It is too bad the Apostle Paul did not write a commentary on the book of Romans, isn't 40 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:51,840 it? 41 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:59,080 One of the first questions that comes to mind is who is this person that is in view here? 42 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:04,920 Is this a saved person or is it an unsaved person? 43 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:10,840 Now there are those who say that it is an unsaved person, that it must be a regenerate 44 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,880 person for in verse 24 he says wretched man that I am. 45 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,880 And how could a Christian make a statement like that, call himself wretched? 46 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:25,680 For he is the one who said in Romans 5, 1 that he has peace with God having been justified 47 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:30,080 by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. 48 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:34,280 So how could a Christian say wretched man that I am? 49 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:44,480 Furthermore in verse 14 he says I am of flesh or literally I am fleshly, I am carnal, sold 50 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:48,680 into bondage to sin. 51 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:54,900 And people say well how could a Christian ever say he is sold into bondage to sin? 52 00:04:54,900 --> 00:05:00,800 After all back in chapter 6 in verse 2 he said how shall we who died to sin still live 53 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:01,800 in it? 54 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:03,480 Talking about Christians. 55 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:08,600 And also in chapter 6 verse 6 he said knowing this that our old self was crucified with 56 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:14,280 him that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to 57 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:15,280 sin. 58 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:19,160 Verse 14, for sin shall not be master over you. 59 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:25,000 Verse 17, thanks to God that though you were slaves of sin you became obedient from the 60 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,760 heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. 61 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:33,440 And verse 18, having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness. 62 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:39,000 And so it's argued how could a Christian who says what he does in chapter 6 then say 63 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:45,220 what he does in chapter 7 therefore it must be an unsaved person in chapter 7. 64 00:05:45,220 --> 00:05:51,040 And then they look at verse 18 where it says I know that nothing good dwells in me. 65 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,420 They say the Holy Spirit dwells in the Christian. 66 00:05:54,420 --> 00:05:58,240 So no Christian would be able to say something like that. 67 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:04,200 Now personally I believe that there are answers to each of those arguments and we're going 68 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:09,020 to talk about them as we go through our text this morning because I do not believe this 69 00:06:09,020 --> 00:06:16,640 is talking about an unsaved person in this part of chapter 7. 70 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,280 I believe it's talking about a Christian and I believe that for several reasons. 71 00:06:20,280 --> 00:06:29,720 In the first place in verse 22 he says I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. 72 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:34,080 He says I delight, I rejoice in the law of God. 73 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:39,720 An unregenerate person would never have that attitude about the law of God. 74 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:41,760 But this person says I delight in it. 75 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:42,760 I concur with it. 76 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:43,920 I agree with it. 77 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:47,320 I rejoice in the law of God. 78 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:57,400 Furthermore in verse 25 he says that he serves the law of God with his mind. 79 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:02,720 So he not only rejoices in it and concurs with it but he says with his mind he serves 80 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:03,800 the law of God. 81 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,120 Not so the unsaved person. 82 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:12,640 In verses 15, 18, 19, and 21 he essentially says this. 83 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,620 I hate sin. 84 00:07:15,620 --> 00:07:17,840 I loathe it. 85 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,240 Though I do it, it repulses me. 86 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:22,720 I hate it. 87 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:25,600 No unsaved person would make a statement like that. 88 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:27,200 He loves sin. 89 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:29,260 He loves sin. 90 00:07:29,260 --> 00:07:34,680 But here's a person who hates it with the fiber of his inner being. 91 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:41,320 And in verse 25 this person after saying who will set me free thanks God that Jesus Christ 92 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:43,560 will set him free. 93 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:49,000 And that again is no hope that an unsaved person can express. 94 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:51,440 Only a Christian can say that. 95 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:57,900 And so personally I'm convinced that this passage is talking about a Christian. 96 00:07:57,900 --> 00:08:03,160 But then there's the question what kind of a Christian is this? 97 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,360 And again there are at least two answers to that. 98 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:10,060 There are those who say that this is a defeated Christian. 99 00:08:10,060 --> 00:08:14,760 We have here the testimony of a Christian who is seeking to be sanctified by the law. 100 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:22,800 That is, he is seeking to please God by doing good things and keeping rules. 101 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,480 He's under some legalistic system. 102 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:30,560 My answer to that is that I have met legalists in my life. 103 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:36,920 I even were one, I suppose, earlier to some degree. 104 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:42,920 And I've never heard a legalist who'd be willing to say something like this paragraph says. 105 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:46,880 Because a legalist sees himself okay. 106 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:52,040 He doesn't see himself in the predicament that this man sees himself in. 107 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:57,760 A legalist has got the victory because he's keeping his little set of rules. 108 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:03,800 But here's a man who cries out in anguish because of sin. 109 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:13,000 I believe that this passage was written by the Apostle Paul and that in it he is giving 110 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:24,520 us his personal testimony as a spirit-filled, mature, growing, dynamic Christian. 111 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:30,480 That's who writes this paragraph and that's who it refers to. 112 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:37,280 He is one who knows the law of God and who therefore knows of God's holiness. 113 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:44,160 And against that background he sees himself with his imperfections and he agonizes over 114 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:54,520 his inability to live out completely the righteousness of the law of God written on his heart. 115 00:09:54,520 --> 00:10:01,920 What is seen here is a hatred of sin and that in itself is evidence of the sanctifying work 116 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,560 of the Holy Spirit. 117 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:09,320 The closer one gets to God the more sensitive he is to sin. 118 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:15,240 This person is very sensitive to the sin that's in him. 119 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:21,880 And so I'm saying to you that this is the testimony of Paul himself and of every person 120 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:25,720 who seeks to walk with God and know the filling of the Holy Spirit. 121 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:30,800 Now you say, I can't believe Paul would say something like this. 122 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:37,240 I mean Paul saying he's a wretched man, saying that he has brought prisoner to the law of 123 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,480 sin and the members of his body, how could Paul, the great apostle, ever say something 124 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:42,480 like that? 125 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:48,520 Well, the same way that he was able to say that he was the least of the saints, 1 Corinthians 126 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:55,320 15, or in Ephesians 3 he says he was less than the least of the saints. 127 00:10:55,320 --> 00:11:03,480 1 Timothy 1, 12 he says, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom what? 128 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:05,600 I am chief. 129 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,960 Not I was chief, I am chief. 130 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:17,960 You see, Paul is giving to us a certain perspective about himself. 131 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:24,120 Not everything that could be said, but he is revealing to us a certain perspective about 132 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:25,120 himself. 133 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:31,080 And what he is doing here in our text is to open his heart like most of us would be frightened 134 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,000 to do. 135 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:41,040 He allows himself to be very transparent as he tells us about his personal struggle with 136 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:42,880 indwelling sin. 137 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,520 That's what he's doing. 138 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:52,080 Now the Christian lives in a tension between two truths. 139 00:11:52,080 --> 00:12:00,040 One truth is that having trusted Christ, we are no longer in sin or in Adam, but we are 140 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:01,920 in whom? 141 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:03,520 In Christ, that's right. 142 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,480 We are in Christ. 143 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:12,700 And we have been set free from sin, we have been set free from the law with this condemnation. 144 00:12:12,700 --> 00:12:14,040 That's one side. 145 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:15,680 That's one truth. 146 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:22,280 But the other truth is that even though we are no longer in sin and in Adam, sin remains 147 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:29,400 in us, in our humanness, or in our flesh as the apostle says. 148 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:37,000 Or he also calls it in the members of our body, that is the capacities of our bodies, 149 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:41,000 to some degree our personalities. 150 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:45,160 And so we live in a tension between these two truths. 151 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:53,160 Our text reveals a three-fold explanation of the struggle that the apostle Paul personally 152 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:57,400 had with indwelling sin. 153 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:03,560 And my friend, if you today are seeking to follow the Lord and to grow in Christ and 154 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:10,800 to mature in your faith, you're going to do a lot of identifying as we talk about it. 155 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:15,480 The apostle actually gives us three key thoughts. 156 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:23,240 He talks about his condition, the confirmation of that condition, and his conclusion. 157 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:28,080 Those are the three points, in fact, you'll find on the outline in your worship folder. 158 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:32,920 But the apostle does something that I guess we all who teach have learned, that you need 159 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,280 to repeat yourself. 160 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:40,840 And so three times he goes through the process of talking about his condition, the confirmation 161 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:44,320 of it, and his conclusion. 162 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:47,720 Follow it with me as we begin in verse 14. 163 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:49,320 He talks here about his condition. 164 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,200 He says, we know that the law is spiritual. 165 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:57,200 In other words, the law reflects the character of God. 166 00:13:57,200 --> 00:13:58,960 God is spirit. 167 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:03,140 The law reveals to us his holiness. 168 00:14:03,140 --> 00:14:07,760 His moral standard. 169 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,840 And it speaks to the spirit of a man. 170 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:11,880 It's energized by God. 171 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:14,200 That's why he says the law is spiritual. 172 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,440 Before he said it's holy, it's just, it's good. 173 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,520 Remember that? 174 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:28,100 Now he says in contrast to the law which is spiritual, I am carnal. 175 00:14:28,100 --> 00:14:35,720 I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. 176 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:41,120 Paul says the law is spiritual, I am unspiritual. 177 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:42,960 Essentially what he says here. 178 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:48,140 Now again I emphasize this is not the total truth about Paul, but this is one perspective 179 00:14:48,140 --> 00:14:55,280 of what Paul was and what you and I are as maturing, growing Christians. 180 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:58,080 The apostle says I am fleshly. 181 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:03,200 Notice he does not say I am in the flesh. 182 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:09,960 Back in verse five of this same chapter he says, while we were in the flesh, the sinful 183 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:14,120 passions were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 184 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:20,640 And we said when we study that verse that that phrase is a key phrase the apostle uses 185 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,600 to describe the unregenerate condition. 186 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:28,160 An unsafe person is in the flesh. 187 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:29,920 We see it used again in chapter eight. 188 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:38,200 Look over there in verse eight where he says those who are in the flesh cannot please God, 189 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,480 an unsafe person. 190 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:46,600 So Paul is not saying in verse 14 of chapter seven I am in the flesh, but he's saying 191 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,560 essentially the flesh is still in me. 192 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,560 Can you identify with that? 193 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:58,120 Do you ever get irritated? 194 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:05,160 I could say to you I never get irritated and then I would be guilty of lying. 195 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:14,160 My wife can testify to the fact I get irritated and I am sometimes insensitive to people. 196 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:23,420 And there are times when I become proud and there are times when I am irresponsible. 197 00:16:23,420 --> 00:16:27,440 And all of that is evidence of sin. 198 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,000 It's fleshliness. 199 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,160 That's what the apostle is saying to us. 200 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,220 He's not perfect. 201 00:16:34,220 --> 00:16:36,860 He says I'm fleshly. 202 00:16:36,860 --> 00:16:42,420 But then he goes on to say I'm sold into bondage to sin. 203 00:16:42,420 --> 00:16:45,400 And that one really throws some people for a loop. 204 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:47,640 How could a Christian ever say that? 205 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:55,760 Well, the apostle is simply giving us the truth about one aspect of him, one perspective. 206 00:16:55,760 --> 00:17:01,140 In his flesh there is still a proneness to want to sin. 207 00:17:01,140 --> 00:17:06,240 The power or the principle of sin lives in that part of him. 208 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:08,760 And when he sins he is captivated by sin. 209 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,040 That's what he says in verse 23. 210 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:18,400 He has these two laws or principles waging war in him and he says this law of sin or 211 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:24,000 sin rather makes him a prisoner of the law of sin which is in his members. 212 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,360 So when he sins he is taken captive by sin. 213 00:17:26,360 --> 00:17:29,480 There is still a certain bondage that is there. 214 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:37,880 Even the redeemed of God are still victimized in their flesh, in their unredeemed mortality, 215 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:43,680 their unregenerated humanness still victimized by sin. 216 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:48,200 You say how does that relate to chapter 6? 217 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:53,520 Well we just read the verses in chapter 6 that says we are freed from sin. 218 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:58,940 You must remember in chapter 6 his main thought there is the new man. 219 00:17:58,940 --> 00:18:02,960 He says the old man was executed, it was put to death. 220 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,320 And you are in your innermost being a new man. 221 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,920 A new person is Christ in you. 222 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:15,520 You are a new man created in righteousness and true holiness. 223 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:20,320 It is sinless, that new man in you. 224 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:22,240 That is the perspective in chapter 6. 225 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:28,480 And he says that new man is totally freed from sin under no obligation any longer to 226 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:29,480 it. 227 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:34,400 But I want you to notice in chapter 6 even in verse 12 he mentions the possibility of 228 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:36,720 nonetheless sinning. 229 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:42,700 Look there he says, do not let sin therefore reign in your mortal body. 230 00:18:42,700 --> 00:18:46,720 Notice where he says it reigns. 231 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:50,600 That you should obey its lust and do not go on presenting the members of your body to 232 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:54,820 sin as instruments of unrighteousness. 233 00:18:54,820 --> 00:18:59,580 And so in the very chapter where he says that in our new man we are free from sin he nonetheless 234 00:18:59,580 --> 00:19:04,720 warns us of the capacity still to sin. 235 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:13,600 That capacity is our flesh, that unredeemed humanness that we still have. 236 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,880 Now let's go back to chapter 7 and look at verses 15 and 16. 237 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:22,720 Paul says here is the proof, here is the evidence, here is the confirmation that I am in this 238 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:23,720 condition. 239 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:27,880 He says for that which I am doing I do not understand. 240 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,720 For I am not practicing what I would like to do but I am doing the very thing I hate. 241 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:38,120 If I do the very thing I do not wish to do I agree with the law confessing it's good. 242 00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:46,840 Paul is using I here in a personal way of course and in a non-technical sense. 243 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:50,280 He's saying I take responsibility for my actions. 244 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,740 I accept the blame. 245 00:19:53,740 --> 00:19:56,200 He said here is proof that I am fleshly. 246 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,840 Here is my frustration he says. 247 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:00,440 The law is spiritual. 248 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,360 He says I long for the law. 249 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,040 I delight in it. 250 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,280 I serve God with my mind after the law. 251 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:14,600 But he says there is about me still fleshliness and I am still captured by sin and he says 252 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:18,040 the things I want to do I don't do. 253 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:22,080 The things I don't want to do those I do. 254 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:23,080 That is his frustration. 255 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:29,400 Can you identify with that? 256 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:38,760 Actually only the immature Christian might see himself to have arrived spiritually and 257 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,700 to be above what is said here. 258 00:20:42,700 --> 00:20:50,160 Even one so mature and so close to the Lord as the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians that 259 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,980 he had not yet arrived. 260 00:20:52,980 --> 00:20:57,960 So when you hear a Christian who gives a testimony to the fact that he has arrived he's giving 261 00:20:57,960 --> 00:20:59,920 evidence of his immaturity. 262 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:04,080 He's not quite where he thinks he is. 263 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:11,380 For here is one apostle Paul who says I have an inner struggle in me. 264 00:21:11,380 --> 00:21:14,160 I have a struggle with sin. 265 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,540 His conclusion in verse 17 is this. 266 00:21:17,540 --> 00:21:22,640 So now no longer am I the one doing it but sin which indwells me. 267 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:25,560 Now do you notice what he does here? 268 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:26,560 Before he took responsibility. 269 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:27,960 He said I'm guilty. 270 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:28,960 I'm to blame. 271 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:33,180 So in a non-technical general way that's true. 272 00:21:33,180 --> 00:21:39,800 But now he says more specifically he says it's not really I the new man who's doing 273 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:45,040 it but it's sin which indwells me. 274 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:46,040 And where does it dwell? 275 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:51,760 It dwells in our bodies, in our flesh, that humanness about us. 276 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:55,680 That power of sin is still within. 277 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,400 The apostle says it's no longer I the one who's really sinning. 278 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,280 He says because I delight in the law of God. 279 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:08,580 He says technically speaking it's sin within me that's doing this. 280 00:22:08,580 --> 00:22:13,480 We need to distinguish don't we between reigning sin and surviving sin. 281 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:18,840 In the unsaved person sin reigns. 282 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:24,720 But in the Christian sin only survives. 283 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:32,080 It no longer is in there with no foe because now there is a new man and the Holy Spirit 284 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:34,240 indwells us. 285 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:39,280 And even though it's been displaced it still survives to do battle within us. 286 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,560 That's what the apostle is saying here. 287 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:48,280 He says there's a conflict between the new I, the new me, that deepest innermost new 288 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:55,440 person in Christ and the flesh where sin dwells in me. 289 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:58,660 What does he do in verse 18? 290 00:22:58,660 --> 00:23:00,200 He starts all over again. 291 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,360 He talks about his condition. 292 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:07,520 He says I know that nothing good dwells in me. 293 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:12,920 Now the apostle is not denying here that the Holy Spirit dwells in him. 294 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:14,680 Notice he is specific again. 295 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,680 He says I know that nothing good dwells in me. 296 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:23,080 That is he says in my flesh. 297 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:25,840 Not in the innermost part of me because the Holy Spirit's there. 298 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:32,440 But he says in my flesh that unredeemed humanness about me there's nothing good that's there. 299 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,160 That's his condition. 300 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,120 The Bible speaks about the corruption of sin in the believer. 301 00:23:39,120 --> 00:23:45,360 It's always and only in his flesh and the members of his body, not in the new man, the 302 00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:48,800 deepest self as he is in Christ. 303 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:51,000 That's what Paul is saying. 304 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,360 Then he begins again to give us the confirmation and the evidence. 305 00:23:54,360 --> 00:24:02,560 In verse 18 he says, for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 306 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:09,920 For the good that I wish I do not do, but I practice the very evil I do not wish. 307 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:14,040 So essentially he says the same thing as verses 15 and 16. 308 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:20,280 He says there is something within me that wants to do good, but then there is a struggle 309 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,800 with an opposite force. 310 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:29,780 By the way, when Paul says what he does here, he is not saying he always fails. 311 00:24:29,780 --> 00:24:33,800 He is not saying I'm going around as a defeated Christian. 312 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,600 That is not what he's saying. 313 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:42,680 Rather, he's saying he is frustrated because he just can't do all the good that he wants 314 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:44,360 to do. 315 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:50,360 He can't live out as fully as he really wants to the righteousness of God. 316 00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:52,760 All the time he's not doing the good. 317 00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:57,960 There are times when evil expresses itself, and he hates that. 318 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:04,720 He hates sin, and he grows in his hatred of sin as his sensitivity to it increases. 319 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:11,960 Actually, I believe that a person who is moving in the direction the apostle is is decreasing 320 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:15,760 in his frequency of sin. 321 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:23,760 But as a person decreases in frequency of sin, his sensitivity to sin increases. 322 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:28,160 It's just like smoking. 323 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,160 Some people smoke and they think I'm picking on you because I've talked about that two 324 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:32,160 weeks in a row now. 325 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,480 That's not the case. 326 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:38,560 But if you're around cigarettes, smoke all the time, you don't smell it anymore. 327 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:40,980 Is that right? 328 00:25:40,980 --> 00:25:48,880 You don't realize how it affects your sense of smell and of taste. 329 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:55,760 But as you decrease in your use of cigarettes and stop altogether, what happens? 330 00:25:55,760 --> 00:26:01,720 You increase in your sensitivity to it, and you can pick it up that fast. 331 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:05,040 And if you don't smoke at all, you know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? 332 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:08,040 Because when a person comes up to you, you can smell on their clothes or even on their 333 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:09,040 breath. 334 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,480 Gum or no gum, it's there. 335 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:13,600 And so it is with sin. 336 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:21,840 As we decrease in frequency of disobedience, actually our sensitivity to sin increases. 337 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:23,800 And so that's why the apostle writes this. 338 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,800 You see, this is a very mature, spiritual man. 339 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,080 He is very sensitive to sin indwelling him. 340 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:31,320 And he is grieved by it. 341 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,680 He is distressed by what he senses. 342 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:40,440 In verse 20 he says, if I'm doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one 343 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,640 doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 344 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,760 Again, he says what he did in verse 17. 345 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,460 That's his conclusion. 346 00:26:48,460 --> 00:26:53,720 He's taking responsibility for his actions, but he says, technically speaking, he says, 347 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:55,720 I'm not the one who's doing it any longer. 348 00:26:55,720 --> 00:27:01,280 Now why does he say no longer in verse 20 and so now in verse 17? 349 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:08,480 Well, it's because before he was saved, all he was was flesh. 350 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:10,840 And sin dominated him. 351 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:15,240 And so sin and he were synonymous. 352 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,080 But now he says there's a distinction that's been made. 353 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:19,780 So now it's different. 354 00:27:19,780 --> 00:27:22,460 No longer is it that way. 355 00:27:22,460 --> 00:27:28,700 He says now it's not the real me that's doing this because I'm a new man in Christ. 356 00:27:28,700 --> 00:27:33,640 He says it's sin which dwells in me. 357 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:35,480 So what does he do in verse 21? 358 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:36,760 Starts all over again. 359 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,800 Now you parents understand this, don't you? 360 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:48,320 I mean you repeat and you repeat and you repeat and eventually the truth gets through, hopefully. 361 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:52,040 Now the apostle is repeating so that we will understand what he's saying. 362 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:59,640 Verse 21, he says, I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes 363 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:00,720 to do good. 364 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,520 So that's his condition again. 365 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,520 Evil is still present in him. 366 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,120 There's the principle of sin. 367 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:16,520 There's a battling of every good word or deed or act that he desires or attempts. 368 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,080 Sin attacks him. 369 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:20,820 It struggles with him. 370 00:28:20,820 --> 00:28:22,960 It is not eradicated. 371 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,160 He says the principle of evil is present in me. 372 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:35,960 Now there are people who teach that sin can be eradicated in a Christian. 373 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:45,680 I knew a man one time, I worked with him, and he said that he had had a second blessing 374 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:52,720 and that he no longer had sin in dwelling him and he didn't sin any longer. 375 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:59,680 The thing I found so curious was why he was so often angry if sin didn't dwell in him 376 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,020 any longer. 377 00:29:02,020 --> 00:29:15,700 And so foolishly I asked him and he said it wasn't sin, it was just a failure on his part. 378 00:29:15,700 --> 00:29:17,840 So what happens when you have that kind of a theology? 379 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:22,800 You begin to redefine your terms to be consistent. 380 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,840 But it's inconsistent with the Bible, that's the problem. 381 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:34,840 Now here's one who is very spiritual and mature who says, evil is present in me. 382 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:40,000 Then he says in verses 22 and 23 what we've said before, it's the struggle. 383 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:48,200 He says I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different 384 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,120 law in the members of my body. 385 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,080 Do you see the contrast there? 386 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,200 The inner man is his new person, that innermost part of him. 387 00:29:55,200 --> 00:30:02,920 He says in that part of me, the real me, I joyfully agree with everything God says. 388 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:10,320 I want it, I want to experience it, but he says in the members of my body, that is in 389 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:17,200 the capacities I have physically, I see a different law, waging war against the law 390 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,520 of my mind. 391 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,700 That's the inner man again, the desire to do right. 392 00:30:23,700 --> 00:30:30,280 And making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 393 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:36,500 No one believer would ever say what Paul says in verse 22, nor would he be able to talk 394 00:30:36,500 --> 00:30:44,000 about being a prisoner of sin in his members, because he's always captivated by it. 395 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:47,720 He wouldn't know the difference, he wouldn't know the struggle that's involved in verse 396 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,520 23. 397 00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:55,280 This is the characteristic of a Christian, verses 22 and 23, and it's something I identify 398 00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:59,600 with and I suppose you do too. 399 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:04,280 If you're saved today, you understand the struggle Paul is talking about. 400 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:08,480 And the more he grows, the more he matures, the more sensitive he becomes to it, and the 401 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,680 more agonized he is inside. 402 00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:18,880 And that's why he says in verse 24, wretched man that I am. 403 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:27,480 Now this fellow still is rejoicing in the Lord always, and again rejoicing. 404 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,160 That's one side of Paul, but here's another perspective. 405 00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:33,480 And it's something all of us who are Christians identify with. 406 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:37,680 He says, I am a miserable man. 407 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:43,820 It is a cry of transparency, it is a cry of anguish. 408 00:31:43,820 --> 00:31:47,480 He struggles and he fails at times. 409 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:53,480 As seems all the worse, the better he knows and loves the law of God. 410 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:59,320 As Haldane said, men perceive themselves to be sinners in direct proportion as they have 411 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:04,900 previously discerned the holiness of God and his law. 412 00:32:04,900 --> 00:32:09,560 The more one understands the holiness of God, the more one understands the word of God, 413 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:18,760 his law, his moral standards, the more miserable he becomes whenever he fails. 414 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:25,040 So the apostle cries out and says, who will set me free from the body of this death? 415 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:34,080 Notice again the emphasis on the body, on the flesh, that humanness about him still. 416 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,120 He says, who's going to set me free from this? 417 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,000 Then of course he answers his own question. 418 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:42,920 He says, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 419 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,480 In other words, he says, there is a day coming when I will be free. 420 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:54,720 And he longs for that day of what we call theologically his glorification. 421 00:32:54,720 --> 00:33:01,760 When sin will be entirely removed from him, the power of it will no longer be present, 422 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:07,240 the principle will fall away from him, and he will be like Jesus Christ. 423 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:15,160 It will be the removal of sin entirely from his personality, from the members of his body. 424 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:19,280 There's a great parallel passage to this, and I want us to take time to read it. 425 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,960 First Corinthians chapter 15. 426 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:28,160 In this resurrection chapter, the apostle winds down his argument for the resurrection 427 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:34,120 by saying, behold, I tell you a mystery. 428 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:35,120 Verse 51. 429 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:41,720 Now a mystery, folks, is not a thriller. 430 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:46,360 It's not something you've got to try to dig into and discern the meaning of. 431 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:51,720 A mystery in the New Testament sense is something that was not revealed before this, but which 432 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:55,620 God has graciously shown to us. 433 00:33:55,620 --> 00:33:58,320 So we don't have to dig into it and try to find it. 434 00:33:58,320 --> 00:33:59,920 It's already here clearly for us. 435 00:33:59,920 --> 00:34:04,720 It simply means something before that was not revealed, which is now revealed. 436 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,360 And this is what Paul says is the mystery. 437 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,240 We shall not all sleep. 438 00:34:10,240 --> 00:34:14,920 Now he's not talking there about Christians in church because some of them do. 439 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,760 He's talking here about death. 440 00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,720 He's talking about death. 441 00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:23,520 Sleep is a metaphor of death. 442 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:27,680 Physically, what happens to the body, it's put to sleep, so to speak. 443 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:35,360 He says, we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed or transformed in a moment 444 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,880 in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. 445 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:44,400 For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised and perishable and we shall be changed. 446 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:46,000 What's he talking about? 447 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:47,000 The rapture. 448 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:51,520 He's talking about that time when Christ is going to come back into the atmosphere of 449 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:59,680 the world and shout for his people to join him and we will be changed and will rise to 450 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:01,960 meet him in the air. 451 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:04,320 That's what he's talking about. 452 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:10,960 He says, but when, brother, verse 20, let's start at verse 54, but when this perishable 453 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:17,520 will have put on the imperishable and this mortal will have put on immortality, then 454 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:22,720 will come about the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. 455 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:24,880 Oh, death, where is your victory? 456 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,120 Oh, death, where is your sting? 457 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:32,600 Now he says in verse 56, the sting of death is sin. 458 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:39,920 In other words, death does not have a sting unless there's sin. 459 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:42,800 What about a Christian? 460 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:45,240 He's been forgiven of his sin. 461 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:47,280 So does death have a sting for him? 462 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:49,240 Well, it's gone. 463 00:35:49,240 --> 00:35:51,760 He says the power of sin is the law. 464 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,480 If you've been with us in Romans 7, you understand that. 465 00:35:55,480 --> 00:36:04,000 When the law enters in, it arouses, it revives sin, it stirs it up, it agitates sin, it exposes 466 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:08,320 it then so a person can be brought to Christ. 467 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:13,560 But he says, thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 468 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:19,880 So that parallels perfectly with Romans 7 where he says, God gives me the victory. 469 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:27,080 There's a day coming when I will be free entirely from the sin I struggle with now. 470 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:34,520 And so he ends with a statement of his present reality in verse 25 of Romans 7. 471 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:42,360 He says, so then on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on 472 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:51,880 the other with my flesh, notice with my flesh the law of sin. 473 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:58,440 You say, well you know, I sure identify with Paul here because I'm struggling against sin 474 00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:00,360 in my life. 475 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,080 And like Paul, I am looking forward to the rapture. 476 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:09,720 Brother, I can hardly wait until that sin power is no longer even present in me. 477 00:37:09,720 --> 00:37:13,520 But what about right now? 478 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,360 Do I have to be defeated by sin? 479 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:17,360 No. 480 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:24,320 Bless the Lord, he has provided victory for us right now too. 481 00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:28,560 The struggle will still be there, but we can have victory. 482 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:33,960 I close by turning with you to Galatians chapter 5 and here's the secret. 483 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:39,120 Now when I say that it sounds like this is a little simple formula, one, two, three, 484 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:42,680 I don't mean it that way. 485 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:46,480 But here is the key to victory. 486 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:52,880 In verse 17 of Galatians 5 he really condenses all that he said to us in Romans 7. 487 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:57,640 For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit. 488 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:01,040 Now the spirit dwells in that new man. 489 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:06,400 And he says the spirit against the flesh and these are in opposition to one another so 490 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:10,440 that you may not do the things that you please. 491 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:15,840 You see there is the struggle, there is the fight, there is the warfare. 492 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:25,520 But verse 16 comes before verse 17 where he says, this I say, walk by the spirit and you 493 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:29,480 will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 494 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:33,560 He doesn't say that there won't be fleshly desires. 495 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:37,060 Sin is with us for life. 496 00:38:37,060 --> 00:38:42,880 This struggle is universal, it's for all Christians, it's lifelong. 497 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:45,200 You will have it till the day you die. 498 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:52,920 But he says if you walk by the spirit you won't fulfill what the flesh wants to do. 499 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:57,400 How do you walk in the spirit? 500 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,480 It begins by confessing sin. 501 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,200 Sin grieves the Holy Spirit. 502 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:08,080 Today if you as a Christian are living with known sin in your life, that's where you 503 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:09,080 start. 504 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,360 You must reckon with sin with disobedience. 505 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:16,360 It may be a sin that you've committed, it may be something you are not doing that you 506 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:18,520 should be doing. 507 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:24,000 It may be insensitivity or anger or adultery or unfaithfulness. 508 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:29,400 But you need to deal with sin. 509 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:36,520 And after you've dealt with sin then you need to yield afresh to the Lordship of Christ. 510 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:42,040 To give him your all anew afresh. 511 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,940 And then you need to appropriate by faith the power of the Holy Spirit. 512 00:39:45,940 --> 00:39:48,000 To walk in the spirit. 513 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:52,600 I think it's interesting that Paul uses that metaphor because when we walk, you know what 514 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:53,600 we're doing? 515 00:39:53,600 --> 00:40:01,560 We're throwing ourselves off balance and with coordination hopefully we catch ourselves. 516 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:07,240 Now some of us trip over seams in the carpet. 517 00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:12,160 But normally when we walk we put our foot out and we just throw ourselves off balance 518 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:18,360 and we catch ourselves and then we do it again and that's the way we make progress and so 519 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,020 it is spiritually. 520 00:40:20,020 --> 00:40:26,240 You cannot make spiritual progress unless you know what it is to walk by the Spirit. 521 00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:31,920 Now to walk by the Spirit means that you are depending on him. 522 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:35,500 You're throwing yourself off balance onto him. 523 00:40:35,500 --> 00:40:42,360 You're trusting him to empower you to know consistent victory over temptation, etc., 524 00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:43,360 etc., etc. 525 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:49,080 You know what it is today to walk by the Spirit? 526 00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:55,040 If you don't, then the flesh is having its way in your life, isn't it? 527 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,720 I mean it's one or the other. 528 00:40:57,720 --> 00:41:00,400 It's one or the other. 529 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:05,360 To not walk by the Spirit is to live under the domination, the captivity of sin and that's 530 00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:09,480 not the will of God for his people. 531 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,200 Will you today deal with the sin? 532 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:18,720 Will you yield to Christ's lordship and begin learning to walk in the spirit? 533 00:41:18,720 --> 00:41:25,800 My Father, I pray that you will take this message today, bring it personally to my heart, 534 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:30,240 to the heart of every person in this auditorium and help us to respond to what you've said 535 00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:39,000 to us honestly, to confess sin that may be in our lives, to yield to your lordship and 536 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:43,520 begin appropriating your power by faith. 537 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:47,160 In Jesus' name I pray, amen. 538 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:51,600 We're going to talk next week more about what it is to walk in the Spirit, but I want 539 00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:58,960 to challenge you this morning that if you are under the domination of sin, confess that 540 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:01,320 to the Lord and get right. 541 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:05,920 You may need someone to pray with you and we have people who are trained to do that. 542 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:18,800 I want to invite you to come as we sing our invitation hymn.