1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,520 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,480 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:10,480 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,680 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,080 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,160 Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,440 for us here today. 9 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,160 All of you that are going to be staying in with us, we're going 10 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:28,120 to be in Romans chapter 7. 11 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,800 If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Romans chapter seven. 12 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,160 We're going to pick up in verse number seven. 13 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:37,560 Last week we looked at verses one through six. 14 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,400 Verses one through six spoke about the limitations of the law. 15 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:45,359 We talked about how no matter what the law says, that that can't 16 00:00:45,359 --> 00:00:46,200 change the heart. 17 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:51,320 All the law does is initiate the conversation of what is right 18 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:52,360 and what is wrong. 19 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:54,440 But the law cannot change the heart. 20 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,870 The limitation to the law is that it's there written on paper, 21 00:00:58,030 --> 00:00:59,390 but it's not written on the heart. 22 00:00:59,390 --> 00:01:01,830 Even though the Bible does say the law of God is written upon our 23 00:01:01,830 --> 00:01:06,110 hearts, we know ultimately that this is right, this is wrong. 24 00:01:06,190 --> 00:01:08,270 The law itself is not going to change us. 25 00:01:08,270 --> 00:01:10,910 The only thing that will change us is what verse six says 26 00:01:11,070 --> 00:01:15,190 is that newness of the Spirit, that that change of heart that comes 27 00:01:15,190 --> 00:01:18,990 through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus 28 00:01:18,990 --> 00:01:19,310 Christ. 29 00:01:20,030 --> 00:01:24,440 So the next step to the argument might be then, if the law 30 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,480 can't change my heart, then the law is bad. 31 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:29,320 The law is sinful. 32 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:31,400 The law is something that we need to throw out. 33 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:33,880 There are many people that say, you know what? 34 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,840 Since the law can't change my life, let's just throw it out and 35 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:38,840 not care about the law. 36 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,880 And some people even say that when Jesus came, he destroyed the 37 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:43,160 law. 38 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:46,040 But we know that Jesus said something else. 39 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,520 Jesus said, I've come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill the 40 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:53,470 law, to show us that we have hope in him and not in ourselves. 41 00:01:53,950 --> 00:01:56,830 And so Paul is going to understand here in Romans, chapter 42 00:01:56,830 --> 00:02:00,790 seven, that some people might be tempted to think that since the 43 00:02:00,790 --> 00:02:03,710 law can't save us, then we just throw it out. 44 00:02:04,030 --> 00:02:05,150 We just call it bad. 45 00:02:05,470 --> 00:02:07,790 Verse 7, he says, what shall we say then? 46 00:02:08,110 --> 00:02:09,390 Is the law sin? 47 00:02:10,270 --> 00:02:12,070 Is it sinful to even know the law? 48 00:02:12,070 --> 00:02:13,790 Is it sinful to study the law? 49 00:02:14,030 --> 00:02:16,070 And by the way, what am I talking about when I'm talking about 50 00:02:16,070 --> 00:02:16,510 the law? 51 00:02:16,930 --> 00:02:19,450 Some of you that weren't here last week might need to know that 52 00:02:19,450 --> 00:02:21,810 by way of context, he's talking about the Mosaic Law. 53 00:02:21,810 --> 00:02:24,930 He's talking about God's law, given all the way back in the Old 54 00:02:24,930 --> 00:02:25,490 Testament. 55 00:02:25,890 --> 00:02:29,570 And for the people that he's speaking to, the culture of the day, 56 00:02:29,570 --> 00:02:33,250 the Jewish culture, was to obey the law completely, to follow 57 00:02:33,250 --> 00:02:33,650 the law. 58 00:02:33,650 --> 00:02:36,250 And that is what's going to bring you to a relationship with 59 00:02:36,250 --> 00:02:36,610 God. 60 00:02:36,850 --> 00:02:38,690 That's what's going to bring you salvation. 61 00:02:38,850 --> 00:02:41,850 But what Paul has been telling us through the first seven chapters 62 00:02:41,850 --> 00:02:42,530 is really this. 63 00:02:42,530 --> 00:02:45,090 The law can't save you, only Jesus can. 64 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,960 And so here he's saying, look, what's our relationship with the 65 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:49,240 law? 66 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:50,640 Do we throw it out? 67 00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:51,720 Do we call it sin? 68 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:54,280 He says, God forbid. 69 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:56,840 Definitely not. 70 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:02,840 Nay, no, I had not known sin but for the law, for I had not known 71 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,960 lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. 72 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:11,320 Meaning this, the law serves a purpose, God's word serves a purpose, 73 00:03:11,710 --> 00:03:15,590 to show us where we are wrong, to show us where we are sinning. 74 00:03:15,590 --> 00:03:19,310 He says here, if I would have not known the law, I would have not 75 00:03:19,310 --> 00:03:20,310 known what lust is. 76 00:03:20,310 --> 00:03:22,190 I would have not known what covetousness is. 77 00:03:22,270 --> 00:03:25,270 I would have not known that God wanted me to be true to him. 78 00:03:25,270 --> 00:03:27,270 I would have not known that murder was wrong. 79 00:03:27,270 --> 00:03:29,070 I would have not known all of these things. 80 00:03:29,070 --> 00:03:32,670 Stealing, all the things that the Bible tells us are very clearly 81 00:03:32,670 --> 00:03:34,030 wrong against the moral law. 82 00:03:34,030 --> 00:03:35,390 I would have never known that. 83 00:03:35,870 --> 00:03:38,190 So he says, the law does serve a purpose. 84 00:03:38,190 --> 00:03:41,510 And that is to show me, like a mirror, where I'm wrong, where I 85 00:03:41,510 --> 00:03:45,870 have fallen short, what God's heart is on the matter of morality. 86 00:03:46,750 --> 00:03:48,830 And so he says here, I would have not known these things. 87 00:03:48,830 --> 00:03:50,830 So he says, this is the benefit of the law. 88 00:03:50,830 --> 00:03:54,350 The law is good because it reveals sin to us. 89 00:03:55,150 --> 00:03:57,470 By the way, we need to know that we are sinners. 90 00:03:57,470 --> 00:04:01,870 Because if we think that we are good, if we think that we are 91 00:04:01,870 --> 00:04:05,070 perfect, the Bible says that we have deceived ourselves. 92 00:04:05,710 --> 00:04:08,430 The Bible says that there is none good, no, not one. 93 00:04:09,230 --> 00:04:11,750 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 94 00:04:11,750 --> 00:04:14,550 And so one of the difficult things that every individual has 95 00:04:14,550 --> 00:04:18,110 to come to grips with within his or her life is that we have fallen 96 00:04:18,110 --> 00:04:20,910 short, that we have sinned, and we need a savior. 97 00:04:21,710 --> 00:04:25,550 The Bible says that the word of God, the law, is like a mirror. 98 00:04:25,550 --> 00:04:29,390 It shows us where we have had mistakes, where we have fallen short, 99 00:04:29,390 --> 00:04:32,430 where we have broken God's plan for our lives. 100 00:04:32,430 --> 00:04:34,110 And therefore we need a savior. 101 00:04:34,110 --> 00:04:38,400 So the law brings us to a place in our life where we need somebody, 102 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:39,520 we need something. 103 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,400 And I think we all can understand that we all can understand. 104 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,320 Knowing that there is a greater need in my life than just 105 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:49,000 my own works, maybe you think that you can save yourself. 106 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,600 But I think if we're all honest with each other this morning, 107 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,480 none of us, none of us can keep God's law. 108 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:55,680 None of us can be perfect. 109 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,080 Some people might say, well, my goods outweigh my bad. 110 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,960 So as long as I'm a better person and I keep getting better 111 00:05:03,960 --> 00:05:06,240 and I'm not as bad as I used to be, I'll be okay. 112 00:05:06,850 --> 00:05:09,650 Well, that sounds good when it comes to our way of thinking. 113 00:05:09,650 --> 00:05:11,810 But the Bible says something completely opposite. 114 00:05:12,130 --> 00:05:14,930 The Bible says in the Book of James, if I've sinned in one area, 115 00:05:15,650 --> 00:05:16,850 I've offended them all. 116 00:05:16,850 --> 00:05:19,330 That doesn't mean that, hey, if you sin in this area, just go 117 00:05:19,330 --> 00:05:21,330 ahead and sin more because it doesn't really matter. 118 00:05:21,330 --> 00:05:24,850 No, what he's saying is in the eyes of God, in the eyes of being 119 00:05:24,850 --> 00:05:28,210 guilty or innocent, when we sin in one area, we're guilty of 120 00:05:28,210 --> 00:05:29,690 them all because we've broken the law. 121 00:05:29,690 --> 00:05:31,610 So we all deserve punishment. 122 00:05:31,610 --> 00:05:33,090 We all deserve judgment. 123 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:35,320 But that's the story of the gospel. 124 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,720 The story of the gospel is I'm in my sin. 125 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:39,680 I am the one who has broken the law. 126 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,800 And I need to know that I'm a sinner because that brings me a place 127 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,280 of dependence upon somebody else. 128 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:48,440 And the gospel is that there's only one person to put our faith 129 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:48,720 in. 130 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:53,400 There's only one direction for hope, there's only one direction 131 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:55,200 for salvation, and that is Jesus Christ. 132 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:57,920 And so he says, the law serves a purpose. 133 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:01,360 It serves the purpose of revealing to us where we have fallen. 134 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:02,000 Short verse 8. 135 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,890 He says, but sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought 136 00:06:06,890 --> 00:06:09,050 in me, all manner of concupiscence. 137 00:06:09,050 --> 00:06:10,570 Now that's an interesting word there. 138 00:06:11,210 --> 00:06:16,050 It's essentially this idea of covetousness, sinfulness, fleshly 139 00:06:16,050 --> 00:06:16,730 desires. 140 00:06:17,690 --> 00:06:21,050 And he says here, but sin taking occasion by the commandment 141 00:06:21,050 --> 00:06:24,770 wrought in me, all manner manner of concupiscence or covetousness. 142 00:06:24,770 --> 00:06:26,890 For without the law, sin was dead. 143 00:06:27,370 --> 00:06:28,690 So, so what is he trying to say here? 144 00:06:28,690 --> 00:06:29,890 What is he explaining here? 145 00:06:29,890 --> 00:06:30,650 Well, he's saying this. 146 00:06:31,070 --> 00:06:34,510 He says that when the law is there, it's a good thing. 147 00:06:34,510 --> 00:06:37,630 But because of our human nature, because of our sin nature, 148 00:06:37,630 --> 00:06:41,070 we see the law and our flesh wants to break the law. 149 00:06:42,190 --> 00:06:44,950 And so it's basically like me putting something up here. 150 00:06:44,950 --> 00:06:47,630 And you never thought about it before, but I put something up here 151 00:06:47,630 --> 00:06:49,310 and I said, okay, this is. 152 00:06:49,310 --> 00:06:52,750 Now maybe some of you are like, I've never thought that I wanted 153 00:06:52,750 --> 00:06:54,070 to eat that type of candy. 154 00:06:54,070 --> 00:06:55,390 But you put that candy there. 155 00:06:55,390 --> 00:06:56,990 Now I want to eat it because now I see it. 156 00:06:57,170 --> 00:07:00,170 And so the law is there to reveal that we are sinners, to tell 157 00:07:00,170 --> 00:07:02,130 us where the morality of God is. 158 00:07:02,210 --> 00:07:04,690 But sometimes what we do is in our fleshly nature. 159 00:07:04,690 --> 00:07:06,490 We see where we shouldn't go. 160 00:07:06,490 --> 00:07:09,410 And that's where our flesh wants to go, right? 161 00:07:09,410 --> 00:07:09,650 We. 162 00:07:09,650 --> 00:07:11,090 We want to go where someone. 163 00:07:11,090 --> 00:07:11,370 It's. 164 00:07:11,370 --> 00:07:12,690 It's the whole idea of, you know what? 165 00:07:12,690 --> 00:07:13,970 No one tells me what to do. 166 00:07:14,930 --> 00:07:17,210 And so I wouldn't have thought about that until someone said, don't 167 00:07:17,210 --> 00:07:17,570 do that. 168 00:07:17,570 --> 00:07:18,530 Now I'm going to do that. 169 00:07:19,170 --> 00:07:22,010 It's like, it's like when we go somewhere with our kids at someone's 170 00:07:22,010 --> 00:07:26,020 house and maybe they have like really nice things out in their counter, 171 00:07:26,020 --> 00:07:27,940 or maybe they're not nice, but they don't want to be broken. 172 00:07:27,940 --> 00:07:29,180 There's like a bunch of trinkets. 173 00:07:29,340 --> 00:07:33,500 I always tell people, you come into our house, in our house, we 174 00:07:33,500 --> 00:07:36,540 don't put anything out unless we know it could be broken. 175 00:07:36,540 --> 00:07:37,020 Okay? 176 00:07:37,340 --> 00:07:37,980 That's like. 177 00:07:38,140 --> 00:07:39,060 It's what it is. 178 00:07:39,060 --> 00:07:40,140 Okay, but. 179 00:07:40,460 --> 00:07:42,220 But we tell our kids, hey, don't touch that. 180 00:07:42,700 --> 00:07:43,340 You know what? 181 00:07:43,340 --> 00:07:45,740 As soon as I told, they probably wouldn't have even went 182 00:07:45,740 --> 00:07:46,460 to touch that. 183 00:07:46,860 --> 00:07:48,940 But then when I told them not to touch it, now they're like, oh, 184 00:07:48,940 --> 00:07:49,180 man. 185 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,400 Now all I can think about is that thing on the counter. 186 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:52,640 Oh, man, I don't want to touch that. 187 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:53,680 And so it's the idea. 188 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:54,600 That's what Paul's saying here. 189 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,200 He says, sin takes occasion. 190 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,760 Or, or the word we could use is opportunity. 191 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,440 So sin sneaks in our flesh, sneaks in and looks at the law of 192 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:06,800 God and says, okay, now I have the opportunity. 193 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:07,960 I have covetousness. 194 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,840 I. I desire that I have the fleshly desires to do the things 195 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:12,160 that God tells me not to do. 196 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,040 Says for without the loss, sin was dead. 197 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:17,480 That's an interesting concept there. 198 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:19,040 What is he saying here? 199 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:23,640 He says, this basically shows how evil we really are in our sin, 200 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:25,640 how broken we really are in our sin. 201 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:27,480 It basically does this. 202 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,320 The law of God is a good thing, but because of our sinful 203 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:33,000 nature, it has become a bad thing because we've used the law 204 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:35,240 for our fleshly purposes. 205 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:41,610 And so what basically sin does is sin distorts what God has said 206 00:08:41,610 --> 00:08:46,850 about love and distorts it to something like lust or debauchery. 207 00:08:46,850 --> 00:08:50,010 When it comes to our fleshly desires, it takes something good 208 00:08:50,010 --> 00:08:51,530 and twist it to being evil. 209 00:08:51,530 --> 00:08:52,610 That's what Satan always does. 210 00:08:52,690 --> 00:08:54,130 Satan is not a creator. 211 00:08:54,290 --> 00:08:56,610 Our enemy doesn't create bad things. 212 00:08:56,610 --> 00:09:00,330 All he does is take what God has done in goodness and twisted 213 00:09:00,330 --> 00:09:00,610 it. 214 00:09:01,170 --> 00:09:01,730 And so. 215 00:09:01,890 --> 00:09:03,570 Or, hey, I'm just providing. 216 00:09:03,570 --> 00:09:05,130 But really it's turned now to now. 217 00:09:05,130 --> 00:09:07,010 I'm getting and I want more and I can't get enough. 218 00:09:07,010 --> 00:09:10,150 And it becomes that materialism, that selfishness, that 219 00:09:10,150 --> 00:09:10,630 pride. 220 00:09:11,750 --> 00:09:13,910 And so one commentator put it this way. 221 00:09:15,190 --> 00:09:20,350 The law is a good thing, but because of our sin nature, it promotes 222 00:09:20,350 --> 00:09:24,510 us to a place of elevating the law and trying to circumvent the 223 00:09:24,510 --> 00:09:24,790 law. 224 00:09:24,790 --> 00:09:25,190 Right? 225 00:09:25,190 --> 00:09:28,070 You've heard someone try to get by on a technicality. 226 00:09:29,030 --> 00:09:29,470 That's. 227 00:09:29,470 --> 00:09:31,190 That's really what sometimes the law does. 228 00:09:31,190 --> 00:09:32,950 Because we can try to get by the law. 229 00:09:33,190 --> 00:09:35,670 And some of you that know the Jewish culture, they would. 230 00:09:35,810 --> 00:09:39,170 The Pharisees would try to get around the law and they would try 231 00:09:39,170 --> 00:09:43,330 to find loopholes to sin, but really not sin, because that's. 232 00:09:43,330 --> 00:09:44,490 That's what Paul is saying here. 233 00:09:44,490 --> 00:09:47,450 He says, look, you've made the law something that it's not supposed 234 00:09:47,450 --> 00:09:49,490 to be you. 235 00:09:49,490 --> 00:09:52,690 If you try to find a loophole in the law, your heart's not in the 236 00:09:52,690 --> 00:09:53,170 right place. 237 00:09:53,410 --> 00:09:57,010 I'm going to try to find a way to sin, but I don't want to break 238 00:09:57,010 --> 00:09:59,570 the Mosaic Law, so I'm going to try to find a way to get around 239 00:09:59,570 --> 00:09:59,810 that. 240 00:09:59,810 --> 00:10:04,060 No, he says, in that place, your heart has already broken God's 241 00:10:04,060 --> 00:10:04,220 law. 242 00:10:04,220 --> 00:10:07,260 You already are in sin if your intention is to try to get around 243 00:10:07,260 --> 00:10:08,540 the law and make it your own. 244 00:10:09,260 --> 00:10:10,220 So then he moves forward. 245 00:10:10,220 --> 00:10:11,900 He says, okay, we're going to talk more about this law. 246 00:10:11,900 --> 00:10:14,180 We're going to talk more about God's heart for you. 247 00:10:14,180 --> 00:10:15,340 And he says, Verse 9. 248 00:10:15,340 --> 00:10:17,260 For I was alive without the law once. 249 00:10:17,260 --> 00:10:19,020 He says, there was a time where I didn't know the law. 250 00:10:20,060 --> 00:10:22,580 Now, most likely, Paul is talking about a time when he was 251 00:10:22,580 --> 00:10:26,220 very young, because Paul would have heard the law very early on 252 00:10:26,220 --> 00:10:26,860 in his life. 253 00:10:27,420 --> 00:10:29,020 You know anything about Paul's background? 254 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:30,400 He was. 255 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:32,440 He was an Israelite. 256 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:32,880 He was a. 257 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,680 He was a Jewish man raised in the tribe of Benjamin, raised in 258 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:38,960 an environment where he would have heard the law very early. 259 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,280 So he says, there was a time in my life where I didn't know the 260 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:42,560 law. 261 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:46,000 He says, I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment 262 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:47,840 came, sin revived and I died. 263 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:49,280 And. 264 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:50,520 And so what he's saying here is this. 265 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:53,000 He goes, there was a time and a place where the law wasn't in my 266 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:53,280 life. 267 00:10:55,050 --> 00:10:58,850 But when the law did come, when I did know the law, he comes 268 00:10:58,850 --> 00:11:01,930 to a place in his life realizing that he can never meet 269 00:11:01,930 --> 00:11:02,490 that law. 270 00:11:02,490 --> 00:11:06,090 He can never be perfect, he says, so sin revived and I died. 271 00:11:06,650 --> 00:11:06,970 So. 272 00:11:06,970 --> 00:11:07,210 So. 273 00:11:07,210 --> 00:11:08,610 So when do we come to know the law? 274 00:11:08,610 --> 00:11:10,530 Well, it's when it is revealed to us. 275 00:11:10,530 --> 00:11:11,890 The truth of God is revealed to us. 276 00:11:11,890 --> 00:11:15,770 The word of God is revealed to us, and then we rebel, and then we 277 00:11:16,090 --> 00:11:17,410 change our desires. 278 00:11:17,410 --> 00:11:18,250 And what does that bring? 279 00:11:18,250 --> 00:11:20,610 It says there at the end of verse 9, what does sin bring? 280 00:11:20,610 --> 00:11:22,050 Sin brings forth death. 281 00:11:22,050 --> 00:11:26,100 We know that for the wages of sin is death, for the payment of 282 00:11:26,100 --> 00:11:26,980 sin is death. 283 00:11:28,420 --> 00:11:32,140 Verse 10, he says, and the commandments which was ordained to 284 00:11:32,140 --> 00:11:32,420 life. 285 00:11:32,580 --> 00:11:34,980 So the commandment was there to bring life. 286 00:11:34,980 --> 00:11:42,300 The word of God was there to bring life, which was ordained to 287 00:11:42,300 --> 00:11:42,500 life. 288 00:11:42,500 --> 00:11:47,100 I found to be unto death, for sin taking occasion or opportunity, 289 00:11:47,100 --> 00:11:51,130 by the commandment deceived me and by it it slew me. 290 00:11:52,330 --> 00:11:54,810 And so sin does this by deceiving us. 291 00:11:54,810 --> 00:11:55,930 Sin always deceives. 292 00:11:55,930 --> 00:11:58,090 And so what he says here is this. 293 00:11:58,090 --> 00:11:59,690 He found out what the law was. 294 00:11:59,930 --> 00:12:04,130 Then sin comes in his flesh, comes in and deceives him, and brings 295 00:12:04,130 --> 00:12:06,450 him to a place, as it says there in verse 11, where it slew 296 00:12:06,450 --> 00:12:07,290 him, it killed him. 297 00:12:07,370 --> 00:12:09,330 Verse 12, wherefore the law is holy. 298 00:12:09,330 --> 00:12:10,330 So he says, the law is good. 299 00:12:10,330 --> 00:12:11,610 The law is from God. 300 00:12:12,170 --> 00:12:15,820 The law is showing us where God's heart is and the commandment 301 00:12:15,820 --> 00:12:18,540 holy and just and good. 302 00:12:21,180 --> 00:12:23,340 So Paul here is not a law denier. 303 00:12:23,580 --> 00:12:26,020 All he's saying is, is that there's limitations because of our 304 00:12:26,020 --> 00:12:26,700 human nature. 305 00:12:27,100 --> 00:12:30,420 And so Paul understands how someone might take him as saying 306 00:12:30,420 --> 00:12:31,540 that he's against the law. 307 00:12:31,540 --> 00:12:33,180 But he says, no, I'm not against the law. 308 00:12:33,340 --> 00:12:35,020 The problem is not the law. 309 00:12:35,500 --> 00:12:36,580 You know what the problem is? 310 00:12:36,580 --> 00:12:37,660 None of us want to hear this. 311 00:12:37,980 --> 00:12:39,100 The problem is me. 312 00:12:39,740 --> 00:12:41,020 The problem is my sin. 313 00:12:41,990 --> 00:12:43,230 Now, we could blame Satan. 314 00:12:43,230 --> 00:12:45,230 You know, there's a lot of people that will say, well, Satan 315 00:12:45,230 --> 00:12:45,990 made me do this. 316 00:12:46,390 --> 00:12:47,830 The devil made me do this. 317 00:12:48,550 --> 00:12:49,590 So I had no choice. 318 00:12:49,590 --> 00:12:50,870 I. I had to do that. 319 00:12:50,950 --> 00:12:53,830 No, the Bible says that there's always an opportunity to 320 00:12:53,830 --> 00:12:55,030 avoid the temptation. 321 00:12:55,190 --> 00:12:57,110 That's First Corinthians, chapter 10. 322 00:12:58,070 --> 00:12:58,390 So. 323 00:12:58,390 --> 00:13:00,750 So we know that we can't blame anybody else. 324 00:13:00,750 --> 00:13:03,830 So we could go down a whole rabbit trail in the book of James 325 00:13:03,830 --> 00:13:06,030 that tells us how we find ourselves in sin. 326 00:13:06,030 --> 00:13:08,070 And I'm going to give you a hint here. 327 00:13:08,410 --> 00:13:11,450 It's not something that we can blame on anybody else except ourselves. 328 00:13:11,850 --> 00:13:15,410 And so what Paul says is this the limitation in the law is not 329 00:13:15,410 --> 00:13:17,130 necessarily the problem with the law. 330 00:13:17,370 --> 00:13:20,450 The problem with the limitation, the problem with the 331 00:13:20,450 --> 00:13:21,450 struggle with the law is. 332 00:13:21,450 --> 00:13:22,330 Is my problem. 333 00:13:23,050 --> 00:13:25,050 The problem is in us, not the law. 334 00:13:25,290 --> 00:13:27,690 So sin corrupts the work of anything. 335 00:13:27,850 --> 00:13:29,530 Sin always corrupts. 336 00:13:30,410 --> 00:13:31,410 So, so what do we do? 337 00:13:31,410 --> 00:13:31,610 How. 338 00:13:31,610 --> 00:13:32,850 How do we overcome that? 339 00:13:32,850 --> 00:13:33,450 How do we. 340 00:13:33,450 --> 00:13:35,410 How do we get to a place in our life where we. 341 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:39,720 We aren't defining our own path? 342 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,000 Because, you know, the truth is, is that many of us want to define 343 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:42,480 our own path. 344 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,200 We want to say, you know, it's my way, nobody else's way. 345 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:45,960 I have the best way. 346 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:47,080 I know what's best for me. 347 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:48,560 The. 348 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:52,000 The truth is, though, Paul says here that there's a purpose 349 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:52,640 for the law. 350 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:54,040 It's to reveal that sin. 351 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,880 And for all of us that are Christians here today, all of us 352 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,320 that have believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior, and we say, 353 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:01,920 no, I'm not living by the law anymore. 354 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:03,080 I. I'm living by faith. 355 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:04,910 I'm living in God's grace. 356 00:14:05,310 --> 00:14:07,390 Why do we still struggle with sin then? 357 00:14:08,190 --> 00:14:08,750 Because if. 358 00:14:08,750 --> 00:14:11,710 If we're honest with ourselves, even if you've been saved 359 00:14:11,790 --> 00:14:16,070 for 50 years, there's still that struggle of, why do I keep going 360 00:14:16,070 --> 00:14:18,350 back to that thing that God saved me from? 361 00:14:18,990 --> 00:14:19,470 Well, why. 362 00:14:19,470 --> 00:14:20,269 Why is that. 363 00:14:20,270 --> 00:14:21,590 That voice there. 364 00:14:21,590 --> 00:14:23,110 Why is that desire still there? 365 00:14:23,110 --> 00:14:25,550 I. I thought I was supposed to be completely sinless now. 366 00:14:25,790 --> 00:14:27,750 Well, Paul is going to start talking about that here. 367 00:14:27,750 --> 00:14:30,550 He's going to start talking about that battle that happens even 368 00:14:30,550 --> 00:14:31,630 after salvation. 369 00:14:32,010 --> 00:14:34,570 Because before salvation, it's not even a battle we're given over 370 00:14:34,570 --> 00:14:36,810 to death, we're given over to our sin. 371 00:14:36,970 --> 00:14:39,770 There's no other choice that we can make other than choosing our 372 00:14:39,770 --> 00:14:41,690 own path, not God's path. 373 00:14:41,690 --> 00:14:44,650 But when we're believers in Jesus Christ, we have newness of 374 00:14:44,650 --> 00:14:44,810 life. 375 00:14:44,810 --> 00:14:46,290 We have the Spirit living within us. 376 00:14:46,290 --> 00:14:48,850 But then Paul's going to explain that battle that we face 377 00:14:48,850 --> 00:14:52,090 when it comes to sin working in our lives. 378 00:14:52,090 --> 00:14:55,770 And so verse 13, he says, was then, that which is good made death 379 00:14:55,770 --> 00:14:57,010 unto me, God forbid. 380 00:14:57,010 --> 00:15:00,920 But sin, that it might appear sin worketh death in me by that which 381 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:01,440 is good. 382 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,720 That sin by the commandment might be exceeding sinful. 383 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:05,440 Now you say. 384 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:06,680 That's a lot of words there. 385 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:07,520 What is he saying? 386 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,680 He says sin continues to destroy. 387 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,280 Sin continues to tear down the law. 388 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:15,800 Why? 389 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,560 Because sin is exceedingly sinful. 390 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:19,040 That's like. 391 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:19,600 What is he saying? 392 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:21,360 He's like, sin's exceedingly evil. 393 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:23,480 Sin continues to get worse and worse and worse. 394 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:25,200 If we don't deal with it in the proper way. 395 00:15:26,020 --> 00:15:31,180 Second, sin here becomes more and more sinful because the law, 396 00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:34,620 as he's already mentioned, provokes us to do more sin. 397 00:15:34,620 --> 00:15:39,020 It provokes us to want more bad things in our life, whether we 398 00:15:39,020 --> 00:15:39,940 know it's bad or not. 399 00:15:39,940 --> 00:15:40,980 Sometimes we think it's good. 400 00:15:40,980 --> 00:15:44,580 Like we wouldn't sin if we knew what the outcome would be. 401 00:15:44,580 --> 00:15:45,500 I don't think so. 402 00:15:45,500 --> 00:15:48,380 I mean, a lot of times you might know, okay, yeah, I know this 403 00:15:48,380 --> 00:15:48,980 is wrong. 404 00:15:50,100 --> 00:15:54,840 But sin, as the Bible says, is pleasurable for a season or no one 405 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:55,440 would do it. 406 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,480 But the Bible tells us too that the enemy or our flesh, we don't 407 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:01,280 look at the end game. 408 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:02,960 We don't look at what sin's going to bring. 409 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:04,240 Sin's going to bring destruction. 410 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:06,320 Sin's going to bring ultimate death. 411 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,920 So verse 14 he says, for we know that the law is spiritual, so 412 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,360 the law is there for the one who is focused on the spiritual. 413 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,760 Paul says here that the law is spiritual. 414 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:21,930 So he says, that's great. 415 00:16:21,930 --> 00:16:22,370 It's. 416 00:16:22,370 --> 00:16:24,330 It's therefore spiritual truths. 417 00:16:25,050 --> 00:16:27,450 But then he says, but I am carnal. 418 00:16:27,850 --> 00:16:28,970 Now, what's carnal mean? 419 00:16:28,970 --> 00:16:30,090 Carnal means fleshly. 420 00:16:30,090 --> 00:16:31,010 I'm made up of flesh. 421 00:16:31,010 --> 00:16:33,770 I still, I'm dealing with these fleshly things in my life. 422 00:16:34,170 --> 00:16:38,490 Carnal, it basically means like of the flesh. 423 00:16:39,610 --> 00:16:42,570 And so he's about to explain this battle that he has because he's 424 00:16:42,570 --> 00:16:45,010 indwelled by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's changed his 425 00:16:45,010 --> 00:16:48,680 life and changed his desires, but he still wrestles with that carnal 426 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:50,120 thing that's there. 427 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:52,520 He says, I'm sold under sin. 428 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,960 And so what he says is that, that that fleshly side is still under 429 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:57,400 sin. 430 00:16:57,800 --> 00:16:58,520 And what he. 431 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:00,800 He's wrestling with this idea that, hey, you know what? 432 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:05,560 I want to do good, but I still sometimes have the desire to do wrong. 433 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:07,560 Verse 15. 434 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:14,290 For that which I do, I allow not for what I would that do I not, 435 00:17:14,450 --> 00:17:16,530 but what I hate that I do. 436 00:17:17,170 --> 00:17:20,330 Now that's some King James English to basically say the things 437 00:17:20,330 --> 00:17:23,570 that he doesn't want to do, he does. 438 00:17:24,930 --> 00:17:29,330 And the things that he wants to do, he doesn't do in his natural 439 00:17:29,330 --> 00:17:29,730 state. 440 00:17:30,530 --> 00:17:35,490 He says, I want to serve God, but why, why do I struggle with that? 441 00:17:36,370 --> 00:17:38,770 You know, I want to avoid those bad things in my life. 442 00:17:38,770 --> 00:17:40,130 But why is that still a struggle? 443 00:17:40,620 --> 00:17:42,460 I thought I had complete victory in Jesus. 444 00:17:42,620 --> 00:17:44,580 Well, let me tell you here this morning, you do have complete 445 00:17:44,580 --> 00:17:45,260 victory in Jesus. 446 00:17:45,260 --> 00:17:48,660 When you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the victory is in his 447 00:17:48,660 --> 00:17:49,500 work for us. 448 00:17:49,660 --> 00:17:52,820 And we're going to see In Romans chapter 8, verse 1 In a few 449 00:17:52,820 --> 00:17:56,460 weeks that there's no more condemnation, there's no more judgment. 450 00:17:56,460 --> 00:17:58,140 But that doesn't mean that the battle's over. 451 00:17:58,620 --> 00:18:01,100 It doesn't mean that we're going to live a sinless life. 452 00:18:02,220 --> 00:18:06,300 Verse 16 he says if then I do that which I would not I consent 453 00:18:06,300 --> 00:18:10,690 unto the law that which I it is good now then it is more no more 454 00:18:10,690 --> 00:18:15,250 that I do it but sin that dwelleth in me for I know that in 455 00:18:15,250 --> 00:18:16,890 me that is in my flesh. 456 00:18:16,970 --> 00:18:18,090 He makes a note here. 457 00:18:18,650 --> 00:18:22,730 He says I I know that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. 458 00:18:23,770 --> 00:18:28,570 So, so what Paul is describing here is the Christian walk and how 459 00:18:28,570 --> 00:18:34,180 we can either give ourselves to the Spirit or to obey the Spirit 460 00:18:34,340 --> 00:18:38,100 or give ourselves over to our flesh and walk and act and respond 461 00:18:38,100 --> 00:18:38,740 in the flesh. 462 00:18:39,940 --> 00:18:42,700 Now some people would argue that Paul is not talking about the 463 00:18:42,700 --> 00:18:43,380 believer here. 464 00:18:43,620 --> 00:18:45,860 Some people would actually argue that Paul is talking about 465 00:18:45,940 --> 00:18:48,420 someone before they are saved. 466 00:18:49,139 --> 00:18:51,980 But the truth is is that all we have is the flesh before we're 467 00:18:51,980 --> 00:18:52,340 saved. 468 00:18:52,340 --> 00:18:54,020 That's what we're always going to do. 469 00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:56,580 We can't appeal to the Spirit before we're saved. 470 00:18:57,620 --> 00:19:01,380 And so I believe this is Paul speaking of that battle that won 471 00:19:01,460 --> 00:19:03,630 false fight after they are saved. 472 00:19:03,630 --> 00:19:06,110 Now we're going to see at the end the answer to all of this. 473 00:19:06,270 --> 00:19:08,430 But he says there's this thing that's going on with me. 474 00:19:08,430 --> 00:19:13,710 I I'm in my flesh is no good thing for to will is present with 475 00:19:13,710 --> 00:19:14,110 me. 476 00:19:14,270 --> 00:19:18,350 But how to perform that which is good I find not meaning this. 477 00:19:18,430 --> 00:19:20,870 I the the Holy Spirit has changed my desires. 478 00:19:20,870 --> 00:19:24,030 I don't want to go sin I. I don't want to go do these bad things. 479 00:19:24,030 --> 00:19:27,550 But then he goes on to say there he says but how to perform 480 00:19:27,630 --> 00:19:29,550 that which is good I find not meaning. 481 00:19:29,770 --> 00:19:33,450 It's hard sometimes for me to do what I desire to do. 482 00:19:34,810 --> 00:19:38,410 And I'm going to even say to you here this morning that it is 483 00:19:38,410 --> 00:19:41,810 impossible for us as Christians to follow the will of 484 00:19:41,810 --> 00:19:44,650 God if we are acting in our flesh. 485 00:19:44,810 --> 00:19:48,650 Now we can try to present some type of false fruit when we're acting 486 00:19:48,650 --> 00:19:51,650 in the flesh when we're acting in our selfish motivations and our 487 00:19:51,650 --> 00:19:52,650 selfish desires. 488 00:19:53,210 --> 00:19:56,570 But it's impossible to do what God's will is for our lives if we're 489 00:19:56,570 --> 00:20:00,270 acting in our flesh, we're acting in our own ways and our own 490 00:20:00,270 --> 00:20:00,750 wisdom. 491 00:20:01,790 --> 00:20:07,590 Verse 19 for the good that I would, I do not but the evil which 492 00:20:07,590 --> 00:20:10,710 I would not that I do He Just reiterates the fact there that that's 493 00:20:10,710 --> 00:20:11,310 that struggle. 494 00:20:11,310 --> 00:20:12,590 He has this new desire. 495 00:20:12,830 --> 00:20:15,070 He wants to do right, but there's that struggle. 496 00:20:15,070 --> 00:20:20,590 So is Paul denying his responsibility as someone who sins? 497 00:20:21,230 --> 00:20:22,070 No, I don't. 498 00:20:22,070 --> 00:20:25,630 I don't think he's denying, like, hey, I, I want to do right, 499 00:20:25,630 --> 00:20:27,150 so I sin, but it's not my fault. 500 00:20:27,150 --> 00:20:27,950 That's just my flesh. 501 00:20:27,950 --> 00:20:29,710 I don't think he's denying the responsibility. 502 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:32,320 He recognizes that he sins. 503 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:35,200 And what he's doing is. 504 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,440 He's explaining how sometimes he can act in his fleshly nature, 505 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,560 in being a new person in Christ. 506 00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:48,480 Like we can walk in the newness of life, or we can walk in 507 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:49,760 the old ways in our flesh. 508 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:55,680 And so a Christian, I believe, must recognize sin, must recognize 509 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:58,800 sin, and then not just recognize sin, but repent of that 510 00:20:58,800 --> 00:20:59,200 sin. 511 00:21:00,650 --> 00:21:03,610 But then we have to realize too that sin comes from multiple 512 00:21:03,610 --> 00:21:04,010 angles. 513 00:21:04,010 --> 00:21:07,170 And our flesh is one of those angles that we have to be careful 514 00:21:07,170 --> 00:21:07,370 of. 515 00:21:07,370 --> 00:21:10,410 Because we think sometimes that temptation only comes from Satan. 516 00:21:11,130 --> 00:21:14,570 Or maybe we would agree that it comes from the world. 517 00:21:14,570 --> 00:21:18,170 And I think we do know that the Bible says that temptations can 518 00:21:18,170 --> 00:21:20,970 come from the evil one, temptations can come from the world. 519 00:21:21,210 --> 00:21:25,210 But if we're honest, many of the temptations that we face in our 520 00:21:25,210 --> 00:21:27,940 own life come from the flesh, come from our own desires. 521 00:21:27,940 --> 00:21:30,420 Satan doesn't even have to step in because that's already been 522 00:21:30,420 --> 00:21:31,940 set in place by the fall, by. 523 00:21:31,940 --> 00:21:32,980 By our sinful nature. 524 00:21:34,580 --> 00:21:37,860 And so Paul's not denying the responsibility of a Christian to, 525 00:21:38,420 --> 00:21:43,740 to admit and recognize and repent from sin, but he is recognizing 526 00:21:43,740 --> 00:21:47,220 our fleshly impulse to sin even when we are in Christ Jesus. 527 00:21:47,220 --> 00:21:49,660 Because there's some people that'll say, well, if you're saved 528 00:21:49,660 --> 00:21:51,620 and you're in Christ Jesus, you won't sin anymore. 529 00:21:51,620 --> 00:21:53,060 You won't want to sin anymore. 530 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,240 But, but I think, and we're going to go to a few different passages 531 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,400 that talk about this, that there's this battle in our life still 532 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:00,760 today. 533 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,480 If we're going to walk in the spirit, we're going to walk in the 534 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:04,840 flesh. 535 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,600 And so I want to take you to a few verses that I believe speak to 536 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:09,880 that. 537 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,520 You could go with me to the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter 538 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:13,720 three. 539 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:15,720 We're going to come back to Romans 7 because we're going to conclude 540 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:16,360 the thoughts. 541 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,880 But maybe some of you can identify with Paul's battle here. 542 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:24,270 He says, as a Christian, I want to honor God. 543 00:22:25,070 --> 00:22:28,510 I want to be truthful, I want to be pure. 544 00:22:29,550 --> 00:22:30,710 But I Fall back in. 545 00:22:30,710 --> 00:22:32,830 Sometimes I fall back into those temptations. 546 00:22:34,030 --> 00:22:37,310 And then you might be tempted to struggle when a pastor gets up 547 00:22:37,310 --> 00:22:39,310 here and says, well, if you're a Christian, you. 548 00:22:39,310 --> 00:22:42,030 You should never want to sin ever again, and you won't sin again. 549 00:22:42,510 --> 00:22:43,870 Well, then what's wrong with me? 550 00:22:44,430 --> 00:22:45,110 I got a lot. 551 00:22:45,110 --> 00:22:46,030 I got a lot of issues. 552 00:22:46,030 --> 00:22:47,230 Then maybe I'm not sick. 553 00:22:47,410 --> 00:22:48,850 Then maybe I'm not saved. 554 00:22:49,730 --> 00:22:52,130 Maybe I'm in rebellion to God because I sinned today. 555 00:22:53,010 --> 00:22:56,250 Well, again, we gotta see full context of Scripture because there 556 00:22:56,250 --> 00:22:58,770 is no more condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. 557 00:22:59,170 --> 00:23:00,490 But condemnation is judgment. 558 00:23:00,490 --> 00:23:01,570 It doesn't mean that we're perfect. 559 00:23:01,570 --> 00:23:03,010 It doesn't mean that we're sinless. 560 00:23:03,650 --> 00:23:05,090 Now, by the way, let me stop here. 561 00:23:05,090 --> 00:23:05,370 This is. 562 00:23:05,370 --> 00:23:05,610 I'm. 563 00:23:05,610 --> 00:23:08,970 I can't claim that this is original to me, but I can't remember 564 00:23:08,970 --> 00:23:09,730 where I got it from. 565 00:23:09,810 --> 00:23:12,330 So it is what it is. 566 00:23:12,330 --> 00:23:17,450 Okay, so as a Christian, we're not sinless one word, but we should 567 00:23:18,010 --> 00:23:20,890 sin less, right? 568 00:23:21,450 --> 00:23:21,770 So. 569 00:23:21,770 --> 00:23:24,170 So the Bible does speak of this idea that we're to grow more 570 00:23:24,170 --> 00:23:27,290 like Christ and die to our flesh and become more and more like 571 00:23:27,290 --> 00:23:27,610 him. 572 00:23:27,610 --> 00:23:29,129 But what we see here in colossians. 573 00:23:29,129 --> 00:23:32,610 Colossians chapter 3 says, if ye then be risen with Christ. 574 00:23:32,610 --> 00:23:33,530 This is verse one. 575 00:23:33,610 --> 00:23:36,330 He says, so if you're saved, if you. 576 00:23:36,330 --> 00:23:36,570 You. 577 00:23:36,570 --> 00:23:39,530 If your identity is in him, if you're buried in the likeness of 578 00:23:39,530 --> 00:23:42,600 his death, raised to walk in newness of life, seek those things 579 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,760 which are above, seek the things of God, seek the things of 580 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,880 eternity, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 581 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,880 Set your affections, your desires on things above, not on things 582 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:53,400 of this earth. 583 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:58,880 And so he says, you have to, as a believer in Jesus, have new 584 00:23:58,880 --> 00:23:59,600 desires. 585 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,520 Set your mind, set your heart on things which are from him and 586 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:04,560 not from this world. 587 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,980 Now, if that's a thing that just naturally happens, if that's 588 00:24:07,980 --> 00:24:10,540 the thing that just happens immediately when we're saved, why 589 00:24:10,540 --> 00:24:13,500 is there always a call in Scripture to set our minds on the 590 00:24:13,500 --> 00:24:15,220 things of God and not on the things of this earth? 591 00:24:15,220 --> 00:24:18,140 Because I believe it's that battle that's still happening. 592 00:24:19,100 --> 00:24:20,180 Verse 3. 593 00:24:20,180 --> 00:24:21,260 For ye are dead. 594 00:24:21,820 --> 00:24:22,140 What? 595 00:24:22,140 --> 00:24:23,140 I thought I was alive. 596 00:24:23,140 --> 00:24:27,500 Well, you're dead to your old life, and your life is hid with Christ 597 00:24:27,660 --> 00:24:28,380 in God. 598 00:24:28,620 --> 00:24:29,940 So you're dead to the old ways. 599 00:24:29,940 --> 00:24:31,500 That's not your identity anymore. 600 00:24:31,980 --> 00:24:32,620 You're done. 601 00:24:32,700 --> 00:24:33,500 That's gone. 602 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:39,040 Then he says in verse four, when Christ, who is our life, shall 603 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,120 appear, then shall also ye appear with him in glory. 604 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:45,280 So he says, one day there will be a day where you do come to a place 605 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:46,400 where there's no more sin. 606 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,200 One day you will be reunited with your Savior. 607 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:50,600 You will have your glorified body. 608 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,240 No longer will we have the flesh and the bondage of sin in this 609 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:54,560 world. 610 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,560 But then he goes on to say this in verse 5. 611 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,080 I think this is important to note. 612 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,060 He says, because of this, there's this phrase. 613 00:25:01,060 --> 00:25:02,060 It says mortify. 614 00:25:02,540 --> 00:25:04,060 Now, what does that word mortify mean? 615 00:25:04,060 --> 00:25:07,020 Kill, take, out, remove. 616 00:25:08,140 --> 00:25:14,060 Mortify, therefore your members, your fleshly body, mortify 617 00:25:14,060 --> 00:25:16,060 your members which are upon the earth. 618 00:25:16,220 --> 00:25:20,380 Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil, concupiscence. 619 00:25:20,380 --> 00:25:23,980 Remember, concupiscence is covetousness and covetousness, okay? 620 00:25:23,980 --> 00:25:26,500 And so then he says, which is idolatry. 621 00:25:26,500 --> 00:25:29,180 For which things sake, the wrath of God cometh on the children 622 00:25:29,180 --> 00:25:29,980 of disobedience. 623 00:25:30,420 --> 00:25:33,660 In the which ye also walked sometime when you lived in them. 624 00:25:33,660 --> 00:25:36,180 So living in them means that's what you were defined by. 625 00:25:36,180 --> 00:25:38,340 So he says, don't walk the way that you used to walk. 626 00:25:38,340 --> 00:25:39,460 Die to those things. 627 00:25:40,180 --> 00:25:42,380 But now ye are put off all these things. 628 00:25:42,380 --> 00:25:45,940 Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out 629 00:25:45,940 --> 00:25:46,539 of your mouth. 630 00:25:46,539 --> 00:25:49,860 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man 631 00:25:49,860 --> 00:25:51,700 with his deeds, verse 10. 632 00:25:51,700 --> 00:25:55,420 And have put on the new man the new way, the new path, which 633 00:25:55,420 --> 00:25:58,820 is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. 634 00:25:59,210 --> 00:26:03,490 Whether there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised, nor uncircumcision, 635 00:26:03,490 --> 00:26:08,330 barbarian, Cynthian, bond, nor free, but Christ is all and in all. 636 00:26:09,850 --> 00:26:12,250 So this whole passage of Scripture here speaks to this idea 637 00:26:12,250 --> 00:26:16,130 of putting on the new man, dying to the old ways, and putting 638 00:26:16,130 --> 00:26:18,050 on the new man walking the new path. 639 00:26:18,050 --> 00:26:20,690 And the new man would be the Spirit following the Spirit, the 640 00:26:20,690 --> 00:26:24,170 conviction, the guidance, the comfort of the Holy Spirit. 641 00:26:26,420 --> 00:26:29,860 Over and over again, the Bible speaks of dying to our old ways, 642 00:26:29,860 --> 00:26:31,140 carrying our cross. 643 00:26:31,780 --> 00:26:34,300 Another passage of Scripture that I think would be appropriate 644 00:26:34,300 --> 00:26:35,900 for this is Galatians, chapter 3. 645 00:26:35,900 --> 00:26:37,300 So we are in Colossians 3. 646 00:26:37,540 --> 00:26:39,300 Go to Galatians 3. 647 00:26:40,660 --> 00:26:42,900 Now, if you know anything about the Book of Galatians, which 648 00:26:42,900 --> 00:26:44,740 you don't have to, because I'm going to tell you. 649 00:26:44,820 --> 00:26:47,980 But the book of Galatians is all about not living by the law, 650 00:26:47,980 --> 00:26:52,230 by the flesh, and thinking that that's going to save, okay? 651 00:26:52,230 --> 00:26:52,630 Because in. 652 00:26:52,630 --> 00:26:54,670 In the book of Galatians, there was individuals that were saying, 653 00:26:54,670 --> 00:26:56,750 you get saved by the law and you grow by the law. 654 00:26:56,990 --> 00:27:00,830 So you get saved by following God and obeying His Word. 655 00:27:00,990 --> 00:27:02,710 Some of you are like, yeah, I thought that's how we got saved. 656 00:27:02,710 --> 00:27:05,630 No, you get saved through faith in Jesus Christ because you 657 00:27:05,630 --> 00:27:06,829 can't obey His Word completely. 658 00:27:07,150 --> 00:27:08,070 But a lot of people. 659 00:27:08,070 --> 00:27:08,390 So. 660 00:27:08,390 --> 00:27:10,670 So a lot of people in our Christian circles don't struggle 661 00:27:10,670 --> 00:27:12,430 with this idea that you are saved by your works. 662 00:27:12,430 --> 00:27:15,110 They believe you're saved by faith, but then they struggle with 663 00:27:15,110 --> 00:27:16,590 legalism after salvation. 664 00:27:16,590 --> 00:27:18,100 Meaning this, okay? 665 00:27:18,180 --> 00:27:20,500 You don't grow by faith and trusting in God. 666 00:27:20,500 --> 00:27:22,780 You grow by just working hard and trying to keep all the rules. 667 00:27:22,780 --> 00:27:24,100 That's not how you grow either. 668 00:27:24,500 --> 00:27:27,900 You grow by the same way that you are saved through faith in Jesus 669 00:27:27,900 --> 00:27:28,820 and trusting in him. 670 00:27:28,820 --> 00:27:30,580 So Galatians, chapter 3, verse 1. 671 00:27:30,660 --> 00:27:31,780 This is Paul speaking. 672 00:27:31,780 --> 00:27:32,860 This is not Pastor Josh. 673 00:27:32,860 --> 00:27:34,980 I am not calling you foolish, okay? 674 00:27:34,980 --> 00:27:36,700 This is Paul calling the Galatians foolish. 675 00:27:36,700 --> 00:27:40,500 And if you put yourself in the shoes of the Galatians Paul and God 676 00:27:40,500 --> 00:27:42,260 calling you foolish, okay? 677 00:27:42,260 --> 00:27:43,140 So he says this. 678 00:27:43,220 --> 00:27:47,030 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? 679 00:27:47,030 --> 00:27:47,750 Meaning who. 680 00:27:47,750 --> 00:27:51,390 Who's lied to you, who's tricked you that ye should not obey 681 00:27:51,390 --> 00:27:55,590 the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ have been evidently 682 00:27:55,670 --> 00:27:57,510 set forth crucified among you? 683 00:27:57,510 --> 00:27:59,710 Meaning who's pulled you away from Jesus? 684 00:27:59,710 --> 00:28:01,350 Who's pulled you away from your Savior? 685 00:28:02,550 --> 00:28:04,590 This only would I learn of you. 686 00:28:04,590 --> 00:28:06,550 Received ye by the Spirit of. 687 00:28:06,870 --> 00:28:10,350 By spirit, by the works of law, or by the hearing of faith. 688 00:28:10,350 --> 00:28:10,750 Meaning this. 689 00:28:10,750 --> 00:28:12,530 He says, how did you get saved? 690 00:28:13,250 --> 00:28:15,010 He says, galatians, you're so. 691 00:28:15,010 --> 00:28:15,970 So they're saved. 692 00:28:16,050 --> 00:28:18,570 I believe this is the Church of Galatia and the people that are 693 00:28:18,570 --> 00:28:19,050 believers. 694 00:28:19,050 --> 00:28:20,530 He says, how were you saved? 695 00:28:20,530 --> 00:28:24,250 Were you saved by faith, or were you saved by the works of the 696 00:28:24,250 --> 00:28:24,530 law? 697 00:28:25,490 --> 00:28:28,450 Now, that's a rhetorical question, but really we know the 698 00:28:28,450 --> 00:28:30,690 answer is that if anyone's saved, they're saved by faith. 699 00:28:30,850 --> 00:28:31,850 They're saved by faith. 700 00:28:31,850 --> 00:28:37,130 Then he says in verse three, are ye so foolish, having begun in 701 00:28:37,130 --> 00:28:40,430 the Spirit, meaning you are saved and entered into the family 702 00:28:40,430 --> 00:28:41,870 of God through the Spirit. 703 00:28:42,270 --> 00:28:46,630 Through faith in God and the Spirit, indwelling are you now made 704 00:28:46,630 --> 00:28:51,430 perfect by the flesh, made mature, growing in the flesh. 705 00:28:51,430 --> 00:28:53,310 He says, you weren't saved by the flesh. 706 00:28:55,230 --> 00:28:56,590 So you can't grow in the flesh. 707 00:28:57,230 --> 00:28:58,910 You can't fight sin in the flesh. 708 00:28:59,790 --> 00:29:02,750 And I think that's what we do so often as Christians is we. 709 00:29:02,750 --> 00:29:04,990 We get the situation in our life, and we're like, well, I want 710 00:29:04,990 --> 00:29:05,630 to honor God. 711 00:29:05,630 --> 00:29:06,750 I want to serve him. 712 00:29:07,070 --> 00:29:08,990 I. I want to get away from those things in my past. 713 00:29:09,150 --> 00:29:12,630 But then we fight Those temptations in the flesh, we just 714 00:29:12,630 --> 00:29:15,790 try harder not to do it, or we try to cut it out of our lives. 715 00:29:17,470 --> 00:29:20,830 The truth is, is that we can in our flesh do only so much. 716 00:29:20,990 --> 00:29:23,870 Maybe we can have some initial immediate victories. 717 00:29:23,950 --> 00:29:27,710 But if we fight that battle that Paul is talking about, about 718 00:29:27,710 --> 00:29:30,990 the battle of sin, and we fight the battle of sin in the flesh, 719 00:29:31,070 --> 00:29:31,390 we. 720 00:29:31,390 --> 00:29:34,510 We fight the battle of spiritual immaturity in the flesh, 721 00:29:34,820 --> 00:29:36,500 you know what's going to, what's going to happen? 722 00:29:36,900 --> 00:29:39,820 We're going to end up failing because we're not fighting in the 723 00:29:39,820 --> 00:29:41,540 spirit, we're fighting in the flesh. 724 00:29:41,540 --> 00:29:43,780 And so that's what Paul's talking about in Galatians 3. 725 00:29:43,780 --> 00:29:47,540 He says, look, are you that foolish to think that you were saved 726 00:29:47,940 --> 00:29:51,340 by the faith that you have in Jesus Christ? 727 00:29:51,340 --> 00:29:55,540 You were saved by God and by his work alone, but now think that 728 00:29:55,540 --> 00:30:00,620 you can fight sin in your flesh, that you think you can just 729 00:30:00,620 --> 00:30:02,260 grow on your own in the flesh? 730 00:30:02,260 --> 00:30:03,620 He goes, no, that's, that's terrible. 731 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:04,960 He says, Verse 4. 732 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:09,000 Have you suffered so many things in vain if it be yet in vain? 733 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:09,480 Meaning this? 734 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:12,440 He says, your whole life will be in vain if you're living in the 735 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:12,680 flesh. 736 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:13,760 You're missing the point. 737 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,320 He goes on, we don't have time to go through all of it. 738 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:21,040 But he speaks of the idea that Abraham was saved through faith, 739 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:21,840 right? 740 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:23,600 So if Abraham saved by faith. 741 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:25,840 Abraham wasn't even saved by the law, right? 742 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:26,560 He couldn't be. 743 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:31,470 Now, I won't quiz you guys on why Abraham couldn't be held accountable 744 00:30:31,470 --> 00:30:31,990 to the law. 745 00:30:32,390 --> 00:30:35,830 But some of you know the law wasn't there when Abraham was there. 746 00:30:35,830 --> 00:30:37,350 So Abraham wasn't saved by the law. 747 00:30:38,070 --> 00:30:41,110 So how could, how, how could you feel like you could be saved 748 00:30:41,110 --> 00:30:41,670 by the law? 749 00:30:42,870 --> 00:30:46,950 Abraham believed God, verse 6, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 750 00:30:48,150 --> 00:30:52,990 So he says, you are saved by the Spirit, verse 5. 751 00:30:52,990 --> 00:30:57,720 He Therefore, that ministers to you the Spirit and worketh miracles 752 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,840 among you, doeth it he by the works of the law or by the hearing 753 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:04,960 of faith, meaning anything that we do in service and sacrifice 754 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,640 and sanctification, spiritual growth, is that coming through the 755 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:09,320 flesh or the spirit? 756 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,120 Well, the answer is it's coming through the Spirit. 757 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:13,520 And therefore we have to appeal to the Spirit. 758 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:16,800 So go back with me to Romans, chapter seven. 759 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:18,960 We'll have a few more thoughts here. 760 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:21,160 So what's the answer to this? 761 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,610 So, so what's the answer to the problem that a Christian faces 762 00:31:24,690 --> 00:31:28,850 when he or she is dealing with like, oh, man, I got, I went back 763 00:31:28,850 --> 00:31:29,170 Again. 764 00:31:30,370 --> 00:31:33,250 Went back again to what I know I shouldn't be doing. 765 00:31:34,370 --> 00:31:37,330 Well, it's not that God just releases you and says, well, that's 766 00:31:37,330 --> 00:31:38,010 what you want to do. 767 00:31:38,010 --> 00:31:39,890 You sin today, you're no longer my child. 768 00:31:39,970 --> 00:31:40,970 No, the Bible. 769 00:31:40,970 --> 00:31:42,930 We're going to get to Romans chapter eight soon. 770 00:31:42,930 --> 00:31:45,850 And I'm so excited to get to Romans chapter 8 because the Bible 771 00:31:45,850 --> 00:31:48,600 says that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even 772 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:49,440 my own problems. 773 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,480 I can't separate myself if I'm a child of God. 774 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,880 There's nothing that can divide that love. 775 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:59,080 But at the same time, we sometimes feel like that's the case 776 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,560 when we sin because we're like, man, am I just? 777 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:02,920 Does God not love me anymore? 778 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:03,800 Have I failed? 779 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:05,320 What's the response? 780 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:09,240 How can a Christian deal with the sin in his or her life? 781 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:14,770 Well, first John, chapter one, verse nine says, we confess our sins, 782 00:32:14,770 --> 00:32:16,810 he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us 783 00:32:16,810 --> 00:32:17,770 from all unrighteousness. 784 00:32:18,250 --> 00:32:23,010 But we can't just be the type of people that go, well, I'm just 785 00:32:23,010 --> 00:32:23,810 going to repent every day. 786 00:32:23,810 --> 00:32:26,050 At the end of every day, I'm going to live my life and just try 787 00:32:26,050 --> 00:32:26,570 not to sin. 788 00:32:26,570 --> 00:32:28,490 And at the end of the day, Lord, just forgive me for everything. 789 00:32:29,130 --> 00:32:29,490 That's. 790 00:32:29,490 --> 00:32:30,610 That's not what that's saying. 791 00:32:30,610 --> 00:32:31,930 Okay, so let's go forward. 792 00:32:31,930 --> 00:32:34,010 Let's see how this battle is fought. 793 00:32:35,370 --> 00:32:41,620 We left off there in verse number 20, Romans 7, verse 20. 794 00:32:41,780 --> 00:32:43,820 Now, if I do that, I would not. 795 00:32:43,820 --> 00:32:45,140 It is no more that. 796 00:32:45,460 --> 00:32:47,620 No more I, I that do it. 797 00:32:47,620 --> 00:32:49,140 But sin that dwelleth in me. 798 00:32:49,220 --> 00:32:54,620 So he says, as a Christian, if I'm sinning, that's not my character 799 00:32:54,620 --> 00:32:55,060 anymore. 800 00:32:56,100 --> 00:32:56,460 I've. 801 00:32:56,460 --> 00:32:58,060 I've used this analogy for you guys. 802 00:32:58,060 --> 00:32:59,220 I, I like to fish. 803 00:32:59,620 --> 00:33:02,020 You, you catch a fish, you can pull a fish out of water. 804 00:33:02,180 --> 00:33:04,580 The fish doesn't immediately die once it's out of the water. 805 00:33:04,580 --> 00:33:06,900 Fish can live outside the water for a short amount of time. 806 00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:09,490 And even though that's not the way God designed that fish to live, 807 00:33:09,650 --> 00:33:11,050 it's the same thing with a Christian. 808 00:33:11,050 --> 00:33:13,650 A Christian can live in the flesh. 809 00:33:13,890 --> 00:33:15,450 That's not the way that God has designed us to live. 810 00:33:15,450 --> 00:33:16,210 We'll never thrive. 811 00:33:16,370 --> 00:33:19,490 We'll never be what God has called us to be if we're living in 812 00:33:19,490 --> 00:33:22,770 that sin that so easily gets us and besets us. 813 00:33:23,570 --> 00:33:24,610 So, so what does he say here? 814 00:33:24,610 --> 00:33:29,530 He says, when I sin, just know that that's not who I am in Christ 815 00:33:29,530 --> 00:33:29,970 anymore. 816 00:33:29,970 --> 00:33:31,650 That's not my identity anymore. 817 00:33:31,650 --> 00:33:33,490 Before I was saved, that's all I could do. 818 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:35,960 Now that I'm saved, I will sin. 819 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,360 But that sin is no longer who I am. 820 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:41,000 And he says, that's the flesh that's within me. 821 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:47,600 Verse number 21, he says, I find then a law that when I do good, 822 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:49,080 evil is present with me. 823 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:52,960 So it's like even as I'm trying to serve God, there's that 824 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:53,720 evil that's present. 825 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,160 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. 826 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,160 So he says, if I'm living in the inward man, if I'm living in 827 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,480 the Spirit, I delight in the law of God. 828 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:03,705 I delight in his word. 829 00:34:03,705 --> 00:34:05,560 I. I delight in following his path. 830 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,280 I delight in rejecting those things that are of God or, excuse 831 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,360 me, are not of God and of the enemy. 832 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:16,000 But he says in verse 23, but I see another law in my members. 833 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:18,320 So. 834 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:24,400 So he's like, okay, my spirit, that the Holy Spirit that lives within 835 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,800 me is guiding me to do right, is guiding me to love God, is guiding 836 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:29,760 me to live that pure life. 837 00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:34,100 But he says, if I look hard enough, I'll see another law in my 838 00:34:34,100 --> 00:34:38,620 members, in my body, warring against the law of my mind and bringing 839 00:34:38,620 --> 00:34:41,700 me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 840 00:34:41,860 --> 00:34:44,380 He's describing that old man, the flesh. 841 00:34:44,380 --> 00:34:44,900 He says. 842 00:34:44,900 --> 00:34:48,140 He says, as much as I want to serve God, I see another thing trying 843 00:34:48,140 --> 00:34:50,340 to rear his ugly head up, and that's that. 844 00:34:50,340 --> 00:34:51,260 That's that old way. 845 00:34:51,260 --> 00:34:52,900 That's that old sinful path. 846 00:34:53,060 --> 00:34:55,060 That's the way that I don't want to live anymore. 847 00:34:55,060 --> 00:34:56,660 That's what brings me into captivity. 848 00:34:58,029 --> 00:34:58,669 Verse 24. 849 00:34:58,669 --> 00:35:00,189 Oh, wretched man that I am. 850 00:35:00,349 --> 00:35:01,709 This is the only response. 851 00:35:01,709 --> 00:35:04,629 This is the only proper biblical response to the sin in our 852 00:35:04,629 --> 00:35:07,949 life, to recognize that we are in desperate need of God in every 853 00:35:07,949 --> 00:35:11,709 element of our life, not just for salvation, but for every point 854 00:35:11,709 --> 00:35:12,349 of our lives. 855 00:35:12,828 --> 00:35:17,349 And so what I think sometimes is what I've seen happen is that 856 00:35:17,349 --> 00:35:19,989 we're so reliant on God for salvation, but we're not relying 857 00:35:19,989 --> 00:35:22,749 on him to give us daily victories in the struggles that we 858 00:35:22,749 --> 00:35:22,989 face. 859 00:35:22,989 --> 00:35:24,989 And so what Paul is saying here is this. 860 00:35:25,350 --> 00:35:28,750 If I'm outside of God, if I'm working in my flesh, if I'm trying 861 00:35:28,750 --> 00:35:32,670 to do my own thing, oh, wretched man that I am, it's recognizing 862 00:35:32,670 --> 00:35:34,070 that I am inadequate. 863 00:35:34,070 --> 00:35:34,550 I am. 864 00:35:34,630 --> 00:35:39,470 I am a sinner who is just saved by grace, who shall deli. 865 00:35:39,470 --> 00:35:40,950 He asked this question here. 866 00:35:42,310 --> 00:35:44,950 So I can't help but think that Paul's sitting there as he's writing 867 00:35:44,950 --> 00:35:47,070 this and he's struggling, he's like, man, I'm. 868 00:35:47,070 --> 00:35:47,830 I'm sinning. 869 00:35:48,230 --> 00:35:50,390 I don't want to sin, but I sin. 870 00:35:50,390 --> 00:35:52,910 Sometimes I. I want to do good for God, but sometimes I don't do 871 00:35:52,910 --> 00:35:53,310 the things. 872 00:35:53,310 --> 00:35:55,910 Because, by the way, there's sins of commission and there's sins 873 00:35:55,910 --> 00:35:56,590 of omission. 874 00:35:57,390 --> 00:36:00,750 Sins of commission are sins that I'm doing that I shouldn't be 875 00:36:00,750 --> 00:36:01,070 doing. 876 00:36:01,790 --> 00:36:05,150 And a lot of people look to those things as the major sins. 877 00:36:05,550 --> 00:36:08,270 But I would say that there are also sins that God has called us 878 00:36:09,070 --> 00:36:12,390 to do, and we're not doing things. 879 00:36:12,390 --> 00:36:13,910 Things that I'm leaving out for my life. 880 00:36:13,910 --> 00:36:17,920 So, by the way, when we look at putting on the new man and taking 881 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,640 off the old man, the Bible doesn't just say like, hey, stop 882 00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:22,280 doing bad. 883 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:24,880 It says, start doing what God has called you to do. 884 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,360 So it's not just stop lying, but now it's telling the truth. 885 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,799 It's not just stop stealing, but it's now earned money and give 886 00:36:32,799 --> 00:36:34,160 back to those that are in need. 887 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:36,320 And so what he's saying here is this. 888 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:39,360 He says there are all different types of sins. 889 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:41,120 Sins of commission, sins of omission. 890 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:42,800 What am I supposed to do? 891 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,720 How can I live victoriously? 892 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:46,400 How can I do any of this? 893 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,510 How can I live a life according to God's will and follow 894 00:36:49,510 --> 00:36:51,470 his path and do what he's called me to do? 895 00:36:51,470 --> 00:36:56,590 He says, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 896 00:36:58,590 --> 00:37:00,390 And verse 25 is the good news. 897 00:37:00,390 --> 00:37:01,070 Okay, for. 898 00:37:01,230 --> 00:37:01,550 So. 899 00:37:01,550 --> 00:37:04,510 So Paul doesn't leave us here because that's how. 900 00:37:04,750 --> 00:37:06,950 That's how the world sometimes thinks, and that's how sometimes 901 00:37:06,950 --> 00:37:07,790 how Christians think. 902 00:37:07,950 --> 00:37:10,790 Like, we leave ourselves at the point where we say, well, I'm 903 00:37:10,790 --> 00:37:11,390 just a human. 904 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:14,360 I'm going to sin anyway. 905 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:17,160 Everyone sins. 906 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:19,720 So, you know, I'm just going to give over to that. 907 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:22,200 I'll just be a Christian who isn't content. 908 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:24,360 I'll be a Christian who is miserable. 909 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:26,720 Because I'm going to tell you, some of the most miserable people 910 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:29,440 in the world are people that are Christians who know the joy of 911 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:31,480 God but have lost that joy in their salvation. 912 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,400 Remember David's prayer, restoring me the joy of my salvation? 913 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:40,360 And we see Christians who walk around not having joy, not having 914 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:41,080 peace, not having. 915 00:37:41,470 --> 00:37:44,670 Not having an effective witness for the cause of the gospel 916 00:37:44,670 --> 00:37:45,710 because they say, you know what? 917 00:37:45,790 --> 00:37:46,910 I'm just a sinner. 918 00:37:47,070 --> 00:37:48,270 It's an excuse, right? 919 00:37:48,270 --> 00:37:49,070 I can just do it. 920 00:37:50,110 --> 00:37:53,510 And so Paul asked this question, how can I be delivered 921 00:37:53,510 --> 00:37:55,710 from the body of this death. 922 00:37:56,270 --> 00:37:58,470 And then if he just ended there, we would all be like, oh, 923 00:37:58,470 --> 00:37:59,950 man, that's kind of hopeless. 924 00:37:59,950 --> 00:38:01,230 How are we going to figure this out? 925 00:38:01,310 --> 00:38:02,350 But the answer's here. 926 00:38:02,350 --> 00:38:03,390 Verse 25. 927 00:38:04,990 --> 00:38:08,430 I kind of almost see Paul's demeanor changing here. 928 00:38:09,750 --> 00:38:14,630 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 929 00:38:15,910 --> 00:38:19,870 So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but 930 00:38:19,870 --> 00:38:21,670 with the flesh, the law of sin. 931 00:38:22,310 --> 00:38:27,190 He says, I thank God that I have someone who can change me. 932 00:38:27,190 --> 00:38:28,950 I thank God I have hope. 933 00:38:29,030 --> 00:38:32,150 I thank God there's someone who can deliver me, and that is Jesus 934 00:38:32,150 --> 00:38:32,470 Christ. 935 00:38:32,470 --> 00:38:35,430 And so he says here, he summarizes the very thought of the 936 00:38:35,430 --> 00:38:36,710 end of verse 25 with this. 937 00:38:37,410 --> 00:38:43,210 If I'm walking in newness of mind from a change of heart in the 938 00:38:43,210 --> 00:38:44,890 spirit, what am I going to do? 939 00:38:44,890 --> 00:38:46,210 I'm going to serve the law of God. 940 00:38:47,010 --> 00:38:49,010 I'm going to do what God has called me to do. 941 00:38:49,010 --> 00:38:50,210 I'm going to obey him. 942 00:38:51,250 --> 00:38:53,890 I'm going to honor him, I'm going to worship him. 943 00:38:53,970 --> 00:38:56,290 I'm going to impact others for him. 944 00:38:56,370 --> 00:38:58,730 But then at the end of the verse, he says, but with the flesh, 945 00:38:58,730 --> 00:38:59,650 the law of sin. 946 00:38:59,890 --> 00:39:04,490 So I'm either going to choose to follow God through the guidance 947 00:39:04,490 --> 00:39:08,170 and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, or I'm going to choose to 948 00:39:08,170 --> 00:39:12,210 serve my flesh and as it says here, fall into the law of sin. 949 00:39:14,370 --> 00:39:14,730 So. 950 00:39:14,730 --> 00:39:15,890 So it's simple, folks. 951 00:39:15,890 --> 00:39:19,370 It's this idea that as a believer, am I going to walk in the 952 00:39:19,370 --> 00:39:22,970 truth of God and be guided by the spirit, or am I going to choose 953 00:39:22,970 --> 00:39:24,930 the path that feeds my flesh? 954 00:39:25,730 --> 00:39:26,690 Die daily. 955 00:39:27,170 --> 00:39:27,930 Die daily. 956 00:39:27,930 --> 00:39:28,450 Wake up. 957 00:39:28,530 --> 00:39:30,490 You know what one of the prayers that we should be praying 958 00:39:30,490 --> 00:39:30,650 is? 959 00:39:30,650 --> 00:39:32,610 Lord, help me die to my flesh today. 960 00:39:33,390 --> 00:39:33,550 Help. 961 00:39:33,550 --> 00:39:36,510 Help me die to my sinful passions. 962 00:39:37,470 --> 00:39:40,110 Help me die to my selfishness. 963 00:39:41,150 --> 00:39:42,750 Help me die to my pride. 964 00:39:43,470 --> 00:39:45,030 Lord, give me your heart today. 965 00:39:45,030 --> 00:39:46,430 Give me your direction today. 966 00:39:46,510 --> 00:39:48,590 Lord, let me follow you and obey you. 967 00:39:48,829 --> 00:39:51,990 That's the desire of Paul and that's the desire, hopefully, of 968 00:39:51,990 --> 00:39:54,270 every believer, is that, Lord, I want more of you. 969 00:39:54,350 --> 00:39:57,550 I want more of you and less of me. 970 00:39:58,920 --> 00:39:59,760 Remember what John said. 971 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:01,360 He must increase, I must decrease. 972 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:02,840 I. I need a decrease in my life. 973 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:03,920 It doesn't need to be about me. 974 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:04,280 It's not. 975 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:05,480 It's not about my path. 976 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:06,680 And so that's the. 977 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:07,200 The battle. 978 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:08,120 The what is the battle? 979 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,600 The battle is relying on Christ to give us the victory. 980 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,160 But I want you to see one thing here as, as we conclude it 981 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:17,640 says in verse 25, he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ. 982 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:18,360 Our Lord. 983 00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:21,480 So he says, the victory comes through Jesus. 984 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,760 So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God. 985 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:27,960 So he says something about the mind here, which is very interesting 986 00:40:30,510 --> 00:40:33,150 because he's talking here specifically about how we think. 987 00:40:35,630 --> 00:40:39,670 The problem isn't necessarily sometimes, you know, this, this temptation, 988 00:40:39,670 --> 00:40:43,390 it's so overwhelming that I just can't turn it away. 989 00:40:43,710 --> 00:40:47,950 No, it's sometimes how we are thinking about the truths of God. 990 00:40:49,310 --> 00:40:52,830 And the Bible says In Romans chapter 12, I want you to see this. 991 00:40:52,830 --> 00:40:55,530 We're kind of getting ahead of ourselves in the study of, of the 992 00:40:55,530 --> 00:40:56,130 book of Romans. 993 00:40:56,130 --> 00:40:59,210 But In Romans, chapter 12, it tells us, I beseech you therefore, 994 00:40:59,210 --> 00:41:01,810 brethren, verse one, by the mercies of God that you present your 995 00:41:01,810 --> 00:41:05,010 bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which 996 00:41:05,010 --> 00:41:06,170 is a reasonable service. 997 00:41:06,410 --> 00:41:11,570 And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the 998 00:41:11,570 --> 00:41:12,650 renewing of your mind. 999 00:41:14,890 --> 00:41:16,250 How can your mind be renewed? 1000 00:41:16,250 --> 00:41:17,690 It's renewed by the word of God. 1001 00:41:17,770 --> 00:41:19,930 It's renewed by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 1002 00:41:19,930 --> 00:41:22,860 It's thinking the right things, because thinking the right 1003 00:41:22,860 --> 00:41:26,220 things brings us to a place of acting in the right way. 1004 00:41:27,420 --> 00:41:32,980 And so Paul shows us that even though the law is a good thing from 1005 00:41:32,980 --> 00:41:34,380 God, it can't save us. 1006 00:41:35,340 --> 00:41:37,340 The only thing that can save us is Jesus Christ. 1007 00:41:37,420 --> 00:41:40,060 We can never find peace in a list of rules. 1008 00:41:41,900 --> 00:41:46,220 We can never find peace in physical religious acts. 1009 00:41:48,310 --> 00:41:53,190 The only where, only way and place that we can find peace is resting 1010 00:41:53,590 --> 00:41:57,110 and abiding in a relationship with Jesus Christ. 1011 00:41:59,430 --> 00:42:00,510 And so what does he say? 1012 00:42:00,510 --> 00:42:03,990 Say here at the end of Romans chapter seven, he says, you can think 1013 00:42:04,470 --> 00:42:07,510 upon the things of God, meditate upon the things of God, 1014 00:42:07,830 --> 00:42:09,350 rest in the things of God. 1015 00:42:09,510 --> 00:42:12,910 And when we do that, we're more and more transformed into the 1016 00:42:12,910 --> 00:42:13,670 image of Christ. 1017 00:42:14,590 --> 00:42:16,910 Or we can be Christians that say, well, I've got my ticket to 1018 00:42:16,910 --> 00:42:17,310 heaven. 1019 00:42:17,310 --> 00:42:18,830 I'm just going to do what I want to do. 1020 00:42:18,830 --> 00:42:19,590 I don't want to grow. 1021 00:42:19,590 --> 00:42:20,390 I don't want to study. 1022 00:42:20,390 --> 00:42:21,110 I don't want to. 1023 00:42:21,110 --> 00:42:22,230 I don't want to sacrifice. 1024 00:42:22,230 --> 00:42:23,150 I don't want to serve. 1025 00:42:23,390 --> 00:42:25,630 And I'm just content with what I have, folks. 1026 00:42:25,630 --> 00:42:28,590 That's where we become spiritually stunted in our growth. 1027 00:42:28,590 --> 00:42:31,190 And that's why we have a lot of Christians who are doubting their 1028 00:42:31,190 --> 00:42:31,630 salvation. 1029 00:42:31,630 --> 00:42:33,990 We have a lot of Christians who are doubting the goodness of 1030 00:42:33,990 --> 00:42:34,350 God. 1031 00:42:34,590 --> 00:42:37,070 We have a lot of Christians who are doubting the power of God, 1032 00:42:37,390 --> 00:42:38,910 doubting the plan of God. 1033 00:42:39,310 --> 00:42:41,640 We have a lot of Christians who are just living miserable lives 1034 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,120 because we're not walking in Newness of mind. 1035 00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:45,480 We're not walking in the spirit. 1036 00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,520 We're trying to live the Christian life in our flesh. 1037 00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:50,720 And when you try to live your life in the. 1038 00:42:50,720 --> 00:42:53,320 In the flesh, your Christian life in the flesh, it's going to 1039 00:42:53,320 --> 00:42:53,760 be crazy. 1040 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:55,080 It's going to be contradictory. 1041 00:42:55,240 --> 00:42:57,680 It's never going to make any sense because the things of God aren't 1042 00:42:57,680 --> 00:42:59,880 aligned with our flesh and the wisdom of man. 1043 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:03,080 There's a lot of Christians today who are living in defeatism 1044 00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:05,720 because they look at the world and they say, look how evil the world 1045 00:43:05,720 --> 00:43:06,200 is today. 1046 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:08,320 Therefore, God must not be in control. 1047 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:10,640 It looks like God's not winning. 1048 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:13,040 It looks like God's taking all the good ones from us. 1049 00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:16,600 I've heard that this week, and, and I understand what we're 1050 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:18,240 saying in the eyes of man. 1051 00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:18,720 Yes. 1052 00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:21,280 But when we're thinking about it from the bigger perspective, we 1053 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:23,000 know what's going on, right? 1054 00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:26,400 We understand that God is victorious. 1055 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:27,520 We've seen the end. 1056 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:28,480 We know the end. 1057 00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:30,080 There's darkness in this world. 1058 00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:31,760 There's always been darkness in this world. 1059 00:43:32,570 --> 00:43:34,690 It's always been a battle between good and evil. 1060 00:43:34,690 --> 00:43:38,930 But we know that good overcomes evil because of the promises 1061 00:43:38,930 --> 00:43:39,530 of God. 1062 00:43:39,610 --> 00:43:41,450 God is faithful and just. 1063 00:43:42,810 --> 00:43:43,850 God is the same. 1064 00:43:44,090 --> 00:43:47,130 This is Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. 1065 00:43:48,730 --> 00:43:50,890 Next week, we're going to start Romans chapter 8. 1066 00:43:50,890 --> 00:43:57,650 And if there's any book, chapter in the Bible that I would 1067 00:43:57,650 --> 00:44:01,910 encourage you to put to memory to study, it's Romans chapter eight. 1068 00:44:03,350 --> 00:44:07,750 Because lest you think that God is losing, if you think that 1069 00:44:07,750 --> 00:44:10,710 God is losing right now, read Romans chapter 8. 1070 00:44:11,110 --> 00:44:12,390 Our God is not losing. 1071 00:44:13,270 --> 00:44:14,790 Our God is still on his throne. 1072 00:44:15,830 --> 00:44:18,910 It's we who are failing the plan of God. 1073 00:44:18,910 --> 00:44:21,190 It's we who are struggling with our faith. 1074 00:44:21,190 --> 00:44:23,590 But folks, when we look to God and we know that there's the end. 1075 00:44:23,750 --> 00:44:24,910 We know who wins. 1076 00:44:24,910 --> 00:44:25,380 We, we. 1077 00:44:25,380 --> 00:44:27,300 We know that good overcomes evil. 1078 00:44:27,300 --> 00:44:30,460 We know that darkness is stopped by the light. 1079 00:44:30,460 --> 00:44:32,700 And we are excited for that as Christians. 1080 00:44:32,700 --> 00:44:34,700 And when we're living like that, there's nothing that anyone 1081 00:44:34,700 --> 00:44:38,900 can do for us or against us that can make us fear who could come 1082 00:44:38,900 --> 00:44:39,540 against us. 1083 00:44:40,820 --> 00:44:43,700 The one who lives within me is greater than the one who is in this 1084 00:44:43,700 --> 00:44:44,020 world. 1085 00:44:44,660 --> 00:44:47,140 And we can overcome evil by living the light. 1086 00:44:47,220 --> 00:44:47,540 We. 1087 00:44:47,540 --> 00:44:49,700 We can't overcome evil by complaining. 1088 00:44:51,630 --> 00:44:52,110 You know what? 1089 00:44:52,190 --> 00:44:52,550 We. 1090 00:44:52,550 --> 00:44:53,710 We like to complain. 1091 00:44:54,670 --> 00:44:56,430 We like to say, what's wrong with this world? 1092 00:44:57,070 --> 00:44:59,750 And I like to sit around the table and say, you know what? 1093 00:44:59,750 --> 00:45:02,110 If they just did this, this and this, everything would be okay. 1094 00:45:02,910 --> 00:45:06,470 These people are so this and these people are so that folks, I 1095 00:45:06,470 --> 00:45:07,470 know why we do that. 1096 00:45:07,470 --> 00:45:11,990 That, that gives us some type of like, like joy I guess is to commiserate 1097 00:45:11,990 --> 00:45:13,230 one with another with pain. 1098 00:45:13,710 --> 00:45:17,680 But at the same time, the Bible never says that. 1099 00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:19,480 When we're faced with struggles, just keep complaining. 1100 00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:20,520 That'll make everything better. 1101 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:23,160 It just says the opposite. 1102 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:25,400 So what do we do? 1103 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:28,760 Well, what we live, we go back to what Paul says here. 1104 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:30,000 We walk in the spirit. 1105 00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:31,640 We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. 1106 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:37,760 I'm going to say this every single service until, until when 1107 00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:38,880 God tells me to stop saying it. 1108 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:39,320 Okay? 1109 00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:43,080 As a Christian, we are living in a win, win situation. 1110 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:46,440 What do I mean by win win? 1111 00:45:47,240 --> 00:45:50,680 Okay, let's say I'm sick, okay? 1112 00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:52,600 Just me, okay, I'm sick. 1113 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,200 I could ask God to heal me in faith. 1114 00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:57,080 I believe he can. 1115 00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:01,640 If he heals me, that's a victory, that's a, that's a miracle, 1116 00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:05,640 that's a blessing and we can give God the glory for that. 1117 00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:09,200 But let's say I'm sick and I ask God to heal me and it's not God's 1118 00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:09,880 plan to heal me. 1119 00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:11,080 And he takes me home. 1120 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:16,280 I'm with my Savior for eternity. 1121 00:46:17,240 --> 00:46:18,920 I get to see him face to face. 1122 00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:21,040 I get to know what it means to walk with Him. 1123 00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:22,720 And I think that we forget that. 1124 00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:23,240 Hey, you know what? 1125 00:46:23,240 --> 00:46:26,800 No matter what is the case in a prayer situation, God gets the 1126 00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:27,160 glory. 1127 00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:31,200 Someone loses their life. 1128 00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:34,920 It's a tragic thing in the sense of our human perspective. 1129 00:46:35,570 --> 00:46:39,290 But the Bible says that if a believer, if a believer loses his 1130 00:46:39,290 --> 00:46:42,450 life, we don't have to sorrow as other people sorrow because of 1131 00:46:42,450 --> 00:46:43,890 the hope of eternity. 1132 00:46:44,930 --> 00:46:48,410 Now we can sorrow when a, when a person who is unsaved passes away 1133 00:46:48,410 --> 00:46:50,290 because we know where they're going. 1134 00:46:50,370 --> 00:46:51,769 We know that there's judgment. 1135 00:46:51,769 --> 00:46:53,090 We know that that's the end. 1136 00:46:53,170 --> 00:46:57,050 But all the more we don't wallow in our self pity and wallow 1137 00:46:57,050 --> 00:46:57,890 in our sadness. 1138 00:46:57,890 --> 00:47:00,770 We say, now I need to affect more people for the cause of the 1139 00:47:00,770 --> 00:47:01,170 gospel. 1140 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:03,800 I need to tell more people about Jesus Christ. 1141 00:47:05,320 --> 00:47:09,720 Folks, there's so many opportunities today to point folks 1142 00:47:09,720 --> 00:47:10,200 to Christ. 1143 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:13,240 But if we go Back to verse 25, this is where we're going to stop. 1144 00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:18,280 What does Paul do when he gets to that place where he starts saying, 1145 00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:19,960 man, this battle's really hard. 1146 00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:21,960 I don't know what, why I want to do this. 1147 00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:22,440 I don't. 1148 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:26,880 He could have just kept falling into the trap of doubt, but 1149 00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:27,640 what did he do here? 1150 00:47:27,640 --> 00:47:32,410 He came to the place where he, he says No, I thank, I thank Thanksgiving, 1151 00:47:32,650 --> 00:47:35,090 giving God thanks, having that spirit of gratitude. 1152 00:47:35,090 --> 00:47:37,930 He says, I thank God through Jesus Christ. 1153 00:47:38,650 --> 00:47:41,370 Jesus is the answer for all of our problems. 1154 00:47:41,930 --> 00:47:46,970 Doubt, struggle, pain, loss, you name it. 1155 00:47:47,050 --> 00:47:50,530 Everything that might cause us to doubt something in this world 1156 00:47:50,530 --> 00:47:51,770 and struggle in this world. 1157 00:47:51,770 --> 00:47:53,130 Jesus is the answer. 1158 00:47:55,860 --> 00:47:56,580 And so he says. 1159 00:47:56,660 --> 00:47:59,860 So then with my mind, I myself serve the law of God. 1160 00:47:59,860 --> 00:48:02,500 My mind, meaning the renewed mind, the new life. 1161 00:48:02,820 --> 00:48:05,940 So are we going to walk in this, Are we going to face this present 1162 00:48:06,020 --> 00:48:09,140 world in the spirit or are we going to face it in our flesh? 1163 00:48:09,780 --> 00:48:13,060 Are we going to face the temptations that we have this week 1164 00:48:13,380 --> 00:48:15,620 in the spirit or in the flesh? 1165 00:48:16,260 --> 00:48:21,180 Are we going to face that co worker who gets under our skin in 1166 00:48:21,180 --> 00:48:22,420 the spirit or the flesh? 1167 00:48:23,780 --> 00:48:26,060 Are we going to face the news this week? 1168 00:48:26,060 --> 00:48:29,140 Because guess what it's like, turn on the news this week, let's 1169 00:48:29,140 --> 00:48:30,980 see what world changing things going to pop up. 1170 00:48:30,980 --> 00:48:31,460 Okay. 1171 00:48:31,460 --> 00:48:34,940 Are we going to face the news this week in the spirit or in the 1172 00:48:34,940 --> 00:48:35,300 flesh? 1173 00:48:36,420 --> 00:48:38,580 Because if we face any of these things in the flesh, what's 1174 00:48:38,580 --> 00:48:40,980 going to happen is we're going to revert back to what the flesh 1175 00:48:40,980 --> 00:48:41,300 does. 1176 00:48:41,460 --> 00:48:45,380 Sin, worry, stress, anxiety, doubt, fear. 1177 00:48:45,780 --> 00:48:49,460 But when we come to anything in the spirit, what, what is the 1178 00:48:49,460 --> 00:48:50,300 fruit of the spirit? 1179 00:48:51,420 --> 00:48:57,100 Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, all those things, 1180 00:48:57,100 --> 00:48:57,420 right? 1181 00:48:57,580 --> 00:49:01,380 So if we want to have a life characterized by those things, the 1182 00:49:01,380 --> 00:49:03,420 book, I mean if I, I wish I had more time. 1183 00:49:03,500 --> 00:49:06,340 The Galatians, if you read the book of Galatians, he doesn't say 1184 00:49:06,340 --> 00:49:06,620 this. 1185 00:49:06,780 --> 00:49:09,340 Live in love, joy, peace, when everything's going well. 1186 00:49:10,220 --> 00:49:11,740 Because that's what we, that's what we do. 1187 00:49:11,820 --> 00:49:12,420 Love, joy. 1188 00:49:12,420 --> 00:49:14,540 Oh, I'll be loving when everything's going my way. 1189 00:49:15,030 --> 00:49:19,190 No, he says that's the fruit of the spirit in persecution, that's 1190 00:49:19,190 --> 00:49:21,990 the fruit of the spirit in loss, that's the fruit of the spirit 1191 00:49:21,990 --> 00:49:22,630 in pain. 1192 00:49:22,790 --> 00:49:25,110 He says the fruit of the spirit is the fruit of the spirit 1193 00:49:25,110 --> 00:49:27,350 and that's what we respond with in our lives. 1194 00:49:27,350 --> 00:49:31,230 And so he says, are you going to respond to temptation in the flesh? 1195 00:49:31,230 --> 00:49:31,790 Well, guess what? 1196 00:49:31,790 --> 00:49:33,750 You can't fight temptation in the flesh. 1197 00:49:35,030 --> 00:49:38,310 You're going to fall into that trap and you're going to, it's going 1198 00:49:38,310 --> 00:49:39,430 to be a cycle, right? 1199 00:49:40,640 --> 00:49:42,960 And I'm gonna tell you here today, there is victory over sin. 1200 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:47,120 You are not defined by your sin. 1201 00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:49,080 There are some people that say, well, I've just got this, this 1202 00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:50,080 thing I can't get over. 1203 00:49:50,240 --> 00:49:53,000 You can get over it in the power of God, because by the Way. 1204 00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:54,880 Even though the Bible says that we're not gonna be perfect, 1205 00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:57,480 the Bible doesn't say that we have to stay in the sin that we are 1206 00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:00,640 in and so you can have victory over those sins. 1207 00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:02,640 That's the beauty of our salvation. 1208 00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:04,720 And so what do we do? 1209 00:50:05,440 --> 00:50:07,440 The Lord's pressing me on this, and so I'm just gonna preach 1210 00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:07,660 it. 1211 00:50:08,050 --> 00:50:10,810 If there's someone here today who is dealing with a sin that they 1212 00:50:10,810 --> 00:50:14,810 are struggling with, that's overwhelming, can't get away from 1213 00:50:14,810 --> 00:50:17,050 it, you feel like it's all you can do. 1214 00:50:17,050 --> 00:50:18,690 It's all you think about, folks. 1215 00:50:18,930 --> 00:50:21,490 First and foremost, ask God to take that away from you. 1216 00:50:21,970 --> 00:50:24,130 Ask God to give you victory over the first of all. 1217 00:50:24,130 --> 00:50:25,410 Ask him to remove that temptation. 1218 00:50:25,730 --> 00:50:28,410 But if it's not removing the temptation, ask him to give you the 1219 00:50:28,410 --> 00:50:32,010 strength and the wisdom and the self control and the. 1220 00:50:32,010 --> 00:50:34,090 And the opportunity to overcome that sin. 1221 00:50:34,090 --> 00:50:35,730 And resting in his spirit. 1222 00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:37,480 And then listen, don't. 1223 00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:39,720 A lot of times we talk to God and we don't listen. 1224 00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:41,960 We say, lord, take this out of my life. 1225 00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:43,280 And he goes, okay, here it is. 1226 00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:44,560 This is what you have to do to take it out. 1227 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:44,880 Well, not. 1228 00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:45,640 Not that way. 1229 00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:46,880 No, not that way, not that way. 1230 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:47,440 I have a better way. 1231 00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:48,920 No, no, see, you see, that's what we do. 1232 00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:49,800 We don't listen to God. 1233 00:50:49,800 --> 00:50:50,600 We ask God for. 1234 00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:53,840 It's like I'm trying not to use my kids as much in analogies, 1235 00:50:53,840 --> 00:50:56,760 but I'll give them advice and they'll say, no, dad, no, that's 1236 00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:57,360 not what I want. 1237 00:50:57,360 --> 00:50:58,640 Dad, I want to get open in the game. 1238 00:50:58,640 --> 00:50:59,080 I want to. 1239 00:50:59,080 --> 00:50:59,960 I want to catch the football. 1240 00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:01,000 I want to run a touchdown. 1241 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:02,160 Okay, son, you just got to do this. 1242 00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:02,800 No, not that way. 1243 00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:03,080 I. 1244 00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:03,840 That's not right. 1245 00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:05,320 I was like, well, yes, it is. 1246 00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:05,920 Okay? 1247 00:51:05,920 --> 00:51:06,720 That's how God is. 1248 00:51:06,720 --> 00:51:06,960 God. 1249 00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:08,040 God has given us the plan. 1250 00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:09,240 And sometimes it's like this. 1251 00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:10,920 Oh, but not that way. 1252 00:51:12,200 --> 00:51:16,040 So here this morning, seek after God's will in your life by 1253 00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:17,240 asking him. 1254 00:51:17,240 --> 00:51:19,120 The Bible says if we're lacking wisdom, he'll give it to 1255 00:51:19,120 --> 00:51:19,400 us. 1256 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:22,800 But then receive that wisdom and apply that wisdom and say, lord, 1257 00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:24,760 I want to have victory over this sin. 1258 00:51:25,720 --> 00:51:27,720 There are some sins that can be public. 1259 00:51:30,130 --> 00:51:31,010 There's sins that are private. 1260 00:51:31,010 --> 00:51:32,610 And we think that we keep those sins private. 1261 00:51:33,250 --> 00:51:36,090 And you might keep them private to those around you, maybe 1262 00:51:36,090 --> 00:51:36,690 even your family. 1263 00:51:37,170 --> 00:51:38,610 No sin is private to God. 1264 00:51:39,090 --> 00:51:40,130 God sees your heart. 1265 00:51:40,290 --> 00:51:42,290 God knows what you're doing, and he still loves you. 1266 00:51:42,450 --> 00:51:45,770 If you're a believer this morning and you're in A sin that 1267 00:51:45,770 --> 00:51:48,770 only he knows he still loves you, but he wants you to come to 1268 00:51:48,770 --> 00:51:49,290 repentance. 1269 00:51:49,290 --> 00:51:52,010 He wants you to come to victory and knowing that you are 1270 00:51:52,010 --> 00:51:53,650 not bound by that sin anymore. 1271 00:51:54,460 --> 00:51:56,860 And so if you need to get that taken care of today, don't wait. 1272 00:51:58,140 --> 00:52:00,140 You don't need to come to anybody. 1273 00:52:00,140 --> 00:52:01,580 First step is coming to God. 1274 00:52:01,580 --> 00:52:05,020 But if you need help, if you need strength, if you need some type 1275 00:52:05,020 --> 00:52:09,580 of wisdom or guidance, don't be afraid to come talk to someone 1276 00:52:09,580 --> 00:52:13,420 that you trust, another Christian, and confess that fault, 1277 00:52:13,420 --> 00:52:15,180 one to another, so that you can pray for one another. 1278 00:52:16,300 --> 00:52:18,940 And so here this morning, I'm not saying that, hey, go to, you 1279 00:52:18,940 --> 00:52:20,500 have to go to everyone for every situation. 1280 00:52:20,500 --> 00:52:21,740 But what I am saying is this. 1281 00:52:22,110 --> 00:52:25,510 There's help, there's help in the Lord first and foremost. 1282 00:52:25,510 --> 00:52:26,510 There's help in His Word. 1283 00:52:26,830 --> 00:52:30,190 But God uses fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to bring alongside 1284 00:52:30,190 --> 00:52:31,470 encouragement and edification. 1285 00:52:32,030 --> 00:52:33,230 The Bible talks about that. 1286 00:52:33,230 --> 00:52:35,950 The Bible speaks to the importance of edification and encouragement. 1287 00:52:36,430 --> 00:52:39,150 And so here this morning, I wanted to extend that invitation 1288 00:52:39,150 --> 00:52:42,590 to you, but the bigger invitation is this, then we're going 1289 00:52:42,590 --> 00:52:43,550 to have a time to respond. 1290 00:52:44,030 --> 00:52:46,910 The biggest invitation is that you can't live this life of victory 1291 00:52:47,230 --> 00:52:49,070 outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ. 1292 00:52:49,980 --> 00:52:53,660 There's a lot of opinions out there and the truth is, like, if 1293 00:52:53,660 --> 00:52:59,500 you don't believe in Jesus, that's the reality of the matter 1294 00:52:59,500 --> 00:52:59,980 is this. 1295 00:53:00,780 --> 00:53:03,340 Whether or not I believe in something to be true doesn't matter. 1296 00:53:03,500 --> 00:53:04,940 It's either true or not true. 1297 00:53:05,260 --> 00:53:11,780 So even if I deny the reality of who Jesus is and who God is and 1298 00:53:11,780 --> 00:53:16,380 how he works, I have to be confidently sure that my way is better 1299 00:53:16,380 --> 00:53:17,020 than that way. 1300 00:53:18,330 --> 00:53:22,330 And the doubt that I have in my mind is this, I'm gonna fail. 1301 00:53:22,890 --> 00:53:23,930 I'm not that smart. 1302 00:53:24,490 --> 00:53:28,530 Maybe a lot, lot smarter people in the room than me in this 1303 00:53:28,530 --> 00:53:28,810 morning. 1304 00:53:29,050 --> 00:53:31,650 But the truth is, if I trust in any of my own path, what does 1305 00:53:31,650 --> 00:53:32,250 Paul say? 1306 00:53:32,250 --> 00:53:35,610 A wretched man that I am, there is none, nothing good in me. 1307 00:53:36,330 --> 00:53:39,530 So instead of trying to find our own path and our own way, let's 1308 00:53:39,530 --> 00:53:40,970 go the way that is proven. 1309 00:53:40,970 --> 00:53:43,650 Let's go to the path of, of faith. 1310 00:53:43,650 --> 00:53:47,730 Let's go to the path of revitalization and change in Jesus 1311 00:53:47,730 --> 00:53:48,010 Christ. 1312 00:53:48,010 --> 00:53:49,690 Well, I'm going to ask if you're able to, to stand with me, 1313 00:53:49,690 --> 00:53:51,890 every head bowed, every eye closed as the music plays. 1314 00:53:51,890 --> 00:53:53,890 We have an opportunity to respond here this morning. 1315 00:53:54,930 --> 00:53:57,330 First and foremost, do you need Jesus Christ as your savior? 1316 00:53:57,410 --> 00:54:00,210 I need to go through the gospel with it, with you right now. 1317 00:54:01,570 --> 00:54:06,930 The Bible says this First Corinthians, chapter 15, that Jesus 1318 00:54:06,930 --> 00:54:10,060 came to this earth, the word becoming flesh. 1319 00:54:10,220 --> 00:54:16,300 Jesus is God in the flesh and dwelt among us, lived a perfect life, 1320 00:54:16,380 --> 00:54:23,340 no sin, fulfilled the law, but yet was persecuted and then eventually 1321 00:54:23,340 --> 00:54:26,300 put to death not against his will. 1322 00:54:27,180 --> 00:54:30,700 Jesus willingly went to the cross for you, for me. 1323 00:54:30,940 --> 00:54:34,220 Because it says in the Bible, for God so loved the world that he 1324 00:54:34,220 --> 00:54:35,180 gave his only begotten son. 1325 00:54:35,180 --> 00:54:36,380 It's the, the love of God. 1326 00:54:37,100 --> 00:54:39,100 It's the love of God that should compel us. 1327 00:54:40,620 --> 00:54:45,140 And so then the Bible says that after Jesus died, he was buried, 1328 00:54:45,140 --> 00:54:48,540 but he didn't stay in the tomb three days later he conquered death 1329 00:54:48,540 --> 00:54:50,380 through the resurrection is living today. 1330 00:54:51,020 --> 00:54:53,460 And the Bible says if we put our faith and trust in the gospel, 1331 00:54:53,460 --> 00:54:56,140 if we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and the work that 1332 00:54:56,140 --> 00:55:00,180 he's done for us, that we can have everlasting life, that we can 1333 00:55:00,180 --> 00:55:03,980 have forgiveness of sins, that we can have hope, that we are going 1334 00:55:03,980 --> 00:55:05,860 to live with him forever. 1335 00:55:07,940 --> 00:55:12,380 So the Bible says believe, trust, not work, the works come after 1336 00:55:12,380 --> 00:55:12,900 belief. 1337 00:55:13,060 --> 00:55:14,460 Belief in Jesus Christ. 1338 00:55:14,460 --> 00:55:16,260 And so if that's something that you need here this morning, 1339 00:55:16,340 --> 00:55:17,500 talk to someone that you trust. 1340 00:55:17,500 --> 00:55:18,580 We have people up here. 1341 00:55:18,660 --> 00:55:20,020 I'll talk to you after the service. 1342 00:55:20,340 --> 00:55:23,060 Talk with someone that's invited you to church. 1343 00:55:23,060 --> 00:55:24,940 But come today, trust in him. 1344 00:55:24,940 --> 00:55:26,820 Today there's hope. 1345 00:55:28,430 --> 00:55:30,310 Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working 1346 00:55:30,310 --> 00:55:30,990 hearts and lives. 1347 00:55:31,150 --> 00:55:31,950 We thank you. 1348 00:55:32,430 --> 00:55:33,230 Jesus name. 1349 00:55:33,630 --> 00:55:34,070 Amen. 1350 00:55:34,070 --> 00:55:35,390 As the music plays, some have already come. 1351 00:55:35,390 --> 00:55:36,270 Follow as the Lord leads. 1352 00:55:36,270 --> 00:55:38,350 Maybe you need to come forward and get a sin right in your life. 1353 00:55:38,590 --> 00:55:41,070 Maybe something's been holding you back from doing what God has 1354 00:55:41,070 --> 00:55:41,790 called you to do. 1355 00:55:41,790 --> 00:55:42,750 Come forward this morning. 1356 00:55:42,750 --> 00:55:43,709 It's not too late. 1357 00:55:43,709 --> 00:55:45,550 Ask him for forgiveness. 1358 00:55:46,110 --> 00:55:48,870 If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us and 1359 00:55:48,870 --> 00:55:50,190 cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1360 00:56:53,340 --> 00:56:55,820 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 1361 00:56:55,820 --> 00:56:56,460 podcast. 1362 00:56:56,700 --> 00:56:59,020 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 1363 00:56:59,660 --> 00:57:02,020 If you would like to find out more information about our church 1364 00:57:02,020 --> 00:57:05,500 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 1365 00:57:05,740 --> 00:57:08,380 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 1366 00:57:09,020 --> 00:57:11,060 You can also also email me directly at. 1367 00:57:11,060 --> 00:57:15,340 Josh Massaro, Middletown BaptistChurch.com if you've enjoyed 1368 00:57:15,340 --> 00:57:19,780 this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast 1369 00:57:19,780 --> 00:57:20,740 and updates. 1370 00:57:21,460 --> 00:57:22,340 Thank you so much. 1371 00:57:22,580 --> 00:57:23,300 God bless. 1372 00:57:23,540 --> 00:57:24,900 Have a wonderful day.