Romans 7:14-25 - The Battle With The Flesh

I was tonight Romans chapter 7 verse 14 as we continue our study this evening through this wonderful letter that Paul wrote that had begun as a letter of recommendation and turned out to be really probably the best book we have in the New Testament the grace of God and salvation by grace if you've been with us and you've been following along you know that Paul spent the better part of three chapters arguing only one point man is sinful the religious guy is sinful the perverted guy is sinful the good guys sinful anybody who thinks they're anything what they are is sinful and yet because of our hopeless condition God so loved us at beginning there in chapter 3 verse 21 through the end of chapter 5 Paul just talks about one thing the intercession of Jesus on our behalf and how you and I can be made just with God it's one of those big Bible words justification means just that just as if I'd never sinned God does that for you and I through his son anyone who calls upon his name well having talked about that for then two chapters Paul then decides the next thing he has to talk about is how can we then begin to live these godly lives Jesus has saved us he has come to fill us with his spirit he now wants to set us apart for his own use it's a word that's called sanctification or set apart or Asik means holy or dedicated it's it's all the same work but God wants to make you what you are you're saved you belong to him you're going to heaven you have a new Lord and you your sins have been put away you know Satan's hold on you has been broken the the penalty of sin has been paid God wants to break the power of sin in your life one day the presence of sin will be gone but then so will you you'll be gone too but for now it's that power of sin that God wants to develop you know or deliver us from and so beginning in Chapter six seven and eight that's all Paul talks about how do we live the Christian life how do we apply it and now that we've been saved by grace you know now that God has saved us what can we do and the first thing he says in Chapter six is we can begin to reckon this old life dead now his argument is if you're in Christ when he died you're in Christ when he rose you're in Christ you're gonna go to be with him so you're no longer you know dependent upon or tied to this old flesh that you live in that was bound to sin and bondage and and and prone to head in that direction God has delivered you from the influences and the dead man is not influenced say well I'm very much alive in my flesh and that's right but but the reckoning part is a is a word of faith and it is applied not half Hazzard Lee or blindly but because Jesus died I'm free and he promises to deliver me from this sinful life so every day my life now as a Christian is live to try to grab a hold of walk in you know the things of God the things of his spirit and then find victory over my flesh last week in the first 13 verses of chapter 7 Paul then looked at the law he talked about what the law meant to him before he was saved he thought it was his salvation he he lived by it outwardly although he never applied it inwardly as God intended and it functioned to lead him to Christ because he got to the law that says you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or your neighbor's Goods any what man I'm done cooked I'm sinful and the law that he thought was going to save him condemned him and pointed out to him his fault and his sinfulness and all and so then he talked about how we relate to it after we're saved and we went over all of that last night but it has every night last week tonight as we finished chapter 7 Paul now turns to be really honest with us and tells us even though he knows you know he's alive in Christ and dead to sin and you can reckon the old man dead he's not under the law and he's been set free from the power of sin and death in his faith in Christ then he says but let me tell you how I had to face the difficulties of applying those things on an extremely personal level and Paul will talk about in these verses particularly the battle between his old nature of sin and his new life in Christ he feels pulled in both directions you know on the one hand every day his his heart is drawn near god he's been born again of the spirit on the other hand his flesh isn't playing with him you know he not participating that cooperative it just wants to go the other way but the closer you get to the Lord the worse you begin to look and so Paul now wants to tell us about the struggles that he has faced himself how intense they were how difficult and even though that he was born again and saved just like we are yet there's a battle every day with sin isn't there wouldn't you like there to be no battle just God you know make the way easy well he will you'll have to die completely but it'll be easy then you know you'll leave this body and all of its the you know desires behind but Paul wants to talk about the conflict in his heart now he wants to have the things of God in his life you know he realizes that he's not doing always what he should he there there is a tremendous you know struggle that takes place in his heart he knows he has an obligation to make good choices and submit to the Lord in this battle he had said back in chapter 6 verse 11 I think it is you know wrecking yourself dead to sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord don't let sin reign in your mortal bodies don't obey its lusts don't present your members it's instruments of unrighteousness but you present yourself to God as alive from the dead you remember as instruments of righteousness sin shall no longer have dominion over you you're under grace not under the law Paul knew that but then when he went to live it man was the battle raging and he admits it to us tonight and he talks about his personal experience and god raises Paul's personal experiences to biblical status by including them in the pages of our body it is really the confessions of a mature man of God honestly measuring his progress against God's standards and he will say more than once the the more I've grown in the Lord the less I like what I see in myself the more I realize how sinful my flesh is how deceptive it can be the the better I see him the worse I see of myself and really only someone who isn't a very strong Christian will live the illusion that spiritually he's got it made in the shade you know now Paul he's contrite and he's humble and he's broken and he he characterizes someone who realized as he's growing that he has more of a need for the Lord than ever before I mean he's been teaching the doctrines but doctrines are no good if he can't live them you know you can have all the truth in your head you like if you're not walking in them what good does that do so 46 times from verse 7 through verse 25 Paul uses the first-person pronoun I he wants to talk about his life this is what I've been going through this is what I've been facing and and he talks about these deep struggles of of heart and conscience where he understands sin and he knows that he's saved and he he realizes that the Spirit of God lives in him but man he's not real happy with what he sees in and of himself in this bat you know there are several places in the Bible where Paul really puts himself in a in a low spot he said to the Corinthians they're in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 9 I am the least of the Apostles I'm not worthy to be called an apostle I persecuted the Church of God I I don't even think I qualify for the title he said to the Ephesians that God had finally revealed himself to him the least of all of the saints he said but God gave me this grace to preach amongst the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ VIII I don't qualify he said to Timothy I thank the Lord that he has enabled me counted me worthy putting me in the ministry worthy saying faithful saying Christ came into the world to save sinners and I'm the chief sinner you know this isn't some guy pretending to be humble this is what he Paul saw in and of himself this is what he experienced in his heart but he he did write to the Corinthians there in first Corinthians 15:10 by the grace of God I am what I am I've become all that I've become by his work in me so paul shares his personal experience now very rarely in the bible does god allow personal experience to establish doctrine it's usually a bad practice but yet when it comes into the life of Paul and David and some others God allows it to happen when the doctrine that it each is as obvious to our that it's Universal or or even though he's speaking from personal experience it's it's a experience that everyone has had in their life and and there's no documentation necessary we can all just go hey man that's asked too and so he lays bare his heart and his knowledge about his view of himself and he talks about this tension in his heart between sin and righteousness and only a Christian knows it you know before you got saved there wasn't much tension you might feel guilty but only for a minute and then I'm going back to sin again you know I know I got caught that's no good I'll try to hide better next time you know but only a Christian finds this struggle within where where the divine nature of God has placed in his heart you know we've been made partakers Peter said of the divine nature the Holy Spirit was in longing to make me more like Jesus and then my flesh now Paul had talked about the fact that the law couldn't save you it could lead you to Jesus but it couldn't save you in the same manner Paul will say the law can't cleanse me or keep me holy either he's gonna have to do that as well and I think that's the big lesson for us tonight you know the problem is that sin clings to your flesh to your body to this vessel in which God has placed you and you're still subject to it you have an inner man a spirit that's been born again God has moved in he's you know he's turned on the light he's he's open the doors of heaven you have access to God and fellowship with God and because you are born again now this inner man hates said it hates the work of Senate despises when it falls because we've gone from darkness to light the conflict that we have now is with our old ways our old life that old nature that dwells in our flesh so we have redeemed spirits and unredeemed bodies and that's why there's a conflict the minute you die conflict stops you'll get a new body made without hands eternal in the heavens you know when the Lord comes for the church but while you're in this thing that's where the battle comes from and and Paul says what we should be saying that as we become you know stronger in the Lord our sinfulness becomes more obvious - you know I thought when I got saved at 18 or 19 years old a couple years I'll clean it all up you know but 30 or 40 years later when you're still the Lord and you realized man you are a worm you know when doing when the psalmist writes I'm a worm I used to think what a knucklehead well how can you be a worm but then you feel like that after a while though yeah you know God's been so good so faithful so patient you're just yeah really you know and the more subtle scent-- you know begins to be more obvious to our lives and so paul has this awareness of sin along with this extreme desire or deep desire to please the lord and he struggles I think the Puritan Paul Watson years ago wrote on Romans chapter 7 that that a hypocrite might leave sin but he still loves it the Christian hates it and he hates it because he's come to know God and so he genuinely has a a sadness and a brokenness over the fact that you get you know he's still standing against the one who saved him the Bible is filled with words to the saint about sin and they're only good for Saints you know God's learning to us is only good if you're a believer he tells us in Ephesians for example that that sin in my life just grieves the Holy Spirit has come to dwell within me in 1st Corinthians 6 that he that it dishonours God in first Peter 3 that sin if I leave it alone in my life will hinder the way that my life goes in prayer in 1st Corinthians 9 that my you know sin left unchecked leaves me a powerless individual it prohibits spiritual growth I think he said in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 it can bring the chastisement of God to bear and man you don't have to convince us because we hate it too and so Paul writes here of this determined battle against sin of this powerful enemy this constant foe not his master any longer sin is no longer his master but he needs the Lord to walk with Him you know Paul loves the benefits of the law even though it couldn't save him he'll say it can reveal to me and convict me of my sin and as long as I'm in this flesh the law is my ally that's what he said last week the law will help me I think you know the psalmist said your word have I hid it in my heart that I won't sin against you it's the it's the ally of the Christian it's the benefit of the believer your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path but I'm in a battle and it isn't going to get any easier or let up so tonight from verses 14 through verse 24 Paul gives to us three well organized laments and they almost if you read them quickly sound the same but they're not three of them that describe his condition or his problem he will say in verse 14 I'm a nun spiritual guy sold into sin he'll say in verse 18 there's nothing good that lives in me and my sinful nature there's nothing that I can find there of any consequence he'll say in verse 21 when I want to do good evil is right there he will after he defines his lament describe the conflict in terms of personal experience in verse 15 what I want to do I don't do but what I hate to do and I'll say it again in verse 18 and I didn't say it again in verse 23 and finally he'll explain to us or you know maybe confess to us that he understands why those things take place that sin lives in me he says in verse 17 sin lives in me verse 20 I live in a body of death verse 24 so Paul understands the battleground and the and the rules and the and and the you know the lines if you will and Paul will declare generally what his problem is and finally talk about how impossible is for him to do the right thing but his point in all of this besides the obvious is that you know you couldn't look to the law to be saved you also can't look to the law to be holy God has to do like God saves you God has to help you to be holy you have to seek Him you have to reckon you have to act in faith but it's the Lord who changes the hearts it's the Lord who changes the life and Paul's not sharing these things with us to discourage us but encourage us to recommend to fight the fight and to rely on the Lord and not upon the law because so often Christians get saved by faith and then they try to walk with God in the flesh you know I'm not gonna get angry I'm gonna count to 10 yeah that'll be good I'm out of here by the time you get to 11 you know we can't do it in the flesh and yet Paul sees the condition so here's his first lament the condition of verse 14 we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal and sold under sin now Paul declares that as a believer he had learned that the law has a spiritual component it wasn't just the actions of a life but the attitudes of the heart all of its interest is your spiritual well-being but Paul said that he also knew that he had a carnal a fleshly side and that that flesh that he lived in was sold out to sin wholly committed fully devoted to set the law had made that very clear to him back in verse 13 as a child of God he didn't have to be subject to his flesh anymore he could walk in the spirit but look that's easier said than done isn't it when Paul wrote to the Corinthian church a church filled with believers who were oftentimes mistaken for worldly people I mean they didn't do very well controlling the flesh and walking in the spirit and Paul when he wrote the hit them in Chapter three said look I'd like you to just write a spiritual letter to you but I I got a right to you like you guys are a bunch of babies in the spirit you're a bunch of carnal people I I fed you with milk I haven't given you a solid food and I still can't send it your way you're not able to receive it there's envy and strife and division you're behaving like men you're a bunch of carnal people this to the church be alright if was written to the world is written to the church Paul you must have meant that for somebody else no no for the church that's where the battle was you know here we are and Paul said I know that God's ways and his demands are spiritual they're good but but but it runs against my flesh and my flesh is carnal and it has a absolute unsatisfied desire for sin my spirit within me is absolutely acceptable to God I've been washed when I die when you die we're going to be welcomed into glory with open arms well done we'll be what you'll hear who are you would not be a good thing but well done Zahl right your flesh and the hunger for sin will be left behind but for now you know you are in this difficult position where not only is there a battle but if the truth be known it's a battle I lose more often than I win and that's Paul's concern you know that that we we find ourselves not giving up I've been delivered from Satan's hold right as a Christian I'm no longer in love with the world I don't ever need to be a slave to sin but I'm still subject to sins deceit I'm still attracted by my flesh to sins allurement the thing is as a believer in Christ it frustrates me it leaves me unhappy when I fall for something that's contrary to my new nature and I know that it grieves the Lord also grieves me because within dwells God's Spirit which doesn't allow me to be satisfied with that any longer and notice that Paul distinguishes his flesh he calls it carnal and sold into sin in verse 23 he says this I see another law and my member warring against the law of my mind bringing me in captivity to the law of sin which is in my member or in my body there is a lingering sinfulness attached to this unredeemed flesh that I live in that is gonna war against this redeemed Spirit that God has created in you and Paul identified the condition of his flesh and verse 18 by saying I don't think there's anything good that dwells in my flesh in other words there's no redeemable part of my flesh you know when Isaiah the prophet who had prophesied for several years boldly and with great self-confidence I guess found himself there before the Lord when King Uzziah died and he saw the Lord and when he saw the Lord he saw himself and he said what was me I am undone I am a man of unclean lips and he experienced what Paul does and what you and I do as we grow that the the closer you get to the Lord the worse you look the more glorious he looks the less confidence you in you and so the conditions of Paul's lament is look I know God has spiritual life for me but it's got to get through to me even though there is a flesh that is carnal that is sold out the sin that wants to oppose me that's where the battle is his proof is in verse 15 and here's here's his personal experience what I am doing I do not understand for what I will to do that I do not practice what I hate that I do now if you didn't know Paul better and know his spiritual life you might say this guy's nutty but the reality of the battle with this flesh was seen by Paul in everyday life he found himself as a believer doing things that he hated as God's child while wanting to do many things for the Lord that he did not accomplish now Paul's not suggesting that over the years he's gotten weaker in his spiritual life no no he's growing but he's talking about this unrelenting battle and the turmoil within the heart of the mature Christian is going to be constant you want to do better but find this enemy of your flesh and he says the things that I am doing I do not understand how that might be a difficult word or a translation because the word literally there is to accept or to approve you'll find it used in chapter 8 verse 3 where it says God for what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh God did in sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin he condemned sin in the flesh it's the opposite but that word condemned there is the same word as the word to understand here it literally means to accept in other words the things that I'm doing I don't accept I don't approve I don't want to do those things when I've said there's a battle here because within my heart is this desire to serve God now this is not Paul's conscience bothering him about some Unforgiven sin or or some selfish reluctance to follow the Lord but it is the inside of a godly man who wants the glory of God doesn't want to fall short in any area and he says of himself there's a lot of place I'm fawn short you know I'm not doing what God wants I'm not I'm not picking the right things I'm weak I'm failing before Paul was say B thought he was blameless you remember he said that to the Philippians in chapter 3 he said you know if there's anybody who's blameless it's me man if there's anyone qualified to be a you know heaven bound that's me that was his attitude about himself then now that he's saved he says Lord I can't seem to be all that you would have me to be I do the things I hate I neglect the things I want to do your demands are holy I'm carnal your your demands are spiritual I'm fleshly man do I have a problem praise the Lord he's saving me because if he took one look at me he might think twice why because I still have this flesh so here's his condition in verse 14 here is the proof of it in his life in verse 15 here's his understanding of it in verse 16 if that I do what I will not to do I agree with the law that it is good but now it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me now Paul here tells us he's not naive and he's well aware of the reason behind the conflict and the source of his problems is not the new man not the one God has given life to not that incorruptible seed that's placed in my heart by the spirit that new man wants to please God that's all it cares about because that's the work of God but you have an old lay in a churn old flesh it is the sin that dwells in you now Paul's not looking to escape responsibility here and go well it's not me you know I'm just it's the cup you put me in in fact he had just confessed in verse 14 that he was carnal and sold under sin he was willing to take responsibility he sees the radical change change in this life but he also sees that when he is tempted to send that's not the work of God or the work of God in his spirit but it is the flesh that seeks to content and he wants to make that very clear to you and I you know your old man wants to tell you go the way of the world but everything in you cries help me Lord and that's where the battle that's where the struggle is look sin is no longer the reigning interest in your life it's a deposed ruler it survives in the flesh Paul said to the Galatians in chapter 5 walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh will lust against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh they are contrary to one another so yet you do not do the things that you are that's where the battle is feed the spirit starve the flesh give it no space give it no room don't seek to entertain it because you know we are living in a body of flesh that has sold out under sin carnal you can't reform the flesh you can't clean it up and make it look a little better well I think I'll set up a little straighter still carnal sold in descent his demands are holy but were carnal so the frustration that comes into our life so often is Christian is when we try to serve the Lord in our flesh you know we know that we have an anger problem so we we determine it from now on you know I'm going to count to 10 or or or I'm going to I come the New Year's in a couple of a month and a half here and I I start to make our promises this year I promise and your flesh goes yeah I doubt that's gonna happen you know but you make promises I'm gonna make it happen and you can't because your flesh has got nothing to run with it's got no ability to stand the law is good but I have this flesh and living in it I need to yield to Jesus and reckon it dead the battle is on but the only victory I'm gonna get is a vice surrender the law can't save me the law can't keep me holy I can't do it myself lord help me you change me the only thing I can do is run to Jesus constantly he'll do the change he'll do the fixing I have to reckon the old man I'm not gonna give in you got a fight - you know Paul said to the Hebrews you haven't yet resisted to blood striving against sin but Jesus did that's a big word you know you haven't yet strived against sin to the point of sweating great drops of blood we have to stand but it'll also know I have to know where the the difficulty is coming from in verse 18 Paul's second lament is this I know that in me in my flesh nothing good dwells for to will is present with me but how to perform what is good I do not find now Paul I think seeks to clarify his term so you don't misunderstand him because the me he uses here is not the I in verse 17 notice verse 17 is no longer I he's speaking about his new man but now he's talking about his old man in verse 18 our flesh has not been transformed until it is I'm not completely redeemed in fact Paul said a couple of chapters ago we we groan right come get us Lord the battle will be over it you know glory will be fat oh I I had somebody once said to me oh and hope get to heaven I hope I'm gonna be without sin oh you'll be fine that which drives you to sin will be gone but for now I live in this flesh which responds to sin and according to what we read I think last week in verse 8 provides sin with a base of operations you know an opportunity and I don't think that we always believe that and so because we don't believe that we think self-help guides are far better than prayer I'll take the 10 steps to 12 ideas the three ways the eleven lessons I'm going to reform forget it you might be able to in your strength reform a sin so that you can go sin somewhere else but until you learn that your flesh can't be reformed in me dwells no good thing until you believe that with all your heart you're gonna keep trying you're gonna vow and make promises and in prayer God I swear if you will give me this one thing from now on here's what I'm gonna do for you and you know the Lord's compass right I've heard this for years this doesn't work for anybody Paul in all of his struggles was able to write and say you know I can't do it we think offering God an improved flesh will have a positive effect that's not true and what God will usually do for you the minute you begin to develop great confidence in your flush he'll make sure that you fail in that point so that you might learn what he knows that in your flesh dwelleth no good thing no good thing my flesh is weak it's prone to sin its unredeemed its unable to produce anything of lasting goodness I can will because that's part of my new nature I can't do unless God does it in me because that's part of my old nature I have to rely on his strength and his power now Paul's proof of that statement there in verse 17 his experience is verse 18 the second part to will is present with me how to perform what is good I do not find for the good that I will to do I don't do but the evil that I will not do that I practice he wants to please God he wants to do well he wants true and wishes for better but in reality he can't accomplish it on his own he goes down the paths he hopes to avoid he keeps from pass he hopes to walk I talk to people all the time counselors folks come in they always have the same story I want to do better I want to please the Lord I want to be pleasing in US I don't want to do these things anymore that's a pretty good indicator God's living in your heart but it's also pretty good indicator you haven't yet relied upon him to change you because you cannot do it on your own the wishing the willing the desiring that comes from a new heart that work of the Spirit but it's the flesh that gets in the way and just what we said in verse 15 and Paul says that again here he's not suggesting he never has victory he's rather seeing the inability to do what God wants him to do when he relies solely upon the flesh because the flesh lives in defiance in fact I think it was 30 years after Paul got saved he wrote the book of Philippians when he said to them in chapter 3 verse 12 look I haven't already attained and I'm not already perfect or teleost complete but here's what I've learned to do I'm going to press on I'm going to try to lay hold of the things for which Christ has laid hold of me I'm not apprehended him yet but I but I'll tell you what I'm doing I'm forgetting the things that are behind and I'm reaching forward to things that are ahead and I'm pressing for the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus thirty year old Christian I haven't made it but man I'm forgetting the past and moving ahead and pressing on and hanging on and looking forward to what God is going to do Paul continues to identify the warfare here crying out over his failures admitting that he often finds himself doing the very things he hates and saying this is the great inner struggle for the same who wants to be serious with God now just like verse 16 and 17 Paul says in verse 20 I know if I do what I will not do it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me you know before he was saved Paul's heart would have been all for sin now he's one of those no longer guys you know his will is right his desire is right the doing of it though requires God's help and Paul's resolve to reckon the Old Men debt a redeemed Paul a spirit made alive sin in the flesh that's the battle you face tonight it's the battle you face trying to get here some of you went oh I should just go home flesh put my feet up get the clicker what's on tonight whatever is on tonight you should watch that I don't know what's on on Wednesday nights I just don't know I miss Wednesday night TV was on TBN that's what's on I'd rather be here well whatever it is I'm sure that you know some of you how many of you almost didn't make it tonight I'll be honest oh right four people camera two no all right good that'll make that five then verse 21 third lament I find then pause as a law that evil is present with me the one who wills to do good now this whole thing T'Pol is so universal as far as the saints go that he calls it a law it's the word for principle that there is lingering sin that will battle with men and women saved with good intentions and good motives and yet the battle is on you know years ago in the Bible back in Genesis 4 when when Cain and Abel in the process of time brought their offerings to the Lord and Abel's was received and Cain's was not and Cain was furious felt like somehow he'd been singled out you know and his brother had been favored and the Lord called Cain over and he said look if you do well then you will be accepted but if you do not do well then sin will lie at your door and its desire will be to rule over you but you must rule over it back then the same battle sin wants to take you out and has no interest in God's and has no interest in you sin has no interest in the things of God every step you take towards God you're going to get resistance can I go for five minutes without resistance no you want to pray your flesh wants to sleep I want to go to church your flesh wants to go home you want to go serve your flesh wants to not serve you want to give somebody some help your flesh wants to keep it there isn't anything you can do that that isn't opposed it's the law of the Spirit in the flesh and Paul says I see this law and it's operating and it's present with me and I'm the one wanting to do good because God has given me that well but you got to reckon the old man dad oh he keeps raising his ugly head Paul says in verse 22 I delight in the law of God according to the inward man but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members Paul's proof is that he was he realized he wasn't a slave to sin anymore sin was not his master anymore there was an inner man now a new creature that God had made and that inner man found tremendous delight in the things of God you know I find that it you know on that war on the freeway I'm I going to church and I'm going on most people when they get to church and they go home go home so glad I went to church you know God answered my prayer I got to worship I God spoke to me it couldn't have been better it's the getting here that's the problem right once I'm there oh I'm so glad I went rarely to be even though I should have went home and if you do that I'll take the blame I don't know because God is one that that meets us where we're at he feeds us he blesses us there's this inward hunger and thirst for righteousness and the ways of God and we have a heart for the things of God in my mind I long for godliness everything that the new man is but he admits that there's an opposing principle and there's a sin that battles in his thoughts and it battles his desire to please God and it's the old man and it's the law of sin that battles the law of God you are in that perplexing place you're awaiting to be redeemed from this unredeemed flesh which is why you get tired you get old you get sick you go bald I know I saw my heavenly body and a vision the other night in it so it also had no hair I don't know I think it was a nightmare so Paul writes there in verse 23 that that he feels trapped you know he's almost a prisoner in this sinful flesh and he battles with a daily and it's a spiritual battle you know when he wrote to the Corinthians that 2nd letter Paul said look we walk in the flesh but we do not war according to the flesh look we live this life in our flesh but there's no way we're gonna fight like this and win and then he said the weapons of our warfare are not carnal they're not fleshly but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds the only victory we can have with the flesh are spiritual ones that God gives to us it's it's prayer and fasting and crying out and fellowship and staying in the word and staying on our knees it's all the it's all the powerful things that God gives us so that we might have victory over the flesh until the flesh drops off that's really where the battle hey you're gonna be saved but but the victory that you can have has everything to do not with avoiding living in the flesh because you're in the flesh but not walking according to the flesh and the point that Paul makes is that the only way you have victory against sin constantly is through the power of the Spirit I find that most Christians want to avoid the struggle or not admit that it exists they they look for formulas there's a you know the biggest selling Christian books are formula books which always interested me he take these five steps they do it for weight loss to you don't they here's five easy steps six different meals seven ways 18400 I don't know to avoid sin so there's a lot of books on the martyr Christian book you know on how to avoid sin but but you know it's much simpler than that it's going to be there tomorrow to tell you to do the wrong thing and you're gonna have to look to Jesus to give you strength to do the right thing it's just not gonna go away it's gonna get easier no in fact it really gets harder because you get close to the lure and you look at yourself go man I'm going backwards you know I used to think I had no pride and then two years in I was very proud of the fact I had no oh wait it's one of them humble is a bad thing the minute you say to somebody I'm a humble guy are you really that humble you know so you get your eyes get bigger and you're you see more uh Peter says to the Lord get out of the boat I'm a sinful man the minute II recognize Jesus get out of the boat it doesn't get easier so you know they try to avoid it by by looking for formulas or they just deny that it exists but it doesn't you can't deny it it's there or they want to talk about you know avoidance ooh they want to talk about other things I think it was J I Packer who wrote it on Romans chapter 7 what Christians need is is spiritual realism and they need to be able to say to themselves God calls us to a lifetime of struggle with our flesh no pain no gain we're gonna find and and we know the battle can't be won on her own but we also know we can't lose with Jesus you know when Peter stood up there in Luke 22 and he said in verse 34 to the Lord or no I wasn't verse 34 maybe it's verse 33 don't look it up right now Peter said Lord I I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death these guys might forsake you I will never forsake you now right before he said that the Lord had said to her oh no no I should say right after you said that the Lord said to Peter the rooster isn't not gonna crow this day before you deny me three times Lord I will go with you anywhere that's my fleshly promise this is what I'm gonna do for you and the Lord went yeah you're not gonna make 24 hours oh that's the conversation in verse 33 in verse 34 of Luke 22 but in verse 31 this is what Jesus said Simon Simon Satan has asked for you that he might sift you as wheat but I've prayed for you that your faith will not fail when you are converted and when you've returned to me strengthen your brethren that's what Peter was told before he ever was yeah well Lord I'll go anywhere for you in Florida well yeah you're not gonna make 24 hours but what he told him that the victory for him was as Satan launched you but I've interceded for you and I'm gonna keep you and I've got to work for you to do but you're gonna learn today that your strength is not in you it's in me and Peter went out very bold and by the morning he was swearing and cursing and hiding and crying and it was so bad for Peter you know that the good news that Jesus rose was a company from the Angels with the words go tell the disciples in oh yeah I make sure you tell Peter I'm alive that's where our strength lies we must know that even when we have victory we really can't take credit for it because we can't do it on our own right I think the Lord uses the words and one of the parables just when you've done all of these things say of yourself I'm an unprofitable servant and always used to be offended by that well wait a minute you all I got what do you want from me I'm unprofitable in the sense that left to myself the flesh wins my strength is not in the flesh else I wouldn't have needed Jesus to begin with my strength is in him flush doesn't go away but God helps me to to say no and have victory you know the elders in glory there in Revelation chapter 4 verse 11 you know are throwing their crowns at Jesus's feet crying you are worthy Lord to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by you they exist and were created that doesn't mean we don't fight though the Christian life is hardly easy people go ahead get saved it's easy our lion to crystallites the hardest life of all I think hardest life of all sin was much easier before I was saved it was much more fun before I say I was just miserable but if I can rely on the Lord I know that I've read every verse in every book of the Bible and there isn't one place that says I lose I get to go there and lay my crowns at his feet one day thanks Lord forget me through and Paul says in verse 24 o wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death you know Paul anguished over the weakness that he found in his life the psalmist wrote in Psalm 130 out of the depths I have cried to you Lord hear my voice be attentive to the voice of my supplication Oh Lord if you mark iniquity who can stand but there is forgiveness of you that you may be feared so I will wait for the Lord my soul waits and in his word I do hope who's going to deliver me from this body of death Paul sees it right it's a body of death this body is dying hey if we get a new body when the Lord comes it'll be a different body it'll be made of the heavily not of the earthly it'll be incorruptible not corruptible it'll be holy not unholy it won't fall apart like this one does who can deliver me Jesus can so he says in verse 25 I thank God that through Jesus Christ our Lord with my mind I serve the law of God while the flesh will serve the law of sin but verse 1 of chapter 8 says but there's now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit in Tarsus where Paul was raised in the first century a man found guilty of murder was sentenced to death by being strapped to the dead carcass of his victim and they tied the dead body to this man and it stayed there till he was infected and died so the guy you killed ends up killing you quite unique and I don't know if Paul was thinking about that when he writes about this infected body you know who's going to deliver me from this body of this death yet without hesitation and Paul you know he's shared his heart he told you how he's feeling he told you what he's going through he says thank the Lord that though my flesh just wants to serve sin and life in my mind and my heart by my spirit through Jesus my lord I'm going to serve God and there's no condemnation for me now you know until he goes to be at the Lord there'd be conflict and then the flesh would serve sin but the redeemed man seeks to serve God victory is never in doubt and I love the fact that God you know Paul immediately turns to the Lord says thank you Lord that you're not condemning me though I'm still a sinner struggling I'm a redeemed man in an unredeemed life so I guess if you're struggling that's good if you don't care that I'd worry about you know or if you're not really relying upon the Lord and just letting flesh have its way but I would worry about that but but if like Paul you you find yourself going man I'm such a jerk you know I can't wait to stand before God just serving without all the hassle and Paul did the same thing father tonight as we sit together so good to know that the things that we face are not unusual for us or somehow unique to us but Lord the battle that we have with the flesh as Christians is that which is going to continue until the day that we see you face-to-face and while we're in this flesh the flesh has a mind of its own and it has a desire for the for the grave for death for wickedness for horror and now we live in these bodies that and yet there are the vessels in which we are born again and we're redeemed and we're made alive to God and our hearts are softened that our minds are filled with the things of God and we have this battle that we have to win but it isn't won through hard work it's won through just giving it our all but relying upon you reckoning the old man dead and alive to you realizing that we can't redeem the flesh we can't reform the flesh we can't improve the flesh but we can certainly do a better job of hanging on to you and looking to you and and reckoning the old man death not giving it any room not giving it any food not giving it any space Lord how much better we do it not drinking if we stay out of the bar how much better we do it with without lust Lord if we don't look upon things that would create lust don't give the body a move a room a place to hold on to and for some of you tonight that's that's why you lose in the battle you're you know it's almost like you're tempting sin let's see if I can you know sit here look if it caused you to sin don't sit there the believer in Christ is going to be heartbroken over sin it's gonna it's gonna tear it as hard he's gonna want to do better he's gonna want to please the Lord and if that's the place you're at tonight the mess where God wants you that's where God can really move but don't don't sell out for you know the 12 steps the 10 steps the 43 steps the 40 days whatever it is final work you need Jesus to have victory over sin you need Jesus he saved you he can deliver you so do things his way know who the enemy is know where the battle comes from and thank the Lord that he has given you victory that there's no condemnation to those now who are in Christ in ePro tonight the pastors will be up front Parrom xopen as well come pray come seek the Lord sin shall no longer have dominion over you praise the Lord we've been redeemed we're going on shall we stand

Channel: morningstarcc

Views: 14,671

Rating: 4.757576 out of 5

Keywords: jack abeelen, Calvary Chapel (Organization), morningstar christian chapel, growingthrugrace.com, Epistle To The Romans (Religious Text)

Id: qMyrQdBa9yA

Length: 49min 26sec (2966 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 25 2014