The Believers Battle With Sin (Romans 7:14-24)

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the following sermon is by John MacArthur pastor author and the Bible teacher with grace to you if you've never contacted grace to you we want to send you a free booklet by John called found God's peace it's all about helping you defeat anxiety and no true lasting contentment request your free booklet by writing to peace at gty org that's PE AC e at gty org offer good in North American Europe through December 2016 and now unleashing God's truth one verse at a time here's grace to you Bible teacher John MacArthur I thank you for coming tonight I know there were a lot of things working against it this is an oddball weekend with all the things that are happening and then freeway traffic and then rain but we're so glad that you're here and I'm going to do what I was when I was young told not to do I was told a story by my own father who who said that a rainy day came on a Sunday and only two people showed up a church and and the pastor went ahead and preached his full hour sermon he gave an invitation to the two people and at the end he said this is what I had prepared to do and the farmer he said I hope it was all right with you he said well he said I I can only say that I'm a farmer and if only two cows show up I don't make a meat all the hay so I think I'll make you eat some of it but not all of it tonight as we talk about this matter of sanctification and look at Romans chapter 7 and the battle in which we are engaged in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ being sanctified Romans seven we are all aware of a warfare in our lives we know it we know it well we are intimately acquainted with it a raging conflict that never existed before we came to Christ and never ceased since all Christians are in the battle don't feel alone you're not alone everybody's there and the the most magnificent and of course inspired articulation of this battle of this struggle is given here in Romans chapter 7 in the words of the Apostle Paul and I want to read verses 14 to 25 Romans 7:14 2:25 and then for a couple of Sunday nights anyway I want to talk our way through this verse 14 for we know that the law is spiritual but I am a flesh sold into bondage to sin for that which I am doing I do not understand for I am NOT to sing what I would like to do but I am doing the very thing I hate but if I do the very thing I do not wish to do I agree with the law confessing that it is good so now no longer am i the one doing it but sin which indwells me if I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for the wishing is present in me but the doing of the good is not for the good that I wish I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do not wish but if I am doing the very thing I do not wish I'm no longer the one doing it but sin which dwells in me I find then the principle that evil is present in me the one who wishes to do good for I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man but I see a different law in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members wretched man that I am who will set me free from the body of this death thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord so then on the one hand I myself with my mind I'm serving the law of God but on the other with my flesh the law of sin this is real schizophrenia isn't it the real deal this is not psychological is not artificial it's not trumped-up it's not imaginary it's reality this is a very poignant description of somebody who cares deeply about the Word of God cares deeply about Scripture who cares deeply about God's righteous law this is about somebody who desires greatly to obey that law to live that law but is disappointed with himself or herself because in spite of what this person desires he is pulled and pushed away from that which he wants to do into the very thing that he hates it is the personal conflict of a soul in turmoil and the conflict is real it is so intense and so strong that it dominates the life of Paul and it dominates our lives also we as believers are not any longer dominated by sin nor wa are we in all honesty dominated by righteousness we are rather dominated by a conflict a very intense one and even the text itself has been a battleground for interpreters and theologians and expositors of Scripture some say that these are the musings these are the expressions of a non-christian others say they are the expressions of a Christian well you say wait a minute Paul wrote this yes but some say he is reflecting on his life before Christ when he had some regard for the law of God but couldn't fulfill it not on his life after Christ once says there's too much bondage to sin here for this to be the testimony of a Christian and the other says there's too much desire for obedience here for this to be the testimony of a non-christian those who would say this is a non-christian this is Paul looking at himself before Christ seek to support that with statements such as in verse 14 I am of the flesh sold into bondage to sin literally sold under sin verse 18 I know that nothing good dwells in me verse 20 for wretched man that I am and so they conclude this is a man who is under the power of sin operating in the flesh sees nothing good in himself only recognizes his own wretchedness can't be a believer they say because this is all past tense verse five we were in the flesh verse six but now we have been released from the law having died to that by which we were bound so that we serve in newness of the Spirit or in chapter 6 verse 14 sin shall not be master over you if sin is no longer our master if sin no longer dominates us if we have been released from the law having died to that by which we were bound and now serve in the newness of the Spirit how can this describe a believer where is the fruit of the Spirit no one in Christ should be so impotent no one in Christ should be so powerless it's seems to be very far from the way we are to understand salvation according to chapter 6 for example verse 2 we have died to sin verse 6 the old self was crucified the body of sin done away with no longer are we slaves to sin verse 7 we've died and are freed from sin verse 11 dead to sin verse 12 no need to let sin reign in our mortal bodies verse 13 no need to go on presenting the members of our body as instruments of unrighteousness and verse 17 you were the slaves of sin you become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed you've been freed from sin and become slaves of righteousness verse 22 having been freed from sin slave to God all of these passages seem to say that sin has dethroned it has lost its dominating power it has lost its ruling force and it cannot therefore remain in such a power posture as is described in the experience of the writer of chapter 7 verses 14 to 25 but on the other hand we are very clear that in chapter 6 there is an indication that the battle will still go on whatever all of that means and we've gone through all of that notice verse 12 do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead well there is instruction that indicates that even though sin no longer dominates even though sin and no longer master over you you still have to make a choice not to let in rain not to present the members of your body as instruments of unrighteousness in the 19th verse of the sixth chapter again just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness resulting in further lawlessness so now present your members of slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification the sanctification isn't automatic in its fullest sense it it comes as a result of you ongoing in the constant obedience the presenting of your members as instruments or slaves to righteousness this implies that there is going to be responsibility to act against the sin that no longer totally dominates you those who say this is a Christian look at the other side of the issue verse 22 romans 7 i joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man that is a very very significant statement not externally not superficially not on the surface but down deep in the soul down deep in the inner man I joyfully concur with the law of God this is what's called heart obedience and this reflects a new heart and a new spirit this is new covenant talk this is Ezekiel 37 language to delight in the law of God down deep in the inner man in a sense this is like Romans 8:7 the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God it is not subject it does not subject itself to the law of God it is not even able to do so that the man who is still unconverted still in the flesh hostile toward God is not able to subject himself to the law of let alone to rejoice in it in fact in the original King James of that verse it says the mind of the flesh is enmity with God that's the opposite of delight and joy the unregenerate do not delight in the law of God down deep in the inner man verse 25 he says on the one hand I myself with my mind that is in the interior am serving the law of God again indicates a changed heart a changed inside this is the service of a will and a heart that is regenerate that is subject to the law of God and the whoever's in the flash cannot be subject to the law of God as we read a moment ago in chapter 8 look again verse 15 he says I I like to do certain things but I don't do them I hate to do other things and I do them verse 16 I agree with the law I confess that it is good he says in verse 19 the good that I wish I don't do and I practice the very evil I do not wish this indicates that down in the inner man is a powerful desire for obedience to honor God to obey God to serve God these are all the attitudes that rise from a regenerate heart I am he says at the end of verse 21 the one who wishes to do good that's what I want very unlike the non-christian the non-christian lives verse 5 of Romans 8 according to the flesh sets his mind on the things of the flesh because that's all he can do verse 7 because he's hostile toward God this is very strong language and it presents to us not an easy solution a case can be made that this is a non-believer by looking at all of those elements of the text a case can be made that this is a believer by looking at all the elements that we just looked at the bottom line is whoever this is has both elements operating it is the very conflict itself that defines this soul the battle here says Paul is between what he delights in what he loves what he approves of what he desires and what he does and this has to be the battle of a transformed so these two complexes in him righteousness on the one hand sin on the other our contradictory and the more sensitive he is to the demands of God's law and two demands of Scripture and the demands of God's holiness and righteousness the more he will see the contradiction existing within himself and the more grows in brace the more sanctified this person becomes the more painful it is for him to see what he really is in spite of what he wants that's why he bursts out in verses 24 wretched man that I am that is an honest expression of pain over this inability to fulfill your deepest longings this can only occur in a believer this is the tension that is inevitable and doesn't help to ignore it or write it off now at this point some other suggestions enter the discussion and some people say well yes this is a believer but this is a carnal believer with the big C capital C uppercase this is a carnal believer this is a description of a low-level Christian this is a Christian who's barely in the door one writer says it describes the abject misery and failure of a Christian who is attempting to please God under the mosaic system this is a lowlife Christian this is a Christian who's never moved to second level Christianity this is the carnal Christian but the problem with that view is the carnal Christian the one who is superficial and shallow whoever this is this is a fabrication of those theologians but whoever this carnal Christian is who is saved but has no aspirations toward holiness and no aspirations toward righteousness he can't be being described here this has to be a very spiritual man or woman who fits into this category somebody who understands that the law is spiritual who understands what is right who loves it longs for it wills to do it lives with immense disappointment in regard to his own failure no the only way to understand this is that this is a believer this is every believer this is every believer who is truly regenerated who feels the agony of the struggle and in fact this is Paul this is Paul who when he wrote this was mature years in Christ strong in the faith but never got over his sinfulness first Corinthian fifteen nine he said on the least of the Apostles I'm not even fit to be an apostle in Ephesians 3:8 he says about himself to me the very least of All Saints was grace given to preach first Timothy 1 he says I was shown mercy and the grace of God the grace of our Lord is more than abundant to me and Christ came into the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost in his maturity at the end of his life first Timothy at the end of all of his years of walking with Christ nothing had changed about how he viewed himself he was a massive disappointment to himself he was the foremost sinner that he knew the person speaking here hates sin according to verse 15 the person speaking here loves righteousness according to verses 19 and 21 the person speaking here in his inner being delights in God's law verse 22 finds joy in it the first that person speaking here deeply regrets his sins nuts strung through the whole text and the person speaking here thanks God that ultimately there will be a deliverance verse 25 thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord even though it hasn't come yet and that's why he says so I go on on the one hand with my mind serving a law of God with my flesh the law of sin this is a very mature Christian this is as mature as you can get see yourself the way a Christian really is don't try to kid anybody this is you this is me we're all here we live in two extremes and they're held in tension in our lives temporarily we live in this world as people of flesh and blood and and we're subject to all the conditions of mortal life we are sons of Adam by our first birth spiritually by our second birth however we have passed from death into a new realm a realm not of darkness but a realm of light a realm not of sin but a realm of righteousness we now walk in newness of life we are new creations we are no longer in Adam we are in Christ and yet the flesh remains here then is the self-portrait of a man who is conscious of the presence and power of indwelling sin in his life and he sees it as they're still dictating things opposite of his own desires and he will struggle all his life against this power and in this life never overcome it finally or fully Paul's words in Galatians 5 sum it up the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you can't do the things you desire that's the Christian life this mature spiritual apostle fought the battle just the way you do and I do and everybody does now there are some keys to this interpretation in the text the first one is a change in the verb tense verses 7 through 13 is past tense emphasis and all of a sudden in verse 14 changes into a present tense when he was talking about himself before his conversion it was past tense verse nine I was once alive this is in the past and then I died when I truly saw myself in the law as a sinner crushed under the weight of the law of course that's what led him to salvation he's describing how it was in the past in verses 7 to 13 and all of a sudden the verbs come into the present tense I am verse 14 I do not I am I am doing I do I agree I am the one doing it I know I wish I'm doing I find I joyfully concur I see all present tense this is post conversion in the immediate presence and there's a change also in the circumstance verses 7 to 13 sin killed him here he is pictured fighting with sin and refusing to give in there's a sense in which our sin does kill us at our salvation we die in Christ to rise in newness of life and yet there's a sense in which even now in our new life we go on fighting with sin refusing to give in so this is Paul's testimony as a Christian and it's very very important for us to understand it because what's here is what we live with every day every day now I want you to understand the sort of spiritual pathology of all this so let me see if I can at least tonight in the next few minutes tell you some things that may it first startle you what I'm going to say may be first a little startling and then I hope it'll eventually transition into something encouraging and then something liberating and then something joyful and it's based essentially on two great realities that we have been carefully considering in our doctrinal series which has been going on for months and I'm going to have you have you reached back Oban there are two foundational doctrines that we have repeatedly talked about specifically and as a whole in single messages and multiple messages and gone back to those two great foundational doctrines are the doctrine of human depravity and divine regeneration or to put another way the doctrines of our two births our first birth was into sin our second birth into righteousness our first birth was physical our second birth spiritual our first birth made us sinners until we leave this world our second birth makes us righteous and fit for the world to come we are then the product of these two births we live two lives melded into one and that is the source of our conflict all the faculties that come out of that first birth wage war against all the faculties that come out of that second birth though we may not understand the theological elements that are going on we really do understand the conflict we understand the effects the relentless power and influence of our righteous longings and desires and we also understand the relentless power and influence of our sin and we go from high to low we come to church we hear the word of God we worship God we go home we read our Bibles we read a good book we do ministry and we feel like we're on top and then we find ourselves saying things or doing things or thing things that plunge us into despair and we're very much aware of the battle that we fight we live trapped somewhere between our highs and our lows are profound joys of spiritual Heights and sinful depths it was Martin Luther who certainly understood this and he said not reading or speculating but living dying and being condemned makes a real theologian you want to be a real theologian and you got a you got to go through this we can't stand out side and be a speculative theologian you live and you die and you feel the condemnation of your violated conscience and the disappointment of sin breaching your holy desires and it's in that war that you really become a real theologian you sort out the truth Luther was very vivid and very verbal his sin was a struggle for him that was constant it was even tormenting to him as to many other now we understand that I mean I don't need to say a lot about that because it's our experience and because it is such a common experience for us to live in disappointment because it is such a common experience for us to desire heaven just so we can get rid of the bad that's in us that debilitates the good that we long for we know that we feel that we experience that I don't need to spend a lot of time rehearsing again how wretched we are I want to talk about the other side of it it is crucial and it is it is certainly at least equally crucial if not as it is in my mind more crucial that you understand your righteousness you need to understand your newness of life you need to understand the divine nature that is in you you need to understand this you have been regenerated you have been born again you have died and come to life you now walk in newness of life you are a new creation you have eternal life you are now made fit for the presence of God you possess a holy and divine nature it is from that that all those holy longings come a good place for us to grasp this and I think this will help us is in 1st Peter 1 turn to first Peter 1 to the end of the chapter this is very insightful when you look at it and perhaps a little more technically a little more closely than you might normally verse 22 I don't know if you ever sort of let this phrase pop out at you he's writing to believers and he says since you have in obedience to the truth that is you obeyed the gospel you believe you repented you embraced Christ and what happened in obedience to the truth you have purified your souls Wow that is a that is a shocking statement you have purified your souls egg nick attests perfect tense past action with continuing results you were purified with continuing results you now possess a purified soul that's pretty shocking you see we're much more familiar with the flesh than we are with the new life James 4:8 James says draw near to God and He will draw near to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts God offers you heart purification God offers you soul purification this again is the regeneration of new covenant life this is the new heart the new spirit this is the washing of regeneration this is the new birth and the language of the New Testament is is magnificent when it comes to this we are washed we are cleansed we are purified we are given new life we could go through many scriptures Allah resist the impulse but this is what it says your souls have been purified how in the world did that happen how'd it happen verse 23 for you have been born again how did this purification take place you were born again the work of regeneration another perfect participle past action with continuing results this is your spiritual birth when you had your spiritual birth your soul was cleansed your soul was purged your soul was purified Wow you have been born again monastic solely the work of the Holy Spirit you didn't cooperate in your physical birth and you didn't cooperate in your spiritual birth the Holy Spirit moves where he will and does what he will in regeneration as John 3:8 says is the sovereign work of God Paul says in Ephesians 4:24 that when this happened this is so amazing you put on the new man listen to this which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness staggering words you have a purified soul the New Testament says you have a purified heart you are a new person created by God in true righteousness and holiness Ephesians 4:24 Wow now from the standpoint of our experience that just seems so overstated because we are so used to our sin so used to our failing so used to being disappointed we unjustifiably so hammer on ourselves as did the Apostle Paul where the chief we're the worst we're the foremost we're unworthy it's true but it's equally true that we need to understand the other reality that we have been made new creations and that that new life is pure and righteous and holy and it is the result of regeneration by verse 23 not a seed which is perishable but imperishable that is just another powerful reality we have been born again not by a seed which is perishable human seed human bird but by a seed which is imperishable that is the seed of God if you will that comes through the living and abiding Word of God God by his word creates that life and we are in essence a different kind of creature would if you're a believer you are a completely different creature than non-believers they don't see it yet As Romans 8 says the glorious manifestation of the children of God hasn't happened they think they're looking at ordinary people they're not we're a different kind of being this new nature is the result of a seed that cannot perish it is an incorruptible seed it is the creation of God and whatever God creates is perfect follow me whatever he creates is perfect whatever he creates is pure whatever he creates is holy whatever he creates is righteous whatever he creates can only be holy and do what is holy you were saved it doesn't mean that your fallen heart was tweaked a little bit to make it better you were made new and God did it and God doesn't create anything unholy as the father lives in his children physically so God lives in his children spiritually you possess in you the physical life of your parents and the spiritual life of God you are a partaker of the divine nature just as much as you are a partaker of human nature and as there are faculties and characteristics of life that come from our first birth there are faculties and characteristics of life that come from our second birth in each case consistent with our nature from our parents we received nature that is sinful from God we receive a nature that is sin less that new life which God creates which is imperishable incorruptible is wholly righteous pure it cannot decay it is free from sin it has to be because it is eternal and sin always produces what death Peter is saying amazing thing the living and abiding Word of God has given you a life that is wholly incorruptible imperishable it can only love God it can only serve God it can only honor Christ it can only follow the spirit it can only obey the word it's very different than our physical life our physical life he describes in verse 24 all flesh is like grass all its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers the flower falls off our human life is subject to death our divine life is not our human life is subject to death because it is infected with sin our divine life is not subject to death therefore it cannot be affected by sin the word of the Lord the creative Word of God that has begotten you again abides forever and it was that word that gospel word that gospel seed that regenerated you that was preached and you heard and it did its work now some of you may say wow this is a something I haven't heard much well this isn't new Charles Spurgeon June 30th 1861 says this of the new nature it has aspirations which time cannot satisfy desires which earth cannot satisfy longings which heaven itself alone can gratify he goes on in that sermon to say this no sin exists in the newborn nature it cannot sin because it is from God himself it is as impossible for that new nature to sin as for the deity himself to be defiled many says in the first birth partakers of corruption in the next heirs of in corruption in the first depravity in the second perfection he's reading the same Bible I'm reading in the new creation there's no taint of sin in the new creation there is no transgression for what comes down from God created by his incorruptible word is holy it is like him it is pure undefiled and separate from sin and what is the proof that the new life never dies it is eternal life this is the truest and purest part of us so when you think about yourself and when you get caught up in all of the Agony's of your failures turn a corner somewhere and remember that your disappointment is coming because there is an incorruptible life in you that has such pure holy longings that no sin exists there and that life is eternal in James 1:18 in the exercise of his will he brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might be as it were the firstfruits among his creatures we are God's creation we are new creations by his will he gave us birth brought us into existence we are different kind of creatures physical life verses 24 and 25 tell us in first Peter like grass withers falls off the life which we have in regeneration abides forever I could sum it up I would say this every true Christian every person who has been genuinely saved has been given an imperishable incorruptible new life by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God which itself cannot die not only can it not die but all its impulses in all its longings and all its desires are holy and righteous and pure we're not talking now about imputed righteousness that's a different issue we're talking about real righteousness we are both of these we are sons of Adam and sons of God both births are at work in us and we live in the tension of that conflict but only believers live in that conflict because only believers have holy longings well you can go back to Romans 7 remembering what we just saw in 1st Peter 1 and you come back in 2 verses 14 to 25 and all of a sudden maybe now it begins to make a little more sense here is the battle waged between that fallen temporal death and that eternal heavenly life and I think it's really healthy and I think it's wholesome for you as a believer to give the weight of consideration as you think about yourself to that which God has in you rather than that which Adam has wrought in you I'm not saying you shouldn't feel humble about your sin you do you will you must I'm not saying you shouldn't be aware of your sin and be eager to confess it I am saying to you that you must come to understand that sin is not the truest you and you can live in the joy and the exhilaration and the liberation of knowing that you are a new creation incarcerated yes in that fallenness but nonetheless the truest and purest you is the new creation and you're already the possessor of a life that will never end because it is unstained and fits you to enter the presence of God I don't think most Christians understand that I I think it's tragic because I think it steals the great glory of God and the wonder of what he has made us I choose to live my life not spending all my time saying woe is me woe is me woe is me but rather saying boy where did that come from that's not what I desire I choose to live my life the way Paul does in Romans 7 how you know what I find myself doing things I don't want to do I find myself doing things that are absolutely inconsistent with Who I am what an outrage that stuff is in my life this is simply Paul reinforcing the reality of that new life you must see your sin as an intrusion into who you really are in Christ you need to do what Paul did you need to hate the sin you see and you need to treat it as if it were some foreign intruder as if it were some alien attitude as if it were some unwelcome guests or worse some unexpected invasion by a fierce and threatening enemy but as a believer you never treat it as if it's you I ha I want to do what is good I don't want to do what is evil i I I joyfully concur with the law of God I want to serve the law of God this is who I am in Christ but once all I was was who I was in Adam there was no battle but now in Christ that remaining sin that residual flesh is alien to me in fact at first twenty four give you a hint of what's coming who will set me free from the body of this death he is like a man who has a corpse strapped to his back in ancient times one of the ways they punished murderers was to take the victim the dead corpse and strap them to the back of the murderer and eventually the rotting body would cause the rotting of the murderer a horrific way to suffer for your crime Paul says that's how I feel Here I am this whole healthy vital vibrant living being and there's this alien corpse tied to me I think if we don't consider this we underestimate the greatness of the work that God has done another way to say it now clothes is to say that you are already fitted for heaven the big change has already come death is a secondary thing in a sense the transformation has already happened what happens at death is just subtraction separation transformations the big issue separations the secondary one and what happens when you die and go to heaven is you are liberated you are separated from the body the corpse the rotting flesh that's tied to you and you are set free to be everything that you were created to be when you were created in Christ on the purity and holiness and righteousness this is where we live we live in the conflict but to engage ourselves in the conflict and to be triumphant in the conflict we have to understand the glory of the new creation believers love God's law rejoice in it believers desire to serve God they hate sin they hate iniquity and mostly in themselves they see it as foreign an alien and disturbing an invasive and inconsistent because they know who they really are what a wonder has happened in our lives in regeneration and sets us on a course for triumph in our sanctification we'll stop there that was the introduction and we'll actually look at the text itself next Sunday let's pray it's awesome our father it is just awesome to consider these vast and far-reaching and yet intimate truths the spiritual wow factor is just over the top it's incomprehensible that this is who we are but it's true thank you and may we live up to who we are and we never forget who we are and may we act like it thank you for what you've done in us and preparing us to live with you forever we thank you that we are already the possessors of a life that will never die because it is pure our souls have been purified our hearts have been purified we are new and that new life that is in us is forever it can never ever die therein lies our joy therein lies our sense of self understanding and therein lies our security and our assurance and our hope for eternity that we have a life that can never end give us confidence in the power of that righteousness to triumph over the remaining sin in our flesh that we might live to your glory deliver us from that wretched body of death give us victory until one day we are set free and we will thank you in your son's name Amen you've been listening to John MacArthur Bible teacher with grace to you for more information as well as free access to all of John's lessons and a listing of study Bibles and books available for sale visit Grace to use website at gty dot org John MacArthur and grace do you reserve all copyright protection under applicable law a copyright policy is available at gty org and includes instructions for and limitations on duplicating this digital file the following sermon is by John MacArthur pastor author and the Bible teacher with grace to you if you've never contacted grace to you we want to send you a free booklet by John called found God's peace it's all about helping you defeat anxiety and no true lasting contentment request your free booklet by writing to peace at gty org that's PE AC e at gty org offer good in North American Europe through December 2016 and now unleashing God's truth one verse at a time here's grace to you Bible teacher John MacArthur I thank you for coming tonight I know there were a lot of things working against it this is an oddball weekend with all the things that are happening and then freeway traffic and then rain but we're so glad that you're here and I'm going to do what I was when I was young told not to do I was told a story by my own father who who said that a rainy day came on a Sunday and only two people showed up a church and and the pastor went ahead and preached his full hour sermon and gave an invitation to the two people and at the end he said this is what I had prepared to do and the farmer he said I hope it was all right with you he said well he said I I can only say that I'm a farmer and if only two cows show up I don't make him eat all the hay so I think I'll make you eat some of it but not all of it tonight as we talk about this matter of sanctification and look at Romans chapter 7 and the battle in which we are engaged in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ being sanctified Romans 7 we are all aware of a warfare in our lives we know it we know it well we are intimately acquainted with it a raging conflict that never existed before we came to Christ and never ceased since all Christians are in the battle don't feel alone you're not alone everybody's there and the the most magnificent and of course inspired articulation of this battle of this struggle is given here in Romans chapter 7 in the words of the Apostle Paul and I want to read verses 14 to 25 Romans seven 14 to 25 and then for a couple of Sunday nights anyway I want to talk our way through this verse 14 for we know that the law is spiritual but I am of flesh sold into bondage to sin for that which I am doing I do not understand for I am NOT practicing what I would like to do but I am doing the very thing I hate but if I do the very thing I do not wish to do I agree with the law confessing that it is good so now no longer am I the one doing it but sin which indwells me if I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for the wishing is present in me but the doing of the good is not for the good that I wish I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do not wish but if I am doing the very thing I do not wish I'm no longer the one doing it but sin which dwells in me I find then the principle that evil is present in me the one who wishes to do good for I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man but I see a different law in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner the law of sin which is in my members wretched man that I am who will set me free from the body of this death thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord so then on the one hand I myself with my mind I'm serving the law of God but on the other with my flesh the law of sin this is real schizophrenia isn't it the real deal this is not psychological is not artificial it's not trumped-up it's not imaginary it's reality this is a very poignant description of somebody who cares deeply about the Word of God cares deeply about scripture who cares deeply about God's righteous law this is about somebody who desires greatly to obey that law to live that law but is disappointed with himself or herself because in spite of what this person desires he is pulled and pushed away from that which he wants to do into the very thing that he hates it is the personal conflict of a soul in turmoil and the conflict

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Keywords: sin, John MacArthur, Learning sound doctrine, learning sound theology, sword of truth

Id: T_ek99ts3vE

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 60min 13sec (3613 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 03 2016

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