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The Apostle Paul considered himself to be a wretch of a man and a vile sinner, even after he was in Christ. That's what we're told. That's another lie that the preachers tell us. The Fainting Warrior is a post that came up on a Facebook page dedicated to the writings of Charles Spurgeon recently. And in that post, it says this, and Romans, quoting Romans 7, 24, 25, of course, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Again, Romans 7, 24 through 25. And then they post this quote by Charles Spurgeon. It is Paul, the apostle, who is not less than the very greatest of the apostles. It is Paul, the mighty servant of God, a very prince in Israel, one of the king's mighty men. It is Paul, the saint and the apostle, who here exclaims, quote, O wretched man that I am, end quote. now humble Christians, are often the dupes of a very foolish error. They look up to certain advanced saints and able ministers, and they say, Surely such men as these do not suffer as I do. They do not contend with the same evil passions as those which vex and trouble me. Ah, if they knew the hearts of those men, if they could read their inward conflicts, they would soon discover that the nearer a man lives to God, the more intensely has he to mourn his own evil heart. And more his master honors him in his service, the more also does the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. End quote. We'll pause there. So is this true? Is what Paul's speaking of in Romans 7, 24, 25, his continued state once the Lord Jesus had saved him, is this what Paul is at all saying at all in Romans chapter 7? Or is this just another tradition? Is this just another reading of the text through a thick lens of tradition that we have to get free from? Now, let me just say, hasten to say, that it is true that the closer we grow to Christ, the more we loathe our own ways, the more we look back at the things that we were and did when we were in Adam with horror, and yet with great gratitude. for the salvation, so great a salvation that it is now ours. But when Paul said in Romans 7, 24 through 25, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? He wasn't referring to his Christian status. Else he would have said, wretched man that I am, no one is able to deliver me from the body of this death. And he certainly wouldn't have gone on to say, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He says, so then on the one hand, I myself with my mind serve and serving the living God, but on the other hand with my flesh, the law of sin. Yes, apart from Christ, we are doomed. To be in the realm of the flesh is to be doomed. But those who are in Christ are not in the realm of the flesh. They are in the realm of the Spirit. They have crucified the flesh with all of its lusts. And those who continue in the flesh are not Christians at all. To be in the flesh is an absolute. It means you're an unbeliever. To be in the realm of the Spirit is an absolute. It means that you are in Christ. Paul said it very clearly in Romans 8, 9. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. So these are absolute statements. And the point Paul is making in Romans 7 is not that we continue to live out some wretched, despairing, anxiety-filled existence, vexed with evil passions and the works of the flesh. And then we look to people like Paul to say, oh, even the great Paul, he even had the same passions and struggles with the flesh that I do. Now, there may be an element of truth in that. I mean, Paul did struggle. He understood his own weaknesses. And don't we all? And I understand what Spurgeon is trying to say here. there is this folly of using the wrong text to teach a right principle. Because what Paul is not commending in Romans 7, what he's not doing in Romans 7 13 through 25, is displaying or detailing the normal Christian life. He's speaking of those who continue to relate to God on the basis of law, on the basis of living in the flesh, and yet try to keep the law. It's an impossible task. It's a despair of life. And to do so is to only cry out, O wretched man that I am. That's all the law can do. The law cannot save us. The law cannot sanctify us. I can't emphasize that enough, folks. There are teachers of certain traditions who will tell you that, yes, you're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And then once you come up out of the waters of baptism, they'll start telling you, you have to look back to Moses now, and the so-called moral law, end quote, end quote, to be sanctified. As if the Holy Spirit himself in you, through the gospel, is not sufficient. That's a horrible stance to take. It's the same stance that the Judaizers took in Galatia. It's the same stance that the false teachers took in Corinth. And don't you believe it. Don't allow these traditionalists to rob you of your joy. And don't allow anyone to teach you that Romans 7, 13 through 25 is the definition, a description of the normal Christian life. That is not Paul's point. Now, let me be clear. I understand that that's how many of you have been taught. And you have been taught that by perhaps men that you love and admire. So you're going to be resistant to what I'm saying. Your tradition will teach you." We just quoted the great Charles Spurgeon as having bought into that same perspective on that text. It's a wrong perspective. Yes, Charles Spurgeon was able to be wrong. Sometimes we get into these Protestant saints as if they are infallible. Of course they were fallible. Of course they got things wrong. Luther did, Calvin did, Spurgeon did, Edwards did. They all tripped. They all stumbled. They all got some things wrong, and we ought never read their writings as if they were somehow capable of carrying some kind of pseudo-papal infallibility. What matters is what is the Spirit saying through the inspired text. Let me say that again. What matters is what is the Spirit saying through the inspired text, not what your preacher says, not what your tradition says, not what your confession says, not what your creed says. But what does the Spirit say through the inspired text? And it is possible, it is even your obligation to learn how to read and discern that voice of the Spirit in the text. Your obligation, beloved, is not to the systems of theology, to your celebrity preachers, even your favorite historic names within the Protestant tradition. Your first loyalty, your first devotion must be to learning to listen to the voice of the Spirit within the inspired text. That's the only way, by the way, you learn to listen to the voice of the Spirit. The Charismatics are evidence of the fact that you can go way outside, just like the traditionalists on the conservative side can go way outside by leaning too much into the law. And then the Charismatics come along and go way outside by getting into some subjective emotionalism that they call the work of the Spirit, and it is not. You have to be anchored to be able to hear the voice of the Spirit. You have to be anchored in the inspired text. The Spirit and the Word are inseparable. Now let me close by saying all you have to do, all you have to do is read Romans 6, 7, and 8 within its entire context. Remember, it's not hard. The reason we buy these lies from these preachers is because we assume that they know so much more than we do. There are people who read Jonathan Edwards, or John Owen, or Charles Spurgeon, or some other great Protestant reformer, the commentaries of Calvin. the writings of Luther, as if they were infallible words from God, authoritative word of God from you. They are simply the teachings of these men. And we must never, ever let go of our own ability to use critical thought and be as if the noble Bereans in the Book of Acts who listened to Paul and then went to the scriptures to see if these things were so. Listen, your spiritual, mental, and relational overall, your overall health depends on your ability to hear what I'm saying and put it into practice. It is not. Hear what I'm saying, meaning hear the voice of the Spirit in the text. Don't concede. When my wife was growing up, she was told repeatedly, in a good Lutheran tradition, that you should not try to understand the Bible. That the clergy didn't even understand it. How are you gonna understand it? And so, she was taught to trust in the Lutheran teachings. The Book of Concord. Trust the clergy. See, that's just falling back into the old traditions of the elders. the old teachings of the rabbis in which Jesus exposed and condemned in Mark chapter 7. So I get what Charles Spurgeon was saying. I get it. I understand. We shouldn't hold up even the Apostle Paul as being such a saintly man that he did not have his own struggles. Of course he did. And we should not think of ourselves as terminally unique in our struggles. We're not. The Bible teaches clearly that no temptation has overtaken us except that which is common to man. And if we've been overtaken in a fall, our brothers and sisters should restore us in the gentleness of the Spirit, looking to themselves lest they too be tempted. What I am saying is that when you read a devotion, like I just quoted, this Charles Version devotion, don't be taking it as infallible instruction on the text. Take that text. The proper way to approach what we're doing here today was to take that text that was quoted, Romans 7, 24, and 25, read what Spurgeon had to say about it, and then go to Romans 7, 24, and 25, and read it within its entire context, which would be chapter 6, 7, and 8 of Romans as a one sitting red unit. And then you will come away knowing whether that's what the Apostle Paul was saying in that text. and you will be delighted, you will rejoice, for you will have heard the Spirit in the text, and having heard the voice of Christ, you will be set free. Amen.
A Wretch No Less
ស៊េរី Lies My Preachers Told Me
Do you remain a wretch, a vile, despairing sinner after being united to Christ? Or is this a lie you have been told by traditionalists?
លេខសម្គាល់សេចក្ដីអធិប្បាយ | 12323191827172 |
រយៈពេល | 15:10 |
កាលបរិច្ឆេទ | |
ប្រភេទ | ការបង្រៀនខ្លី |
អត្ថបទព្រះគម្ពីរ | ពេត្រុស ទី ១ 2:1-10; រ៉ូម 7:13-25 |
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