Please take your Bible and turn with me this evening to Romans chapter 7. While you turn there, let me bring you greetings from Lexington, South Carolina. We've had a lot of rain lately. I don't know if you got to hear about it in the news, but there was a thousand year flood that took place back in early October in South Carolina. They've never seen rain like it. I've never seen rain like it in Columbia, which is the area I'm in, 18 to 20 inches in a 24-hour period. Flooding was unbelievable. Roads were out, bridges out. Thankfully, our house, although there was a stream behind our house, it did flood. There were white caps in my backyard, but only within 10 feet it got to the house. We were high enough to avoid it, but many just downstream of us did not. Water went up halfway through their first floor and their houses. So it was pretty bad rain, and it's continued to rain. We had about a week of sunshine, but the last couple of weeks we've had a lot of rain, and I was hoping to come here and get out of the way from rain, but that didn't happen. Maybe the sunshine will break through the week, but the thing that we need of all, most of all, is showers of blessing here. That's what we're praying for, that God will come and pour his water upon the dry and thirsty ground. And when we're said and done, we'll be able to all say, God came down with showers of blessing upon my soul. I pray that will be your testimony as you come to these meetings night by night. So good to be back again with you this evening and to open up the Word of the Lord. Romans chapter 7, please. We'll begin reading Romans chapter 7, verse 7. Paul has made the comment in the opening part here that we're dead to the law, we've been married to another and the law can no longer condemn us. And so that's going to raise the question about is the law not good? Is it bad? Are we done away with it? And so we'll break in at chapter 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, for without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found it to be unto death, for sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid! But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent under the law that it is good, Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after 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. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Amen. God add his blessing to that reading from his word to our hearts for his name's sake. Now would you please bow your head just for a moment. Ask the Lord to make a way for His Word into your own soul tonight, into the deep part. It'll get a lodging place there so it'll bring forth fruit and ask that He would help the preacher. Let's seek the Lord together. Father in heaven, we're all here by divine appointment and therefore we are trusting Thee to accomplish what thou hast determined to accomplish in every soul. We have been assured that thy word is never sent forth on a vain errand, and therefore we're trusting our God that there will be tonight work done in the people who hear, who listen with the soul, with the heart, not just with the ears. Give us soul hearing, we pray this evening. Remove every distraction, take away the tiredness, Lord, of mind and body and soul. And may it be a truly refreshing time. May it be, Lord, tonight, by Thy Spirit, a very revealing time. May it be a time of repenting. And, Lord, may it be a time of rejoicing as well. All that our God and Savior might be glorified, help Thy servant to make much of Jesus. In whose name we pray, Amen and Amen. My text tonight is verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death. The words of that text seem very strange coming from the lips of the Apostle Paul, especially in light of their appearance here in the book of Romans. Let me explain. Beyond any shadow of a doubt, the book of Romans is the greatest and fullest exposition ever written on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the preface to his commentary on Romans, Martin Luther wrote The epistle to the Romans is the true masterpiece of the New Testament and the very purest gospel which is well worth and deserving that a Christian man should not only learn it by heart, word for word, but also that he should daily deal with it as the daily bread of men's souls. It can never be too much or too well read or studied And the more it is handled, the more precious it becomes, and the better it tastes. It must have tasted very good to the early church father John Chrysostom. He had this book read to him twice a week. He was so much in love with it and found so much food from it. In this letter of Paul to the church of Rome, You will find the nearest thing to a systematic review of Christianity anywhere in Scripture. It is full of instruction on what Christians believe and on how a Christian should live in light of what he believes. In this book you will find that which has challenged the greatest intellects in the church of Christ and yet that which has brought the humblest of men to tears of repentance at the feet of Jesus Christ. As you read, as you start I should say to read through the book of Romans, it's not long before you discover that beating at the heart of this gospel book This good news that God proclaims to sinners and to saints is the truth of justification. That truth looms so largely in this book that one Scottish commentator of the 19th century approached his entire treatment of this book from the viewpoint of justification. Every chapter, every section, he dealt with it from the viewpoint of justification. You see, the real bad news is that we're all sinners. We're all outlaws. We're all rebels against our Creator, against God. And from the moment we're born, we are on the broad road that leads to hell. It's interesting, of course, that Paul begins this letter of the good news. He begins by revealing the wrath of God from heaven against all unrighteousness. That's why it's good news to hear. There's a remedy for the bad news. To make matters worse in this bad news side of things, not only are we these rebels, born rebels against God, not born innocently, but born rebels against Him, we have no ability nor do we have any desire to do anything about that fact. But God has a way and it's the only way that condemned sinners condemned by His law can be made as righteous in His eyes as His own Holy Son. That's the way of justification where God treats sinners as just, righteous, and holy in His eyes. Wonderfully, He does it freely. with no contribution from us. It's an act of God that takes place outside of us, not within us. Oh, it has many, many results that take place inside of us. But the act itself, a one-time, never-to-be-repeated act where ungodly sinners are treated legally as perfect. and will always be treated that way by God. That's the good news that's preached throughout this book. Justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Our sin, however great that sin may be, is not too great for God's grace. As Paul will say at the end of chapter 5, He will say where sin abounded, where sin overflowed, grace did much more abound. The thought in my own mind comes of those floodwaters in Colombia. The water raising so high. We walked out one morning, my son and I, and we saw the front door of a house and the water line was two-thirds to that doorway. That was the high water mark. Grace did much more abound. Grace came in our highest mark with our sin. Grace came and flooded over the abounding sin. Grace, marvelous grace. But, it's because of what Paul goes on to say in the next chapter, chapter 6, that I began this message by saying, it seems that what he's saying in my text in chapter 7, verse 24, it seems very strange. Chapter 6 is his response to those who, and he anticipates the response, and it was well worth anticipating because it has happened. Those who hear that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound, they come out and say, well if that's true, since God's grace much more abounds, where sin abounds, let's not trouble ourselves with trying to be holy. Let's not bother ourselves with obedience to the law of God. You've already said, Paul, we're dead to the law. Grace overflows all of our sin and it's magnified in doing that, so let's not worry about keeping the law. So Paul says in response to that in chapter 6 verse 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? How? That's the question. How shall we do that? What follows in chapter 6 is an overwhelming display of the fact that the focus on God's grace in salvation will not result, it will not result to indifference to the law of God. Rather, it will always lead to a love, a delight in God's law and a life of obedience, a pursuit of obeying that law You see what I'm saying, of course. I'm sure you've heard this for many, many years, that where God imparts righteousness, He will also impute righteousness. Where there is a legal standing before Him, there's going to be, in our experience, an obedience of holiness. Paul shows that it is impossible. Impossible! for someone who has been saved by this grace and justified, who is therefore, what he will say at the end of chapter 5, who is under the reign or the rule of grace to be under the reign of sin. Does he not Make the statement in chapter 6 verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Sin shall not have dominion over you. You are not going to live in the kingdom under the governance of sin. Grace does not simply bring you to a standing of righteousness in God's eyes. It actually brings you to a place where you are living righteously and you can no longer be under the dominion of sin. It cannot happen. But now listen to what he says. In verse 14 of chapter 7, I am carnal, sold under sin. That's strange, doesn't it seem strange? The word sold is used of slaves. Wait a minute, Paul. You just said, sin shall not have dominion over you. And you said, I am carnal, sold under sin. He then spends the next nine verses writing about the struggle he has with sin in his own life. Sin so powerful, verse 23, he says that it brings him into captivity. What happened to the Paul who just told them that sin shall not have dominion over him? Where'd he go? Is he a schizophrenic? Split personality? Is he confused? The Paul who just said, not once, you have been made free from sin in chapter 6. being made free from sin. So as he looks on the effects that sin is having in his life, he cries out in agony, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? I submit to you that this was not the groan of an unregenerate sinner. But it was the sad cry of one of the most eminent saints that ever lived. And it was a cry made to God long after he had been converted to Christ. This was not an immature believer talking. This was a well-seasoned saint. who mourned before God and called himself wretched. It's from this verse that I want to speak to you in this opening message of the conference on the subject of the mournful cry of sinning saints. The mournful cry of sinning saints. First I want to say that this mournful cry is very commonplace among Christians. The fact of the matter is that only Christians could ever truly make this cry. Only Christians could ever truly, honestly, make this cry. If you're here tonight and you're not saved, you do not understand what I'm talking about. This has never, ever come from your heart. And you'll see why in a moment. This is the cry that comes from Christians and Christians only. I make that point for two reasons. First, because down through the centuries of church history there have been some who have said that this last half of Romans chapter 7 about Paul was before he was converted to Christ. Pre-conversion days. Matter of fact, that church father I talked about, John Chrysostom, that was his view of Romans chapter 7. It hasn't been the view of a couple of quacks, you know, men who we would esteem have held that view. This is the only way They seem able to reconcile Paul's clear assertion in chapter 6 that sin shall not have dominion over the believer while stating here in chapter 7 that he is sold under sin and that it brings him into captivity. Well, Paul is not a schizophrenic, they knew that. It's got to be that he was talking about the time before he got saved. He was going through the struggles, the convictions of the law. They actually would use the phrase half-regenerate state, whatever that means. I make this point for a second reason. That being the conclusion that many a child of God has come to when they have felt the power of sin in their own lives, I must not be converted. I haven't been born again. This sin, this sin that I live with, this sin where I fail, I do these things that I know are wrong, And I go to God with those same sins. Say, Lord, forgive me, I've fallen again. How can that be true of a Christian? Paul has just said, sin will not have dominion over me. It seems to have dominion over me. And the child of God has come to the conclusion that some of those early church fathers thought this is not conversion. I want to point out several reasons why Paul is not referring to a time when he wasn't saved, but to something he experienced at a later stage in his life, for the latter part of his ministry, actually. In the first place, Paul is speaking in the present tense. Now, please don't check out right now. I've started using verb tenses, and I know how some people My son just confessed on the way to school last week, I hate grammar. And I do too, but I'm telling you it's so valuable when you come to looking at scripture. Tenses are very important. And Paul, as he talks, as he describes himself, is only dealing in the present tense. The here and now, not something that was past. He had been speaking in past tense. about his pre-conversion days. He describes how the law of God opened his eyes, how he really was, if you look at the first part of verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Verse 9, look at the past tense. I was alive without the law once. Go on to verse 10. The commandment, I found to be unto death. Something happened in the past. Verse 11, sin slew me. It did something to me in my past. All that's past tense. But as soon as you enter the section beginning with verse 14, it all becomes present tense, not past. I am carnal, that which I do I allow not. If I do that which I would not, I consent to the law. It's all present tense. It's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. It's all present tense. Just go through the passage. Now, now, now, now. Why in the world, if he is talking about his past, why in the world change tense? Why? This is Paul. And it's not Paul the persecutor talking. It's not Paul on the Damascus road. It's not even Paul who's just come to Ananias with blindness and Ananias is talking to him. It's not even him. This is Paul, the Apostle Paul, the servant of Christ, the champion of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who says, O wretched man that I am. And I will tell you something. There's a lot of white-headed folk in this auditorium tonight. And I know there are some of you that have been walking many, many, many years with Jesus Christ. And I would venture to say, to this day, you would say the same thing, oh, wretched man that I am. You are not any under delusions of grandeur. You have not walked so long with God, with Jesus Christ, that you think you've reached it, and you never feel the wretchedness of sin in your life. This is commonplace. This is not Paul in his past life. It's right then and there as he was writing this book from Corinth. just before he was about to undertake his third and final missionary journey. Secondly, Paul describes his relationship to God's law in terms that could never be used to describe an unconverted sinner. In verse 16 he says, I consent to the law that it is good. The law is good. I have no problem with the law. I have no problem with God's commandments. And while a lost man may admit, he may admit that the law of God is something that's good, he will never ever be able to say until he's born again by the Spirit of God, as Paul does in verse 18, to will is present with me. That is, I have a will to obey the law of God in me. Unconverted can never say that. An unconverted man cannot say in verse 22, I delight in the law of God after the n-word man. He can't say that. I mean, he can say the words, but it will never come as an expression of his heart. I delight in God's holy law. I love his law. An unconverted man is not able to say in verse 25 with Paul, "...with the mind I myself serve the law of God." All of that stands in complete contradiction to what Paul taught about the lost, that their minds in Romans chapter 8 are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It can't be subject to it. And the promise of the gospel to those God saves is that God will put His laws into their minds and will write them in their hearts, right? God puts it there. You can't say that about someone who's unsaved. In fact, what he says here about his struggle with sin is that he is describing himself in a very advanced spiritual level. I want to tell you folks, Paul is not simply describing a Christian. He's describing someone who's a very experienced Christian. He's describing Someone who has a hatred for sin that is at a very extraordinary degree. Young believers don't talk like this. You get that? Young believers normally don't talk like he's talking. This is a child of God who's looked into the face of God, who understands the holiness of God, who sees the depth of the spirituality of God's law and finds themselves wretched because of what they see. That's spiritual maturity talking, not immaturity. He's describing a fight against sin in his own heart with every ounce of his being. And is this not the very thing that the Word of God bears witness to again and again? Read about the great saints of the Old Testament, anyone you want to go to, the best of them, and you'll find them mourning over their sins even as old men. I was speaking with a brother when I came in Thursday afternoon. He said, you know, I remember a fellow, he was a retired man, 91 years old, 91 years old, a man greatly used of God. He was talking to him one day and he said, you know, I find much more struggle with my thought life as an old man than I did as a young man. Boy, that told me something. It told me something about the power of sin. well-seasoned, saint of God, used of God. Not only will you read about the saints and the word of God, but you pick up any diary of the old men and you'll read them saying the same thing, mourning, dealing with their wretchedness. And is this not the groan of this text? Is it not the one that you have made? Have you not made it many times? You might not have taken the word, you may have, but you might not, but you have been sitting there in your chair at home, lying in your bed, maybe sitting at the place of work, wherever it is, Maybe you've been standing there at the assembly line and you've just been sitting there and tears have just been flowing down your face as you've thought upon your sin. They can almost see your hand with the tools. My sin, my sin, my sin. What's wrong with me? I must not be saved. Which one of us has not cried out, O wretched man that I am, when overwhelmed by evil thoughts and evil desires? Which one of us? Which one in this sanctuary tonight is not felt overwhelmed with evil thoughts, evil desires. Anyone bold enough to say it's me? Yeah, well, do I hear someone, I've been saved 40 years and I still have evil thoughts and evil desires. Oh, you hate them. But they still come, don't they? You hate them, but they come. Yes, of course, some of them arise from Satan. I understand that. But let's be honest, many of them arise from our own hearts. The devil gets blamed for a whole lot that he shouldn't be blamed for. We can find ourselves worldly-minded, covetous, pursuing the glitter and the glamour of the world, laboring to be rich. When we know the Word of God says labor not to be rich, it doesn't get any plainer than that. But there you are going hammer and tong trying to make as much money as you can. I'm all for God blessing you with wealth. I have no problem with that. But when it becomes the object of life, it's evil desire. It's covetousness. It's wanting more and more and more and more and never satisfied with what you have. Christians do that. Evil thoughts, evil desires. Forbidden desires, wealth or power, man's applause, and the list is endless. Proud thoughts, jealousy, lustful thoughts. I don't know about you. Oh, I think I do know. I would not want anyone with a projector to put on this back wall my evil thoughts and desires that I've had since being a Christian. Would you? For all to see. Which believer here tonight has not felt the awful power of an evil tongue that has brought him or her to make this mournful cry, O wretched man that I am. Oh, you believe James paints the picture so clearly when he says that that tongue is a little member, but surely it's set on fire by hell. You believe that? You've tried to hold your tongue on many an occasion, But to this day, you've been saved for 40, 50 years, and to this day, you still have this battle with your tongue and letting it fly and its arrows fly and hurting people and doing damage, don't you? Would there not be here tonight wives who could testify their husbands talk roughly to them? Hurtfully? that they don't take into account. This is a weaker vessel. I am not to treat her like she is made of steel. But that she's delicate. Yes, you have. And you felt once your temper, once your temper subsided, you sat down in your chair and you just mourned. You grieved. Would there not be wives here tonight? who have used that little member set on fire by hell to go right against the wishes of your husband when you know he's the head of the home. But you have let him know it's not what you want. And you have found fault with him. And you've gotten very good at finding fault with him. and pointing out all that's wrong with him. And all you've done is heap guilt upon him. And no one likes to live with guilt being continually put upon them. It drives them away. And you've had to go back and say, I'm sorry, whatever term of endearment you've used for your husband, I was wrong and I shouldn't have spoken that way. To this day, that sharp tongue can still wag, can it not? Because Paul's been talking about the members of the body, you know. That's where this sin abides. The body is the instrument through which the sin that dwells in us works its way out. The eyes, the ears, the tongue, the hands, the feet. Members. Instruments of unrighteousness or members of instruments of righteousness unto holiness. And which believer has not felt the power of sin? When it comes to the life of prayer and the reading of the word of God, which believer has not felt that power? How many times, how many times, child of God, have you come and mourned and groaned before God about, Lord, I failed to seek you. I failed to pray. I've gotten caught up in so many things, Lord, but I know better. I hear my pastor tell me, my preacher tell me every week, my need of prayer. And I know it's good, and I want to pray, Lord. I know it's the right thing, but that I would do, I do not. And Lord, I have to confess, here I am. I started to go through the Bible the first of the year. I started a course, but now, now I've, it's been set aside. I pretty much only pick it up when I walk out the door for Sunday. for prayer meeting. I don't have much time. Yes, Lord, I've got time to read the paper or books and I've got time to surf the internet. I've got time for all kinds of things, but I don't have time for the Word. And Lord, I have to confess it's really because My love for you is so cold because I know that if my love for you was healthy, I'd want to fellowship with you. I'd want to be in your presence. I want to talk to you and I'd want you to talk to me. Isn't that how it is between people who love each other? Don't you know, child of God, that he oftentimes has brought sorrow and trouble into your life to get you to your knees because he wants to fellowship with you. He wants you in his presence. And he'll send grief and he'll send pain just to do that. Because he knows the best place for you is there. But, but, you have to tell me, yes, preacher, I know exactly what you're talking about. It's my struggle. You come to church on the Lord's Day. You hear a message about those very things. You're convicted. And you walk out determined things will be different on Monday. But things weren't different on Monday, were they? Or if it got past Monday and Tuesday, it stopped on Wednesday. But here you are tonight. And I know one thing, if I have any time tonight hit a nail on the head, your heart has been convicted and you have said in essence, I'm wretched. Do you think this kind of struggle is abnormal? I want you to listen to this lengthy quote, at least lengthy for me, written by John Newton, author of Amazing Grace, a number of hymns, a great preacher, theologian, eminent saint. Cartophonia is the book of letters that he wrote to different individuals, this is to a nobleman, written in April of 1766. This is just a snippet, and if you ever come across this book, Add it to your library. It is rich with the personal experience of God's people. Newton writes, and he's referring to Christians, you know, how they like to be known and how they really are. Though he knows that communion with God is his highest privilege, He too seldom finds it so. On the contrary, if duty, conscience, and necessity did not compel, he would leave the throne of grace unvisited from day to day. He takes up the Bible, conscious that it is the fountain of life and true comfort, Perhaps while he is making the reflection he feels a secret distaste which prompts him to lay it down and give his preference to a newspaper. He needs not to be told of the vanity and uncertainty of all beneath the sun and yet it is almost as much elated or cast down by a trifle as those who have their portion in this world. He believes that all things shall work together for his good, and that the Most High God appoints, adjusts, and overrules all his concerns. Yet he feels the risings of fear, anxiety, and displeasure as though the contrary was true. He owns himself ignorant and liable to be deceived by a thousand fallacies, yet is easily betrayed into positiveness and self-conceit. He feels himself an unprofitable, unfaithful, unthankful servant and therefore blushes to harbor a thought of desiring the esteem and commendations of men, yet he cannot suppress it. And that is just a snippet from the letter. He's describing the Christian. How do you think Newton knew about this experience? This mournful cry is a very commonplace experience among the saints. Secondly, this mournful cry of sinning saints is very comforting. Now you might think I'm the one that's schizophrenic. This mournful cry of sinning saints is very comforting when you look at it right. The fact that Paul mourned over the sin that he saw in his life leads us to several comforting realities, not only about his spiritual state, but the spiritual state of everyone who makes these mournful cries because of their sin. And each of them will give the sinning saint comfort and relief from the crippling effect, the sadness and the worries that arise because of this sin that you see in your life. I'm going to deal with sinning saints this week. And you really need to get this. You really need to get this. discomfort. 1st Paul's cry of wretchedness indicates that there was divine life in his soul. Yes, there was a law of sin in his body, he calls it. A principle that was at work, that soul fought against him. In his flesh, he says, there dwells no good thing. None. And that's how it will always be. It will always be the flesh. Always, always opposing anything good, trying to hinder anything good you would do, any obedience you would do. You will live with that flesh until the day you die. And there is no fix for the flesh. It can't be repaired. It's irreparable. You go ahead and try to fix it, and you will fall flat on your face every time. It is against God, and it will always be against God, and that law of sin will be there every day of your life to oppose you and any obedience. That's fact of the matter. But here's the wonderful truth. Also, there's another law in me, and it wars against that law. There's another will that I have. There's another mind that I have. And that mind, that law, that principle honestly wants to obey the law of God and it believes, it's convinced, it knows in its heart that the law is just and holy and good. It's just and holy and good. There's nothing wrong with that law. There was something in God's law that gave him delight. The Ten Commandments? They're wonderful. I delight in them. I hate everything that's contrary to them. You do see, do you not, that the greater the maturity, The greater the spiritual maturity, the more delight in that law increases and the more hatred for all that opposes it increases. It grows. This is a mature Christian. I hate, I despise that which is opposed to God's law. Why? because the Spirit of God was dwelling in Him. Yes, He had sin in His flesh, and it would dwell with Him all His life, but He also had the Holy Spirit dwelling in Him, and the Holy Spirit would dwell with Him all His life. Now, that's divine life in the soul. There's comfort there. I don't know if I've ever told you the story. You know, I've come here for a lot of years. Preachers talk all the time. They forget what they say, where they say it. So if I've repeated this little incident, just say that Mr. Wagner's getting old and senile and forgetful, and you'd just humor me, would you? I hadn't been in the free church in Newtown Square that long. And it was one of those times, Mr. Greer will testify, to the hours he spent with me counseling me about my doubts about my salvation. I mean, this was coming to the, probably at this point in time, the 10th year of these serious doubts whether I was a child of God. And, of course, I just kept saying, my wretchedness, my wretchedness, my wretchedness, my wretchedness. How can one so wretched be saved? My wife would tell you I'd lie on the bed at nighttime and the tears would just flow down my face because I didn't have any assurance that I belonged to the Lord. So I was in, I forget, one of the communities around. I was representing, I was a witness for a case. I was in the home improvement industry and someone was being sued. And I was to testify on behalf of the defendant. And I was waiting until you got called into the courtroom. And here I'm in a courtroom. I'm thinking, Judge, you know what? I'm just pacing the floor like this. I'm not even thinking about what's going to go on. My whole thought is with my sin, my sin, my sin, Lord. What's wrong with me? And I'm going. And then I just hit me. Wait a minute. I don't want this. I've got a battle with this. I'm struggling with this. Only Christians struggle. Only those who have the Spirit of God in them struggle and fight and war against that sin and actually hate it. I have no clue what went on. I don't remember what went on in that courtroom when I had to give testimony, but I do remember that morning outside that courtroom. Wonderful. I've got a battle going on. Divine life is in me. If you've got that struggle going on, don't conclude that you're unsaved. Quite the opposite. Thank God you've got a struggle going on. Thank Him for it. Thank Him for it. The same is true of any of you who can honestly say that you inwardly delight in the law of God. Tell me something. If you don't delight in the law of God, why have you wept tears over your sins? Why have you done that? I'm not referring to, you know, anyone can cry. Oh, I've made a mess of things. Yeah, anyone can cry because you're so sad about the mess you've made because of what you've done wrong. That is not the same thing as mourning over your sin. I'm talking about sins that no one but God knows about. No one knows your thought life. God does. And yet you have found yourself on your face before God, weeping over those things, saying, Lord, I am sorry. Break me. Break me from this. Give me repentance. Don't just give me tears, Lord. Give me grace to turn away from it. Let me tell you, that's comforting. In the midst of the sorrow, it's comforting. That's the mark of a Christian. It shows that Christ is in you. Paul's mournful cry also indicates that he had a hatred for sin and a thirst for holiness. You see this hate, if it's true, I don't know if it's true, we'll be able to find out I guess one day when we get to glory and able to ask Christ or ask Paul, but many believe that he got this expression, who will deliver me from this body of death, from the practice, ancient practice in his day. The Roman government did practice it when they would execute a criminal. One of, they had all kinds of vile ways of bringing out executions. They would take a dead body and tie it to that person who's been executed. And of course, the corruption, the rot would eventually transfer over and they would die. If that's so, it certainly does paint a very reprehensible view that Paul had of his sin. It's like there is this body of death that's strapped to me, and I hate it. He wanted freedom. He wanted freedom. And I should, you know, I just should do this. lest there's any misconception about what I'm saying. I am not for a moment describing someone, I would not want them to misread what I'm saying, that Paul was talking about gross lifestyle of sin. He's not talking about this. Oh, I've got sin dwelling in me, but I've got the Holy Ghost so I can just live like this. We're talking about a man who is in the zenith of his spirituality. Don't go and, you know, when I was out there for three years living in drugs and alcohol, I never even thought for a moment to tell people, I'm saved, I'm a Christian. How could I say that? I had enough sense to know that. How could I? Had no right to say that, so I don't want anyone to think for a moment this is just some, Paul is, you know, vile, wicked, is living to the hilt of the world. No, no, no, no. I hate this sin and I fight against it. It has a power over me. So much so that I will not do the things that I want to do and I will do the things that I don't want to do. But don't think for a moment Paul is some prodigal living away from God. He's not. He has a thirst for holiness. And a prodigal living away from God doesn't have a thirst for holiness. You can put on all the masks you want to put on. But if there is not an honest to goodness thirst to be holy, how dwelleth the spirit of God in him? Thirdly, It indicates this mournful cry that he was convinced of his own helplessness. Who shall deliver me from this body of death because I have tried and I am powerless? He was convinced. He had no power. to rid himself, to overcome. That is comforting, I tell you. Why is that comforting? Because until we are brought to the end of ourselves, we will never look to that one place of deliverance from this sin that does so easily beset us. We will not. We will not. I will tell you, you did not look to Christ for salvation until you realized one day that you could not, no matter how much you tried, save yourself from your sin. It dawned on you, God opened your eyes and your mind to see, I'm headed to hell and I cannot rescue myself and no one can save me but Christ. It took you to get there before you went to him, I'll tell you that. And I'll tell you something else. You won't find, you will not find that Christ alone is the only one, is the only one who can deliver you from your sin and all the battles you have until you're brought to see. I cannot. Not just, you know, acknowledge it up here. When you feel in your soul, Lord, I am powerless. If you do not break this in me, it will never be broken. I know, Lord, if you do not do this, I will keep on. I will continue to lose my temper. and speak like a dog to those I love. I will continue to lash out at people that hurt me. I will continue to act in unbelief instead of trusting you and your promises. You just name the sin or sins, brothers and sisters. It's when you're brought there. Oh, wretched man that I am. This is a seasoned saint talking, who shall deliver me because I cannot deliver myself. Hallelujah! I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. If Paul's answer to his own question tells us anything, It tells us that in his struggle with sin, Paul wins. Sin loses the struggle. Those are words of victory. I know there is the ultimate victory coming, and I get more and more eager for that day to come. I want rid of this sin forever. You just ask me one thing, you know the one wish, take this sin from me. Lord just take this sin out of my life. It's the only thing I want. I don't care about money, I don't care about reputation, I don't care about fame, it means nothing. Just take this sin out because this sin has a power to bring misery to me and dishonor to you. So this text is a text of victory. Victory. Paul's answer. to who shall deliver me, I thank God through Jesus Christ. I want to, for the remainder of this conference, expound that answer. It's easy to say, oh it's Christ. Christ is the answer. But if I know one thing I know you're saying, you need to tell me how that works out practically in my life. Don't just throw out Christ is the answer. Tell me how he is the answer to my struggle with sin. We'll pick that up tomorrow morning. Now, child of God, you have every reason to be comforted. Whatever trouble the sin's causing you, in the midst of it all, there's comfort to be had. And that's good news, isn't it? That's great news. We know how this ends. We have read the last chapter of this whole story. Thank God we have a mighty Savior. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's all pray. Gracious God and Father in heaven, we commit Thy word and Thy gospel into Thy hands. We pray that Thou wilt speak on well after the voice of Thy servant is silent. Lord, take us to our homes. with the Spirit still speaking to us. Let not any, Lord, trivial thing, even between now and the Lord's day, take our minds off of this truth. Bring us back tomorrow morning, we pray, with a thirst to hear what God the Lord will have to say. Come and comfort thy people, our God. We are looking to thee for the outpouring of the Spirit of God. And I pray, Father in heaven, that Thou wilt not pass us by, but dwell among us, Lord, we pray this week, that King Jesus might be glorified in this house. In His name we pray, Amen and Amen.