Let's all open our Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter 6. We didn't quite finish the 6th chapter. We'll pick up with the 20th verse and go into the 7th chapter. Romans 6, verse 20. For when ye were the servants of sin, notice he says, when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. Paul is saying here that, of course, we could not be righteous when we were servants of sin. You were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. So there was a time that we were the servants of sin, and we were made free from being the servants of sin. And we became the servants of righteousness. What he's saying is that we cannot serve sin and righteousness at the same time. We're either the servants of one or the other. Verse 16 reveals how that this is so. Look back at verse 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are, to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." So what is revealed by our life is what we really are. So if we constantly yield ourselves as servants unto sin, it shows that we are not freed from being servants of sin, that we are still the servants of sin. And we cannot live righteous if we are still the servants of sin. But if we are servants of righteousness by the grace of God, then we cannot still be under the bondage of sin. So we're going to see now in verse 22, it says, But now, being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Now, saved by grace, we're no longer the servants of sin, but we're free from being the servants of sin, and we've become servants to God, and our fruit now is unto holiness, and the end of it is everlasting life. The final result of our life that we have in Christ produces holiness, and the end of it is everlasting life. It says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, that sums up all of it that we find in this chapter. Everyone expects their wages to be paid, and wages are usually never, in our own estimation, as high as they ought to be. But in this case, the wages of sin is the ultimate. death, because sin brings the highest, in the negative point of view, not what we would desire, but what we do not desire, the highest wages that can be paid. Therefore, there is no complaint on the part of those that earn. The wages of sin is death. You get paid the highest pay for sin. But the gift, the free gift of God, The gift of God is eternal life, something that is the greatest of all gifts, and of course we know that the channel of this gift is Jesus Christ through Jesus Christ our Lord. The only way that we can have eternal life is by God giving us eternal life, and the faith in Jesus Christ our Lord is the channel, the way that we receive eternal life. A lot of people think that they want to work for their salvation. And a lot of folks think that they might have some way of earning salvation. But there's no way that you can earn it. It's a gift of God. And it is the greatest gift that you could receive, eternal life, and it's only through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, when we begin to deal with the 7th chapter, you're going to find in verses 1-6 that our union with Christ, our connection with Christ, and we'll call it a union, the Bible teaches it to be so, is first illustrated by the relation of husband and wife. And you find that in verses 1 through 6, that we're united to Christ just as husband and wife are united together. And the things that pertain to husband and wife relationship and how that relationship can be severed brought out, or how it is still maintained. But then in verses 7-14, we'll find that the law of God is holy and just and good, but it cannot make us, it cannot make the believer holy and just and good. The law cannot produce in us goodness and holiness. This is produced by the grace of God. And we're going to see that in verses 7-14. And verses 15 through 25, we're going to see the warfare that continues to exist in the life of a believer, that even though we're saved by grace and the law cannot make us good, yet there is a principle of sin in our old nature and there is a principle of righteousness in our new nature that makes for a conflict from then on. So let's pick up with verse 1, if you will, please. Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth." The law has dominion. And it says, "...for the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loose from the law of her husband." If a woman's husband is dead, then she is free from that law of marriage, the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband liveth she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, she is free from that law so that She is no adulteress, though she be married to another man." She's free to marry another man. Now, he takes that as an illustration of our relationship to Christ and to the law. "...Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ." We're just as dead to the law, all of the law, by the death of Christ. body of Christ, we were crucified with him, has when a husband dies and leaves his wife free from the law that she was held in debt to, and we are just as dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." In other words, we are free. to be espoused, we're free to be married to Christ because we're dead to the law. We have that perfect right as Christians. Our sins were judged when Jesus died on the cross. The law was judged. The law was fulfilled. The law, as far as having any dominion over us, ceased to be. It doesn't have control over us, it doesn't keep us under bondage. As a Christian today, you and I are free from the law. The Bible says that those that are in Christ are free from the law. Look at chapter 10, verse 4. It says, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. to everyone that believe it. To every believer, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. We don't have to establish ourselves as righteous before God by keeping the law. Christ kept it for us, and we're free from it so that we can be completely at a privilege and right to be married to Christ or to be joined to Christ, to be in union with Christ, because we are dead to the law. And the illustration of husband and wife here is given so that if the husband is dead, the woman is free to be married to another, and she shall not be called an adulteress, a transgressor of that law of marriage. She is not guilty of it because she is free to marry again. Therefore, you and I shall not be called in accusation that we have broken the law because we are free in Christ, aren't we? We are made free by his death. We have become dead to the law by the body of Christ. For when we were in the flesh, and that means in our unregenerate state, our condition, when we were in the flesh, when we knew nothing of salvation, when we were still serving the motions and passions, you might say, of sin which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. In other words, the law condemned every sin, and we were guilty. Every evil passion and every evil desire, every evil deed, everything that was against the law, brought forth fruit unto death. That was in our unsaved state or condition. But it says, But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter. Notice this, that we are delivered from the condition of being in bondage to keeping the law. That we were dead wherein we were held. That we should serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter. Some people try to keep the very letter of the law and think they can justify themselves in the sight of God. You've heard people say, well, I keep the commandments. In Jesus' day, they said they kept the law. And Jesus said, I gave you the law and none of you have kept it. None of you have kept it. God gave them the law, and nobody kept it. That was why they stoned Stephen to death. He said, You received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. We know that Moses was a great lawgiver, and God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. When we say the law, we mean the Ten Commandments. And of course, all the things that are interpreted are the precepts that revolve from those commandments. There are certain things that are given as practical examples, and to understand what it is when a person commits murder. When the Bible says, Thou shalt not kill, it is stated in the Ten Commandments. But then it is elaborated on how people are guilty of such a sin as murder. And we have many, many things described in the writings of Moses to develop and to unfold the meaning of those Ten Commandments. But basically, the law is the Ten Commandments, and a lot of people claim to live by them. Did you know that there is no one that has ever kept the law but the Lord Jesus Christ? There is no one that has ever perfectly kept the Ten Commandments but Jesus Christ. And James says, if we have broken one commandment, we are guilty of breaking the law, we are guilty of all. In other words, we are transgressors of the law of God. And we do not have to outwardly and openly break one of those commandments. When the Bible says, Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not kill. John says that a man that hates his brother without a cause is a murderer, and we know that no murderer hath eternal life dwelling in him. So it's an inward feeling, an action of our own inside being, isn't it, that makes us guilty? And we might be guilty of a certain transgression of the law inside, and no one else ever know anything about it. But God knows about it. And that's why that when these men brought this woman that was taken in adultery and they accused her before Jesus, that Jesus said, He that is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her. And they all went away, didn't they? And when he said, without sin, Jesus meant that very same sin that you've accused this woman of. In other words, you're just as guilty as she is of this very sin. And they were convinced and convicted in their heart, and so they went away from the least to the greatest. They knew that they were guilty. And Jesus said, Out of the heart of man come forth evil thoughts, fornications, adulteries, and all of these things come from where? The inside of man. The Bible tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And a lot of people try to serve in the very letter of the law, verse 6. Not in oldness of letter, but we serve in newness of spirit. We're united to Christ and we serve in a spiritual way. If you read in the 8th chapter, if you just turn over there quickly, in verse Five, it says, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Now then, how is it that some mind the things of the Spirit and some the things of the flesh? If you'll go back to verse 3, it says, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh in foreseeing condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law, the very letter of the law, the complete, full righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who keep it according to the old letter? No. Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, so that the law is actually completely fulfilled. by those who walk after the Spirit. Not that we have fulfilled it as far as the word and letter of the law is concerned, but that Christ has fulfilled it for us, and he has made us free to live in a spiritual relationship to him, and thus we are declared as fulfilling all the righteous demands of the law. Now, you and I have not personally kept the law, have we? But we have kept it in Christ. The Bible says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. So if anyone asks if you've kept the law, you say, no, I haven't. But you say, well, Jesus has kept it, he's fulfilled it, and my relationship and union is with Christ, and therefore I can say that I fulfill the righteous demands of the law by way of substitution, by way of Christ's intervention for me, because he's done that. I haven't done it. He's done that. Therefore, God has not brought the law upon me now to condemn me." And Galatians 3, verse 13, I believe you'll find, the Bible tells us that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on the tree. Okay? Let's look at this then in verse 7. We kind of go from the relationship that's pointed out by husband and wife. And by the law and Christ, that's really being illustrated by husband and wife union, our relationship to the law and Christ, we kind of move from that to the law being holy and good and just, and yet it will not change us. It will not make us new creatures. Look in verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! The law is not sin. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, how would I know that there was sin? Oh, you say, well, we have a certain consciousness of sin. That's true. We have a law written on our heart. That's true. God has done that. And man, by nature, has an inbuilt, an indwelling consciousness and law of sin, but not to the extent that he knows that he has directly transgressed what God has written and what God has said, Thou shalt not. So we really have not known sin in the full sense of the word unless the law has said to us, Thou shalt not. Look, it says, For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet God's word says, Thou shalt not covet. The commandment, one of the commandments, Thou shalt not covet. And he said, I wouldn't have known what that meant. I wouldn't have known the sin of covetousness except God's word, except the law had said that. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. That's the same thing as the lust that he speaks of. I would not have known lust except by the law. It wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, for without the law, sin was dead." In other words, he didn't even realize that he was such a sinner. You know, let's be sure and keep this in view, that Paul is using his own experience here to relate to us the message of law and grace. and of the fact that the law brings a knowledge of sin to us, that we know we've sinned because God's Word says so, because the commandments say so. And he's showing his experience even before regeneration. He's going to show his experience after he is saved and show that he still has a sinful nature and a carnal nature, but he's showing what it was that brought him to Christ. And we know that this is the same thing. It's true. If the sinner doesn't realize he's broken God's commandment, then his sin does not appear to be sin, does it? But once he realizes that he is a sinner against God's law, then he realizes he needs a Savior. That's why you can't get a lot of folks saved today. They go about and they say, well, I keep the law. They say, I don't murder. I never killed anyone. I pay my honest debts. I'm a pretty good fellow. And they fail to take into consideration the very minute aspects of the law of God and how they apply inwardly, even if they haven't done any of these things outwardly. And I believe they have. But they nevertheless have done them inside. They're still guilty of breaking the commandments, but that's why you can't get a fellow to accept Christ if he believes he's good enough and that he keeps God's law, or that in some way he's justified in the sight of God, he's just a good enough fellow, and he lives by the Ten Commandments. A lot of people, instead of saying that they keep them, they say, I live by them. The Bible teaches that you have not kept them. And even those that profess to live by them, what good would that do if you've broken in one point, you're guilty of the law and you're condemned in the sight of God? For the Bible says, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do thee. So that a man is under condemnation even if he tries to live by the law and the commandments. He's still condemned. He's still a sinner in the sight of God, and he needs that which has redeemed him from the curse of the law. He needs Christ, doesn't he? That's the difference. So a man can go along all he wants to and say, I live by. Well, that's well and good. It's a good standard to live by, but it's not going to save him. It's the best standard that was ever given man to live by. But it was not powerful enough to save you. That's why Jesus came. For what the law could not do, we read it in Romans chapter 8 and verse 3. What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. How was it weak through the flesh? The law was not weak, the flesh had sinned, and that it was weak in that a man could not be saved by keeping the commandments, and it was weak in that point to save a man. And for what the law could not do in that it was weak to the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin," that means for a sin offering, condemns sin, a sacrifice for sin, he condemns sin in the flesh. So that he sent Christ, and Christ became a sacrifice for sin, and therefore God condemned sin in the flesh, and then he made it possible that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. So the fellow that says that he has kept the law, we know that not to be the case, because the Bible tells us that even the Jews, Jesus said to them, none of you have kept it. And if anyone would have kept the law, the Jews would, because they received it directly. The Gentiles had a law written on their hearts, and we all do today. By nature, God has written the law on our hearts, and we read that back in the second chapter of the book of Romans. But that would not save us any more than the law that was given to the Jew would save him, because we neither had kept. And that's why in Romans chapter 3 the Bible says, All have sinned, both Jews and Gentiles, and come short of the glory of God. So when we realize that our conscience condemns us, our inward law condemns us, and God's written law condemns us, then we see that we need the Lord in order to be saved. Christ died for our sins. Let's look at this in verse 9. It says, For I was alive without the law once, when Paul went about and thought that he could keep the law of God. He felt himself to be much alive, didn't he, before he met Christ on the road to Damascus? He was going about, and boy, he was just doing fine. He was alive. He was transgressing the law, but he didn't know he was a transgressor. He thought that he was perfectly blameless, as touching the law, blameless, he said. He felt that he had kept everything that God had ever commanded, that he was not guilty of anything wrong. And as he went about persecuting Christians, he had this in view. I'm doing this for the glory of God, and I'm right with God, and I've kept the commandments, and I know the law, and I obey it. And he says he was alive. But he says, without the law once, but when the commandment came, when he realized really what the law was, the commandment came, he says, sin revived, it became alive, and I died. It brought death to me. Why did it bring death? Because he realized that he had broken God's law. And he says in verse 10, And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. I thought I could live by the law, but I found that it put me to death. It condemned me to death. And so Paul says, For sin, verse 11, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. That law that I thought was life for me was really death to me. And it slew me. He uses a strong word here to show that it really just took him and violently put him to death. When Christ was crucified for our sins, it slew me. The Bible says that you received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. The Bible speaks of the Jews whom you have crucified and slain. The word slain concerning Christ's death. Put Paul to death. Wherefore? He says, what about this then? The law is holy. He's not saying the law is sin, but he says the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good. Worse than that which is good may death unto me, God forbid, but sin that it might appear sin. He didn't realize how sinful he really was. Sin that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment, since I know that the commandment said thou shalt not, It says, "...might become exceedingly sinful." In other words, as Paul realized what the commandment, what the law of God really was, he became exceedingly sinful. Sin by the commandment made him realize how exceedingly sinful he really was in breaking the commandment. All the time before, he thought he had kept it. He thought he was good enough. The law had not brought condemnation because he thought it was the law of life to live by. And he thought that he had kept it. He kept it as much as anyone else, you see. He kept it as much as anyone who was supposed to keep it. He had observed it day by day. He had tried to make it his golden rule. He had tried to make it his standard of life. But yet, what was he? He was a murderer and a persecutor and injured by his own confession. He says, I persecuted the church of God. And yet he didn't realize that even by what he was doing, just on that one occasion and in those particular things, that he was a murderer in the sight of God. And he was breaking the law, and he thought he was keeping it all the while. But you see how deceived men can be by their own evaluation of themselves? They can be very deceived. So he says that it might become exceeding sinful. Now then, Paul, after having realized that he was so sinful in the sight of God, and he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, and he realized that he needed Jesus as Savior, and he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Later on, he confessed that concerning the law he was blameless, and yet he counted all those things but loss for the sake of Christ, didn't he? Now, we come to another aspect of this 7th chapter of Romans that shows us even his connection with sin and the principle of sin that still is within, even though he is saved by grace, even though he has already seen his sinfulness. And once he is saved, he still has a conflict with sin. And we are going to see that from verses 14 onward. He says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. sold under sin. Now what he's recognizing here is that there is a carnal nature within him. That there's still that old sinful nature. And he goes on to say in verse 15, for that which I do, I allow not. I don't desire to do it. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that I do." Paul says, I have good desires, but he says, I do other things. I do right the opposite. The law is spiritual, the law is holy, the law is just, the law is good. God's law still tells him that he's a sinner, and he comes short of the glory of God. But he's recognizing the fact that even though He has a new nature and is a new creature in Christ Jesus that his holy desires sometimes are interfered with. So are yours and mine. He says, That which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. He says, If then I do, that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." What's he talking about, I and sin? It's not me, but he excuses himself and says, it's someone else that dwells in me, it's sin that dwells in me. He's really saying that the I here represents that new nature, that renewed nature, and that has holy desires and would like to do good, but when he does it, evil is present. And yet that evil presence, that old carnal nature is the one that is doing these things. He's not saying this to excuse himself, but he's saying it to recognize the fact, as many will not, that there is still a carnal nature within. He doesn't use it for excuse. He's developing the thought to show us that even in spite of the fact that his desires are holy, that he would not do evil except for the fact that that sin within him tries to make him do evil when he would not want to. He's not in bondage to it, but he's merely stating the fact that it's present. You and I are not in bondage to sin, but sin is still there, it still dwells, and we must recognize its presence. That's what Paul is wanting us to see. Now, of course, a lot of fellows have taken this scripture completely out of context and applied it all to an unsaved person and say, Well, if we had this kind of feeling, it's just that we were not saved. That's not true. It's the conflict. Actually, what Paul is showing us here is that There is a coexistence of the flesh and the spirit that Paul tells us about again in Galatians and that we read about in Romans 8, verses 3 and 4, that the conflict exists. And he is recognizing that even in the renewed man that there is a sinful principle still left within us. We have a divine principle in us and we have a new nature and a spiritual life, but we still have the old that is there. And he goes on to say, Verse 18, For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh," it seems as if he's speaking about both natures, doesn't he? "...dwelleth no good thing." Well, now, in the new person, in Paul's renewed man, Paul as a saved person, there dwelt some good, I'm sure, because this was of God. But he says, "...in my flesh dwelleth no good thing." Or he says, "...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." He's still showing the conflict between these two natures. He says, I want to do good and the evil interferes, the flesh interferes. Now, if I do, verse 20, that I would not, it is no more I that do it. It's not my renewed man that does this. It's not my real desire to yield to sin. It's not my aspiration. It's not my passion to follow after the old nature. But it's my conflict. It's a conflict that I have. He says, Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that doeth, but sin that dwelleth in me. an excuse for the Apostle Paul. He's not saying this to excuse himself for sin and shortcoming. A lot of people say, well, if that be the case, then every time I sin, I just say, well, that's just because I have an old nature, a carnal nature. Paul is not doing that for this reason. He's showing us that the conflict is there, even though he does not desire to yield to any sin whatsoever and to be caught in the trap. and to have that old carnal nature to rise up within, and to cause it to even manifest itself outwardly and openly, or even the feeling and knowing of it inwardly. But he's saying that it's present, and he's not excusing himself. And he goes on in verse 21 to show then that there is a law of the good and evil that is within. He says, I find then a law. This is not the law. Then he's speaking about the Ten Commandments. I found in a law, there's a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. When I would do good, there's still evil present. This is the law that Paul says I found. I found that there's something that I must establish as actual fact. There's a conclusion I must come to, that when I would do good, I must confess that there's still evil within, that evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. He delights in the fact that there is a law of God after the inward man, the spiritual aspect of Paul's person. And the reason I keep saying Paul is because a lot of theologians have taken this as just a matter of theological instruction instead of a personal application in Paul's life. and letting the theology come forth from that experience of Paul. I believe Paul just as surely felt himself to be condemned by the law and be delivered from the law by Christ, and yet recognized the law of sin that dwelled within, as you and I should recognize it personally. And that's why he uses himself, I. I find then, he doesn't say I as representing thus and so, but he says I. that when I would do good, evil is present with me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man." I have a spiritual man, I have an inward man, and yet he says, 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. There is a constant conflict within, and I'm going to have to have deliverance from it. And how am I going to receive it? This law, this fact of sin, sin's presence, this fact of a carnal nature, this fact that there is a law that would bring me into captivity that I must be delivered from, even though I delight in the law of God after the inward man, there is still the fact that I see another law in my members warring against my mind, the law of my mind. It's constantly in conflict with the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my memory." So you see, he's speaking definitely of that twofold. nature, isn't he, in that conflict. And then he comes to the place that he says, O wretched man that I am, I'm contemptible, I'm worthless. This old man, this wretched man, this sinful nature, this carnal nature, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. He says, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The only answer for this old carnal, sinful nature is death. And who's going to deliver me? See, Paul recognizes it, doesn't he? And then he says, I thank God. There's deliverance from it. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's not giving us all this to finally yield up to the law of that sin's presence within him and say, well, sin is present and so I'm going to have to serve sin. I can't overcome it. He's not giving us all of this information and all of this experience to finally say, well, since it's present, since I have a carnal nature, and since I really cannot get rid of that presence of sin, that there's a law warring in my members, that I'm just going to yield up to it. He's not giving us for that. But he's showing us that even though it's such a wretched state that exists in the life of a true believer, that that old flesh is still there and the old carnal nature is still there, there is victory over it through Christ. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself, my new being, my renewed man, my new creation, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, that flesh and sin that is within me, the flesh, the law of sin. He says, anytime there's that carnal nature rising up and there's a yielding to sin and carnality, it's not my new nature that's yielding to this, my renewed nature and the law of my mind, it's that old flesh that still dwells within me. And I believe Paul truly shows us the coexistence of the flesh and the spirit, the conflict of the flesh and the Spirit. If you turn to Galatians chapter 5, let me give you this quickly in closing, a verse of Scripture beginning with verse 16. Paul says, This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the Spirit lusteth against the flesh. Wait a minute, let me read that again. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one to the other. Paul says that conflict exists so that you cannot do the things that you would. But if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law. So he tries to show us that the conflict is there in the book of Galatians. And he says that the Spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit, and vice versa. And we must realize that what he is saying is that there is victory. I thank God, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me? Who is going to deliver me from the body of this death? This old carnal nature. I thank God through Jesus Christ, my Lord, so that I myself, that new man, serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Any time I yield to the flesh, it's the law of sin. But my personal experience is that I desire to serve the law of God. That should be the desire of every Christian is to serve God. But to realize at the same time that the only way we're going to serve God is to recognize that we have an enemy within our being, and he will always be there until death. You see, when you were saved, God didn't do away with that old nature. He just gave you a new one.