We shall now turn to the passage that we read in the book of Romans. Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapter 7, and our text for tonight is verse 24. Romans 7, 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Now these are strange words, strange words for the great apostle to speak. Surely the apostle wasn't a wretched man. Surely he was a blessed man. Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Psalm 32. Paul himself quotes these words, doesn't he, in Romans chapter 4. Blessed man. Paul's sins were forgiven. How can he talk of himself as a wretched man? Does he not say to us in the epistle to the Philippines, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Philippines 4 verse 4. And yet here he's saying, O wretched man that I am. At the end of his life, you remember in 2 Timothy 4, how he speaks of himself there, The time of my departure is at hand. I have finished my course. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me in that day, not to me only, but also to all them that love is appearing. He says there, I've fought a good fight. literally in the Greek, a grand fight, a glorious fight. So if he thinks of his life as a glorious fight, as a race that has run and a crown that has been obtained, how can he speak of himself as a wretched man? Indeed, there are so many occasions when he seems to be such a happy man. Think of him, for example, when he's in the prison in Philippi. He and Silas had just been beaten up and they were put into the inner prison and their feet placed in the stocks. And what's he doing? Grumbling? Complaining? No. He's praying and singing praises to God, singing psalms of praise to God, and the other prisoners heard them. They're so happy there, counting it all joy to suffer for the sake of Christ. And yet, he says here, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Now, some people think that Paul is here describing his unconverted state. his unconverted state, they say he was a wretched man. Well, he was a Pharisee, a good-living Pharisee. He was very ambitious and very successful, born in Tarshish, brought up in Jerusalem, educated by Gamaliel, the famous Jewish rabbi. So, He had a good education, and he tells us that amongst his contemporaries, he was first in the class. He was doing really well. And then the Christian religion comes along, and he's a persecutor and a blasphemer. He's full of hatred towards Christians, trying to destroy the Christian church. trying to arrest the believers and put them in prison and bearing testimony against them as they're put to death. He was full of hate. He had no real happiness. But did he feel himself a wretched man? Was he troubled about his sin? Surely like other Pharisees, he was comparing himself with others and thinking of himself as a good person. I'm a Jew. I'm a good living Jew. According to the righteousness which is in the law, I'm blameless. Nobody can put a finger on my life. I'm okay. Surely he's not describing himself in that state as a wretched man. Actually, he was dead in his sins. Ephesians 2 verse 1. He who hath he quickened who were dead in sin. Every one of us to begin with are dead in sin, and we have to be quickened or resurrected, brought to spiritual life. So in his unconverted state, he wasn't bothered about sin. He was dead in sin. And in this last section, In these verses, from verse 14 to the end of the chapter, Paul says here, for example, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Does any unconverted person delight in the law of God? Well, the Pharisees, they laid great emphasis upon the law, but it was The law is a master. The law is slavery and bondage. They felt duty bound to keep the law, but they had no delight in it. You've got to have a new nature. You've got to be born again in order to see the law as sweeter than honey and more desirable than fine gold. Other people think that Paul here is speaking about his condition when he came under conviction of sin at the point of his conversion. And he certainly speaks about that earlier in this chapter. He speaks of how the law came home to him at a certain point. He says how the law taking occasion, sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was dead. I was alive without the law once. That was in his previous time. But then the commandment came. Sin revived and I died. The commandment The commandment that he mentions here is in verse 7, the 10th commandment, thou shalt not covet. And that commandment came with great force to him. He tried very hard to keep it, but the harder he tried to keep it, the more he found that he was breaking it. He tried hard not to covet, but instead he was coveting more and more. What do you think that coveting referred to? Do you think it was referring to coveting riches, material things? One very real possibility is that it was coveting what Stephen had, his knowledge of the Scriptures and his ability to argue from the Scriptures. Because you remember in Acts chapter 6, we're told about Stephen, how he was a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and how he was performing miracles and healing the sick and preaching with great power and effectiveness. And then we're told about the synagogue of the Libertines and the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians, the people of Cilicia too. There was that synagogue in Jerusalem that people from these different places where they tended to gather as their synagogue. Synagogue of the Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and the people of Cilicia. Now, Paul came from Cilicia. Tartus was in Cilicia. So very likely that would be the synagogue he attended. And these people got involved in an argument with Stephen. Paul thought of himself as knowing his Bible so well, and a top student, and he was so clever, so much wiser than all the other young men. But suddenly he found here was somebody who knew his Bible an awful lot better than he did. Somebody who was led and guided by the Holy Spirit. And you can just imagine how how Saul of Tarsus would be full of envy at this man who seemed to be so knowledgeable. He tried arguing with him and he couldn't. Stephen beat him all the time. So all he could do, he and others, were to get false witnesses to bear a false testimony against Stephen. And so Stephen was stoned to death. But here is Paul then, The commandment came, thou shalt not covet. And the more he thought about it, the more he found himself coveting. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. The commandment, do this and live, he found it convicting him and condemning him. For sin, taken occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it slew me. That was Paul. at the time of his conversion. But you notice in this last section, he's not using the past tense. He uses the past tense in that section there before verse 14, where he's talking about his conversion. He says, sin taking vocation by the commandment deceived me and slew me in the past. That happened. But now, in verse 14, he says, I am carnal, sold under sin. I am a wretched man. He's talking in the present tense. So he's not talking about some past experience, either in his unconverted state or at the point of conversion. But he's talking about himself as a Christian. born-again Christian, his present state when he's writing these words, he now delights in the law of God as the born-again Christian does, and he's using the present tense. So what we have here then in verses 14 to the end is true Christian experience. And if you're a true Christian tonight, you'll know what he's talking about. You'll know about this warfare that's going on inside you, the fight between the two laws. A law is a principle that demands a certain course of action. And in Paul, there were these two principles fighting with one another, the law of sin and of death, the evil principle fighting against the law of the spirit, the spirit of God, the law of the spirit and of his mind. So there was the law of God, and he was on the side of the law of God, the law of his mind, and he was fighting against this other principle within him, the law of the flesh, the law of sin and of death. A war begins when you're converted. And that's a great mark of the Christian, an inner war. He says here, I am carnal. Some people think, well, surely the apostle couldn't say, I'm carnal, I'm fleshly. But every true Christian has to say that because they are aware of the flesh. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And these two things are contrary the one to the other. There's a carnality about us. And on a day of humiliation and prayer like today, as we start to search our own hearts, look into our own minds, are we not conscious of this carnality, this deadness, this hardness of heart that we've got to battle against? the flesh within us, indwelling sin. Surely we have to fight against it. I am carnal, he says. I have this greed, I have lust, I have pride, I have bad temper. I have all these These things in me, idols, it's so easy to have an idol, so easy to let things come in between us and God. And then the pride of our hearts and self. Even the great apostle Paul, he had to be given a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble, because otherwise he would have got carried away with his pride. He says, I am carnal, sold under sin. Sold under sin. Now, he doesn't say, I sold myself to sin. No. That's what Ahab did. He sold himself to sin. But he says, I'm sold under sin. So the idea there is the idea of, I feel sometimes like a slave. soul to sin, and I find myself sinning when I don't want to sin. I have this power over, as it were, working on me, this law of sin and of death commanding me to sin. And I feel, I want to do God's will. I want to do it perfectly. I want to stop sinning and never sin again. But I do sin. The sin is still there. I find myself carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. I don't wish it. I don't like it, what I'm doing. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, I find myself doing what I hate. Reacting in a hateful way sometimes. And hating myself for my bad temper. Hating myself for my pride. Hating myself for my greed. Hating myself for not praying more. Not being more serious. Not being more godly. Not being more spiritual. If then I do that I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Yes, the law is good. The law is good. I consent to the law that it's good. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me. Yes, there's that indwelling sin in me. I've been converted. I'm born again. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things have passed away. All things are new. And yet, and yet, and yet, there's the old, the old sin there, the indwelling sin. It's a bit like a field that's plowed, and it's all black, and it looks good. Then a few days later, you see these green shoots of weeds coming up here and there. And so it is with us. The roots of corruption are still there, and they'll be there till our dying day. 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. So I will and I wish and I desire to do what is good, but how to perform it, that's difficult. For the good that I would, that I wish to do, I don't do, 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 then a law, this commanding principle, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Well, there's a mark of the Christian. You love God's law. You love every part of it, every single commandment God has given, every word of God from Genesis to Revelation. You love it, don't you? You love the law of God, and you don't resent any part of it, and you wish you could keep it, and you would love to live a life according to God's law. I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members. Pharisee was different. The Pharisee, Pharisee was concerned about the outward appearance, about what people thought. The Pharisee was never concerned about pride, or self-righteousness, or covetousness, because the Pharisee is concerned to make a good impression. wants people to see and to notice that he's good living, the Pharisees comparing himself with others, but the true, the true Christian is deeply concerned about his heart, about the sin that dwells in him. We don't just want to be outwardly clean, We want to be clean in the heart, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Are you concerned about your heart and the purity of your thoughts? I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. I feel like a captive. carnal, sold under sin. Because I long to stop sinning. I long to be perfectly holy. I long to be in heaven where I'll never sin again. There you have a great mark of the Christian, longing to be holy. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Well, do you know in your own experience what the Apostle is talking about here? This war going on inside, often failing, coming short, realizing you're not what you should be, humbled because the sin that's dwelling in you. How is the Christian a wretched man? Because although we're born again, we still live so often like unconverted people. And that leaves us wretched, doesn't it? We should be so different. We should be like bright and shining lights, like a city set upon a hill that cannot be hid. We should be like the salt of the earth, the preservative in society. We should be beautiful Christians, radiant, holy, holy as our Father in heaven is holy. But we're not. True, the power of sin has been broken. We're no longer slaves to the devil, as we once were. We've been born again. The devil has been cast out of us, as it were. The Spirit of God has come to live in our hearts. but so often we listen to our old master. We give place to the devil rather than resisting him. So, we have to confess that we are wretched men. When we think of how much God loves us, and yet we sin. How amazing is God's love? Just think about it. before you were born, before the world was created, God loved you. God loved you from all eternity. Actually, there never was a time when God didn't love you. Because God is eternal and God's love is eternal. And with what size of love did he love you? I love the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth. Who can tell? It's infinite. It's so large. It's so great. It's immeasurable. So just think about this. God loved you with an infinite love always. A love that's infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. How amazing. is God's love. How can you sin against a loving God? And when you think of how you sin against your heavenly Father, it grieves your heart and you cry out, O wretched man that I am. When you think of the Lord Jesus Christ, greater loveth no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends. He came into this world and he took my sins upon himself. And he suffered the punishment due to me for my sins. My sins nailed Christ to the cross. How can I go on sinning? To sin again is like putting another nail through the hands of Christ on the cross. Our sins nailed him to the tree. O wretched man that I am! The love of Christ constraineth me to new obedience, to live a holy life. But here I am sinning against the love of Christ. How can I? Or think about the Holy Spirit who's come as your friend, your comforter, your advocate, who's come to dwell in your heart. The Holy Spirit has made you his home. You're a temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, are you going to take this holy temple and defile it? Write graffiti over it, as it were? spread dung through the temple of the Holy Spirit. That's what you're doing when you sin. Oh, wretched man that I am! How can I sin? How can I sin against the Holy Spirit? And then think too, when you sin, of the way you make the devil happy. The devil who hates you and the devil who hates God. And the devil goes away happy when you sin. How horrible sin is and how horrible I am when I please Satan. Just think of him in the Garden of Eden as he's watching Eve eating the fruit and giving it to Adam and Adam eats. The big grin on Satan's face. Every time you sin, you give pleasure to the devil. Oh wretched man that I am, how can I sin? And then think of the angels watching you. the holy angels who cover their faces in the presence of God, because he's so glorious and so holy and so pure. And the angels look down at you, who are so privileged to have been adopted into the family of God, who are indwelt by the Spirit, you for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, the Son of God became a man and died for you. And the angels are watching you, sinning. How can you do that? How can you grieve the angels in that way? And then you think of the world around you watching you when you sin. What a poor witness it is. What a disgrace and a shame when Christians let the cause down, when they act as they shouldn't act, when they speak gossiping or slandering or whatever. They show their bad temper or their lust, whatever it is. And the world around sneers at the Church, and at the Christ who died for the Church, and at the God that we say we believe in. We fail. We fail so much. You know, there's a very interesting thing that Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 8. The Apostle Paul says of himself that he is less than the least of all the saints. Did he really believe that, that he was the poorest Christian around? Paul said, I'm less than the least of all the saints. Every other Christian's better than me. I'm the worst Christian around. Was he just pretending? But no, he can't be pretending. The Bible is truth. There's no error in it. He was inspired. And the inspired apostle, who was such a holy man, Surely to us, he was the holiest indeed, the greatest of all the apostles, the greatest Christian there ever was. And yet he says, I'm less than the least of all the saints. How could he say that? He could say it because he knew his own heart, but he didn't know anybody else's heart. He could see what was inside his own mind. He knew the thoughts passing through his own heart. He knew his own reaction in different situations. He saw the wretchedness within. And he looked at others and all he could see was the outward appearance. And because he could only see the outward appearance of others, he said, I'm less than the least of all the saints. And that's a true Christian spirit. The Pharisee says, I'm just as good as anybody else. I try my best. I'm not that bad. But the true Christian whose eyes has been opened says, I am less than the least of all the saints. I prefer others rather than myself. O wretched man that I am. Well, what is the answer then? We have it here. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ. Justification. That's wonderful. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Justified by faith the moment we believe our sins are forgiven and we are accepted as righteous in the sight of God. Perfectly righteous. Justified. That's wonderful. A wretched man, yet justified. All my sins passed. present and even future sins are forgiven when we're justified. The moment we're justified. We're perfectly white. We'll never be more justified than we are at the point of our conversion. And we're justified because our sins are laid on Christ. and Christ's righteousness is given to us. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. I'm a wretched man, but there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth. It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again. Justified. So that's wonderful. And then think of God's plan. God's plan is that we should be holy, chosen in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame in his sight. God plans that you and I will be holy. Will God's plan be frustrated? At this moment I must confess I am a wretched man, but, but, yes I'm justified and my sins are pardoned, but also one day I will be holy, because that's God's plan. I will be perfect one day. I will be without spot and blameless in his sight. a wretched man, yet there's an answer, because God has put his Holy Spirit into my heart. He's the author and the finisher of my faith. He begins the good work in me, coming to dwell in me in the effectual calling, in regeneration and in sanctification. And the Holy Spirit is effectual in his work, effective. He gets it done. So one day, we will be perfect. Yes, we might have to suffer chastisements, corrections, disciplines, painful, but we will be holy. And furthermore, we look at verse 13 in chapter 8. For if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Through the Spirit, trusting in the Spirit, we mortify the deeds of the body. We die daily unto sin, and we are sanctified. And we think of the great golden chain at the end of chapter 8. in chapter 8 and verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, whom he foreloved, Whom he chose in love, he predestinated to be like Jesus, to have the image of Christ upon them. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. Past tense. It's so sure that it will happen. You are effectually called, you've been justified, you're converted, and you will be glorified. A wretched man, but God will one day glorify you. It's sure, it's certain, you'll be holy, and you'll be like Christ, and he'll be the firstborn among many brethren. What then is our response to all this? Well, we have here a mark of grace. Are you one of the Lord's people? Should you be at the Lord's table? The Lord's table is for the Lord's people and only for the Lord's people. It's for Christians, it's for born again Christians. And here we have a mark of grace, a mark of the true Christian. There's a war going on inside them. And they can cry out, as Paul did, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Another response is that every day of our lives we must be repenting. Some people think of repentance and faith as something you do once in your life. Repent and be converted. You do it at the beginning of your life, but that's not true. The Christian faith, the Christian religion, the Christian is somebody who's in a relationship with God, and it's an active relationship. And every day of our lives, we must be repenting and believing, turning from sin, turning to Christ every day, afresh, repenting, confessing our sin, turning from it, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Confess your faults one to another, pray one for another. We must, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. What happens if we don't confess our sins? Well, the promise is to those who confess their sins, that he will forgive them. If we don't confess, they won't be forgiven. So we have to, every day, be confessing our sins, repenting of them, claiming the blood of Christ afresh, exercising faith, keeping the cross before us, remembering the Lord's death till he come. not just at the communion table, but as a daily exercise. And then, along with the cry of, O wretched man that I am, we're also to be joyful. Because Paul says to us, rejoice in the Lord always, not just sometimes, but always. Rabbi Duncan used to say that we should have joyous grief and grievous joy. In a sense, the Christian should be the happiest person in the world. And at the same moment, the saddest person in the world. sadness and happiness mingle together, sorrow for our sin, crying out, O wretched man that I am, but at the same time rejoicing in the blood of Christ, rejoicing in forgiveness, rejoicing in assurance of our salvation, claiming the blood and looking forward to being with Christ in heaven. We are more than conquerors. not just conquerors, but more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Satan hates to see us happy in the Lord. Happy not with the pleasures of the world, but happy in Christ and the pleasures of our salvation. in the delights of our God. And if this then describes you as a Christian, your place is at the Lord's table. And you should be encouraged then to come to the Lord's table joyfully, remembering the Lord's death. Yes, you feel unworthy. I hope you do. There's none of us worthy to come to the Lord's table, but worthy is the lamb that was slain. Our worthiness is not in ourselves, but in Christ. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. We look to him, we trust in him. And through all eternity, we'll be saying, unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. But maybe you're here tonight and these things don't mean very much to you because you're dead in sin. Maybe you've never been converted. Well, again, the scripture speaks to you. God's speaking to you tonight and he's saying, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, for he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Be concerned Be concerned about your soul. Be concerned to be saved. There's nothing more important than to be a Christian. And there's nothing more blessed than to be a Christian. And there's no joy like the joy unspeakable and full of glory that the Christian has in his religion. Let's pray. O Lord, our God, we lift up our hearts to Thee to worship Thee, rejoicing in the salvation that has been worked out for us. We praise Thee for this great plan of salvation, and we praise Thee for the accomplishment of Christ on the cross, and the application by the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives. Grant, O Lord, that each one of us would know what it is today again to repent of our sins and afresh to put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as our own personal Saviour. Do Thou bless us, Lord, and receive us graciously, for Jesus' sake. Amen.