It's said that the Philippians came to mind. I've suffered loss, right? But in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count that loss as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. It's so good to see you, and I may have to avoid looking at you while I preach because I might just lose it. Sorry about that. Well, in the 1880s, the author Robert Louis Stevenson, inspired by a nightmare, wrote his famous work, which some of you may be familiar with, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This is a story about a humble, respectable doctor who brings out in himself an evil, savage, murderous alter ego. First he does it by way of a potion but then quite naturally the evil Mr. Hyde begins to emerge spontaneously without interruption. Two opposing natures in one man, a good nature and an evil nature, both existing in one body. Do you ever feel like this? You ever feel like there are two natures having a tug of war inside of you? You ever feel like what one famous poet put into song back in the 70s, he's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction. You ever feel like you have two forces battling it out inside of you, like you've got some kind of spiritual bipolar disorder? Well, if you do, you're probably in good company. Because the Apostle Paul did. And he recounts it in what I, strangely enough, find to be one of the most comforting passages in Scripture. Please turn with me to Romans chapter 7. I know you're all already anticipating where we're going, right? Romans chapter 7. In Romans 7 and its surrounding chapters, Paul's theme seems to want to touch on the contrasting realities of the Christian life. Like back in Romans 6, he explained how although Christians are free from sin, the reality is we still have to battle with it. In Romans 8, he points to the fact that though we are free from death, we still long for the redemption of our bodies. And in Romans 7, he shows how though we are free from the law, Yet we're still not righteous according to the law's criterion. The word law is found pretty frequently throughout the book of Romans. I think around 75 times we find the word law. And whenever you see the word law in chapter seven, with the exception of a few verses, I would say verses one to three in verse 23, every time you see the word law in this chapter, though it might have a broader context at times, it's always at least referring to the moral law. That is the law of God as laid out in the Ten Commandments. Now, in the first half of chapter 7, Paul is going to explain the way in which all living believers become dead to the law. In chapter 6, he had said, sins shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. And then as you come to chapter 7, Paul begins to explain why that is. And he uses widowhood to illustrate the believer's death to the law. He says death gives freedom from the law. He says we're freed from the law by the death of Christ, and the death of Christ kills the law's husbandry over us. He says, we're widowed by dying to the law's grip on us and being married anew to Jesus Christ. Now, this is an absolute necessity in order for anyone to live free in Christ. One must first be delivered from the demands of the law. You've got to die to the law. But, not because the law itself is evil. We don't need deliverance from the law because the law is a bad thing. The law is a good thing. God's law is holy. The trouble is God's law can't produce holiness. The law can only produce conviction. The law can only produce a sense, a knowledge of sin. When you're driving down the highway and you see that sign on the side of the road that says speed limit 55 miles per hour, and you glance down at your speedometer to see you're doing 75 miles an hour, it's at that moment that you come to realize that you have been and that you are breaking the law. The law is there to produce the realization of sin. And as we come to our verses here in Romans 7, Paul is actually going to give a personal testimony as to the effects of the operation of God's law in producing conviction of sin in the heart and mind of the believer. So in essence, we're going to hear Paul say, I love the speed limit. I know the speed limit. I agree with the speed limit. And yet, every time I look down at my speedometer, I see myself doing 80, 85, 90. And this deeply and profoundly troubles Paul, as it should. Well, please follow along as I read Romans 7, verses 14 to 25. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I'm doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law. that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to 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. Oh, wretched men that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, I don't know about you, But I often find myself running back to this passage of Scripture for comfort. My comfort comes from the fact that the Apostle Paul experienced some of the same conflict, confusion, and crises that I have. Now, there have been some who've tried to see these verses as a testimony of Paul pre-conversion. Paul's experience, not as a Christian, but as the Pharisee. And I don't think that this can be validated by these verses, and we're going to see why as we go through them. I think no doubt some of the confusion probably stems right there from verse 14 in the beginning where Paul says, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Well, notice first of all here that Paul uses the plural we. As he's writing to the believers in Rome, he's about to make an evaluation of God's law, an evaluation that all true believers have in common. We. All who believe, we know that the law is spiritual. And again, Paul's referring to the law of God. He's referring to God's 10 commandments. The origin of the law, the character of the law is divine. It's spiritual. It's the law that defines moral perfection. It's the law that points to perfect love for God and perfect love for men, right? A law that would render anyone who could keep it a perfect person. It's inspired, it's authored by the Holy Spirit of God. It is spiritual in its origin and in its design. Now, Christians know this about the law, don't they? And you see, with the word we, Paul is placing himself in the Christian camp. But then Paul says, I am carnal, sold under sin. And here I think the New American Standard Bible does it a little more justice. I think it's a better translation when it says, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. And you see, this is the statement that some people find rather confusing. But it's important to understand that this launching pad from which Paul begins this whole monologue, Paul's merely pointing to the existing contradiction between perfect divine spiritual law, and the imperfect fallen condition of a human being. When Paul says, I am of flesh, this is very different from saying one is in the flesh. Look back to verse 5 of chapter 7. Here Paul is obviously talking about the unregenerate condition, when he says, for when we were in the flesh, The sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. Look up at Romans 8.8 where he said, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You see, Paul's not claiming to be in the flesh. He's claiming to be of the flesh. In other words, he's human. He's imperfect, he's fallible, he's fallen from Adam. He's part of a corrupt world, a world that's been infected by a spiritual disease that affects everything, especially people. Paul is of a race that enters this world already sold into bondage to sin. He's talking about being part of the human race. And you see, if you miss this, you'll miss the fact that Paul is speaking as a regenerate Saved child of God. And then the rest of these verses wouldn't make much sense, let alone give you any comfort. He says, sold under sin or sold into bondage to sin. Think about this. Saul the Pharisee would have never said this about himself, right? In Philippians 3, he reveals a little bit about how he would have described his pre-conversion condition. In Philippians 3, he said, as to righteousness which is in the law, oh, blameless. Right? That was Saul the Pharisee. That's a far cry from someone who says, I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. But, this is the condition by which every person enters this world, as slaves to sin. Turn back to Romans 6.17, where Paul says to the Roman Christians without exception, he says, But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became something else. You became, verse 18, slaves of righteousness. And slavery to righteousness in Paul's world means freedom from sin. That freedom, as nothing in this fallen world is perfect, that freedom is not an absolute perfect freedom in every sense of the word. And we're gonna see that. So God's law is spiritual, and there's no escaping the fact that Paul says, I am a man. I am but flesh and bones, and I am cursed by the fall. Now look at verse 15. Paul. The pastor, the apostle, the theologian, a man of great understanding, a man blessed with the capability of giving both spiritual and practical counsel to pretty much anyone. Men, women, pastors, teachers, soldiers, governors, kings, churches. The great apostle says here that he doesn't fully understand something about himself. Verse 15, for what I am doing, I do not understand. You see, his actions are a bizarre contradiction of his affections. He says, I'm not practicing what I would like to do. I'm doing the very thing I hate. The literal Greek would read like this, not for what I will do this I practice, but what I hate, this I do. Paul is testifying to the fact that he has a will. It's the inner will, it's the inner man that was made new by God on the day those scales fell from his eyes. In Paul's, in most parts, he has a will that's determined to do good in accordance with the will of God, in accordance with God's will. But he finds this will of the inner man frustrated by what he actually sees himself doing. which is contrary to his will. In other words, there's a war going inside the man. There's a war going on. It's the same war Paul spoke of in Galatians 5, 17 when he says, the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. He says, for these two are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please. But, This conflict, this war, this battle going on, as terrible as it seems, it may not be quite so bad because this is what draws Paul to a conclusion regarding his relationship to God's law in verse 16. See, it's because of this inner conflict with his will that Paul is able to say with all confidence, I agree with the law. I agree with the law. He can say, I am aware of some very distinct lines between good and evil. See, not everybody can say that when you think about it. I mean, a man might say, Cheating on my wife is immoral. I would never cheat on my wife. That would be sin, to cheat on my wife. But that same man, apart from the saving grace of God, might say, but I have no problem cheating on my tax return. I mean, after all, the government's always cheating us. Why shouldn't we get a little bit back? But you see, Paul would say, no, no way. Paul would say, in my innermost man, I am in perfect cross-the-board agreement. I approve of God's law because I know all of it is good. But this law, Paul would say, this law shows me that the sinful actions I do, the thoughtless words that I sometimes blurt out, the evil thoughts that sometimes invade my consciousness, these things only prove the presence of something that's in me that I can't altogether shake. I can't get rid of it. What's he talking about? He's talking about remaining sin. Remaining sin. Look at verse 17. But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. See, God's law comes like a huge police helicopter spotlight. You ever watch those reality cop shows, those reality police shows? You know, you've got the felon running through the dark neighborhoods at night or through the woods, and they can't catch him, so they get that police helicopter out, and it shines that, bright white beacon of light down upon the earth. And sure enough, that light catches him, you know, scurrying like a cockroach through backyards and neighborhoods. And the felon is caught. Well, God's law does exactly the same thing. It spots us out. It spots out our sin. Paul gave a perfect example back in verse seven. Look at verse seven where Paul said, I would not have come to know sin except through the law, for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said you shall not covet. God's law comes like a huge spotlight and it reveals that sin still resides in Paul, the believer's heart. But Paul's not excusing himself. He's not rationalizing his sin. He's not saying like a famous comedian of old used to say, the devil made me do it. He's not doing that. In fact, quite the opposite is true, really. When a Christian is able to recognize and own anything that they do as sin, well, this pretty much leaves them with no excuse at all to go on living with it, right? If it's sin, then it's gotta be dealt with as sin. He's doing really what only a truly regenerate man can and will do. He's recognizing and owning personal remaining sin. One writer said this, while the unregenerate lives life complacent to sin, the regenerate lives life in conflict with sin. See, Paul regards the sin that he commits as so foreign to himself, so alien to him, so foreign to his renewed inner will, that he can actually say, no longer is it me doing it, but the sin that dwells in me. Paul would say, I feel like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Yeah, I've got these two forces inside of me. I know and I love what's right and good. But I can't seem to tame my tongue or my thoughts or at times even my actions to line up perfectly with what I know and love. And so we see in the next verse, verse 18, Paul's confession. He says, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. Now, as most of you know, Paul's not ascribing to a form of asceticism here. Asceticism is the belief that regards anything spiritual as being good and anything physical as bad or evil. He's not doing that. In fact, you can note here how Paul sort of backtracks with his words. He takes care to distinguish what he meant by in me. Nothing good dwells in me. You get the sense that if Paul had been typing this on a computer keyboard, he probably would have just deleted these two words and rewritten the sentence. He says, what I meant was in my flesh, right? It would have been wrong for Paul to say that there was nothing good dwelling in him, right? Paul knew, and Paul could say, and Paul would say more than once that the Spirit of God dwelt in him. In Romans 15, 19, he said, in the power of the Spirit, I have fully preached the gospel. In 1 Corinthians 7, 40, he said, I think that I also have the Spirit of God. So this in and of itself, Paul saying, I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh, tells us that Paul is speaking, certainly not as an unbeliever, but as one who truly understood man's total depravity. The fact that every aspect of the human condition is and has been tainted by sin. As Paul stated, the law is spiritual, but I'm made of flesh and bones. I'm still totally human. And to be human means that you've been affected in every single aspect of your humanity by the fall. The flesh, Paul would say that the flesh is, the natural state of mankind is like a sin incubator. And as he stated back in chapter six, yes, grace may take over sin's throne in your life, but sin doesn't go away entirely, does it? In fact, it dogs you. In fact, it becomes, in many ways, even more aggravating to the believer, right? Think back to what you were like before God's grace interrupted your life. Think back to what you were like before you became a Christian. If you can remember back that far, you'll remember sin was not that aggravating to you. There were things you could do back then without even flinching. That if you tried to do today, it would bring about a deep troubling conviction leading you to repentance, right? And you see, Paul is troubled. He's troubled by the two things that frustrate every true child of God that are still in the flesh, that are still of flesh rather, who have not yet entered glory. The fact that even their habit of obedience to God's law still falls far short of meeting its spiritual ideal. And two, the fact that yes, even as Christians we do sometimes give in to inward sin and we transgress the law. And you see the frustration Paul feels I think is evidenced by the way he seems to reiterate in the next few verses what he's pretty much already said. I think verse 19 is kind of a reiteration of verse 15. He says, I find myself to be at times a walking contradiction. Verse 20 reiterates verses 16 and 17. Paul is basically saying there's still sin dwelling in me. But then he would add, I refuse to make a truce with it. I'm not gonna wave the white flag. Sin is a foreigner to me. Jesus Christ has taken over the throne, you see, and although sin continues to hang around, always dogging me, always waiting, always wanting to usurp that throne, I want you to know I keep it where it belongs. I keep it in perspective. It is still contrary to my renewed will. It is still contrary to what I really want. And so Paul begins to sum up his conclusion in verse 21 when he says, I find then a law. And now he's going to introduce another law that exists. Besides what Paul called the inner man, there was another law. He calls it the law of sin. And this law of sin, this is responsible for the fact that evil is still present in him, the one who wants to do good. Verse 23, he says, I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind. He calls it a law probably because of its constancy, its permanency. It's kind of like the law of gravity. Paul would say, you know, I want to be heavenly. But I feel this constant earthward pull. I feel this constant pull, this downward pull. It's a constantly active principle in my life. It's always waging war. It's always attempting to destroy and topple what he calls the law of my mind. What was the law of Paul's mind? Well, it was that part of him that was in full agreement with the law of God. He's speaking of his renewed mind. You see the conflict? 1 Corinthians 2.16, he said, we believers, we have the mind of Christ. Turn with me to Romans 12. In Romans 12, 2, he said, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Why, Paul? Well, so that you may prove what the will of God is. A renewed mind exhibits the will of God. A renewed mind exhibits the law of God. Everything that's good, acceptable, and perfect, he says, right? The law of sin goes against everything that's good and acceptable and perfect. And Paul would love nothing more than to just be completely free from this law of sin, from the constant warring, the steady barrage, the ongoing struggle with the flesh. He says this principle, this law of sin, it makes me feel like a prisoner. You know, covetous thoughts come to my mind as I visit with Mr. Smith and see all of his beautiful possessions and his beautiful house, and suddenly I'm struggling with covening, and I confess my sin to God, and I struggle with it, and God helps me. But then an hour later, I meet up with Mr. Jones, and I can't help but see how beautiful his wife is, and the struggle begins all over again. You see, when you have this perception of sin and self, how can it not leave you crying out, wretched man, wretched man. Have you ever said this about yourself? Have you ever said that wretched man? Have you ever seen yourself as a Jekyll and Hyde, partly good, partly evil? Has God been pleased to show you the contents even of your renewed heart? Has He ever pulled the curtains away for a season? I remember as a new believer, as a new Christian, I remember for some reason, for several weeks, I kept reading about, hearing sermons about, listening to things about pride. And I was a new believer, and I remember actually thinking to myself, wow, Christians must have a real problem with pride. I'm glad I don't. And then God began to pull the curtains of my heart away. and show me what was in my heart to the point where I was almost crushed. I said, I see it, I see it. Please stop before I die. He showed me, he pulled the curtains away. Well, has he ever done that for you? Do you experience an internal tug of war with heart sins? You know what I mean by heart sins? I'm talking about the deepest ones. I'm talking about the sins that lie really deep, the ones that only you and God might know about. Paul confessed his tendency to covet in chapter seven, right? Who sees you covet? Nobody sees you covet. God sees you covet. But you can be coveting your heart out, and no one around you might know about it, just like nobody might see you squirm in your pride, or squirm in your jealousy, or your envy, or your lust. Or your, you know, the internal anger that you try so hard to suppress. Nobody sees your unbelief. Nobody sees that coldness of heart or that crass judgmentalism, that hypercritical spirit that goes on. See, that's the stuff that doesn't go away as quickly as some other sinful habits, right? I mean, some of us here were drunks, and fornicators, and thieves, and liars, and some of us used profanities with our mouths, right? But God often cleans this junk up soon after conversion, doesn't he? But you see, the stuff that motivates the sinful acts, these are the heart sins. These are the sins that tend to linger, that tend to hang around and and haunt a Christian for years, some of us for lifetimes. These are the things that need their roots pulled up, right? Springtime is coming, probably a lot of people are going to be out in their gardens, trying to prepare the soil for their gardens. You go out there, you find all these weeds, right? You know that you can't just lop the weeds off at the surface, because what's going to happen? You've got roots underneath, and no sooner do you lop off the surface weeds, they're just going to sprout right up again. In order to deal with those weeds, you've got to dig down deep. You've got to be pulling weeds up by their roots, right? Well, we've all got weeds, haven't we? We all have deep heart-level sins that continue to dog us, even to today. Has the felt power of remaining sin ever left you crying out, wretched man, wretched woman, wretched boy, wretched girl? Has it? It's okay, because you're in good company. And bless God, Paul never leaves us hanging. Paul doesn't say, wretched man, exclamation mark, move on to the next chapter, right? Paul is always about the remedy. He's always about the cure. He wants to lead his readers to the cure, to practical helps. And so to do this, he asks a question. It's a rhetorical question. It's a good question. He says, who will deliver me from this body of death? Who will deliver me from this body of death? What did Paul mean by this? Well, he would have at least meant the flesh. He would have at least meant that state of being in the human condition, the body of sin mentioned in chapter six and verse six. But there have been a few people over the course of history who have suggested that Paul may have been referring to something else here. And whether he did or not, I am not sure. But let me give you a very graphic illustration of what it may mean to be delivered from this body of death. The Roman poet Virgil, in his work, the Aeneid, 19 BC, which Paul probably would have been familiar with. In this work, he gives the account of the insane Etruscan king, Mesentius. who as a form of capital punishment would actually bind the body of a rotting corpse to the body of one of his living captives. And what would happen is hands against hands, corpse hands against a living man's hands tied together, face against face. Until the putrefaction, the stench and the disease would just bring about a slow agonizing death to the victim. What a graphic picture of sin this is. Because this is what sin looks like to God. It's that ugly. It's that deadly to us. Regarding this illustration, the Reverend William Jay, I believe in the 1800s said this. He said, this is very strong understatement, right? And he says, yet it doesn't come up to Paul's case. He says it doesn't match Paul's burden because Paul is speaking of a wretchedness not outside of himself but within, inside of himself. Who will deliver me from this body of death? And of course, Paul, as always, gives the answer. Verse 25. And you know what? We're mistaken if we read the first line of this verse with any kind of a cold intellectual voice. Again, if Paul were typing this on a keyboard, I am sure this line would have been in all caps. I thank God. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. It's like Paul is shouting this out. This is a burst of thanksgiving coming from Paul. He says, our victory over sin, our victory over sin's power, it can only come from God, and he gives it only through Jesus Christ. So then he says, he says, I myself with my mind, I am serving the law of God. I'm an obedient disciple. But with my flesh, the law of sin. But I renounce this part of me. I renounce this. It's not who I am in Christ. And it would be wrong to dismiss the next verse, chapter eight, verse one, which says, there is therefore, you know, when the Bible says the word therefore, you always want to take a few steps back to see what it's there for. He says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Sin, its power will coerce you, its guilt will consume you, and its penalty will condemn you unless you are in Christ. You see, there's a greater law than this law of sin. Verse two, it's called the law of the spirit of life in Christ. You see, you might feel powerless to sin. at times, but he is never powerless to sin. Greater is he that is in you, scripture says, right? Freedom from the penalty, the guilt, the reigning, and yes, even the remaining power of sin can be had if you are in Christ. If you are in Christ. Well, I am very thankful for Romans 7. I've gone back to this, I have a well-worn part in my Bible where I've turned back to Romans 7 many times. I think we needed these verses to be in scripture. You know, you read the Bible and you see saints struggling with sin throughout their lives, throughout the Bible. Nowhere else, I think, is the struggle laid out in more vivid, personal detail than in Romans 7. I mean, we see the apostle, Paul, the great apostle wrestling with his own Mr. Hyde here. And any true believer can relate to this, right? Any true believer can understand what he's talking about. I find Romans 7 to be a very doctrinal and yet a very practical help to the Christian because it holds out for us hope, so much hope. And there's a lot that we can take from it. I just wanna leave you with three things in particular. Three very simple basic things, and they are this. We need to apply to ourselves Paul's revelation, Paul's resolution, and Paul's remediation. Paul's revelation, his resolution, and his remediation. First and foremost, Paul's revelation. And what I mean by that is his self-revealing here. The way he talks about himself, the way he's so open, the way Paul is so transparent. I mean, this is the great apostle. This is Paul. And he's not afraid to reveal his own inner struggle with remaining sin. Now what does this tell us? I mean this is the same man, this guy saying, wretched man that I am, that's the same guy that said in 1 Corinthians 4, I want you to be imitators of me, right? It makes me think that sometimes maybe we try too hard to avoid airing out our dirty laundry. Maybe sometimes we prefer that people see us perhaps more as we prefer to be rather than who we really are. When was the last time you confessed to a brother or a sister that you were struggling with remaining sin? You know, we see each other pretty regularly, Christians do, right? We see each other on a regular basis and I find that sometimes we can fall into a rut. You know, we see each other on Sunday morning, hey brother, how you doing? I'm doing good, how are you doing? I'm doing good. All right, I guess everybody's good. No issues here. And yet Paul is like an open book. I mean, this is Paul here we're talking about. He probably knew that this would be a great help for the believers in Rome, really for any believers who struggled with the flesh. And I love the way he doesn't hold back for the sake of reputation, right? Paul doesn't care about having a pristine reputation. He holds nothing back. Now, naturally, there needs to be propriety in what we reveal to one another, right? I mean, certainly, you know, a man is not gonna go to his sister in Christ and start revealing of how he's struggling with lust, right? And our speech should always be under edification with each other. But we gotta remember that we're also told to confess our sins one to another. James 5, and yeah, I don't believe that that's limited to sins against each other. I think this is a good reminder to those who are in authority, to those who are in a form of leadership, are we as transparent as Paul? Or do we sometimes feel like we have to come across like holy supermen? You know, as if we don't have struggles with sin, as if we've got it all together spiritually. Well, that's a big fat fallacy. None of us have it all together spiritually, do we? Now, to be sure, you guys are, you're searching to have that under shepherd in this place. And to be sure, being above reproach is a biblical requirement. But remember, being a holy superman is not. I don't think any less of Paul for what he reveals to me in chapter 7. Do you? You think any less of the man? It comforts me that such an excellent example of godliness really struggled with the flesh. I think Paul reminds us that everyone, even those who are above reproach, are still wrestling with remaining sin. The people of God need godly examples, but not unrealistic expectations. Now, fathers and mothers, are you confessing your sins to your children? Our children, they need to see that mom and dad are sinners who need Christ too. When we sin against our children or when we sin in front of our children, which I confess, my weakest times are behind the wheel. I'm a New Jersey driver. But are we confessing both to God and to our children when we sin? You see, they need to see what repentance looks like. They need to see what confession is. They need to see what real faith looks like. I think there's no better way to exasperate your small children than to be Mr. Holy Superman on Sundays and then Mr. Hyde the rest of the week. We all know what we are, right? We all know exactly what we are. I just love the way Paul lays it out for us. Paul would say, I love Christ. And I love God's law. But I'm a sinner. I'm a wretched man. And this revelation of himself, I think, gives us all the more reason to want to follow his example. Because we come to see, secondly, Paul's resolution. His resolution. You see, Paul is resolved never to be content to live at peace with his remaining sin. Paul is never going to wave the white flag. Sin to him is always going to be the enemy combatant. Paul is resolved that he is going to crucify the flesh. He's going to discipline himself for the purpose of godliness. He's going to press toward the goal. He's going to run the race. He's going to fight the good fight. And though he lives in this flesh, he is determined that he is never going to war according to the flesh. He's never going to make a truce with remaining sin in his life. Paul is resolved that he is going to be in this battle for the duration. Putting to death the deeds of the body, as he says. So how about you? Are you in the battle? Is there a battle going on inside of you? Do you know anything of this Jekyll and Hyde experience I've been talking about? I hope you do. I truly hope you do, because a battle with remaining sin is usually a very good sign of spiritual life, right? If you've got no desire to fight with sin, if you have no desire whatsoever to be killing sin in your life, that's not a good sign spiritually. I hope you do have a desire to war with remaining sin, but let me ask each and every one of you, how is the battle going? Who's winning? The law of sin or the law of the Spirit of life in Christ? Have you applied Paul's resolution? Have you resolved that you're never gonna excuse or rationalize your remaining sin, that you're gonna continue for as long as God gives you breath and a heartbeat to be in the battle, to pull up the roots that lie deep down? Are you resisting sin when it calls? Because sin calls every day. We don't get a rest. Every single day, sin beckons to us. So are you resisting the pop-up on your computer hitting that delete button? Are you resisting that second piece of cake? Are you resisting that harsh response that seems to want to come from you when you face rudeness? Are you resisting that idol that's always forcing itself upon you? Are you in the battle? If not, if you're not in the battle, you might be living a life of self-deception. Now, why do I say this? I say this because if you're not in a daily battle with sin every single day, then it's either because you believe you're too good for the battle, or you're too bad for the battle, or you simply don't care. But you see, either way, no matter which one of those it is, you're deceived. You're being deceived. If you believe you're too good to have to battle with sin, then you're deceiving yourself into thinking that you're a better person than the Apostle Paul. Are you really prepared to say you're a better apostle, Paul? I mean, this was a man so full of the Holy Spirit. This was a man so full of love to Christ and love to his fellow man. I mean, this guy actually said, I wish that I myself could be accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren. I can't say that. I've never said anything like that. Can you say that? And yet this man was not too good to have to battle with sin. If you believe there's no need to do battle with sin because you're too good, you're better than Paul and perhaps good enough for God, then my friend, you are deceiving yourself. If we say we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us, right? And if this is you, my friend, you need Paul's remediation, which I'm coming to. But maybe you believe you're too bad to battle with sin, right? As if to say, depart from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man, go away. If you believe you're too bad to battle with sin, like you've got no chance of ever winning the battle, then you too, you need Paul's remediation because this also is deception. But maybe there's somebody here and you just can't relate to any of this. For the last, 35 minutes, you've been sitting there going, man, you people take this sin thing way too seriously. I mean, come on, get over it. Sin schmin. To err is human. We all make mistakes. What is the big deal? Well, my friend, if this is you, you really need Paul's remediation. All right, so what is Paul's remediation? Thirdly and finally, Remediation basically means remedy. It's a term that's often used for reversing or stopping environmental damage. My wife and I tried to buy a house a few years ago, and the yard was loaded with leaking oil tanks. And you know, it's not just a matter of removing the tanks, it's a matter of cleaning up all the polluted soil. The soil has to be remediated because it's polluted. And that's exactly what we're like. Sin is a moral pollution in every one of us, and this is what separates us from having union and fellowship with our Creator. And you see, the remedy for sin, it's the same for everyone. Cross the board. The remedy for sin is the cross. Whether it's reigning sin, the sin that rules you, or remaining sin, the sin that's dogging you and nipping at your heels, the remedy is the same. It's the cross. This is the only place in the universe that God has given where sin can be properly cleaned up, properly dealt with. I want you to think of the cross as a spiritual and moral toxic waste dump where All of your deadly pollutants can be remediated, cleaned up. Who is it we see hanging on that cross? There He is, hanging on that cross, covered in toxic waste. Who is it? It's the sinless Son of God. Not an ounce of sin found in Him, ever. No sin. No toxins, no pollutants found in him, and yet there he is, hanging on a cross, suffering under the wrath of God, saturated in sin, not his own. A perfectly clean, flawless substitute, taking upon himself and dying with the moral toxic sludge of everyone who would come to him and apply to him by faith for cleansing and for remediation. There's a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. The cross of Christ is the only cleanup that God provides for you. There's no other way to have your sins effectively dealt with and removed. There is no other way given, right? Whether it's reigning sin, the sin that rules over you if you're not in Christ, or remaining sin, the sin that dogs you if you are in Christ. My friend, whoever you are, apply the remediation that God gives as a free gift of His grace. Go to Christ. Go and live at the foot of the cross, Mr. Hyde, because this is the only place you'll find the forgiveness, cleansing, and remediation that your soul so desperately needs, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, how can we possibly express thanks for what you did for us? How can we possibly be thankful enough for the mercy that you have shown in bringing yourself to take on the moral toxic sludge of our inward sin? so that we might be cleansed, so that we might wear robes of righteousness before the true and living God, and to be blameless when we look at his law. What a glory it is, and how we glory in you and the way you work in the hearts of men. We give you thanks and praise for your word. We pray that you would please use it this very day to save and to sanctify, for we ask in your name, amen.