Well, good evening, folks. God the Holy Spirit gave us his word in book form. And we've gotten out of the habit of reading books, particularly when it comes to books of the Bible. We kind of read it hodgepodge, one section today, another section tomorrow. Hopefully, we remember what we read yesterday. But we don't always see the connections. And therefore, we don't really get the essence of the message. And that's why it's advantageous to run over a book like we're going to try to do this evening together and spend a mere two hours, minus our break, looking at the book. That means that, of course, we won't be able to go into every detail. But I hope we'll be able to see the salient features of the book and thereby get a sense of what the Book of Romans as a book is talking about. Now, as we look through the book, there are a number of points that I'd be grateful if you would try to give your special attention to. Because it seems to me that these are the major points that Paul is making in this letter to the Romans. First of all, Paul is concerned to explain that salvation is by grace from beginning to end. And when Paul talks about salvation, He's not talking merely about that initial introduction into grace, when our sins are forgiven and God the Holy Spirit takes up a place in our hearts, regeneration. He's talking about the whole of the Christian life, from the beginning to eternity. That's a point that we need to note. Second, Paul is concerned to show that this point of grace is relevant to Jew and to Gentile alike. He was talking to a church which was made up of Jews and Gentiles. And the fact that it was a church that was made up of people from both of these parts of humanity, shall we say, of mankind, there were problems that issued out of the fact that Jews thought differently than do Gentiles. Gentiles had customs that differed from those of Jews. And Paul is concerned to show them that the gospel of grace is the grounds upon which they must relate one to another as well. Third, Paul wants to show his readers that the gospel he preaches is according to everything God said to the people of Israel in what you would call the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible, or however you want to call it. For Paul, that was the scriptures. When he writes to Timothy and says that all scripture is given by inspiration and is sufficient to equip the man for every good work, there was no New Testament. He was talking about the Old. Fourth, we will see that, particularly from Chapter 6 onwards, there will be a discussion of the body, the flesh. And Paul will tell us something very important about the body in terms of salvation. So those would be the four things that I'd be grateful if you kind of were on the lookout for as we go through the letter to the Romans. Well now, in chapter one, Paul introduces himself and gives us something of a summary of the gospel when he says that he's not ashamed of the gospel because of what the gospel is. And he describes what the gospel is. the power of God to save. It's not just a message. It's a powerful message, a message which has within itself the ability to accomplish the purpose to which God had sent it, for which God had framed it. And this gospel, he says, is the power of God and salvation to everyone. The Jew first, because to the Jew were promised Messiah, salvation, grace, but also to the Greek, who are included within the community of faith and salvation by grace, just as Jews are. And this summary is one that actually touches on most of the points that I mentioned to you that you should watch out for as we read on in Romans. He goes on to tell us that this gospel discloses, chapter 1, verse 18, not only God's power to save, but first of all, and this is where the gospel begins to be proclaimed. First of all, he says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. All, and the term all almost constantly, refers to all without distinction, that is to say, Jews and Gentiles. Jews are in no better position than are the Gentiles, and Gentiles are in no better position than the Jews. The wrath of God is revealed against heaven against all ungodliness. And if Paul did not intend to say what I intimated that I think he was intending to say, the word all would be redundant. He would just simply say against ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Because what do they do? They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Paul spells this out, and again, we will not go into all the finer details, but he basically says, men know. No man on earth is in a position where he doesn't know. He doesn't know enough to be saved, but he knows enough to know that he is guilty. This he knows from two sources. The first one is indicated here. Look at verse 20. He's telling us that nature bespeaks God's power and declares his divinity. It doesn't tell us what kind of God is he, but that he is God, nature declares. Because ultimately, nothing can explain nature except something greater than nature. Everything must have a source greater than itself. And so Paul is telling us that all men are guilty because they know from creation that there is a powerful God. And if there exists a powerful God, then they are in some way or another obliged to him. But even though, verse 21, they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but became futile in their speculations, and their foolish hearts were darkened. They speculated about God instead of seeking revelation from him. In consequence, professing it to be wise, they became fools. And instead of worshipping this true incorruptible God, they worshipped an image of corruptible things, creeping things, animals, beetles, cows, dogs, cats, anything you can imagine. In consequence, says Paul, God handed them over to the lusts of their hearts, verse 24, to impurity, so that their bodies, here is the body, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. He goes on to say, in verse 28, that they did not see fit to acknowledge God as he is truly in himself. And so God gave them over to a depraved mind to do the things which are not proper. We always become like the God we worship. In fact, he says in verse 32, although they know the ordinance of God. And so they know that God has enacted ordinances by virtue of the fact that He is God who made the world. And surely, if there is a God, a powerful God who made the world, then He has some kind of a purpose for it. And they, instead of seeking, as we said earlier, revelation, they engaged in speculations. So they know the ordinance of God. And what is more, they have a moral sense. Paul is going to elaborate on that moral sense in a moment. They have a moral sense. They know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things as enumerated in verses 29 and 30, those who do such things are worthy of death. So what Paul is saying is that every man, whether he admits it or not, even whether he knows it or not, is a rebel against God. He's suppressing that measure of truth which he has. He's acting against the dictates of that inner knowledge which he has. of the ordinance of God, that those who do these things, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slandering, hatreds of God, insolence, arrogance, boastfulness, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, untrustworthy, and so on. All of these things, Paul says, man knows are wrong. God has written his ordinance not only in nature, but, well, let's go on and see. Therefore, chapter 2, you have no excuse every one of you who pass judgment. Now, who does he refer to when he talks about every one of you? Of course, first of all, he's talking about every single human individual. He is taking a general truth and he's applying it to individuals, each and every one of us. But he's going to spell that out in a moment. First, he says in verse 2, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. We know, remember verse 32 of the previous chapter, knowing the ordinance of God that those who do these things. Do you suppose, oh man, that when you pass judgment on others who practice such things and do the same yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? In fact, what you are doing, verse 5, is you are, by your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, stirring up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath. and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds." Verse 9, tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, the Jew first, and also the Greek. Now, we've heard that phrase to the Jew first, haven't we? In chapter 1. Why is tribulation and anguish to the Jew first? For the same reason that the gospel is the power of salvation to the Jew first, because to them were committed, as Paul will say later, the oracles of God, that revelation which man should have sought instead of speculating. And so the Jews have a particular obligation toward God, a heightened responsibility as a result. Glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God." Now, that's interesting. The Jew first, but there's no partiality. Why? Because it's also to the Greek. It's not in a greater measure to the Jew. It's to the Jew first in order of responsibility and of duty. But Jews and Greeks, just in case you don't know, you're all Greeks and my wife and I are Jewish. Jews and Greeks are equally obliged. My wife and I are not obliged more, but we are obliged in the first place because we know. For all who have sinned, verse 12, All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. To whom is he referring? He's referring to Gentiles first, perishing without the law, and to Jews, perishing by the law or according to the law. There's no partiality with God, simply because it's not those who hear the law who are just, but those who do the law. And then Paul makes the point very clear with regard to the Jewish people, verse 14. When the Gentiles who do not have the law instinctively do the things of the law, they are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts. That's how they know the ordinance of God. It is written in their hearts, in the very nature of man. We were created in God's image. And every time we sin, we sin against that image. And that is how or why our conscience troubles us. The English word conscience, you know where it comes from? Conscience. Does anyone get the point? It's to know with another. And the one who always knows is God. We know because it is written in our hearts, quite apart from the fact that it's written in the book of the law. And that is why we know the ordinance of God. And if we do those things instinctively, although we do not have a law that was given from Sinai, it is written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or defending them. And that is what will happen also on the day when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ. The gospel declares not only God's grace, it declares God's wrath. According to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men, the secret deeds of men through Jesus Christ. But you bear the name Jew. And you rely on the law, that is, on the fact that you have the law. And you boast in God as if you have God. And you know His will. And you approve the things that are essential because you are instructed out of the law. And you are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature. All of these are descriptions of you folk. Having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? Now he's talking to Bracha and to me. You're so proud of yourself. You're so satisfied with yourself. You have the law. You're something special. But do you do the law? You who preach that one should not steal, do you not steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law through your breaking of the law, do you dishonor God? And then he brings a quote from the Old Testament. The name of God is blasphemed among the nations because of you. And as a result, although you're circumcised according to the law, you are a transgressor of the law and therefore your physical circumcision has no value whatsoever. Rather, the one who is physically uncircumcised and who keeps the law will be in a position to judge you, who are circumcised and do not keep the law, because ultimately Jewishness does not have to do with having the law, but with obeying it. Now, he's not saying that everyone who has the law is a Jew. He's saying that everyone who is truly Jewish obeys the law. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter, and whose praise is not from men, but from God. Well, this immediately raises a question. You see, Paul has put Jews and Gentiles on the same par. Well then, what's the point of being Jewish? Or as Paul puts it in chapter 3, verse 1, what advantage has the Jew? What benefit is there in circumcision? Paul says, there are great advantages. First of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God. That is a privilege. A privilege which carries obligation, but it is certainly a high privilege. So, if some did not believe, will this nullify the grace of God? Now, he's going to come back to that question in chapters 9, 10, and 11. And he answers himself immediately. It's an impossibility. My translation says, may it never be. It's an awful translation. Translation is absolutely not. It's an impossibility. It's not a wish. It's not an expression of hope. It's a statement of fact. Rather, God is true, although every person is a liar. Now that's true with regard to judgment, but, sweet sisters and brothers, it's true with regard to grace as well. God is true to us, though we are repeatedly discovered to be liars. He'll be making that point later on. Well then, Paul, if that's true, verse 5 of chapter 3, if our unrighteousness demonstrates God's righteousness, he should not be inflicting punishment. We are showing him up to be good. I'm speaking in human terms, of course, says Paul. And once again, this is an impossibility because God must judge the world. Now again, this is a question which will arise in chapter 6. If insists Paul's protagonist. But if through my life the truth of God abounds to his glory, why am I being judged? Why would you say that this is impossibility? Why should God judge me? Maybe we shouldn't do evil so that good would come. And Paul answers his protagonist. Are we Jews better than they, Gentiles? No. We've already said that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. And then he gives a litany of passages from the Old Testament, all of which indicate the sinfulness of mankind. coming back to the question that he is answering. We know that, first of all, that what the law says, it says there are those who are under the law. That is to say, to the Jews. So that every mouth might be stopped, and the whole world would be accountable to God, because he is the judge of all the earth. By the works of the law, no flesh, Jewish or Gentile, can be justified in his sight, because the law can only do one thing, bring us to a knowledge of sin. It will display the holiness of God. It will enunciate in the clearest terms possible the ordinances of God, known by man in his heart, and then leave us there condemned. Now Paul will come back to this in chapter 7, to demonstrate it from his own personal experience. But now, Apart from law, God's righteousness is manifested, witnessed by law or by the law. So apart from human effort, God shows his righteousness apart from the law and the prophets. But these testify to those very truths. As we said, one of the things that are important to Paul is to show that his gospel is according to the law and the prophets, according to the Old Testament. And so he says that it is not by way of law that we are justified. By way of law, we are only condemned. But the law and the prophets witness to that. This is a righteousness of God which comes through faith in Christ Jesus for all those who believe, Jew or Gentile, for there is no distinction. For all, Jew or Gentile, have sinned and come short of the glory of God and are justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. All, Jew and Gentile, can only be redeemed through faith, through the righteousness of Christ, a redemption which is in Him, who was presented by God publicly, that is, to the eyes of all, as a propitiation in His blood through faith. Propitiation means the appeasement of God so that He is reconciled with us. Because He is angry with us. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness. And He is propitiated by the blood of Jesus Christ. This served to demonstrate His righteousness, not ours, by keeping the law. Because in the forbearance of God, in the past, he passed over sins previously committed. And now, I say again, his righteousness is at this time demonstrated. So that he is on the one hand just, because his law has been fulfilled through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, and the justifier, of those who believe in Jesus. And we will see that justification, righteousness, is more than just legal fiction. It's not just that God forgives our sins. We are regenerated. That is to say, we are transformed. We are changed. And Paul will come back to this as well. particularly in chapter 7 and 8. Well then, where is there any room for boasting? It's excluded. What law excluded it? A law of faith, not of works. For a man is made just by faith apart from works, apart from efforts with regard to the law. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, also the Gentiles, who indeed will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. See, once again, this issue of Jew and Gentile, which is so central to Paul's argument. Do we then nullify the law through faith? Does faith set the law aside, cancel it out, abrogate it? Again, this poor translation may it never be. Absolutely not. On the contrary, faith establishes the law and we establish the law by the gospel. How? Well, Paul is going to come back to this issue of the law particularly in chapter 6 and 7 and 8. What shall we say then about Abraham? He's now going to show us that this is according to the law and the prophets. Abraham was our forefather according to the flesh. When was he justified? Was he justified by works? If he did, he'd have something of which to boast, although he couldn't boast before God because, well, who can boast before God? Who can ever say, I'm good enough for God? So he could perhaps boast vis-a-vis the Gentiles. He might boast before his parents. Look, I did this. He may boast before his wife and his children. I was successful, but not before God. The scripture says what? Abraham worked and it was accounted to him for righteousness? No. It says Abraham believed and it was credited to him. It was written to his account as if this was righteousness. Now if he had worked, he would have merited favor. But he hadn't worked, he had just believed. He trusted in the one whom he did not know at that time, but we know now to be the one who justifies the ungodly. And therefore, his faith was the means by which he was justified. This is also true, says Paul of David. David speaks of the blessing of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. And he brings, of course, Psalm 32. Blessed is the man whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, whose sins have been covered, to whom the Lord will not impute sinfulness. Not blessed is the man who achieved Now, is this blessing only for Jews? Chapter 4, verse 9. Well, the scripture says that Abraham's faith was credited to him for righteousness. When was it credited? When he was circumcised or uncircumcised? And of course, the answer is obvious. When he was uncircumcised, and this says Paul was premeditated by God, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that the righteousness might be accredited to them, as well as the father of the circumcision to those who are not only circumcised in the flesh, but follow in the steps of Abraham our father, which he had when he was uncircumcised. So being Jewish, being circumcised, keeping any of the aspects of the law, let alone Jewish tradition, is of no avail in our standing with God. The promise to Abraham and to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the law but through righteousness of faith." Now, we tend to skip over this phrase. The promise that he would be heir to the world, not to the land, to the world. Abraham was to be the father of many nations. And this promise was given to him not through the law, but through the righteousness which came to him because he trusted in God, who said he would do something that was apparently impossible. If the promise would have been given to him because he had worked, then faith would be void, and there would be no room for a promise. He had obtained it, he had worked for it, and this was his due. But the law, as we said earlier, only brings wrath. That's why it is by faith. So that the promise might be given by grace. To the extent that the promise might be secure. Because if it's by works, it can't be secure. And it should be secure to all the descendants of Abraham. Not only to those who are of the law, that is of the Jews, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, Jews or Gentiles. Once again, you see that this is a major topic in Paul's mind. Time and time he comes back to it. And then Paul describes Abraham's remarkable faith. He talks about the fact that Abraham took into account the fact that his body was dead and that his wife's body was dead. And yet, he hoped against hope. He believed in the impossible, that he would become the father of many nations from his dead body and that of his wife, Sarah. So shall your descendants be. Remember that? Go out Abraham, count the stars if you can. That's the number of descendants you will have. And he did not waver in unbelief, but he grew strong in faith and as a result, he gave God glory. And that is one of the major reasons why it is all by grace through faith. So that God would have glory and Abraham could not glory, could not boast before any others. and therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. Now, not for his sake only was this written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, which was as impossible as bringing a descendant from the dead womb of Sarah and the dead body of Abraham. He was delivered because of our transgressions. And He was raised because His sacrifice accomplished our justification. It is finished. It is done. It is all completed. It is all finished. It's all done in Christ Jesus. He did it all. We need no more. We cannot, we ought not try to add to anything He has done. Therefore, chapter 5, Being justified by faith, we, Jew and Gentile, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we've also obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. So we're not only brought in by grace, but we stand on grace. And the we, once again, is Jew and Gentile. It is He who by grace granted us faith, and it is He who by grace maintains our faith. And we exalt in the hope of the glory of God. Now, here's another phrase which Paul uses. In this case, when he's talking about hope in the glory of God, it's not hope that God would be glorified. He's using the word glory to describe the climax, the culmination of our redemption. We rejoice in the hope of sharing in that glory, and we'll see that as we go on. And not only this, but regardless of the difficulties, we continue to exalt knowing that all of these difficulties are but instruments in the hands of God, to secure us, to sanctify us, and to time and time again, through difficulty, express His love to us with the Holy Spirit pouring out in our hearts His love. Not love to God, but God's love to us. As we go through trials and tribulations, nothing is sweeter and no truth is more efficient to embolden our hearts than to remember this, God loves us. He really does. And if we can trust him through the mists of our pain and our suffering, then we will give glory to God by being faithful. Because when we were helpless, When we were unjust, God demonstrated his love toward us in that Christ died for us. Now, Paul is beginning to look forward. He's talking now about how we should relate to our lives in the here and now. Much more than now, verse 9 of chapter 5, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. He's telling us once again, it is by grace that we stand. That if God saved us originally by grace, he will maintain us by grace. And we will be saved from the wrath of God through him, that is through Christ Jesus. He reconciled us when we were enemies through the death of His Son. How much more now, and that He will come back to at the end of chapter 8. How much more now shall we be saved by His life? His life in us, the Holy Spirit given to us, the fruits of regeneration. And not only this, but we exalt in God. We exult in God in spite of our difficulties through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. We know ourselves to be reconciled to God. He has accepted us. And then in chapter 5, verse 12 onward, Paul shows something of what I would describe as the mechanics of salvation. And he parallels them with the mechanics condemnation. Sin entered the world through one individual, Adam, who was the head of mankind, acted on behalf of all mankind, all his descendants. But God is creating a new humanity. If the sin of Adam, or since the sin of Adam, brought condemnation and death upon all, Those who belong to this new humanity, of whom Christ is head, will have life and justification. If by virtue of the act of one man, the act of disobedience, condemnation was brought upon all men, justification will be brought upon all men who are in Christ. by virtue of that one act of obedience. Chapter six. Coming back to the question that he asked earlier in chapter two. What should we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase? And once again, this horrific translation may it never be. Of course not. It's impossible. How should we who have died to sin live in it? Do you see the impossibility? Paul is telling us, and he will elaborate in a moment, that yes, there's logic to the idea that we should continue in sin so that grace may abound, but it's a logic which comes from hell. It's not the logic that anyone who is regenerate could follow. We are dead to sin. Here is, you see, the fruit of justification. Or should I say, here is that aspect of justification, which is not merely forgiveness of sin, but transformation, regeneration, sanctification, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, leading us from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. We have died to sin. Don't you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus shared in His death? But remember, we did not only share in His death, but we shared in His resurrection. Baptism is not only burial, it's resurrection. And salvation is not only the burying of our sins, it is resurrection. You'll come back to that in chapter 8. Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so too we might walk in newness of life, that newness which we have had by the power of the Holy Spirit when we were born again, regenerated. For if we have been truly united with Him in death, we shall be no less truly united with him in life. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him so that our body, note the word again, our body of sin might be done away with and that we would no longer be slaves to sin. So if you believe you've died with Christ, you are obliged to believe also that you have risen with him. Death is no longer your master, because the death that he died, he died once and for all, but the life that he lives, he now lives to God. And so, verse 11, you must see yourselves. Now, what does that mean? Verse 12. Therefore, in light of this, Do not allow sin to reign in your mortal, here's the body again, your mortal body. Do not obey its lusts. Do not present the members, the organs of your body to sin as instruments of righteousness, but present yourself to God as those who are alive from the dead. and the organs of your body as instruments of righteousness. Because sin will not be your master any longer. Sin has no right over you any longer. You have no longer a master as the product of Adam's sin. You have a new master, God, and you must live for Him. You are obliged by grace. Well, again, the question comes, well, okay, well, shall we sin because we're not under law, under race? That's impossible. Because what you're doing is you're re-enslaving yourself. You're returning to bondage. But rather, you should live. You should live in the power of the Holy Spirit. You should live by the power of grace. You should live by the power of your justification, which includes far more than your forgiveness of sins. When you were slaves of sin, verse 20, you were free with regard to righteousness. What benefit did you have then? Why would you return to sin? For the outcome of those things is death. But now, since you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive benefit. A benefit which results in your ongoing sanctification and culminates in eternal life. This is the salvation, the power of God to save, not just to forgive. That is the Gospel. And if you have not experienced that power in your lives, You must ask yourself if you have ever been forgiven. If you've ever truly turned from your sins to God. And now, Paul is going to sum this up. And in chapter 7, verses 1 to 13, actually 1 to 12, let's say 1 to 13, Paul describes his experience of the law in the past. And he is showing how the law worked, as he described earlier, by law is the knowledge of sin. Law brings us under the wrath of God. And he says, in the past, I was, and he uses a phrase, I was alive. In other words, I was happy. I was pleased with myself. Everything was OK. My conscience didn't bother me. Because I was without the law. That is to say, I was not cognizant of a certain truth in the law in a real sense. I knew it. I knew the words. But they never really hit me. And then one day, he says, the law came. Bingo. And I discovered in myself. A horror of great sin and I died. The law killed me. I recognized how unclean I am. Sin taking opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me. And so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Well, did this which is good become a cause of death for me? Of course not, rather it was sin. So that it might be seen to be sin, by effecting my death through the law which is good. And thereby, sin is shown to be as disgustingly wrong as it truly is. From verse 14 onwards, Paul talks about his present experience as a Christian. He's bringing us back to the law. He's talking about the body. We'll mention, we'll explain that in a moment. But he says that something interesting has happened to him. In verse 14 he says, I know that the law is spiritual. In verse 18 he talks about the things that he wants to do and he says in verse 16 that he agrees with the law because he confesses that the law is good. In verse 21, I'm sorry, 22, he says, he joyfully concurs with the law of God in the inner man. This is a regenerate individual. This is someone who now loves the law of God. He recognizes its goodness and he wants to keep it. He wants to submit the organs of his body as instruments of righteousness. And of course, he's describing what I hope is true of all of us. Because of what God has done for us, because of the transformation of the Holy Spirit, we long to do what is right in the eyes of God. But, says Paul, what I want to do, I don't do. What I don't want to do, I do. You see, what has happened is that when sin came, it took our legitimate needs, needs created by God in us, indications of our creatureliness, and transform them into lusts by exaggerating them. So instead of eating, we become gluttonous. We satisfy our desires in all kinds of illegitimate ways on all spheres of life. We will always be in need, because we're always creatures, we'll always be dependent, because we're creatures. But the body has become an instrument in the hands of sin, so that he calls it a body of sin and a body of death. Because those needs, they're still lusts, they're still inordinate desires, they still drive us for more and more and more. Racha came up this morning from breakfast, having brought some eggs for us to eat for breakfast. And she said to me, there's some good cinnamon rolls there. It's a tiny, tiny bit of a lust. But she resisted it. That's what we are. The habits of sin. Puritans used to say that a habit is second nature. The habits of sin, the thought, well, I need to have another piece of chocolate, another portion of ice cream, another steak, whatever it might be. I need to satisfy. I need it. I need it. I need it. And what we're really saying is, I want it. And we have not learned to define against, to recognize again the difference between what we want and what we need. And we think that everything that we want is what we need. And we want it now. With as little effort and as quickly and as large a portion of whatever it may be as possible. And so Paul finds himself in a painful inner conflict. And he cries out, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body, again notice this word, the body of this death? And then immediately he answers, I thank God through Jesus Christ, my Lord, because he is the one who's going to deliver us from the body of this death. And how will he do that? Well, after the break, there'll be no commercials, but after the break, we'll go back to chapter eight and we'll see how Paul weaves all these ideas together into one in chapter eight.