Take your Bibles turn along with me to Romans chapter 7 Romans chapter 7 we began the study of the book of Romans by Using the metaphor of hiking some great majestic mountain like Everest For the book of Romans looms over really the rest of the New Testament and in some ways the rest of the Bible as being one of those great peaks of God's revelation. And on every great hike, there are difficult sections that must be encountered. Rocky trails that must be traversed. surging rivers that somehow must be crossed, or steep terrain that will take all your energy to climb. Well, in our hike through Romans, we've come to one such difficult section. Here in Romans 7, verses 14 through 25. It's one of the most difficult and controversial passages in all of Romans, and indeed in all the New Testament, and one might even say in all the Scriptures. And yet despite its difficulty, this passage is vitally important to us for helping us to understand ourselves better, and for helping us to understand the true depth of human sin. even sin in the life of the believer. This passage will help ground us and help us better understand the sin in our own lives as Christians and the sin that remains in the lives of our fellow believers as well. And hopefully make us more humble in our walk with the Lord, more dependent on Him, and more patient with one another. So let's look together in Romans 7, verses 14 through 25. Romans 7, verse 14, the Apostle Paul continuing to write says, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good. So now no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I'm doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, on the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin." This is the Word of God. Thanks be to God for His Word. Let's pray together. Our God, we do give You thanks for Your Word, which reveals things to us about ourselves that we can't fully understand, we don't fully understand. Paul himself here is perplexed at himself, at his own heart, at his own actions, at his own desires. Lord, if we're honest with ourselves, even as Christians, we feel similarly. We find ourselves frustrated with ourselves, perplexed by ourselves, disappointed in ourselves, disheartened. Lord, I pray that we would better understand the war within. We would better understand it so that we are humbled by it, so that we are moved to greater dependence upon you, who is also working within us, so that we would also be humble in the way we walk with one another, recognizing that we all have the same struggle with sin that resides within. So teach us, Lord, for our good. Help us to look square-eyed in the face of the belly of this beast that still remains within us. That we might, Lord, through dependence on the Spirit of God, find victory. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. This text has been a source of controversy for the Church of Jesus Christ for, well, since it was penned. The biggest question surrounding this text is this. Who is Paul talking about? Who is Paul referring to here in these verses? Is Paul talking about the experience of an unbeliever? Is he talking about the experience of every Christian? Or is he describing here the experience of a Christian who just isn't doing it right? Who just isn't practicing Christianity the way one ought? Well, I believe Paul is describing here his own regular experience as a Christian. And as he does so, he is describing what is the common experience of every Christian in their struggle with sin and the war within. Paul isn't describing an unbeliever here, I don't believe. Because he speaks of himself repeatedly in the present tense. As though this is his present experience as a Christian. Not his experience in the past as an unbeliever, but his present experience as a Christian. Throughout this passage, Paul talks about desiring the good. He talks about hating sin. He talks about loving God's law. All of which are things a non-Christian does not do. And only the Christian, by the grace of God, can do. Paul is looking here at the Christian's struggle against sin from a singular perspective. without considering the power of God that has been granted to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That will come in chapter eight. But for now, he's simply diagnosing the problem that exists even now in the heart of the Christian. So Paul is looking at the problem of our indwelling sin here without giving us the plan straight away for victory. We're going to see the battle plan for victory in chapter 8, but for now he's simply sharing the symptoms of his own flesh here in Romans 7. He's not yet giving us an effective treatment plan, which he'll do in the next chapter. A good parallel So what Paul is talking about here is found in Galatians chapter 5 verses 16 and 17. Listen to what Paul says there. And notice the conflict going on inside the believer's life and heart. Galatians 5.16 says, But I say, but walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. In both Galatians chapter five and in Romans chapter seven, Paul is describing the truth that there is a war within the Christian. The Christian, there is a war within. And so this morning as we look at Romans 7 and the Christian's war within, we're going to see the conflicts, the cry, and the cure. That's going to be our outline this morning. The conflicts, the cry, and the cure. But I've got more to say before we get to any of that. Throughout chapter 7, Paul has been talking about both his B.C. days and his A.D. days. We've been talking about that for a couple weeks. B.C., before Christ, and we've kind of used that to divide what normally divides our calendar, right? Everything before Christ came and then everything after. We're doing that on the scale of the individual and of the Christian, of our B.C. days, our before Christ days, the time when we were not a Christian, and our A.D. days, in the year of our Lord, the time since we've become a Christian. And everything in our life can be divided by that dividing line of B.C. and A.D. And Paul, here in chapter 7, has been talking about both his B.C. days and his A.D. days. Look with me at Romans chapter 7, verses 5 and 6. Verse 5 he talks about his B.C. days, verse 6 he talks about his A.D. days. For while we were in the flesh, verse 5, okay these are B.C. days, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in the members of our body to bear the fruit of death. Verse 6, the A.D. days, but now we have been released from the law having died to that by which we were bound so that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Then in verses 7-13, Paul goes on to describe further his BC days. This is an expansion on verse 5. So verses 7-13 are Paul's BC days, his days before Christ. His days of living spiritually in Adam. Being spiritually united with Adam. In fact, Paul was so spiritually united with Adam, and in Adam's sin in the garden, that many of these verses in verses 7 through 13 contain strong allusion to Adam's original sin in the garden. God's commandment is given and it's given and intended to preserve life and to give life. Paul alludes to several things about sin's allure and sin's deception. He alludes to the garden in that Death has come as a result of sin. In these verses, Paul closely identifies himself with Adam then, in his sin in the garden. Talking about coveting, which was essentially Adam's sin. Adam coveted that which God had forbidden him from having. He wanted it, he desired it, and he took it, and he ate. Even so, Paul, hearing the commandment not to covet, suddenly is compelled to covet to the left and to the right, all over the place, wanting those things which are forbidden, wanting those things which God has not given him. And so Paul says that God's commandment, seen in the Law of Moses, especially in the Tenth Commandment, the law against coveting, produced in Paul coveting of every kind. And the result in Paul was death. He came to the realization of his own spiritual lifelessness. And so, in Paul, through the commandment, the utter sinfulness of sin was put on display. Now, in verse 14, a distinct change takes place. Instead of talking about his past life, his B.C. days, in verse 14, Paul starts talking about his present life, his A.D. days, the time since he became a Christian. Beginning in verse 14 and going all the way through the end of the chapter, Paul uses present tense verbs 36 times when he hasn't used one previously. Paul seems to be making a clear shift from his B.C. days to his A.D. days. Verses 14 through 25 present Paul's experience then as a Christian. And by extension, Paul is presenting every Christian's experience in these verses. Paul is serving here as a paradigm for what every Christian goes through and thinks and experiences and struggles with in terms of remaining sin. A huge part of the Christian's experience is the conflict then between our new nature in Christ and the sin that still remains and resides within us. For the Christian then, there is a war within. Between our new nature and between the sin that remains. There's a fundamental new spiritual reality that has been created within us, that has come from being born again, from being born from above. But despite this new life, there's an enemy insurgency going on inside us at the same time. There is a war within us. And in 7, chapter 7, verses 14 through 25, Paul is describing in vivid terms the nature and intensity of this war within. You see, the Christian life here and now is living in the reality of the already but also of the not yet, right? We are living within the tension of the already and of the not yet. As Christians, we're already redeemed, right? We're already redeemed. We're already saved. We're already taken from darkness and placed into the kingdom of light. We've already been taken from death unto life. We've already gone from being guilty to being forgiven, from being rejected by God to being accepted in the beloved. We've gone from being slaves to being free. All of this is ours and it's ours in Christ already. This is our present possession. This is the already aspect of the Christian life. But while that is true, that we are living in the already of God's good gift of salvation, it is also true that we are simultaneously living in the not yet of our salvation. We have not yet received all the good gifts of salvation that God has in store for us. We still struggle with sin. We still live in a world corrupted by sin. We still live in bodies corrupted by sin. There is a not yet aspect to the gift of salvation that God has given us. And Romans chapter seven, verses 14 through 25 paints the reality of this not yet aspect of the Christian life. We're already justified. We're already being progressively sanctified. We are already being made more and more like Christ, but we are not fully sanctified, are we, church? Anybody here fully sanctified? You're perfect already in Christ, like you're there. You've matched Christ-likeness perfectly. No one better raise their hand. Because we're not there. This is part of the not yet aspect of our Christian experience. While the Christian is at the moment of faith, spiritually placed in Christ, There are yet aspects of our experience that are still subject to sin and its curse upon humanity and the world. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean that there are as yet unredeemed parts or aspects of us. How so? Well, do you ever get sick? Yeah, I get sick. I was sick. I am sick. and I'll probably still be sick next week. No, I'm kidding. I'm getting better. Do you ever get sick? Yes. That's part of sin's curse and that's part of sin's curse still being applicable even to us as Christians. Do Christians get diseases like unbelievers do? Are we still subject to cancer and all kinds of other terrible diseases? Yes, at the same rate. We're just as disease-ridden and sickness-ridden as anybody else in this world. Christians don't escape that. Yes, that too is part of sin's curse that is still applicable to us as believers. Do Christians feel pain? Yes, do Christians still have to work by the sweat of their brow? And is their work often frustrated by thorns and thistles of life lived out in a fallen world? Yes, yes, yes. That's part of sin's curse that still affects us even though we are Christians and in Christ. Now let me ask you this one. Do Christians experience physical death? This is not a trick question. Do Christians experience physical death? Yes. We die at the same rate as unbelievers. It's one to one. Death comes for the believer and the unbeliever alike. Physical death and the physical death of every Christian is a reminder that not all the effects of sin and the curse have been fully and finally redeemed for the believer. For the Christian, there are still aspects of our life that are still subject to the realities of sin and sin's curse. And that's what we see Paul struggling with here internally in these verses. We see him struggling with the realities of remaining sin in his own life. A struggle every Christian knows all too well. So let's look then at the conflicts, the cry and the cure. First the conflicts, the Christian's inner conflicts. And there's gonna be three sub points to this one. We find these three conflicts in verses 14 through 23. First of all, the conflict between God's law and my flesh. Verse 14. Romans 7, 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am a flesh sold into bondage to sin. Paul has been making it clear throughout this section of scripture that the law of God, the law of Moses, summarized in the Ten Commandments, is not the problem. The law is not the problem here. The problem is us. The law of Moses is not sinful. The law of Moses is not the cause of death. Sin is the cause of death. Sin is the problem. The law of God is good. Romans 7, 12. So then the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Nothing wrong with God's law here. Because it's from God, it's of God. Problem's not the law, the problem is the sin that resides within us. And the law shows us that the sin that resides within us is utterly sinful. Now Paul says in verse 14 that we know that the law is spiritual. The law of Moses is spiritual, meaning that it is of the spirit. It is from God. It is of God. It is spiritual. It is of the Holy Spirit. And Paul says, in contrast to that, I am of flesh. I still have these fleshly characteristics, these hematological hangovers from my BC days that have somehow carried on into my AD days. These things I've inherited from Adam that haven't been fully worked through and washed away entirely that I'm still struggling with. He says, I am of flesh. He means that he is of flesh and bone. He is of mortal body. He means he's still subject to and affected by aspects of the fall of man into sin in this fallen world. He's speaking of his own anthropology, who he is as a person, of his own weakened human condition and frailty post-fall. He's still affected by that. He's still subject to sickness. He's still subject to sorrow. He's still subject to death. And yes, he's still subject to sin's tantalizing pull. But Paul has been made new on the inside. He still has these fleshly tendencies. These holdovers from the old regime. He further describes his predicament. He says, I am a flesh sold into bondage to sin. Now that's strong language. You say, now wait a minute, didn't Paul already deal with this back in chapter six? Didn't he say we're no longer the slaves of sin? Didn't he say we can say no to sin anytime we want because we are no longer enslaved to sin? Yes, Romans 6, 17 and 18. He says, thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. From being slaves of sin to being slaves of righteousness, from being slaves of the wrong things to being slaves of the right things. So what gives here in chapter seven? Well, Paul is using once again this metaphor of slavery. to again describe what his experience is like. Paul isn't saying here that he's given himself over like a slave to the slave master of sin or something like that. He's saying that though the chain has been broken, it's as though I'm still under sin's spell in certain ways. I'm still subject to sin's commands in certain ways. A slave by definition doesn't get to do what he really wants to do. A slave is subject to the directives of another. This is what Paul has experienced even as a Christian. This is what's been going on inside of him and at times what it feels like. He'll go on to describe that further in verses 15 through 19, which we'll look at in a moment. But for now, know that Paul says here in verse 14 that he feels a conflict between the law of God, which is spiritual, which is of the Spirit of God. He feels a conflict between the law of God, which is spiritual, and my still fallen flesh and blood, which is still so much a part of this fallen world. Paul is saying here there is still a disconnect between God's law and the reality of my life. God's law is here and it is spiritual and I'm over here and I'm of flesh. And there's a disconnect. These aren't matching up perfectly. Why is that? There's perplexity here. The pull to sin is still quite strong, even for the believer. Why can't I obey God's law? Why can't I do what God commands? Why is it so hard to obey the Lord? Why is it so hard to do what God says? This is the all too common frustration that Paul and every Christian feels if we're honest with ourselves. The conflict between God's law and my flesh, which so often wants to disobey God's law. That's the first conflict we feel internally. The second conflict, 1B, the conflict between what I desire to do and what I actually do, verses 15 through 19. Paul's frustration in being of flesh, still a part of this fallen world, still struggling with sin's ability to command him, is further described in these verses, Romans 7, 15 through 16. For what I am doing, I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good. Paul is absolutely beside himself. He is perplexed over himself. I don't understand what I'm doing. I don't get myself. Do you resonate with the apostle here? Does this feel like real stuff? Like your real experience? It feels like mine. I don't get myself. I'm a complete enigma to myself. For I'm not practicing what I would like to do, but I'm doing the very thing I hate. You see, when we become Christians, we're given new desires. Desires for righteousness, desires for doing what pleases the Lord. And we're also given, at the same time, a newfound hatred for sin. What we used to love, we now hate. What we used to hate, we now love. We have these new desires. New desires for what is true and righteous and good. And new hatred for what God hates. Hatred for sin. Hatred for a rebellion. And yet, and yet we still have these lingering, competing desires within us. We're still subject to sin's temptation. Sin is still alluring to us. Sin still looks in some ways and it's sometimes attractive to us. And so we sometimes give in to sin's temptation. And we end up doing the very thing we hate. And end up oftentimes not doing the very thing we would like to be doing. Paul says it doesn't make any sense. This is crazy. What is wrong with me? You ever felt that way? You ever gotten to that point of frustration where you can't figure yourself out? You don't understand this war that's going on within you? Doesn't make any sense. The reality is we can't fully comprehend the true depth of the sin that still dwells within each of us. We can't grasp the true extent of the depravity that still remains inside us. Our indwelling sin remains a mystery to us. How can we will one thing and yet do the opposite? Christians are living contradictions. We are a mess. I am a mess. And that's exactly what Paul is getting at here. We are a mess. Verse 16. Every time I do the thing I do not want to do, every time I sin doing the thing I don't want to do, I'm affirming the goodness of the law of God in not wanting to do that thing and yet doing it. So again, the problem is not the law. The law is not at fault here. What's at fault is what's inside of us, still, remaining, indwelling, sin. The problem is not the law, but that which still remains in us, that aspect of us that has yet to be fully redeemed and renewed, that part that is still of flesh, our unredeemed humanness, that physical mortal aspect of us that is still under Adam's curse and still under sin's influence. Now listen to what Paul says next in verse 17 as he continues to describe this internal conflict. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. Now this sounds like you're passing the buck, right? Paul, come on. Take responsibility for your actions. That's not what Paul's doing. He's not saying the devil made me do it. Oh, I can't be blamed for that. It's this alter ego within me. That's not what's going on here. Paul is making a distinction between his true self that has been made new and transformed in Christ. That is the new I. That is the new me. That is the true me. At our core, Christians are new creations in Christ Jesus. We are a new people. Paul uses the first person singular throughout this passage here, the I. The I that Paul is talking about here is the new person who is new in Christ. And yet, sin persists. So how does it happen? Well, it's not the truest and newest part of Paul that is doing it, but it is the vestiges The holdovers from the old era that yet remain, that are not yet renewed and redeemed. Think of it this way. Think of it like a military campaign. The city named Paul has been successfully taken over by God at the moment of his salvation. But there is still a stubborn insurgency of sin that remains and hides and resists and raises its head to rebel against this new regime. That's the idea here. Our sin, our remaining sin, is an insurgency fighting against the new regime that God has established through His redeeming grace. Paul continues to describe it in verses 18 and 19. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. Paul says, nothing good dwells in me, that is of the flesh part of my makeup. That hamartiological, hamartiology is sin, the study of sin. That hamartiological hangover, That part of me, nothing good dwells in me, in my flesh. That aspect of me that is as yet unrenewed and still fallen, there's nothing good there. Because I want to do what is good and right and please God, but my execution of the good often fails. For the good that I want, I do not do, but instead I practice the very evil thing that I do not want to do. It's so frustrating. Have you felt it? Do you know this experience? I sure do. The third piece of the conflict is the conflict between my redeemed inner man and indwelling sin, verses 20 through 23. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good, for I joyfully concur with the law of God in my inner man. But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Paul attributes his disobedience not to his true self in Christ, made new in Christ, but to the vestiges of the sin that yet remains in him. Evil is present in me, he says, the one who wants to do good. We're not fully and finally redeemed yet. We've got to still deal with the evil that still resides within. You're not yet fully made new. And Paul describes it this way in verses 22 and 23. In my inner man, the truest part of me, the newest part of me, the part of me that's been made new in Christ. In this new part of me, I joyfully concur and agree with the law of God. Yes. God's law. Yes. I want to be Christ-like. I want to do what Jesus wants me to do. And then look at verse 23. And I see a different law in the members of my body. My flesh. The word law here is not the law of God, but more like a principle or an operating power. He says, I see a different operating power here. Paul experienced a different and contrary power or force in his body, waging war against the law of his mind. Or that new renewed inner man. That new and renewed inner part of Paul. This contrary power took Paul prisoner of the law of sin, the principle and operating power of sin which was in his members or in his flesh, that part of him which was still subject to sin and temptation. And so Paul is described here, his inner life as a Christian of being one of turmoil and strife. He's described it as a war within, a war of spiritual fighting against his still fallen flesh. A war of the will, willing to do the good but ending up doing the wrong and the sinful. A war of the spiritual, fighting against his still fallen flesh. A war between the forces and powers of the new era and the forces and power of the old era. The old era and its regime has fallen in defeat, but it's still holding on and still holding out in a continued rebellion and insurgency against the Creator who made us. This is the internal state of affairs that leads Paul to cry out in frustration and desperation in verse 24, wretched man that I am. I'm a mess. I'm miserable. I don't like this. I want it to change. I want it to be different. I'm sick of it. Feel that way? Feel that way about your sin? That was Paul's feeling. That brings him to cry out in despair. It takes us to the second point this morning, the Christian's desperate cry, verse 24. wretched man that I am who will set me free from the body of this death. I'm wretched. I'm miserable. I'm a worm. This is the frustration every Christian feels on the heels of giving in to sin. I'm so wicked. I'm so wretched. What is wrong with me? And Paul's frustration at his own internal struggle and failure at times leads him to cry out in desperation for final deliverance. Who will set me free from the body of this death? Paul says, look, I know I'm a new creation on the inside, and yet I'm tied to this mortal body that is still corrupted in so many ways by sin and sin's curse, and I want out. I want to be set free. I want this war and this struggle and this frustration to be over once and for all. Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Notice too that Paul is looking for a future deliverance. He asks the question, who will in the future set me free from this body of death, which is my current experience? Who will rescue me from this terrible conflict between the new era and the old era that I'm living in? Who will fully and finally one day put an end to this war within? And the answer comes in verse 25, and that brings us to the third. point the Christian's ultimate cure, verse 25. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the church says amen. This is the certain and settled hope of every Christian. One day the Lord Jesus Christ is going to finish what he has started in us. Hallelujah. Philippians 1.6 says, I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. He's still working on me, right? To make me what I ought to be. One day the war within will be finished once and for all. And it'll be finished because of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. and the perfecting work of Jesus Christ. This work of perfecting us, the Philippians 1.6 talks about, is a gradual and progressive one in this life. And it will always be an incomplete work as long as we live. As long as we still live in these mortal bodies, it will be an incomplete work. But one day, God will raise up our bodies and give us new glorified bodies that no longer have this war within, that are completely and entirely sanctified, that are in fact glorified bodies. Where we no longer have this struggle of the flesh, this struggle towards sin and temptation. Philippians 3.21 says that God will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. He is gonna make us just like Christ. Perfect in holiness. No more struggle with the flesh. No internal war anymore. War is over on that day. But notice that verse 25 doesn't end in a word of victorious exaltation. There we go, there's the answer. No, because we're still living in the not yet. Right? We haven't been glorified yet. And so Paul says in Romans 7.25, so then on the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh the law of sin. We are living in the time of the already but the not yet. We are already saved, we are being sanctified, but it is a long and frustratingly slow process that is being opposed all the time by our flesh. And we are definitely not yet glorified. But rest assured, Christian, glorification is coming through Jesus Christ our Lord. But until that day, a war rages on within each of us. A war whose outcome is certain, but a war in which there are daily battles to be fought. And Paul in chapter 8 is going to tell us how we can win these daily battles against our sinful flesh. There is hope. But for now, it's ours to look at the diagnosis and the serious nature of the sin that still resides within. and of the war that goes on and rages within the Christian. Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Praise God, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who will deliver us all who trust in him. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the fullness and completeness of the transformation that you promised us on that day. But until then, we struggle. Until then, we are anguished and vexed by the sin that remains. We know that in us, that is in our flesh, no good thing dwells. And yet, Lord, that's not the only story. That's not the only truth. There's much more coming in chapter 8 that's going to remind us of the tremendous power of the Holy Spirit that resides within each Christian. To give them power and victory in the face of the war within. So Lord, let us not deny the struggles that we have. Let us look square-eyed into the reality of the sin that remains within each of us. and may it humble us. May we, along with the Apostle Paul, say, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? May it humble us and cause us to walk in humility with one another, recognizing that our brothers and sisters are struggling with the same indwelling sin and the same war within. So help us to be patient with one another. Most of all, Lord, help us look to the author and perfecter of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the completeness of his redemption, which has not only saved our souls, but will also one day save our mortal bodies, and forever subdue and vanquish the sin that resides still within. We thank you for this promise, and it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.