Man, that's one of the good old ones too. It touched me. Amen. If you have your Bible, turn to the book of Romans chapter 7 with me this morning, please. Verse number 21, Romans 7, 21. You'll find the book of Romans as you read it and study it is a very rich book. rich in spiritual truth. Romans chapter 7 verse 21. The Apostle said, I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now just let that settle into your soul. Evil. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Let that settle into your soul. There's two of you. 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 man that I am. Meditate on that for a while. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now note carefully verse number two. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Father, bless this holy word now. In thy name I pray, amen. You can be seated. The Apostle Paul poses some questions and gives you answers. He delves into the very depths of the human soul. He begins to explain to you what we're made of, and what we are, and what we think about, and the battle that rages in the bosom of the one that is a true born-again believer. The book of Romans, chapter number 7, chapter number 8, primarily is written to believers. It's talking about people that are truly saved. He's not talking about religious hypocrites. He's talking about someone who has a battle raging deep down inside his soul. He talks about that that cannot be seen under a microscope. You cannot see the mind of an individual. It does not fit within any physics or any kind of a mathematical equation. It doesn't fit under a microscope, but it is a reality nonetheless. The Bible said, therefore, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul said, and I say, I have the mind of Christ. So therefore the mind of Christ is the mind he's talking about that is an opposition to the flesh. He begins to define the flesh in Romans chapter number seven and chapter number eight. The flesh not only refers to the physical body that you're sitting in right now, the body that you feed, wash daily, live in, and that is the transport that carries you about on this earth. The body, the human body, the body that was fashioned from the dust of the ground, but the breath that God breathed into that body became you. Therefore, you did not come from the dirt. You came from above. God almighty brought down from above the breath of life and breathed into your nostrils. You became a living soul. Therefore a man is a unique creature on this earth unlike anything else that's alive You have the image of God the Darwinians the evolutionists the movers and the shakers of the elite the Illuminati They despise the idea that you're made in the image of God They can't stand that if you want to if you want to stab a dagger into them you go on about how that you're made in the image of God and You're made in the image of God. That when you murder a man, you're murdering a man that is made in the image of God. When that murderer shot that police officer in Texas a day or so ago, he murdered a man that was made in the image of God. He's a murderer. And when that murderer up there in Texas took that nine millimeter Glock and murdered those two people, the cameraman and the reporter, a young woman, 23, 24 years old, he's a murderer. And then at 1.30 that afternoon, he went to hell because he blew his brains out and killed himself. And now he's burning in hell right now and he's screaming for mercy and he's crying like a piece of sausage. Let that settle in. I don't care what the modern pop culture in America says, a murderer is a murderer, and all murderers go to hell. And so my friend, the Apostle said in Romans chapter number 7, O wretched man that I am. It is a man that began to have a spiritual discernment about what he's really made out of. If you'll notice the Apostle in Romans chapter number 7 doesn't make one single excuse for his condition. No excuses. If you'll notice in Romans chapter number 7, he doesn't blame anybody for his condition. If you'll notice in Romans chapter number 7, he doesn't try to hide behind religion. He doesn't hide behind this. He doesn't hide behind... He simply says, Oh, wretched man that I am! My friend, that's a wonderful assessment of yourself. When a man ever comes to this place in this world where he says, Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! that dwelleth in me no good thing." As the publican came before the Lord and smote his chap, and said, Lord, God be merciful to me, a sinner. He wasn't my friend blaming anybody but himself. He was accepting the responsibility for his sins and for what he'd done. And so the apostle cries out in despair. If you can't see that fringe, you can't see anything. In Romans 7, in his utter despair, he said, Oh, wretched man! That I am. There are those that try to rehabilitate Paul, take up for him, and they say, well, he was talking about his condition before he got saved. Oh, no, no, no, no. That I am is present tense. I am right now. I am a wretched man. And so in despair he cries out. But the thing I love about the Bible is the fact that it will not only tell you what you are, who you are, where you came from, it'll also tell you how to get out of it. Amen. The Bible never leaves you hanging out here somewhere so it can put you under condemnation and control you. The Bible doesn't control you. The Bible gives you the sweet Holy Spirit who becomes the very life in your soul. And here he says, Oh, wretched man that I am. He doesn't have to get into detail. He doesn't have to give you a litany of all the sins He had committed, because it's not so much about what He did. If you'll note carefully the Apostle in Romans chapter number 7, I want you to know what He is. And that is the key, that's the understanding of our relationship with God. I mean, I can stand up and point a finger at you, and you can point a finger at me. I can say, I've never done that. You can say, you've never done this. And we can nitpick, pick, pick, pick but the issue is not so much what you've done the issue is what you are because God my friend never whitewashes sepulchres He's not in the whitewashing business. He's not in the reformation business. He's not here to clean you up. He's here to change you from the inside out. And that's what needs to be done. So the apostle said in Romans chapter number seven, Oh, wretched man that I am. I'm sure his pastor approached his mind. I'm sure he thought about what he'd done before he got saved. But he also realized that that day on the road to Damascus, even though his heart and his soul had changed, the old man was still hanging on. The old man was still there. In other words, that same hate, that same murdering spirit, that same debauchery that he had on the road to Damascus was still with him. But he wasn't that anymore. He had a spirit inside him that had changed him from that day on. Oh, if I could only get that over. If I could only get that over him. So many people have the idea, well, get old so-and-so living right, and they'll be okay, and they'll get right with God and live right. Folks, it's not about that. It's about God changing you from the inside out. And once He changes you, your nature changes, you're going to live right. And if you don't live right, it's an indication you've never been changed. So in Romans chapter number seven, he said, Oh, wretched man that I am poses the question, who can deliver me from the body of this death? Oh, he made no more excuses either. for the body of this death. And let me define what he meant by the body of this death. Every one of us in this house today can become addicted to drugs. We can become addicted to all kinds of things. And that is an addiction that is in the flesh. And some of you, it'll stay with you till the day you die. But the flesh also goes deeper than simply a fleshly addiction. It goes into the heart and soul of how you think, what makes you think, how you assess yourself, the decisions that you make. That is the fleshly mind. And the Apostle Paul is trying to lay out for you that there is a difference between the fleshly mind and a spiritual mind. And there is the key to life or death. For in the 8th chapter of the book of Romans, he starts talking about death, and he starts talking about life, and he compares the two together. In the book of Romans, chapter number 8, he begins to spell out to you what makes the difference between death and life. And let me say it as plain as I can to you this morning. What makes all the difference between death and life is the Spirit that dwells in you. For the Spirit is your very identity and essence. If you have the Spirit of the Lord God dwelling within your soul, you've got the Spirit of life living within you. If you don't have the Spirit of the Lord God living within your soul, then you have living death. in your members. Hard as you may try, seek as you will. You can turn over all the new leaves that you can, but you're not going to take death out of your mortal body and members. The only thing that can remove death from you is the Spirit of life, which is in Christ Jesus. So the spirit is everything. If you get the spirit right, the rest of it will become right. If you get the spirit wrong, it doesn't make any difference what else you believe. The life is spirit. And without the spirit, there is no life. The spirit identifies and defines what you're all about. When we come into the eighth chapter of the book of Romans, he takes two laws and conflicts them because they are conflicting laws. They are laid down by a lawgiver. The Old Testament law was the law of sin and death. for nobody could keep it. And all it could ever do was produce condemnation and death. Nobody ever walked on the face of this earth ever got saved by keeping the law. I want to make that clear to you. I want you to write that down somewhere. I don't care what any religious person tells you. Nobody that's ever lived on the face of this earth ever got saved by keeping the law because none of them could. Every man of Adam's race, the Bible said, was weak because the weakness of the law is in the flesh. And nobody was able to keep it. So therefore, the law can only bring condemnation. But it contrasts that with another law. And this law comes from a lawgiver. And this law trumps the law of death. It is a greater law. It's a higher law. It's the law of life in Christ Jesus. In plainer words, this law is the law of life, the spirit of life, the spirit of God that dwells in the believer that will overrule the law of death. And my friend, it will trump the law of death. And even though the law of death dwells in you members, The apostle made it plain. He said, in my flesh is the law of sin and death. He said, but there is a law that is greater than that law. And it is the law of life and liberty in Christ Jesus the Lord. He said, I'm free in that law. I live in that law. I'm saved in that law. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift if you're still wallowing around in religion and confirmation and baptism and do's and don'ts and approval of mankind And it makes you feel good and you feel good about yourself and you're in love with yourself You're in the law of condemnation You're dead and dying and don't even know it But if you have the law of liberty in Christ Jesus that is inside your soul and spirit it literally gives life to the flesh. It animates the flesh. It keeps the flesh alive because it is the law of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. If that Spirit is dwelling in you today, you'll be the first one to say, Preacher, I gave my life to the Lord. I got saved. I saw a profound change come on me. I knew something happened to me that had never happened before. I rejoice in that, but there's still an old man, there's still an old woman, there's still that old sinner that follows me around, hangs on me. As an old-time preacher used to say, and I like the way he put his practical terms, he said, every born-again believer is dragging a dead corpse with them everywhere they go. I thought that's a good way to put it. Every one of us, if we're born again, are dragging a dead corpse. And I've got news for you this morning. If you haven't really thought much about it, that dead corpse starts stinking after a while. And it becomes very uncomfortable after a while. And you're going to find a place to Bury it if you can, for it's going to suck the very life out of your soul. It's going to bring the smell of death everywhere you go. It's going to rob you of your joy. If the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm alive this morning because He's alive. The life that I lay, I live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself. Hallelujah. I'm alive, friends. What can I say to you? My life did not come from here, and it can't leave here. My life came from above, and I've been washed in the blood of the Son of God, the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans chapter 7. is an immortal battle because the battle rages between the soul and the spirit. But in Romans chapter number eight, it's almost like the curtains opened up. It's like he walks out and he begins to shout the victory. He begins to say, look here, let me tell you something about the Christian life. It's all about life in Christ Jesus who made us free from the law of sin and death. Let me give you a simple illustration. When I sin and I sin, sometimes I sin out of omission. Sometimes I sin out of occasion. Sometimes I fall into a trap. Sometimes I just don't do what I intended to do. For whatever the nuance you want to put on it, sin is sin. Say you ain't perfect, preacher, and I ain't perfect. I'm going to tell you right now, I ain't perfect. I'm not perfect, but He is. And when I sin, I don't go looking in myself to try to figure out where I went wrong and what I can do to defeat it. I don't start hunting around, scratching around with religion and trying to figure out this and figure out that. I come to Him and I say, Jesus, have mercy on me. I want mercy. Give me mercy. Have mercy! That word, mercy, is the sweetest thing that God will ever hear out of a sinner's mouth. A sinner that cries unto God and says, God, have mercy! He'll have mercy! What does mercy mean, preacher? It means I don't deserve it. It means I can't earn it. It means I'm not good enough for it. He doesn't want me to pay for it. He freely gives mercy to all that ask Him. And every time I've ever asked God to give me mercy, I got mercy. And that's what you want for your sin. I don't care what your sin is. Sometimes it's a spiritual sin. And God's got to wake you up for you to see it. He's got to give you some discernment. And when He comes upon your soul and shows you the mess you've been in for a long time, all you can do is say, Lord, I see now. Oh, what a shape I was in. And you'll hear His voice. I still love you, Son. I still love you. I always have. And the reason I point that out is because I love you. Now, what are you going to do about it? And He wants you to say, Lord, have mercy. Have mercy. Have mercy. The soul that cries to God for mercy will get mercy. There ain't nobody in this house this morning who wants justice, do you? I hope I'm not talking to somebody, well, bless God, I want justice! I've been a good man! I've been a good woman! I give to the poor! I fast twice a week! I do this! I do that! Shut up! You need mercy? Mercy. Mercy. God's mercy. Oh, yes. The sinner that bows in mercy before the Lord comes up with a burden lifted. He comes up with a cleansed heart. He comes up with a song back in his soul again. He can sing with the birds. He can fly with the eagles. He can walk where the men can't walk. and he's got a new voice in his heart. A man that's received mercy and his sins are forgiven is like a little bird fluttering around out here. He's so light-hearted. His step is so light. Everything looks good again. He's not full of guile. He's been forgiven! How many of you know what I'm talking about today? Been forgiven. But every man of Adam's race, every last one of us, no matter who or where we came from, we all got forgiveness the same way. By the grace of God, he had mercy. Oh, yeah. So in Romans chapter number 8, the Apostle Paul begins to spell out what life is about. Oh, he lays it out for us. Boy, does he ever lay it out. I just left reading. I like to read what the man says. One of the reasons I like to read him is because all of them hate him. Another reason I like to read him is because he's got wisdom. Another reason I like to read him is because it's the revelation of God. The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter number 8 begins to talk about the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. He goes on down there and he says we cry Abba, Father. Oh, we call him Father. We begin to understand the Godhead, Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. That's one of the greatest things you'll ever get a hold of, your friend, when you begin to realize that God we serve is a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Ghost. 1973, on one evening, sitting on a sofa, I bowed my lost ungodly head, held bound my friend condemned sinner. I bowed my head and I said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Boy! Wow! Did I tell you what was about to happen to me? When I raised my head up right off that sofa, something flooded in my soul. It was like you'd opened up eternity and began to come upon my heart. All my sins were gone. My heart was filled with joy. Tears started rolling down my eyes. I said, oh my, I'm saved, I'm saved, I'm saved, I'm saved, I'm saved, I'm saved. Boy, I wanted to get back to Third Creek Baptist Church. I wanted to get up down there and tell those people what had happened to me. And the first chance I had, I did. I went busting through that door. I wanted to stand up and say, let me tell you what's happened to me. It didn't matter to what I've done before. It didn't make any difference who they knew me to be. I just was so full of God and full of the Holy Ghost and full of the love of God. I've just been forgiven. I said, let me tell you. What happened to me? And I looked at the faces as I told him. And boy, some of them sat back there, and I could see joy. I could see him taking in. I could see him say, he got it. I could see him say, he's one of us now. They witnessed with my spirit. Oh, yes! This old boy right here, he's been to Calvary. Some of them like that. Boy, some of them sitting out there. And when I told them I'd been saved and God had changed me, some of them kind of looked down at the Bible. Some of them looked kind of over to the side. Some of them had this weird look on their face, that religious look, you know, that condescending, patronizing, holier-than-thou, elite attitude that they take. They looked at me with that look that they didn't have a clue what I was talking about. But boy, some of them took it in, and I took it in, and I didn't hit the ground for the next three weeks. I didn't! I didn't! I was a professional mechanic at the time, a line mechanic. I'd go open my toolbox up. I'd turn around and start working on cars. It's a wonder I got anything done, because the only thing I could think about was the Lord God Almighty. I tuned up motors, did valve job, brake job, this, that, this, that, but I wasn't in it! I was thinking about God! Because I'd been saved by the grace of God. My life had changed. Hallelujah! The new man had moved in. The spirit of liberty in Christ Jesus. I no longer felt that condemnation, that burning condemnation. I was going to hell. I knew I was going to hell. I deserved hell. It was burned down on my soul. I couldn't live another day in this. But boy, when I raised my head up, hell was gone! And I will save. Has that ever happened to you, dear friend? Has it ever happened to you? Do you know what I'm talking about? It can't be taken from you. It's not bought or sold. It's not on the marketplace. It's a reality, glory to God, that will stay with you till you're gone from here. Hallelujah! Woo! Save! Save! Save! Save! Save! Save! Satan and his demons out of hell probably stomped out of that room over there on Wynwood Drive when I bowed my head and said, God be merciful to me a sinner. They probably stomped out onto Wynwood Drive and said, well, we lost that one. But we're going to ruin him if we can. We can't get his soul, but we'll destroy his life and his testimony. And they set about to do that from that moment on. You don't understand that now. That's the real world. If he can't get your soul, that doesn't mean he'll give up on you. All he needs to change is his tactics. Then he wants to destroy your life. He wants to suck your testimony down. He wants to ruin you. And every once in a while, he'll take a lick and you'll fall. Every once in a while, he'll kick you from a direction you'd have been kicked from before, and you'll feel it. Every once in a while, he'll try a new tactic on you, and he'll amaze you at what he can do. But out of every one of them all, we are more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors. Yes! We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. The battle hadn't been easy. It won't be easy. The Christian life is no rose garden, but it's the best garden. It is the garden of all gardens. It's the joy of the Lord. There's nothing like it. Hallelujah to God. Has He kicked you down, stomped you down, put His foot on your neck? Has He bragged about how He's going to ruin you? Have you felt His power? Have you felt that cold wind blow on your soul? Remember something. At the cross at Calvary, the Bible said God made a show of Him openly. And there He was defeated. And I claim that victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He about preached me to death. That's all right. If I just, if I just, if I just drop over here. Here's the thing. I'll be honest. I'll be honest. I know how to be honest. Let me just be plain and simple with you. If I just, if I just drop over here, I am happy. I am happy. I am blessed. I am blessed. Oh, how I am blessed. God's been good to me. Yes, He's been good to me. Oh, yes. When He lets you know that you're His own, that Holy Spirit moves in that soul, He can't take that away from you. And if you've ever had the Holy Ghost move in, He won't move out. He comes to stay. Once He saves you and writes your name in the Lamb's Book of Life, He writes it down permanently. Once He seals you with the Holy Ghost, you're sealed forever. He that hath begun a good work in you, well perform it for the name of Jesus Christ. Even so, come. Oh, wouldn't it be a time? Even so, come. Open the heavens. Let them roll back like a scroll. Glory to God! Wouldn't it be something if you could hear the trump blow right now and look up into the heavens and there the angels of God be gathered around him as far as the eye can see the armies of heaven they've come to get you a gentle breeze blowing and the flags flying and they're coming and they're gonna shout your name and they're gonna say come up hither Amen! I'll say what took you so long I'm ready to go right now! Hallelujah! For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, to meet the Lord in the air. I want to meet him in the air. Amen! I'm not going to meet him on this accursed globe. I'll meet him in the air. Come up, my love, my fair one, and rise away. As he said in the song of Solomon, when the turtle dove and all the sounds of spring are going out for the new life is coming, he comes for his bride. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Amen! Amen! Let the earth have its own. Let the Antichrist take what he pleases. There's one thing he can't have. He can't have my soul, and he knows it. He may put this old body out, he may take my flesh out, but all he can do is set me free. I'll sail into the heavens. Amen! Rise to my beloved, to meet him in the clouds and in the air. I've got far less time in front of me than I have behind me. I've already been in this world nearly 70 years. Just a little over a year from now, I'll turn 70. That's three score and 10. I don't know if I'll make it that far, but I know where I'm going and I know how I'm going to get there. through the blood of the crucified one, to rise and glory, to meet Him in the clouds and in the air. I've about got as many on the other side as I have here now. I've got some over there that I love dearly. Can you hear me now? And hear me well. I've got some that have crossed over. I love dearly. And I hunger, I hunger, I want to see Him again. I will see him again. Sure as you hear me today, sure as you live, I'm sealed. I'm saved. I've been sanctified. I've been washed in the blood of the crucified one. I know whom I have believed. Oh, Paul. Oh, what would you tell us? Give us one more word. this great apostle to the Gentiles. One more word. I'll read it for you. Man, I had a whole lot of stuff in here I was going to preach this morning. Well, it'll hold till tonight. Lord willing, we'll preach it tonight. If we're here, Romans chapter number eight and verse 16, the Spirit, capital S, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit and with the children of God. How does that happen, preacher? When I read His Word, His Word reads me. When I pray, He talks back to me. When I walk in this world and have in my mind the mindset that I am not of this world, I don't belong here, I'm not part of them, their spirit is not my spirit, He witnesses to me. When I go back to that day that I was saved by the grace of God and God raised me up out of the pit and saved me, He witnesses to me. That Holy Ghost witnesses when I witness with my brothers and my sisters. I've heard testimonies and witnessed with you, and I know good and well you came out of hell just like I did, but you came out of it. Amen. We're not the same anymore. These religious people just don't understand it. They can't get it right. To them, it's all about doing, or it's all about something somebody's done to you, or some prayer you prayed, or you're holding on to this, or you're holding on to that. Get God in your soul, and you'll have one that holds on to you, and it'll never change. It'll never change. He witnesses with my spirit that I'm a son of God. And I give Him glory and praise this morning. My life is in Your hands, Holy One. This little old heart ticks when You tell it to tick. I have more strength in me right now than I've had in three years. You've blessed me and You've been good to me. I give You my life again today in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, who I love, who is my Savior and my Lord. I give you glory in thy holy name. Amen. Father, bless your holy word now as it goes forth. Bless some tired soul, some burdened soul, some lost soul, some soul today that needs a touch from God, some soul that needs to be healed, some soul that needs to be delivered, some soul that needs to be comforted, Lord. But some soul today, Heavenly Father, needs Your touch. Only Your touch, only Your touch, only Your touch can do it. In Thy holy name I pray. Amen. What have we got, brother?