Take your Bibles, turn to Romans chapter 7. I love this study. I praise God for it. It is absolutely a joy. We're going to look at the verses once again. And as a matter of fact, some of what we looked at this morning has everything to do with what we're going to be reading tonight. Because we want that confession to be something that once we put it aside, it's gone. Where is our power? Where does it come from? I remember, when I was growing up, and Brad was several years behind me, and we're the same, that's exactly. Oh, no, no, no. Hey, listen, by the way, Amen. Tomorrow is my first day of Medicare. What can I say, you know? But I do remember this. This is one of the reasons why this has been so special to me. When I was 14 years old, and some of you have heard this already, but I'm going to go ahead and say it anyway. When I was 14 years old, we were out on a ball field at Chatsworth Park, which was north of the church and the school that I grew up in. And it was great. I loved it. The Christian school that we were at, grand total had about 300 and some odd students. That was K through 12. Now it runs about 11, 1200, and it's an excellent Christian school. But I was out there, we were at Chatsworth Park where we played football and baseball and such. There was one of the teachers that was out there. We're catching, you know, we're getting ready for baseball season. And he looked at me and he said, hey, what do you, Rogers, what do you want to do with your life? At 14 years of age, I immediately said, I want to work with youth. I just want to be a youth pastor, you know, do something like that. I was 14 years old, but I wanted to work with teenagers. How many of you remember what it was like to be a teenager? If you were a Christian, How many of you remember the struggles that sometimes you had, especially if you had either unsaved friends, or you had friends in the youth group that struggled, and you know you had friends in the youth group that struggled. Maybe you even struggled, and I remember us talking about it, and it just seemed like we couldn't, and I'm not blaming the adults, seriously, but it seemed like We just couldn't get an answer. One of the things that was told us was this. Well, you know, remember how he says, and we're gonna read it again, you know, the things that I would, I do not, the things I would not, that do I. This is one of the things that we were told. Be so busy doing, you don't have time to don't. Do you understand what I'm saying? Be so busy serving God you don't have time to sin. How many of you recognize that never happens? There's always a chance to sin. In fact, there are chances galore while you're serving God. And so this is what teenagers brought up. I feel like this is my life. I'm up on a mountaintop, I'm in a valley. Up on a mountaintop, in a valley. You know, today I'm feeling great, tomorrow I'm sinning. And I don't, you know, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And I remember as a teenager being so frustrated. Now we're not going to ask you specifics. But I'm serious, because if we can have an answer to this, we can have, remember what we were talking about getting bread? We can have bread to give others on this. How many of you have lived out that frustration I'm talking about? Raise your hand. My hand's up. If you haven't, if you haven't, praise God, I'm glad for that. If you didn't raise your hand and you have, you just lied, you need to confess, so we'll have the invitation right now. So it was something to me. So when I was in construction and we were doing Bible studies, when I came across Romans 6, 7, and 8, it was just tremendous. Because here was the mechanics of the Spirit-filled life. Here was the dynamics of the Spirit-filled life. But my soul, how long had I lived in Romans 7 with the monkey wrench? Flesh. So it was a joy to me, and it's never a situation where you grasp it right away. You've gotta grow, and sometimes you just fall. That's why, Lord willing, the Lord might change things, but two weeks from tonight, we're going to a chapter in 2 Peter, where he says, if you do these things, ye shall never fall. See, that's what we want in our battleground. We don't wanna fail, we don't wanna have this vision of ourselves. We don't wanna have that. So we're gonna be going to 2 Peter 1, Lord willing. That's what I'm planning right now. Let's go again, if we can, to Romans 7, and let's read those last 10 verses, 10, 11 verses, starting with verse 14, one more time. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. How would you like to read these verses live on radio? And the guy's saying, hey, we got a commercial coming up real quick. Whoa, look at verse 16. If then I do that which I would not, I consent under the law that it is good. Now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then, Now watch this. He doesn't say the law, he says a law. Follow this. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." Let's go ahead and stop there for right now. Did we pray? Let's pray again. I'm going to need this. Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray that you would just bless now. I pray that your word would be clear, but especially, Lord, I ask that you would speak to our hearts by your Spirit. that we would recognize that once again our Lord and Savior is here with the victory that is ours. I pray that you'd help us to claim it by faith the very same way that we have our salvation. And I pray this in our Savior's name. Amen. Alright, so a little bit of background to what we saw last Sunday night. Remember what Martin Luther said, I am more afraid of my own heart than of the Pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great Pope self. You know, my problem too often is I love me, but me gets me in trouble. So I need to recognize that of the three that are here, as it were, the three that used to be, or the one that used to be, and now the two, there is the natural man. I'm not that anymore. If you've trusted Christ, neither are you. But then there's the carnal man. That's the saved man walking without the Spirit. But then there's the spiritual man that walks with the Spirit. That's what we desire. We need to keep, as Paul said, keep under our body. The major focus of the Book of Romans is that salvation produces total transformation. Now remember, one of our sins that we wind up getting involved in is unbelief. We hear a phrase like that, we see what the Book of Romans teaches, and yet in our heart of hearts, we have this attitude. I can never do that. No, you can't, and neither can I. But guess what? God can. Amen? Absolutely. Godly fruit, also, we saw this. Godly fruit exists basically in two dimensions. Attitude and action. We don't make ourselves produce the fruit of the Spirit. We bear the fruit of the Spirit. It's the Spirit that brings out the love, joy, peace. If there is anger, bitterness, all that, that's because you are quenching the Spirit and the flesh is coming out. We don't want that. So, I want us to see this, if we can. We're going to notice, first of all, that we have two potentials. Look at verse 14 again. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. Now he's talking about something that he had gone through in the past. You might be there now if you're saved or you've been there in the past. Right now, maybe you are in some victory right now, but how to keep the victory. This is what we're going to see. Verse 15, for that which I allow not. That word, allow, is the translation of the word, the Greek word, ginosko, to know by experience, to understand. He's saying, for that which I do, I do not understand. He doesn't understand his experience as a Christian. Now please, watch this. You have been made a new creature in Christ. But remember what Paul said about the renewing of the mind? That's what takes place. We need to be thinking differently. I hurt when I think of time in past where as a Christian, truly a Christian, Thinking that I was doing right, I went back into fleshly thinking. When the fact of the matter is, the Holy Spirit was there, and the Word of God was there, preparing me and readying me, and yes, even desiring to bring me along to where I would think godly in Christ Jesus. And that's important. Because that thinking is the thinking that we will have that will keep us from doing this. Because we recognize what we have in Christ. Let's continue. This is great. So this young man says this. He says, for that which I desire, I'm not practicing, I'm not doing this, but that which I hate, This, I'm doing, and please, understand this, catch this. He's not rebelling. He is not in rebellion to God. I'm just gonna do what I wanna do. That's not what he's doing. He desires to do what's right. But then he winds up falling. He has his devotions, he prays, prays God, here we go, we get in the car, we're going to work, and a guy cuts him off, and next thing you know, how many of you have been there? Okay, exactly. How many of you have somebody sitting next to you who has been there? Never mind. So he says this, he desires, he has a desire, he has heard, he's heard the word of God preached on Sunday. and he loves his Savior, but there's a challenge. I've got this flesh. And you know, like the verse that we looked at this morning, if we confess our sins, this is the kind of guy that gets so tired of going to the Lord and confessing a sin, even though the Lord will hear it, he gets so tired of it, he just quits. because the victory, other people have it, it seems like the preacher has it, it seems like the youth pastor has it, it seems like the deacons have it, and the Sunday school teacher, you know, and there are certain people, but it's just not for me, I just can't get my head around this. You don't have to get your head around it. You just have to understand a couple of basic things. There are twos that come here, and we can get it. Paul found himself doing something he did not approve of. Remember, this is the Apostle Paul. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You know, the Apostle Paul had to grow in Christ. Aren't you glad for that? When he got saved, he just all of a sudden didn't ever understand everything. All right, I am ready to preach. No, listen, he's talking about himself and he is hurting for certain. He sincerely desired to live Christ. He sincerely desired to fulfill not only the spirit of the law, but the letter of the law. He's remembering what he learned as a student of Gamaliel. This is what pleased God. He can't do it. He just can't do it. It was not Paul's conscience that was bothering him. It was not a situation where he was rebelling. It was the inner man. The inner man, when you are saved, you have a new heart. You are a new creature in Christ. But guess what you have? You have a flesh. Now, this is the best way I found to describe this, and if you've got a better way, let me know. How many of you have ever worked with a lathe? Okay, so here's a lathe. You know, it does work. You can do different things with it. You know, it's spinning. And what there is, at least this is the old school. This is the way it used to be done. Across in the ceiling, there was a long, long turning, whatever you want to call it. It was up there, it was turning, it stretched down the length of the warehouse where all this work took place. It was a drive line. And there was a belt. Now if that belt was undone from the lathe on the floor, the lathe did not spin. But once that belt was engaged, there it went. And so now there's work that could be done on the lathe. We have a flesh. By God's grace, we can keep the flesh from affecting us. It's undone. It's still there. That was another thing as a teenager. If I can be brutally blunt about this, Teenagers would understand this. Why is it that I have, and y'all understand what I'm talking about. I come in, I'm a teenager, I'm 15, I'm 16, I'm 17 years old. I have these new desires that have come into my body and I can't do anything about it. And it's frustrating and people aren't telling me you know, with wisdom, okay, this is what you do. You can bring your mind into subjection. But we didn't know that. And I lived in the San Fernando Valley. 95%, at that time, 95% of the pornography that was being spewed into the world was done in the San Fernando Valley. 95%, that's not me making that up, it's true. And it was frustrating. So here we've got these potentials. Do we engage it? How do we disengage this stuff? That's what the challenge was. Look at verse 16. If then I do that which I would not, watch this now, I consent unto the law that it is good. The word consent there means to speak together, to concur. A.T. Robertson, the Greek scholar, said this, my wanting to do the opposite of what I do proves my acceptance of God's law as good. You know what? It's wanting me to go this way, but I'll tell you what, my flesh is going that way. The law is right. He's right, it's good. Another man by the name of Denny said this, in doing what he hates, that is, in doing evil against his will, his will agrees with the law that it is good. Look at verse 17. Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now, we're starting to get into the trenches and the spiritual warfare. You need to learn this. If you're dealing with this, you need to learn this. You are not, what's a person that has two different personalities? Schizophrenic, you're not schizophrenic. You're not schizophrenic. You are, your spirit has been made alive. You're a new creature in Christ. But that flesh is gonna come after you. It's what you left, it's what you're stuck with that is going to follow you. I used to think, you know, Lord, can't you, can't you, you know, can't you save the flesh now too? No, that happens when we get a new body in Christ and we're in heaven. But right now, you know, we just, I mean, here we are, we're stuck with this. Now, he's saying this, look again. It's no more I that do it. I realize I'm a new creature in Christ, but I've got a bent to sinning my flesh, something has to give. If I'm a new creature in Christ and yet I wind up doing what like what Paul is saying, either my victory is incomplete or there is something that I don't know yet. And now how many, again, I've been there, I don't know how many of you have lived that, but you thought, what in the world am I doing? How can I live like this? By the way, you can't. It's no longer I that I'm doing it, he says. So that is two potentials. All right, so we've got it here. There's you and me, either in the flesh or in the spirit. I'm a new creature in Christ, but I've got a flesh. So watch this. Now we're gonna look at Two purposes. Watch, verse 18. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me. Now this is thinking that you would think yourself. If you're sitting down and you're studying, you would be agreeing with Paul right now. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me. That word will, fellow, it means literally the being constantly desirous. You read your Bible in the morning and you pray, you know, this is how I want to live. You go to church on Sunday, you hear about living for Christ and you go, you know what, that's what I want to be doing. That's exactly what I want to be doing. I remember being out on the construction site and just, you know, guys that had trusted Christ as Savior, they were learning these kind of things. You know, just Kaiser sand and gravel drivers and, you know, and other guys, you know, pouring concrete or doing carpentry work and stuff like that. And it was, you know, it was great. They're learning. Wow, this is, you know, kind of tough, but praise God for what the Lord is teaching me. It's great. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me. But here it is, but how to perform that which is good I find not. You see the word, you see the word there, present, for to will is present with me. The word present there means to lie beside. It came along when his new nature came, when he became a Christian. While the desire to do God's will, this is what Paul is saying, while the desire to do God's will is always with him, the ability or power to perform it is not. Now again, we're drawing this out, but there's something that we need to learn here. We go through this. Whatever it might be, whatever your challenge is, it could be money, it could be pride, it could be lust, it can be a combination of it all. It can be anger, it can be bitterness, it can be unbelief, it could be any of these things. You honestly have a desire. You read it this morning. And you read it. And you think, praise God, that's what I want. But it's not there. And this is why I said this is the most intimate battleground that is talked about in the scripture. It's not someplace out there. You're not looking at a Goliath. You're looking in the mirror, and it's tearing you apart. Now, by the way, again, it might not be you. It could be somebody that you know. But this is something that we've got to nail down. How many of you would agree that the best way to live in Christ is to live in victory? Amen? I'll tell you what, I'm in it for me. But boy, there are times you can get gone on it. Boy, you can get gone on it. Look at verse 19. For the good that I would, he reiterates. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. He's repeating himself. Now we're going to find two principles, and this is important. Verse 21. I find then a law, not the law, a law. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Again, the word present literally right alongside. You are dragging your sinful flesh with you everywhere. You go downtown and your sinful flesh wants to get into the worst things. It's only by the work of the Holy Spirit that you wind up keeping away from the sins that you used to get into. I forget who the evangelist was, but it might have been Billy Sunday. I can't remember. It might have been Billy Sunday. But if he was walking down the road and here's a liquor store, he would literally cross the street and walk on the other side because he didn't wanna smell the liquor that's coming in. Just the smell, just that. I mean, just wanted to stay away from it. By the way, how many of you think that that's a good idea? It's a good idea. Verse 22 again. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Now, watch this. One person I came across here said this. The inner man is not equivalent to the new or regenerate man. It is that side of every man's nature which is akin to God and is the point of attachment, so to speak, for the regenerating spirit. It is called inward because it is not seen. This puts the battle, again, within us. Also, I want you to notice this. Look at verse 21 again. You see where it says, I find then a law? That and verse 23, one years ago, somebody that I read said, this is what, when you're in this context, That word, law, means a force or influence impelling to action. It's not the law of God, which by the way, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, that's a force or influence impelling to action. Thou shalt not kill. Well, that's the fourth. You know, God is standing there and saying, this is my law. But in this case, when he says, I find then a law, What he's saying is, is we've got that flesh within us. He says, I find then a law that when I would do good, sin, evil, excuse me, is right there, it's right alongside me. So verse 22 again, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But then he says in verse 23, but I see another law. It's not, we're not talking pop psychology. We're not talking, you know, again, schizophrenic. We're not talking about weird stuff. He says, I find, I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind. Here's the new man, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Years ago, There was a movie that came out called Torah, Torah, Torah. It was a movie about Pearl Harbor. I think it came out in the, yeah, it came out in the early 70s, because I was in the Air Force, and I remember it came to the base and I saw it. One of my favorite lines in all of war movies was said in that movie. Remember when the B-17s were flying into Pearl Harbor? And all of a sudden, they're surrounded by Japanese Zeros. And this one pilot looks around and he goes, oh man, what a way to fly into a war, out of gas and, no, no, no ammo and out of gas. It was something like that. He said it better than I could. Let's see, how did it go? Out of gas and no ammunition. That's how some people feel like, you know, again, if they don't catch this certain thing, they feel like they go into the Christian life. Out of ammo, no gas. You know, it's just, it's not there. But it is there. We have it. And this is something that we've got to grasp as we're about to, Lord willing. So we have this other law that makes war. That's where it is. What happens? Well, we can listen to people that are gonna try and bring us back into bondage, into the law of God. Well, you just have to do what you can to obey the 10 Commandments. By the way, if you live Christ, you will obey the 10 Commandments. You'll go beyond that. But look at verse 24. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The Holy Spirit has guided Paul to bring us through this discussion, to bring us to this point, so that like Paul, if we are in this situation, and if you are desirous to live the Lord, then it's true, that's exactly what happens, you will come to this point. The word wretched means exhausted through hard labor. A wretched, exhausted man that I am, who shall deliver me? I trusted Christ, I've read my Bible, who's gonna deliver me? Exactly, a wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So with the mind, I myself serve the law of God. but with the flesh, the law of sin. I realize this. The new me, I'm serving God there. With the flesh, I serve sin. How do I then have victory? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Watch this. Matthew 4, where we first went, Jesus shows us this is how you defeat the devil, the Word of God. 1 Samuel 17, this is how you defeat your Goliaths, trusting in the God of the Word. Now here, we do the same thing in the most intimate of battlefields. You and I are to live by faith in the very same way that we trusted Christ for salvation. We are constantly and consistently looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. See, Romans 7 was all about this. Paul seeking to do God's work. And what happened? For that which I would, that do I not. You see, you can't live godly in the new man without the one that gave you the new life. So, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now you go to Romans 8. Watch this. Look at verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. What is it? What's that walk? It's how you, it's your daily activity. It's what you're doing. It's how you are living. You are walking. You are walking by faith. I'm trusting God. I don't have my eyes, not one little bit do I have my eyes on myself. Are you listening? We are not, we are not looking to ourselves for the victory. I'm looking unto Jesus. There we go. I mean, and by the way, by the way, When you do that, you're not looking at yourself. And when you're not looking at yourself, you're not judging yourself. You're looking unto Jesus. When you're living by Him, there is no failure in the will of God. There is none. And so we're looking unto Jesus. And we do it by faith, not by works, not by law. We do it by faith. So there's these twos all through here. And we recognize in the battle flesh, new creature, sin, old influence, new influence, Hey, how in the world do I do this? Christ. You see what it's getting us to? We have to be looking to Him. That is where our victory lies. There's a man by the name of Robert Murray McShane. He died at age 30. But oh, how he left God's people some wonderful things. He wrote a poem entitled Jehovah Zikinu, which means the Lord our righteousness, not us our righteousness. but the Lord our righteousness. I once was a stranger to grace and to God. I knew not my danger and felt not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree, Jehovah Zikinu was nothing to me. I oft read with pleasure to soothe or engage Isaiah's wild measure and John's simple page. But even when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree, Jehovah-Zecchanu seemed nothing to me. Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll, I wept when the waters went over his soul. yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree Jehovah Zakenu. It was nothing to me. When free grace awoke me by light from on high, then legal fears shook me. I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self could I see. Jehovah Zakenu, my savior, must be. My terrors all vanished before the sweet name. My guilty fear banished. With boldness I came to drink at the fountain, life-giving and free. Jehovah Zucchino is all things to me. Jehovah Zakenu, my treasure and boast, Jehovah Zakenu, I ne'er can be lost, and thee shall I conquer by flood and by field, my cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield. Even treading the valley, the shadow of death, this watchword shall rally my faltering breath. For while from life's fever my God sets me free, Jehovah Zakenu, my death song shall be. That's our God. I pray for myself and for our church that through these studies like tonight, We come more and more to this understanding that truly, like we mentioned about Paul before, for to me, to live really is Christ. Because otherwise, I'm going to keep falling. We don't want to do that. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for the Lord, our righteousness. He is our righteousness. We have righteousness because of Him. And every person here would not only just understand, but Lord, would also recognize and experience this pleasure of looking to Jesus this week. Even tonight, I pray, Lord, that truly we could sing with a true heart, victory in Jesus. And I pray this in His name. Amen.