Well, good morning to everyone. Just want to reiterate what Mark said there about going back and listening to the last couple weeks. I kind of, you know, you get up, come in on a Sunday and see people maybe haven't been here. And we've been really laying down a groundwork the last two or three weeks to come to this text today. So if you haven't heard those, and especially if today you're confused or not understanding exactly what we're talking about, go back and listen to those sermons before and kind of come up to this text in 7.13 to 25. 

Well, we're continuing our study in the seventh chapter of Romans this morning, and we've been looking at its vital section of Paul's epistle concerning sanctification in Romans six through eight. The text before us has become somewhat of a controversial one with theologians coming to different conclusions concerning who the man is in this passage, the man of sin. And I've attempted in our last two studies especially to lay the groundwork, the foundation using the context, the content, as well as the structure and flow of thought of Paul's writings to bring us to a place where we can rightly understand and interpret Paul's words here in verses 13 to 25. 

I don't believe it's difficult to see Paul's intent and let the words give us the meaning of what he's trying to convey. However, the language along with the desire to apply this text to our lives as believers, as well as so many sermons we've heard over the years relating to this text, relating this text to the life of the believer can make it difficult for us to come to the right conclusion. But I believe it's crucial that we are disciplined here in our studies to apply sound hermeneutical principles to this text as we would any other in order to exegete it correctly. Because there are important implications for our understanding of sanctification and our daily Christian lives. 

So that will be our desire and our pursuit this morning to start with the words, to consider the context and the flow of thought and Paul's intent in order to set these words in the broader teaching of Romans 6 to 8 and to understand them and the reason for which Paul wrote them, how they apply or don't apply to our lives today. 

Let's look at Romans 7, 13. Paul says, has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not. But sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing I do not understand. For what I will to do that I do not practice but what I hate that I do. 

If then I do what I will not to do I agree with the law that it is good. But now it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do I do not do but the evil I will not to do that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me. 

I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of 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. 

Well, I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, consider the context. Second, follow the flow. Third, intent is imperative. Fourth, theological theories and fourth, appropriate application. 

Well, the last couple of messages we've been making heavy weight of the context of the words of Romans 7 and I would ask you again to consider the context because this structure of Paul's writing is so key to our understanding of his intent. We looked closely last week at the pattern established in the book of Romans where Paul teaches a doctrine. He lays out an important truth and then he anticipates objections, questions that might arise. He states the questions and then answers them in order to remove the impediment of faith to the doctrine he's teaching. 

In Romans 6.1, the question arises out of what Paul taught in 5.12 to 21, particularly verses 20 and 21 where he said where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. And then the question, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And Paul answers that question in 6.2 through 11 emphatically, clearly. We see this same thing in 6.14 and following. And when we come to chapter seven, the pattern persists. 

Paul's core teaching in verses one to six, especially the contrast between the man and Adam in verse five and the man in Christ in verse six and particularly each one's relation to the law. So Paul says that we've died to the law. We are no longer under the law but we are now joined to Christ and living by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Really the key verse for our study today as it was last week is found in Romans 7 verse five. Listen to what Paul says. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. The words when we were in the flesh established that this verse and its content is talking about the man and Adam, the man controlled and dominated by indwelling sin. 

He is a slave to sin, living in bondage to the law, destined for eternal death. The contrast is with the man in Christ in verse six. He's now free from the law of sin and death. He's now living not by the letter, not under the law, but by the Spirit. 

It is verse five where we see Paul tie the law to sin and the law to death in the experience of the old man and Adam. And that gives rise to the questions of verse seven and verse 13. And it is the verses subsequent to those sections that answer the questions that are raised. Everybody following me? 

Okay. This is the context, this is the structure, this is the pattern of Paul's writing and it is abundantly clear that the questions of verse seven and verse 13 arise out of verse five, a verse set in the context of the man and Adam. It's imperative that we consider this context and we follow this flow through the words written by Paul in this unit of thought that is chapters six to eight where Paul's main purpose, remember again, Paul's main purpose is to teach the truth of our freedom from the controlling power of indwelling sin in Christ. 

We have established that Paul's intent in this whole section is to establish the truth that when a man believes Jesus, when he turns from idols to serve the living God, when he places his faith in Jesus alone and what he accomplished on the cross, he's united to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. We see that in Romans six. And that this death has key implications relating to sin, relating to the law, relating to the flesh, and it changes his eternal destiny and present condition from one of deadness to one of life. 

Romans six concerns our death to sin. Verse one, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? What are you saying, Paul? Are you saying that we should get on with the sinning so God's grace can increase? I mean, we hear that all the time, don't we, from religious men? Can we just do whatever we want since we're saved by grace? 

Paul's answer, Romans six two, certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Those who have believed Jesus have died to sin. They cannot continue in a state of perpetual sin as they did in Adam. They've been so changed and recreated on the inside, there must be an outward manifestation. Verse six, look at Romans six six. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. Why, Paul, why were we crucified with Christ? In order that the body of sin, that's this physical body controlled by indwelling sin, might be done away with or rendered powerless. In order that we should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin. 

In verse 14, we see Paul ties sin in its dominion to the law. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. And in chapter seven, he develops this idea, explaining our death to the law because of our union to Christ. Verse four, therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, so that we should bear fruit to God. 

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death, but now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Now, if you just look at the words and you follow along and you're paying attention, it's really clear that we're no longer slaves to sin, we're no longer fleshly carnal, we're no longer under the law, we no longer serve by the law, but we serve by the spirit. These are clear statements. These are the things he's trying to teach. 

And after answering the objections to what he said in verse five, in verses seven to 25, he picks up his thought from verse six in chapter eight, verses one to four, where he shows that our death also freed us from the flesh and now places us in the spirit. I want you to just follow with me in your Bibles. Romans 7, six. We're going to read Romans 7, six and we're going to go directly to 8, one. 

But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. 

And Paul explains that for the man who has died, who is in Christ, there is no longer any fear of death. He now has eternal life, and death no longer has dominion over him, Romans 6.10. He says this is true of Jesus, and Paul then says, likewise, you. 

So the man in Adam is under law, sin, and death, and is in the flesh. This is his condition. He walks according to the flesh because of who he is. But the man in Christ is under grace, righteousness, and has eternal life, and he walks not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Paul says, ye are not in the flesh if the spirit of God dwells in you, and if you don't have the spirit, you're not his. You're not in the flesh. 

The consistent thread of the whole section is that we who have believed Jesus are free from the controlling power of indwelling sin, and that in order for that to be true, we had to die to sin, we had to die to the law, and we had to die to the flesh. And that's what Jesus accomplished when he regenerated us, when God united us to Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection. He took out our heart of stone, he gave us a heart of flesh, and he put his Holy Spirit in us. This is Paul's intent, this is his message to us, and specifically in Romans 7, 7 to 25, Paul means to answer the objections raised by verse five. 

When Paul said that the law is somehow tied to sin and the law is somehow tied to death, when that inference was made by his statement of what was true of the man and Adam, the religious man, the Jew, is going to go wild. What are you saying, Paul? Is the law sin? What are you saying, Paul? Is the law what brings death to us? Are you impugning the law of God? So the intent of Paul is to pick up those two objections, explain them, exonerating the law of God, and highlighting indwelling sin as the problem for the man and Adam. 

In so doing, he removes the objections and allows the man to receive the teaching he gave. It's clear by the questions asked in verses seven and 13 that it comes out of verse five. He does this by exonerating the law, and he describes the fruit unto death that is experienced by the man and Adam, the sinful passions, the dominating, controlling, enslaving sin that dwells in him, resulting in continual, perpetual defeat and a state of death. That's what we see in these verses. 

Last week, we saw Paul answer the question, is the law sin? By highlighting the purpose of the law, why God gave it, how it worked in his unregenerate life to bring him to an understanding of how sinful he was. This week, we see the second question rise out of verse five, is the law what brought death to me? Look at verse 12, please, 7-12. 

Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good, the law, become death to me? Certainly not. But sin, notice how he highlights sin again and again and again in this passage. But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Immediately we see the focus on sin, indwelling sin is the problem. Paul says, no, it was not the law that brought death to me, but sin. Sin is what killed me. 

Please keep at the forefront of your mind Paul's intent here. To exonerate the law of God as good, to assure the Jew, no, I'm not saying the law's bad, nothing wrong with the law, the law is wholly righteous and good, it's a reflection of God's character and nature, it's perfect. And it's perfect for the reason God gave it as well, it's in his intent in giving it, which we studied last week. But really the problem is indwelling sin. This is his intent. It was sin that was producing death in him and Adam. 

Then please notice the strong link here to verse 14 with the word for. It's gar in the Greek. For, we know, this links us directly back to verse 13. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am literally fleshly, or carnal. So he says here, I'm fleshly, I'm in the flesh. I'm sold under, or I'm a slave to sin. So Paul says, I'm carnal, I'm fleshly, I'm a slave to sin. 

Whoever this man is in verses 13 to 25, he's a slave to the sin that dwells in him. In fact, look at verse 21. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good, for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, verse 23, but I see another law, a principle, the sin principle 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. 

Now we need to sort out the use of the word law here a little bit. In verse 21, Paul says, I find then a law. This word used here means a principle, a truth. And the truth is, for this man, evil is present with him, the one who wills to do good. Then he says, I delight in the law of God, clearly a reference to the Mosaic law, but I see another law in my members, this principle of sin, this law of sin. And he says it wars against the law of my mind. The law of my mind is the law of God in this text. It's affirmed in verse 25 where Paul says, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. 

And watch this now, verse 23, he says, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. So this man is a slave to indwelling sin. He's in captivity, bondage, slavery to the sin that dwells in his members. And the fruit that he has as a result is one of continual, perpetual sin manifest out through his members. His experience is one of utter continual total defeat with no victory or even the capacity to do good. In fact, nothing good dwells in this man. Verse 18, for I know that in me, in my flesh, nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me. He wants to do good, he wants to keep the law of God. In his mind he concurs with the law of God. 

Then he says, but how to perform what is good I do not find. There's nothing in him that allows him to overcome this principle of sin that dominates him. We're just observing the words now. What does Paul say? How does he describe the condition, the state of this man in verses 13 to 25? And how do these words, this condition of this man compare to the man in Romans six and eight and seven, one to six? A little observation and contrast will serve us well here, I believe. 

In Romans seven, 14 to 25, we see that Paul is carnal, he's fleshly. He's a slave to sin, constantly struggling with his flesh's sinful appetites. In six and eight, as well as seven, six, Paul is spiritual as opposed to carnal, free from sin as opposed to a slave of sin, has died to the flesh and its sinful appetites. The man in seven, 23, is in captivity to the law of sin and his members. But remember chapter six at verse six, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that this body of sin, this body controlled by and dwelling sin, this physical body, these members, might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 

The man in seven, 23, is in captivity to the sin that dwells in him so that it manifests itself continually through his members, through his physical body. But look at Romans eight, two, and the man in Christ. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. The man in seven, 23, is in captivity to the law of sin and death. The man in eight, two, is free from the law of sin and death. 

The salient question here is this, is the man in Romans seven, 13 to 25, a slave to sin, or is he free from it? Is he in the flesh, or is he in the spirit? Notice the spirit's not mentioned once in this entire section, and Paul states clearly that there's nothing good dwelling in him, and on top of that, he finds no means, no power in him to do what is good. He does not have the Holy Spirit. But the man in Romans eight is free from the power of indwelling sin, is not in the flesh, and he walks in the spirit in order that, for the express purpose that, the righteous requirement of the law, now Romans 13, eight tells us that the righteous requirement of the law is love, agape love. 

What is it that the man in Christ can do that the man in Adam cannot do? Self-sacrificial love. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. This is fruit, my friends, fruit unto life. There's only fruit unto death in Romans seven, 14 to 25, just as Paul described the man in Adam in seven, five. When we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit unto death. This is the man in Romans seven, 13 to 25. 

Remember now, intent is imperative, because the text, when Paul wrote it, was never meant to settle the dispute whether he was a believer or an unbeliever. He knew when he wrote it what he meant. His intent, again, is to answer the question raised in verse five, to exonerate the law of God as good and much needed for the purpose that God gave it, and most specifically, to highlight indwelling sin as the power in the man in Adam that produces fruit unto death. 

The whole setup here is to show that it is indwelling sin that must be dealt with to deliver the man in Adam, the lost man, from the body of death, the physical body controlled by indwelling sin. And that is what we see is true for the man in Christ in the surrounding passages. Indwelling sin is the culprit, and that's what Paul wants to show us. Verses 17 and 20 are illustrative of this truth and the key to Paul's intent. 

Let's set them in their context. Romans seven, 13. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not, but sin that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. This is his experience. He's describing his experience. 

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. Now look at verse 17. But now it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. See, he's emphasizing, he's highlighting that the problem is the sin in him that dominates. It's not the I, it's not my will, it's not my desire. 

I heard a great illustration from a preacher a few years ago on this text. He worked in prison ministry. And he said, you can talk to murderers and you can talk to rapists. And he said, some will say, oh, I'm innocent and all that. But he said, if they're honest, they'll tell you the problem is in here. They'd like to have a wife and some children and a little picket fence and go to church on Sunday. But there's something in here that overcomes them. They don't want to, you know, so they murdered seven people and they'll tell you every time, I didn't want to do it. Something in here. 

And now they're sitting in prison. It's not the I, it's not Saul the Pharisee. He didn't want to break the law of God. He wanted to keep it for his own righteousness. But he says, there's a principle in me. There's a law that overcomes me. It's in my members. In my mind, I want to serve the law of good. I want to do what's right. But there's something in my flesh, in my members, that overcomes me, that keeps causing me to do what is wrong. It's not I, but it's a sin that dwells in me. 

For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me. But how to perform what is good, I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do, that I continually practice. Now, if I do what I will not to do, again, he says, it's not I who do it, but it's sin. He's just trying to separate and highlight that sin principle as the problem. That's his intent. 

So how do we understand Paul's words here? What is his intent? Verses 17 and 20 highlight indwelling sin as the culprit, the problem, the issue that must be dealt with in order to free the carnal man and to produce holiness through his members. The man in Adam has no capacity to do good. The man in the flesh cannot please God, Paul says, because he's so controlled and dominated by the sin that dwells in him. 

The words are so very clear, set in their context and flow. The man here is not the man in Romans 6 and 8 and 7, 6. We've established that clearly. We see Paul's intent to focus in on indwelling sin as the problem, and the words bear that out. 

So let me ask you this. If this is so clear in context and structure and intent, how did we come to a point in the church where Christians are continually taking these words and applying them to their own walk and using them as an excuse for sin? My brothers and sisters, I've heard it more times than I care to admit. Well, you know, if Paul couldn't do it, then what hope do I have? We're going to sin. The things I want to do, I do not do, you know. 

Where does the interpretation that Paul is discussing his mature Christian life here come from? How have so many come to this conclusion and made devastating application of it? I believe there are a couple things here. One is that we so badly want to relate to this text. When we read these words, we can identify. We have experienced the struggle with indwelling sin in our Christian walk, sometimes in very difficult, even prolonged circumstances. 

But let me make this clear. We have not experienced what Paul is describing here. Not perpetual, continual defeat with no fruit. When Paul employs the present tense beginning in verse 14, this gives people a lot of trouble. Because in our mindset, in the framework of the English language, we see tense as something that primarily indicates time, the timing of an action. Past tense, present tense, future tense indicates timing in the English. In the Greek, tense is not primarily used to indicate the timing of the action. It can be that. 

But the primary purpose of tense is to describe the nature of the action. I'll give you some quotes from Greek scholars as they comment on this tense issue. Quote, the original function of the so-called tense stems of the verb in Indo-European languages was not that of levels of time, present, past, and future, but that of kinds of action or points of view. Essentially, the tense in Greek expresses the kind of action, not time, which the speaker has in view in the state of the subject. 

In short, tense stems indicate the point of view from which the action or state is regarded. The present expresses linear action. Just draw a line, think of a line, this is the action, it's just ongoing, continual. It's important to note that the Greek present tense emphasizes action that is continuous in nature without necessarily specifying the time of the action. End quote. 

So the present tense used here by Paul really is meant to show the durative nature, the linear action of the verbs. It is something that is continuous, perpetual, in nature. What Paul is literally saying is, I never, ever, ever do what I want to do, and I always continually, perpetually do the things I hate. And Romans 6 too explains that this is not possible for a believer in Jesus Christ. We cannot, present tense, continual action, remain in a state of sinfulness as we were in Adam because we died to sin. The use of the present tense here also makes more vivid the experience. It draws us into the picture. 

We see oftentimes in the Gospels, the authors use what is called historical present tense to draw the reader into the perspective of the person experiencing the action of the time. In other words, the present tense is used to show durative action and to convey a more vivid representation of the action that the subject has experienced. So in this way, the present tense can be used of a past event and its primary intent is to describe the nature of the action that the verb is expressing. 

Suffice it to say, the Greek tense has the primary purpose of denoting the nature of the action of the verb, not necessarily the time of the action. And we see this in Paul's words in our text. His intent is to show the man in Adam under complete domination to the sin that dwells in him so that he perpetually continually lives in a state of sin manifest out through his members. And we can sum this whole thing up. The law is good and sin is the problem. That's really what he's trying to teach us. 

So, the tense and the feelings brought about by this description often make us want to relate it to our experience, but this is not a wise interpretation. Perhaps the greatest impediment, and we'll jump into another subject here, perhaps the greatest impediment to a proper interpretation of these words comes by theological theories of men, or more accurately, theological presuppositions, but presuppositions don't begin with a T, so we went with theories, but theological presuppositions are an impediment, and a little histories here is helpful for us to understand. 

It wasn't until the fifth century that anyone in the Christian church held that Paul here is describing a believer in his experience. From all the early church writers and fathers, we see consistent interpretation of Paul before he was saved in this text. Iranius, Tertullian, Origen, Ambrose, Chrysostom, all took this position. It was not until the end of the life of Augustine that we first see the switch, and even Augustine throughout his life taught that Paul was describing a lost man here in 7.13-25, but at the end of his life, in his recantations as they were called, he switched his view, and the reason he switched his view was because of an unbiblical theological presupposition, and unfortunately, the father of the Roman Catholic church also had a great influence on the Reformers, and much of this heresy persists through the church today. 

Augustine taught all kinds of damning doctrines, including baptismal regeneration, salvation through Mary, sacramental salvation provided only by the Roman church. He taught that the eternal fate of the soul is determined at the point of death, and that purgatorial fires of the intermediate state purify only those who died in communion with the church. I had a young man working with me the other day, and there was a friend of mine who's a devout Roman Catholic, and they got in a little argument there, and this 14-year-old boy said, you're going to have to rewrite that hymn, sir, you're going to have to call it Jesus Paid It Some. Did Jesus pay it all? We sang it over and over in the hymns this morning. Did He pay it all? He didn't pay it some. You don't need purgatory. 

Augustine originally believed in premillennialism, namely that Christ would establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom as Revelation 20 teaches so clearly, but later rejected the belief, viewing it as carnal. He was the first theologian to expound a systematic doctrine of amillennialism. But the doctrine that relates to our understanding of Romans 7 was invented by Augustine in about 412 AD. He became the first Christian to understand predestination as a divine, unilateral predetermination of individuals' eternal destinies independently of human choice. 

In other words, he taught double predestination, that God damns some people to hell, predestines them to hell, and others He chooses out for salvation, and man has no will, no choice at all. This is the key phrase, independent of human choice. Until Augustine, the church universally taught the free will of man, I could give you pages of quotes up to the 4th century upholding the sovereignty of God in salvation, but also at the same time, the will of man, just as the Scriptures do. 

It's Augustine who first came up with the doctrine of double predestination independently of man's will. And Calvin and Luther got these ideas from Augustine, and this gave rise to Luther's bondage of the will. And the Reformers today teach that man has no will. He cannot believe. The fatal flaw in the logic of this doctrine is equating spiritual death with physical death such as a corpse. You'll hear Reformers say this all the time. 

Like to go to Ephesians 2, but we'll be mighty long if I start off into that. So they like to use Ephesians 2 and they say that the man who's spiritually dead is like a physical corpse and you can kick a corpse and you can yell at a corpse and he won't respond. The problem is Ephesians 2 says you once conducted yourself in the way that you walked. The spiritually dead man is well able to sin, make decisions, to make choices, to walk, to conduct himself. 

The Augustinian Calvinist characterizes the man in Adam as so dead in his trespasses and sins that he has no will, he has no desire to good, he cannot even respond to the gospel or believe Jesus. He must be regenerated, born again, in order to believe. My brothers and sisters, this absolutely turns the gospel to scriptures on their head. Over and over and over in the New Testament we see that a man must first hear the gospel, a message about Jesus, then he must choose to believe the gospel, and then he is saved. But the Calvinist would say he must be saved in order to believe. This is an unbiblical, faulty theological presupposition. 

And so if you believe this, if this is your system, your hermeneutic through which you interpret Romans 7, then this man must be a Christian. Because the man in Adam has no will, he has no desire to do good, and he cannot keep the law of God, and he cannot have a will to keep the law of God. So when Paul says, I will to do good, I will to keep the law of God, I delight in the law of God, the Reformed teacher immediately says this has to be a believer. 

That's only because his theological presupposition is faulty, his system is being forced onto the scriptures. Paul has stated clearly in Romans 7 that we who are in Christ have died to the law, that we no longer live by it. And let me ask you this, my friend, who is it that delights in the law of God more than the Pharisee, the legalistic Jew? The law was his entire life, his means of righteousness, his salvation. 

The fact is that Paul, as a Pharisee, is so delighted in the law of God, agreed that the law of God was good, sought to do good by it, and willed to follow it. But when he came to understand the law, the truth of his sin and the depth of his depravity in light of the law, thou shalt not covet, remember from last week? The truth of his life became apparent. And he saw his lost condition for what it was, bondage to and dwelling sin, and perpetual failing to fulfill the law's demands because of the sin that dwelled in his members. 

He thought he had the first nine taken care of, right? But when it came to thou shalt not covet, that wrecked everything. Because it's an inside job, it's a motive, it's thoughts, like Jesus said, if you've lusted after a woman in your heart, you've already committed adultery. 

Let's look at Philippians 3, Paul gives us a testimony in Philippians 3 at verse 2 of his personal experience. Philippians 3, 2, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of mutilation, Paul's talking about Jews here, Jewish leaders, teachers, for we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ. 

That I indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Look at verse 9, and be found in Him not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 

This is Paul's testimony. Saul thought that righteousness came through the law, but when the law came, became clear to him, he realized his sin and his inability to keep the law, he wanted to, in his mind he served the law of God, but the truth was that in him was a power, was a law, a principle of sin dominating and controlling him. And it was Jesus that he needed to deliver him from the power of indwelling sin to rescue him from this body of death. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, please hear me now. Don't let theological presuppositions rule over the Word of God. Study the words in their context, in their flow, let the intent of the author rule the day. He meant something when he wrote that. No matter how you feel or what you think it means, he meant something when he wrote it. And seek to know what it says. And let the Word of God continually form and reform your system of theology. You may think something, I may think something, I may think that for years, and I may study through something and say, I've got to tweak that a little bit, it's not what the Word of God says. 

So why does all of this matter? I mean, what does this mean to me? Well, it means a lot. Not only is it important to not be taken away by a false interpretation of this text, but it's also vital that we understand the right interpretation. Paul's trying to show the law is good and holy and to show indwelling sin is the problem in Adam and to teach us in this whole section of Romans 6 to 8 the truth of our freedom from indwelling sin and its controlling power in Christ. 

If we see this experience described by Paul in verses 14 to 25 as a believer, then my friends we absolutely gut the whole intent of Paul. We undermine the powerful teaching in Romans 6 and 8 and 7 and 6. And we tend to set up this text as a crutch for our sin. We may even come to expect sin in our lives, even perpetual defeat. And this is the exact opposite of what Paul is teaching us. 

And my friends, if you understand this text rightly, then you really find no other text that can excuse our sin. The crutch is removed and we are left with the glorious truth of who we are in Christ, what God has done in us in regeneration, and His expectation and provision of holiness through faith and abiding in Him. And our expectation should change as well, not in light of our feelings, not even in light of our experiences, but in light of the great truth of this section of Romans of our freedom from and death to indwelling sin, the law in the flesh. 

Paul says, reckon these things to be true, count them up, know the facts, and then reckon them in your minds, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, to these truths and live in light of them. And if we do this, then the consistent admonition of the New Testament rings true in our hearts and minds, you are new men in Christ, therefore live like new men in Christ. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for the truth. Sometimes it's hard to understand, sometimes it's hard to accept, to believe in light of our experience in the world and our sin. Father, help us to know these truths, to study Your Word, to renew our minds continually and then help us to believe You, to trust You, and help us to see a new kind of life that brings glory to You and that is a witness to the world of genuine salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.