Now when we are filled with the Spirit
we mustn't imagine the conflict ceases, it really
begins in its intensity and that is why
we're going to look at Romans 7.
Romans 7 reading from verse 1.
Now just whilst you're finding the place, in
Romans 5 we have two heads, in Romans
6 we have a two-fold form of
slavery, as slavery to sin and then being
enslaved to the Lord Jesus.
In Romans 8 there's a two-fold form
of power, the evil power of the flesh
and the power of the Spirit, but in
Romans 7 it's a two-fold form of
matrimony, being married to the law or married
to love.
In Romans 6 it's the blueprint for holiness,
in Romans 8 it's the power for holiness,
in Romans 7 it's the workshop of holiness,
the real battle, the way we get through.
So you can see that the imagery in
Romans 6 is one of slavery, the imagery
in Romans 8, now if we bear that
in mind.
In Romans 6 we die to sin, in
Romans 7 we die to the law principle,
that does not mean to say we depreciate
the law, a Christian will never do that,
but we're no longer under it, we serve
the Lord Jesus, not in the oldness of
the letter, but we serve him in the
newness of the Spirit and if we can
capture that tonight it will be a tremendous.
Shall we read from that?
Know ye not brethren for I speak to
them that know the law, for the woman
which has a husband is bound by the
law to a husband so long as he
liveth, but if the husband be dead she
is loose from the law of her husband.
So then if while her husband liveth she
be married to another man she shall be
called an adulteress, she is free from the
law though she be married.
Wherefore my brethren ye are become dead to
the law that ye should be married to
another even to him who is raised in
the application of the law.
The law isn't dead, but we have died
to it and we have died to it
through the substitutional death of the Lord Jesus.
Now let's go on verse 5 for when
we were in the flesh meaning when we
were in Adam the motions of sin which
were by the law but now being delivered
from the law that being dead wherein we
were held dying to the thing that held
us that we should serve in newness of
spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter.
Now that is the key verse of the
chapter and that is the key phrase to
serve him in the newness of the spirit
and not in the oldness of the letter.
Now may I say this in passing the
law the ten commandments never save the soul
and they will never sanctify a saint.
The principle of salvation is based on faith
and the principle of sanctification is based on
faith and therefore boasting is excluded if there's
any righteousness formed in you it's going to
be through the power of the spirit and
as he operates through the principle of faith.
So that is the analogy of the law
and we're going to say that to the
what shall we say then is the law
sin God forbid nay I had not known
sin but by the law for I had
not known lust except the law had said
thou shalt not covet but sin taking occasion
by the commandment wrought in me all manner
of concubines that means lust for without the
law sin was death for I was alive
without the law once but when the commandment
came sin revived and I died and the
commandment which was all for sin taking occasion
deceived me and bites and the commandment holy
was then that which is good made death
unto me God forbid but sin that it
might appear sin working death in me by
that which is good that sin by the
commandment exceedingly.
Now those verses give us a masterly exposition
of the law now notice this from verses
1 to 6 the pronouns are all in
the plural from 7 to 25 the pronouns
are all individual and personal in fact there
are 32 I's and 12 me's there are
more I's and more E's in this chapter
than any other chapter in the bible but
when we come to chapter 8 there are
only two personal so you can see there's
a tremendous truth now the pronouns from 7
to 10 pronouns but now the pronouns from
14 to the end are all present tense
pronouns so we're going to look at that
for we know that the law is spiritual
but I am carnal soul under sin for
that which I do I allow not for
what I would that I do not and
what I hate that do I if then
I do that which I would not I
consent and for I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing for to 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 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 oh wretched man that I am who
shall deliver me from I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord he is the secret
of the victory so then with the mind
I made
me free of sin and death and we
can all say now if you
don't mind only
I got so every
single Christian here is in conflict every one
of us even the best we've been in
the presence of God with tears and we've
said Lord I've done it again and perhaps
if all our confessions were really known to
our brothers and sisters they would all be
ashamed of us we all have a lot
to cover so I want to speak about
this conflict tonight because it's very important indeed
now there's no such thing as an end
of conflict the only time the conflict will
cease is when the Lord comes or should
you die and then you'll be among the
spirits of just men made perfect whilst you're
in this body you will have a constant
conflict as though two people were living inside
you one is called flesh and the other
is called spirit and they're constantly in opposition
I was telling the folks yesterday afternoon a
number of punks have been saved baptized and
they're going on remarkably well and I spoke
to one of these punks you
see it meant that there was spirit and
the flesh and that's a sure sign that
you've been born of God if there's a
conflict now this is a vast chapter and
I must say it's not an easy chapter
to explain and if you read the commentators
you will find there are shades of meaning
and therefore I do not want now
we're going to look at the exposition then
we're going to have a look in
the analogy he's
talking about the law of the commandments meaning
that sin and here's a protest God forbid
and the commandment holy just and good and
then look at that spiritual therefore we must
never speak disparagingly of the ten commandments when
you become a Christian God does not put
up the ten commandments in every spiritual room
taking the place of the ten commandments is
the Lord Jesus and you do not say
like the Jews did for me to live
is the Lord's gain but you say as
a Christian for me to live is Christ
and to die is gain now that's our
objective but we do not despise the law
of God because it's holy it's just it's
good and it's spiritual but then you will
notice the law of God defines sin nay
I had not known now sin
is not the violation of a sensitive conscience
sin is the violation of the law of
God and every time you break one of
the ten commandments you sin and therefore God
has only given to us ten commandments as
you know as far as the highways of
Britain are concerned there are about the seaways
are concerned the airways are concerned I believe
now there are five thousand laws but when
God wanted to govern the conduct of our
forebears in the garden of Eden he only
gave us one commandment and when he wanted
to govern the conduct of the world especially
the Israelites he only gave us ten now
every time you break one of those commandments
you sin now here is a fact the
average person in the western world violates the
ten commandments no less than one million times
over a period of 30 years now what
was Paul's besetting sin thou shalt not covet
he couldn't get over that I don't think
it was a matter of coveting a neighbor's
wife but there was something in Paul the
spring of his being where there was this
problem of coveting now we've all got this
yours it may be entirely different but it's
there within us because eight but sin taking
occasion by the commandment wrought in me all
manner of lusts for without the law sin
is death you say what does that mean
the ten commandments stimulate sin you see if
you put up a commandment it will stimulate
sin you say how supposing you see now
a commandment keep off the grass what do
you want to do step you've seen children
do that I've actually seen children put their
foot on the grass take for instance people
who are smokers if they move into a
carriage where there's no smoking they want to
smoke and therefore we could go on you
know quite frankly I could add and add
to that I have seen children pass through
but normally you'll see them because it says
wet paint it stimulates the evil that's within
us therefore the commandments show to us how
evil we are because we've got a nature
in our flesh we shall talk about that
then look at verse 9 it shows us
how the law revives sin for I was
alive without the law once 1500
years before this so how old was the
apostle Paul when he wrote this we believe
he was about 45 to 50 so what
did he mean before he was saved he
really believed that he had kept the law
of God he was probably the only man
in history apart from the Lord Jesus that
could say in Philippians 3 as touching the
law blameless but when he became a Christian
he began to see the law through the
eyes of the sermon on the mount you
see in the old economy it says thou
shalt not commit adultery he says if you
look and laugh in your mind you have
committed the act in your mind so it's
the thought beyond the action the old testament
says thou shalt not kill John says if
you hate your brother you're a murderer so
can you see when you read the 10
commandments you begin not so much to see
the action but the thought that promotes the
action now says the apostle when I saw
the commandments through the lens of the 10
of the sermon on the mount oh the
commandments revived and I died I couldn't say
as touching the law blameless then all right
look at verse 10 and the commandments which
was ordained to life I found if you
could keep all the commandments the way but
the moment you break a commandment the waitress
of sin is death that doesn't mean to
say that God puts the guy death always
means separation his spiritual death is the separation
of the sinner from God it's her now
there might be someone is
dead that's why we all need a savior
as was
the deception of sin for sin taking occasion
as satan deceived the woman to violate the
law of God so the flesh that's within
you will deceive you it will say something
like this go on keep those commandments knowing
all the time you can't keep them when
you break them he laughs a deceptive thing
is sin and then sometimes when you go
on breaking the commandment then it's so deceptive
that it will say something like this of
course these 10 commandments we're
beyond all that can
you see how wise it is to even
seriousness of sin was then verse
13 that which is good made death unto
me God forbid but sin that it might
appear sin working death in me by that
which is good that sin by the commandment
might become exceeding sinful now the apostle was
bringing himself under the law of God experienced
he now we're going to turn
find then a law that's the first when
I would do good evil is present in
other words when he was trying to keep
the finally tried to do that which is
good evil was present with him and we've
all discovered that law and principle verse 20
for I delight in the law of God
after the inward man now that's not a
principle that's the law of a code and
ethics 10 commandments that should govern the conduct
of people now again you will see that
Paul never speaks disparagingly of the law of
God there was nothing like the libertines with
the apostle Paul therefore again I do repeat
we evangelicals must not speak disparagingly in our
preaching we should use it in order to
so there's the law of God for I
delight in the law of God after the
new nature his spiritual man but I see
another law in my members warring against the
law of my mind now that's another law
a law that's a print the law of
the commandments that should govern our conduct and
the law of his mind now what was
the law in other words every single Christian
who is born of the Holy Spirit's patiable
desire may not be achieving it you may
not you may be like the apostle Paul
saying a weeping all wretched man you've
never been saved the moment the Holy Spirit
comes within you he incenses in your mind
a strong desire for holy holiness you may
be defeated you may be crying out for
victory but if the law of your mind
longs for holiness it's a sure sign that
you have been born of God then he
said speaks of another law that I see
another law in my members warring against the
law of my mind bringing me into captivity
you have within you as a Christian the
flesh praise God it's already being condemned at
the cross so you'll never go to hell
for it it's yet to be judged in
you you see we are no longer in
the flesh we're in Christ but the flesh
is in us the moment we were taken
out of Adam we were taken the element
of that flesh is still in us experience
some people call it the old nature the
scripture never does if we keep to the
flesh then of course we shall keep to
the word now in the new testament there
are five connotations to the flesh now I'm
not going through the five because if I
do I shall make this very complicated but
all I'm going to say is this that
there's a good side to the flesh and
there's a bad side for instance the Lord
Jesus was manifest in the flesh great is
the mystery of but when he talks about
flesh in the eighth chapter it's always the
bad sense of flesh now the flesh is
the seat of all sin the flesh is
the throne room of all sin the flesh
is the powerhouse of all sin and if
you could actually take out your flesh life
and all of us none of us know
the evil potential you see our sins that
means our behavior patterns may differ but our
flesh life is all the same and therefore
none of us can boast it's been judged
at the cross through our Lord Jesus it's
yet to be judged in us and therefore
that he's
now on the floor some of you may
say against the and
then he says I thank God through Jesus
Christ and then he throws us back to
Romans 7 but then
someone might ask why do we have to
go through this great conflict now you will
notice in scripture God he tested Adam by
putting two trees in the garden the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil and
the tree of life again he was testing
Abraham and God leaves the flesh to see
whether we will obey the dictates of the
flesh now this conflict goes on first of
all the conflict between in order to expose
in us so that we learn by experience
that there is an evil side to our
nature secondly the conflict goes on in order
to reveal to us our total inability to
improve the flesh we may study the Bible
and may I say that this that is
a wonderful exercise but it will never improve
the flesh we might spend hours and hours
in prayer just like Martin Luther we
might pass our body through the most protracting
spiritual it will never never in sometimes you
will hear teachers saying we've got to feed
the spirit you
see the script so
you can see no matter how much we
try we shall never improve our flesh nature
some people try to improve it by putting
over it beautiful moral garments some people try
and improve it by education and they give
it a cap and gown but it's still
the flesh would you believe it some people
try and improve it by glamorizing it and
they still glamorize flesh there's nothing that we
can do that will improve the flesh it
is totally and absolutely different thirdly the contact
conflict goes on in order to show to
us and reveal to us in a very
practical way we work on it to try
and change it the law way that we
can and then we look at it and
we say something like this you
see beloved if you make excuses for your
besetting sins you will never get victory over
them if you say like someone I know
you will find this that Paul hated every
vision that he had of the flesh in
him let me give you an illustration I
was uh in Hamilton having a mission it
seemed as though my work and would you
believe it on a night like that well
we were dealing with souls at 11 o
'clock and he saw something on where
he said after you pointed me to Christ
desire to swear I even had a desire
to drink in fact I lost my temper
and used a bad word on the child
you didn't I did and then he wept
and he says I can't be saved now
tell me John do you hate your sins
do you hate the living sight screwed his
fist in the tight and he hit his
other hand until he almost raptured it raptured
it well he did actually nearly lost it
there's the old and the new before you
were saved you didn't hate the living so
that you cry out oh wretched man that
I am and then this who shall deliver
me I don't want to go on losing
my temper I don't want to go on
lusting I want to live a victorious life
who's going to deliver me now dear friends
are you there do you feel inwardly battered
do you feel beaten do you hate your
flesh now God is going to give you
victory now let's look at this analogy or
a better word and frankly it looks and
uh not too happy I believe in the
marriage and then suddenly he dies and she's
free to marry another man then he turns
round the particular illustration it's not so much
the husband that dies but we have died
now in Romans 6 we have died to
the Finn family that's the Adam family now
what governed we have died to the principle
of sinning and we have died to the
law where holiness therefore if we are going
to get holiness we shall never get it
the law way we shall get it the
new way now what's that we shall get
holiness as we rely we shall get holiness
as we implicitly trust the law to work
in us and just as we trusted the
law to save us forgive me getting excited
over this we must trust the law to
make us holy the just shall live by
faith Paul says I am crucified with Christ
nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ
lives in me and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by
the son of God who loved me and
trusts in the Lord and thirdly it's the
life of love the Lord does not speak
to us in a dictatorial way like the
ten commandments shouting out the orders thou shalt
thou shalt the whole principle of the new
testament is this if you love me keep
my commandments in other words you do everything
out of a pure love for the Lord
Jesus and that basically is the newness of
the spirit it's the spirit's way it's faith's
way it's love's way now what I've done
is to invent a story on certain points
I must tell you I'm a little off
the mark but I am going to storify
now that analogy and first of all I
want you to imagine a girl by the
name of Ruth Love and she's beautiful she's
lovely but inwardly there's a corruption in her
that she's unaware of her father is a
man called love of God and he has
never really been honest with her he has
never really revealed his identity but she is
a girl that has been reared by her
father and therefore she is absolutely faithful to
him one day she meets a man by
the name of Virgil and there are four
things that mark him his holy his just
his good and furthermore his spiritual and as
they meet he falls in love with Ruth
Love and she falls in love with him
and eventually they get married you've never seen
a wedding like it but when she made
the vows she did all that my Lord
says I will do and she thought she
could keep his ten commandments and she was
taken into a beautiful home and in that
mansion there was a place for a father
she seemed
to break and one day her father came
to her and said what's
he chuckling like and he said something like
this I love all the stuff or
I dearer on the more commandments she and
she didn't realize how deceptive he was one
day Mr. Law didn't come home and the
news came that he died and Ruth said
to her father father I shall never marry
again I broke the heart of Josiah Law
one thing this marriage has done it's shown
to me that within me there's an evil
nature it shows to me that I'm exceedingly
wicked and somehow I'm never never going to
marry again and she was a heartbroken one
about two years later when she was turned
out of the home and his name was
Joshua Love and when she looked at him
she said this he's just like my husband
what's your name your name
is Ruth Love how did you know tell
you something more your father's name is not
Love it's Sucks sucks yes sucks and I'll
tell you something more your great great great
grandfather was a gardener and he was turned
out because he's and I'll tell you this
Ruth you come from a bad bad stock
I'll tell you something more you made a
mess of that house of Moses didn't you
you broke every commandment you broke his heart
you've made a mess of things and you
realize you're under judgment and when she heard
that she nearly walked away which how do
you know all that you must hate me
Ruthie says I love you you're joking I
love you you know all about my failures
you know all about my sins you know
all about my background you've told me something
and you say you love me yes and
here's my proof he showed her his wounded
hair he pulled aside his suiting and she
saw a cross and on that cross was
and there he was bearing the judgment for
all her sins and bearing the judgment for
all the socks the flesh that was and
it was like a revelation Ruthie says I
want to marry you oh I can't I
shall never marry again I'm sorry it's wonderful
to know that you love me but you
see I couldn't keep it up Ruth through
my death there'll be complete cleansing past present
then Ruth something wonderful will happen I shall
bring you into a house called the house
Christos and in that house there'd be a
beautiful room called new man and that room
is going to be filled with the glory
of the host and you will not only
have a clean life you'll have the power
to live that's wonderful but I couldn't keep
those commandments you see if you put out
all those commandments even with that power there'd
be no commandments no commandments nothing in every
room it will be this for me to
live and you won't serve me legally by
commands you'll do everything out of love and
you'll depend on me for everything your very
life I'll be your actual life and that's
how we get married but what are the
vows shall I tell you I want you
to say this just as I am without
one plea but that thy blood was shed
and with tears because of failure she just
says this you're
mine forever nothing will separate us not even
death because you see I can never die
oh yeah now I'm going to introduce you
to the house but see your father his
sarcs his evil his wretchedness and I'm going
to put him in sarcs room constantly keep
the numerum open and you'll be all right
and she moves into the house of I'm
leaving you forever I'm cleaving to my husband
for me and for six months the marriage
is wonderful no laws no harsh commands no
do this do that when he leaves he
just says don't forget trust and obey depend
upon me and she's able to do things
man now may I say this he will
never die but she wouldn't hearken and she
was just obeying all the loving overtures that
oh he said the way you keep it
mr.
law well you see father I'm him in
the oldness of the letter I'm faith's way
it's new my way the spirit and there
he that
night mr.
love the dinner's not burning
dear oh dear I can smell you've let
your that's right only for 10 minutes she
kept on letting him out and then he
spilled his bean ruth you've lost your independence
ruth lost your personality you're no longer my
girl you've lost all connections with me why
don't you put some of those commandments up
and show him your moral muscles show him
what you can do go back to the
old letter and would you believe it after
a year of heaven on earth she pins
up the game and she keeps on breaking
them and the house gets in a mess
what the house crystals yes and somehow she
seems to break them more than when she
was under mr.
love and she discovers there's a terrible one
day she looked in the numerum and she
seemed to see a form of a man's
weeping bit like a bereaved man oh dear
she says I'm grieving the numerum what am
I doing and when her husband came home
she could see he was bit dear throw
me out and then she blurts out oh
wretched woman that I am who's going to
deliver me he says right sit down who
told you to put all these canals I
thought that pleased you you're trying to achieve
holiness the look you know that you've already
failed now look don't serve me in the
oldness of the left serve me in the
newness of the spirit it's faith's way it's
the spirit's way and where's sucks right chain
him in the room do it now and
then her husband was transfigured his face did
shine as the sun oh dear she says
you're all together lovely says dear I can't
share with you don't serve him