“A Sanctifying Review (Romans 7:14-8:10)”

Good morning. And you know what that means? How great is that? Okay? Well, okay, you’re here. Good. If you got a Bible, go ahead and go with me to Romans chapter eight, we’re going to be going through it, verses one through 10, and what I’ve titled, “A Sanctifying Review” (Romans 7:14-8:10). “A Sanctifying Review”. What we’re going to do is try to bring closure to the overarching statement that Paul’s been making by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in all the way from chapter seven verse 14, through chapter eight and verse 10. And we want to get that overarching picture. If you’ve been a part of the series, you know that we’ve cut some of this extremely close. We’ve used a microscope this time. We’re going to make it an oversimplification before we start into verse 11 next week. And so, when we say, “A Sanctifying Review,” what do we mean? Well, we have to mean that we’re going to be doing something that takes in a lot of Scripture. I don’t know if you’re new, we’re not afraid of the Bible. It’s, you know, it’s kind of a third of our name, “Sherman Bible Church.” And I assure you, you cannot overdose on too much Scripture. You can spiritually go hungry, though, with not enough.

And so, Jesus, when He’s praying for us in John 17:17, He prays this to the Father. He says, “Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth.” So, when He says, “sanctify”, “hagiazō”, very simple Greek word, it means, it means “to sanctify”. It means to set apart or to cleanse, clean them, set them apart. “Sanctify them in the truth. And it’s Your Word that’s truth.” In other words, God is doing something in the life of His children that cleans them up. Now, not spiritually, in the sense of being saved, that’s one and done, but in the process of sanctification that takes time, and as a matter of fact, it’s your whole lifetime. It’s as long as you’re alive. He’s doing this. He’s setting you more and more apart, making you more and more like Jesus Christ, and causing you to be what He would call “Cleaner and cleaner.” Again, not spiritually, but in your life, your mind is being renewed, and therefore your behavior is changed. It’s from the inside out. And when He says He prays that God would do that, He says, “Your Word is truth,” so therefore the Word is what God uses to sanctify a Christian, not outward pressure, not moralism, not people beating you over the head and giving you the angry law. Now the law has its place. It shows you what your need is, and therefore it leads you to the Savior. But churches that want to just do self- improvement or want to give you life hacks are not going to help your walk in obedience or in holiness and growing to be more like your Savior. They’re simply going to tell you what’s wrong and give you earthly means to fix it. God actually makes disciples. And, by the way, when we say the word “discipleship,” that’s a growth that is basically a synonymous term with sanctification. If you are a growing disciple, that means you are growing in your sanctification. You’re becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. That’s His goal. I want to show you this, and this is just an intro, right? An intro to a review. So, we all are framed on the same page as we do something very simple today.

This is John 15:1-3. Again, we’ve covered this in the past several weeks as we were going particularly through chapter seven. Jesus says, “‘I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine grower. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away.’” What is that? Well, that’s someone who’s just simply superficially attached to a church or to Jesus. They claim something. They know Him. They talk about Him like they’re friends or something like that, but they have not truly been regenerate. He takes away, but then He says this, “‘And every branch that bears fruit.’” Now, what is that? That’s synonymous with a real disciple. No unregenerate person bears any spiritual fruit because they’re spiritually dead. They’re not attached to the vine. But he says, “‘Every branch that bears fruit He cleans. He cleans it so that it may bear more fruit. Now this word “clean” is sometimes translated “prune”. No problem with that. If you’ve got NASB, it’s “prune” I believe in there, if you’ve got ESV, it certainly is. It’s prunes. And what does that simply mean? Every branch, every person who’s in Christ, is going to bear some fruit. There’s going to be something. And then what God’s going to do is He’s going to clip away the things that are taking nutrients from the fruit. It’s an illustration so that you’ll bear more fruit. And if you’ve ever pruned anything, you know that you cut off things so that other things can grow better, right? And so that’s what He says is going to happen. This is a description of the sanctification process. It’s Him cutting things out of your life so that other things may grow fuller and fuller, and that there’ll be more and more of them. It’s just a way to describe the sanctification process. He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. And then He makes this statement in verse three, which again, shows us how he does it as 17:17 John did, “‘You are already (what?) clean (He’s talking to the disciples, now, why is that, Jesus?) Because of the word which I’ve spoken to you.’” So therefore, the Word is, if you will, the cutter that does the pruning. The Word of God going into the disciple is what works from the inside to the outside, not from the outside to the inside. When God works, He works on the inside of a man and changes the fruit that comes out from the outside. He changes the heart, in other words, and when He does it, He does it by the Word of God. There is no discipleship. There is no sanctification. Apart from the Word of God. It doesn’t exist. It’s a fallacy. It’s a myth.

Some people think that close friendships or maybe affinity, right? Hanging out with someone long enough is somehow the same as making a disciple. It’s not. Now, there’s nothing wrong with hanging out with someone, but at the center of that relationship is not the person and work of Jesus and the Word of God is not what’s being shared between the two. There’s no real discipleship. Most of you probably here know this. The word “fellowship” is the word “koinonia” in the Greek. That simply means the sharing. That’s what we’re doing right now. We’re expositing the Word of God. We’re exposing you to the Word of God. And so, God is sharing between us. And afterwards, if you talk about the word and in the foyer, or when you go home, you’re driving home, and your kids are like, “Dad, I want to tell you about the hypostatic union.” And you’re like, “What? Where did you learn that?” And they’re like, “In the nursery at Sherman Bible.” That’s a true story. They’re learning sound doctrine. Then you and your kids, once your child comes to faith in Christ, you now have that sharing, that that interaction around the Word of God. Literally that’s what we did yesterday at the Pastoral Q and A. It was a sharing back and forth in the Word of God. That’s what it’s talking about. He says, “‘You’re already clean because the word I’ve spoken to you.’” So, if you want more outward, you have to give the Word where it penetrates to the inward. That is the only thing a church should be doing to make disciples. Now, there are outflows of that, because there are, you know, very important things that the church is told to do, that disciples are told to do, and we’re to walk in those things, right? But the progenitor for that, the fuel for all that, the root of all that fruit will always be the Scripture. It always will be. In fact, that’s actually what the Holy Spirit’s always about when He’s sanctifying you, He’s going to bring the Word of God to bear. This is why we spend so much time in the Bible. You don’t need Steve’s life hacks. You really don’t want them. Believe me. I don’t have many of them. Don’t eat yellow snow. Don’t smoke in bed. Don’t smoke. Don’t take wooden nickels. I don’t know. What good would that do you that will not help you love God that won’t help your obedience. But the Word of God going into you is where the change actually happens.

Philippians 2:13 says it this way, “For it is God who is at work (where?) in you to (what?) both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” In other words, He is the one that’s working inside of you to make you want to and to make you able to do what pleases Him, greater and greater and greater. It’s a picture of salvation, of sanctification. That’s what this is a picture of. So, if God is at work in you, then how is He working in you? Well, but some people will just say, “Well, you know, I just sit around and I sit and I soak, you know, and I asked the Holy Spirit just to, you know, flow over me and then I get these downloads, and they fall into my mind.” And some of you are looking at me like I’m crazy. I didn’t make that up. People have told me this. I’m like, “Wait, you don’t study the Scripture? “No, no, me and Jesus are just close.” “Well, really. Well, He prayed something completely different for you to the Father.” And that’s actually what He wants to do in your life. You’re going to have to get your nose in the book. If you’re a true disciple. Eventually you got to read His book. You want to know it because if He’s going to do His work, He’s going to do it through the Word. Give you one of 15 examples. This is 1 Thessalonians 2:13, “And for this reason (Paul writes to this church), we also thank God without ceasing that when you received (look, when you received) the Word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God, which also is,(look, watch, sound familiar?) at work in you who believe.” If the work is going to be done, it needs to be done in you. If the work is going to be done in you, it’s going to be done by God. And when God does that through His Holy Spirit, He uses the Scripture. He uses the Word of God. He doesn’t need men beating you on the head to tell you how horrible you are. Your sin has already been outed. It took the slaughter of the sinless Son of God to save you. So, if you’re a Christian, you’ve got nothing to boast about. You’ve got nothing to brag about. You’re not morally superior to someone. Soli Deo Gloria, He gets all the glory. Jesus gets all the credit for the work, and guess what? He still does, even as you grow, the more and more you grow, that’s why, the more a Christian truly grows in holiness, the more humble they become, not the more poppycock, arrogant. I don’t know, “poppycock” is an old word, right? Arrogant, puffed up, strutting. An arrogant Christian is someone who thinks that they’ve accomplished it. They think that they’re nailing it. They think, “Well, you know, I don’t do that stuff anymore.” Well, good for you. I mean, good for you. And then inevitably, they look down their nose at anybody else who still stumbles or struggles in the things that they used to struggle in, right? I’ve told you this before. My first year after I got saved, I did not want to quit smoking marijuana. I was 19 years old. I’m 59 now. It was a long time ago. It wasn’t last week, okay? But I knew it was a sin. I was convicted, and I knew I needed to not do that. There were many other things that stopped immediately, but I would go to my Pastor. His name was Bob Ratley in Axtell, Texas, and I’d say, “Bob, I need to talk to you.” And he always knew what it was for almost, probably closer to 15 months. And I would say, “I just need you to tell me again why I can’t get high.” He’d go, “Okay, okay.” And he, what would he do? He’d pull out the Bible. He’d take his Bible. I would open my Bible. We would go to these places in Scripture. We see, “Steve, we’re to obey the laws of the land, and that’s illegal. Look, Steve, your body’s a temple of the Holy Spirit, and you you’re not your own. You’ve been bought with a price. You’re to glorify God with your body. Look, you are to be sober in all things. You’re to grow up and be a man of God. You’re not to have all these, you know, mindless thoughts and inebriations.” He taught me those things. And guess what the Word of God did? The Word of God went in and created a change from the inside out. And I can almost remember the very day where I realized I didn’t want to get high anymore because I didn’t need to. My heart had been healed. There were things that God was working in me. This is the same truth. Now, how ridiculous would it be for me to look at somebody that would still, let’s say somebody’s in here, none of you second service, none of you struggle with marijuana. I’m sure of that. I’m looking around to see who doesn’t smile. I’m not making a joke of it. It is a sinful practice and God would want to root that out of your life. But if I get arrogant toward you, what am I actually saying? I’m thinking I’m better than you because I did something that’s moralistic deism, that’s therapeutic, moralistic deism, and I’m proud of it. And now, what have I done? I’ve sinned. That’s actually sin because I boasted in my strength instead of His. The Word of God is what does the actual work.

In fact, look at Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Now he’s going to transition into talking about Jesus and the church. “So that He might (what? so that He might sanctify her, wonder how He’s going to do it?) having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.” It’s always the same thing. Continuing now, could that be salvific? Yep. Is that sanctification, absolutely it is talking about continually cleansing. 1 John 1:9, right? “If we confess our sins, He’s faithful, and He’s just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That’s incredibly good news. Why? Because we all stumble and we all struggle. It’s not one and done. You have not arrived, even if you’ve deceived yourself in thinking that. His sanctification will always be about the Word. Look at what it accomplishes. And verse 27, “That He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless.” How will that come? It will come as the water of the Word washes over the disciples. It’s true in the church local. It’s true in the true church universal. And any church that minimizes the Word of God is minimizing the very tool that God wants to use to create greater and greater sanctification in their disciples. This is why we expose you to so much truth. I remember this about six months ago. It seems like it may have been a little longer. And, by the way, if this was you, I don’t know who you are. Okay, there’s my disclaimer. A young couple came in and visited, and as they were leaving, someone asked them in the foyer, “Hey, what did you think about the service?” And the guy responded, and he said, “Well, there was a lot of Scripture.” Yeah! Do you know why? This is why. it’s because this is what will create the change. And there is a specific change that we’re looking for because it’s what the authorial intent is in Romans 7:14-8:10, a specific cleansing, if you will. It’s actually a specific assurance. I don’t want to show you that and here’s how it will work. It will work because the Word will go to work in you.

This is Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the Word of God (watch this resume) is living and active and sharper than a two edged sword, and piercing.” Think about it. It’s living, active, sharp and piercing. In other words, it comes and cuts. Why? So that you can see what’s needed, and then it heals. You see that? It reveals the dirt, but then it washes it. That’s what the Word of God does. Sharp. “Piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit (that’s your deep man, your inner man, and your innermost man) of both joints and marrow.” That’s an illustration. A joint is deep. The marrow is deeper. “And able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” You have thoughts but you also have intentions or motivations, don’t you? The Word of God comes and shows you who you are. It shows you what’s actually going on so that it can heal you. “And there is no creature (verse 13 says) hidden from His sight, but all things (when someone’s in the Word, all things) are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have to give an account.” This is the good news. Disciple has the Word. They don’t need magic ceremonies. They don’t need special teachers. You need someone who understands the Word of God and rightly exposit it. But they don’t have to have some special gift. They don’t have a gift of entertainment. They don’t have to be winsome. They don’t need to be charismatic in any sense of the word. What they need to be is faithful to the text and that’s what will create the change.

That’s my intro. I’m going to give you little subtitles for the first 10 verses of Romans chapter eight. The reason for this is I want it to be an oversimplification. I do. We’ve gone into depths into great detail in the weeks building up to this, and if you’ve missed those weeks, you can go online and listen, or you can go on the app, and I recommend you do because you need to have the information. You need to see what God is saying. The authorial intent. So, we’re always after, what is what does the Bible say? What does the Bible mean by what it says. And what are its implications on my life in light of the person and the finished work of Jesus. So, when we go to Romans eight verses, one through ten. Here are my non authoritative subtitles, but I think you’ll see that they line up. Now I created this list for you. It’s very beautiful. So, each number represents a verse, and it goes like this,

1.  There’s no condemnation

2.  You’ve been set free

3.  God did it

4.  You’ve been given Christ’s own righteousness

5.  You have a spiritual mind because you have a new nature

6.  You have eternal life and peace with God

7.  Unbelievers are at war with God

8.  Unbelievers cannot please God

9.  Only those who have the Holy Spirit belong to Jesus

10. This verse is Chapter 7:14-25 in a nutshell

Verse one, there’s no condemnation. Verse two, you’ve been set free. Number three, God did it. Verse four, you’ve been given Christ’s own righteousness. Verse five, you have a spiritual mind because you have a new nature. By the way, this applies to you if you’re in Christ. Verse six, you have eternal life and peace with God. Verse seven, unbelievers are at war with God. Verse eight, unbelievers cannot please God. Verse nine, only those who have the Holy Spirit belong to Jesus. And verse ten, this is my own description is this, that verse, this verse is chapter 7 14 through 25 in a nutshell. And you’ll see what we mean by that, because what we’re able to do is we’re able to cyclical back and go, “Wow, that’s actually one statement from 14 of seven to 10 of eight, and he encapsulates it right there.”

So, what we’re going to do is we’re going to go through Romans eight, expose ourselves to the Word of God, one through ten, except we’re going to add these little subtitles. Again, they’re not authoritative, but I think you’ll start to understand the gist and the flow. Then what we’re going to do when we get down to verse 10, we’re going to go back to chapter seven verse 14, and we’re going to read through that, and we’re going to see how that is a statement that’s in a nutshell in 8:10 then we’re going to go through one through ten just fluently all the way through, and then you’re going to be fully sanctified and never sin again. No. But I’ll tell you what. It’s a spiritual bath. It’s like a shower. It’s worth our time. It’s worth our energy.

So, let’s do this verse one Romans eight, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Wery simple. Would you agree? (“There’s no condemnation”) Agree or disagree? That’s at least what it means. It does. What is “condemnation” again? There is no eternal, right? Damnatory separation and punishment, none. Jesus took that. And we’ll go through this again. And you’ll see why it says that in eight verse one. But here we go.

Let’s keep going through verse two, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (“You’ve been set free”) There’s no condemnation. You’ve been set free.

Look at verse three, “For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: (how?) sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh.” That’s very simple. (“God did it”) There’s no condemnation. You’ve been set free. And God did it. Now I have a question for you so far, how much have you been doing in this in these verses? No, you are completely passive here, because what the Bible is doing is it is giving to you the blessed assurance that you’re loved in Christ, despite your present struggles, he’s expounding on the beautiful truth of what was needed to answer the questions in chapter seven.

He goes on in verse four, “So 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.” We examined this a couple weeks ago. This is talking about two natures. Those in the flesh are we unregenerate. Those in the Spirit are the regenerate. (“You’ve been given Christ’s own righteousness”) That’s the divine exchange. That’s expiation. He takes our sin on His, in His body on the tree. And imputation, He gives us His righteousness. That’s what Luther called the divine exchange. That’s verse four.

Verse five, “For those who are according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Look, (“You have a spiritual mind because you have a new nature”) It’s not talking about positive thinking. This is not the same as Philippians four. This is two distinct natures. And it starts broadening to show the distinction between them as we continue.

Look at verse six, “For the mind set on the flesh is death (that’s an unregenerate person, but the mindset on the Spirit is life and peace.” (“You have eternal life and you have peace with God”)

Look, you go to the next verse, and it contrasts that with an unbeliever, “Because the mind set on the flesh is (what?) at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” (“Unbelievers are at war with God”) They can’t not be. They don’t want God and they don’t love Him. So, this can’t be talking about a regenerate person because your mind is not at enmity against God, and you are able to do things that please Him.

Verse eight, “And those who are in the flesh are (what? they’re not) able to please God.” They just can’t do it. (“Unbelievers cannot please God”) Now maybe you’re here, and this is the first time you’re hearing this. You’re saying, “So you’re telling me, every other religion in the world other than Biblical Christianity, is doing things in that religion, and none of them, please God?” You got it. You nailed it. You nailed it. Exclamation. But good job. You say, “Well, that’s pretty narrow minded.” Well, narrow is the road that leads to life. Few there be that find it. It is very narrow. It’s incredibly narrow, but that’s what the Bible has spoken. And if we’re not representing these passages correctly, then we’re remiss, and your sanctification and your discipleship will be hindered. So those who are in the flesh, they cannot please God.

Here’s verse nine. However, this is the contrast. This is the new nature. “However, you (that’s someone who’s in Christ Jesus, however you) are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. (how do we know? If, here’s the if, the only condition to the new nature) if indeed (what? you do the righteous works? No) if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” That’s the qualification for this. But here’s the contrast, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, He does not belong to Him.” What do we say? (“Only those who have the Holy Spirit belong to Jesus”) Only. That’s it. That’s the qualifier. That’s what it’s talking about.

All the way from verse four, all the way down here to verse nine, and then he lands the plane in this statement, as you, if you will, verse 10. “But if Christ is in you (that would be the Holy Spirit) though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive (or life) because of righteousness.” Whose righteousness? Christ’s. So what do we say? This is verse, or rather, this is chapter 7 14 through 25 in a nutshell. And you say, “Wait a minute, he’s talking to Christians?” Yep. Is he, by extension, talking to you? Absolutely, if you’re a believer. You say, “Well, my body’s not dead.” Oh, is it not? Give it time, right? Let me ask you, this is the trend of your body’s health trending down or up? Now, if you’re 10 years old, I don’t want to hear you. Or 15 year old. 15 year olds going, “Really, I’m doing great, man. It’s no problem at all.” Okay? Google me in about 30 years, I want to hear from you. Tell me the truth, is your body trending down or is it trending up? Let me tell you this, you’re being strengthened in might, in your inner man constantly. Your spirit is constantly being strengthened and edified. If you’re taking in the Word of God, the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn. It grows brighter and brighter to the full day. But your body is not that way. It is breaking down. It is betraying you, and one day it will become pretty much useless. If you live long enough, you will see yourself useless. Did you know that? Aren’t you encouraged? Don’t you love coming to church? Be happy! Look, that’s where you get these saints. And all they can do, basically, is just exist waiting for the time when the Lord takes them. But their Spirit is solid as a rock and mighty as a soldier ever could be. They’ve been equipped, and their faith is strong, and they’re not afraid of death. They’re waiting for it. They realize that to live is Christ and to die is gain. That’s the true believer. That’s a description of the battle of the two natures that exists in chapter 7 14 all the way through 25.

So, let’s take a look at that, shall we? And we’ll remember well. We’ll remember what we studied, what seems like years ago, and we’ll carry it directly into chapter eight, and we’ll go through that. Here it is, Romans 7:14-25, Paul writes, “For we know that the law is (what? it is) spiritual.” In other words, it’s breathed out by God. The Word of God is breathed out by God. 2 Timothy 3:18. He says, “But I am fleshly.” The word literally means “fleshly”. In other words, he is of the flesh. The law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, “Having been sold into bondage under sin.” Yep, that’s right, and the body still contains those vestiges of sin. That’s why one day it will go in the ground and it will remain there when you’re raised from the dead, if you’re a Christian, you won’t be raised in this body. Somebody say, “Thank You, Lord,” or “Amen”, I never asked for you to do that, but if that didn’t make you happy, you don’t know the rules and stuff. And then he goes into statements that get misunderstood. He says, “For what I’m working out (or what I’m doing), I do not understand for I’m not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” Now here’s the question, what is it that he would like to do? Sinless perfection. He does not want to sin  thought, not in commission or omission, not in motive. He wants to live perfectly under God, where? In his inner man. He’s talking about his spirit, “But I’m doing the very thing I hate.” Which is what? Falling short. He recognizes he’s not arrived yet. He recognizes he still has a stumble and a struggle. He’s still open for temptations. He’s still human in the mortal sense. Thus, he still has in his inner man, total holiness, but in the vestiges of his body, sin remains. That’s why, in 18, you’ll see he says, “There’s nothing good that dwells in me.”  

Next verse, verse 16, “For if I do the very thing I do not want. I agree with the law that it is good.” The law is good. I’m doing the thing I don’t want to do because I recognize that the law is good. “So now no longer am I.” That’s his true identity, the spirit. “So now no longer am I the one working it out, but sin which (what?) it dwells in me.” It’s not me. It’s sin that dwells in me. Now somebody that doesn’t understand the whole of Scripture is going to read that, and they’re going to be like, “Paul’s slipping the knot. He’s just not taking responsibility for his actions.” That’s not what that means. What he’s saying is nothing in his spirit man who he really is. And if you are a Christian, that is who you really are. That is the part of you that is completely equipped for heaven. If you were to die right now, your spirit needs no upgrade. You can go right to heaven. And it will and you want to die to absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That’s what Paul meant. But your body, this physical body, will never be ready for heaven. It will go in the grave and it will turn to dust and it will not it will not come back. You will get a new body. You’ll get a glorified body, perfectly fit for heaven. You see, it’s already and not yet. You were saved from what? The punishment of sin. At salvation. In sanctification, you’re being saved from, what? The power of sin. You’re learning to grow in Christ. To be more like Him. And there’ll be a day where you’re saved from the very presence of sin. Isn’t that good news? The two best things about heaven, Jesus is there, and you’re not. “You” in the sense of your sinful flesh. You’ll have a new body. It’s no longer I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me.

And then he makes this statement, and he sets it up for us perfectly. Verse 18, perfectly. Verse 18, “For I know that (what?) nothing good, dwells in me, that is in my flesh.” He’s not talking about his spirit, is he? He’s talking about his flesh. He says, “For the willing is present in me.” Where’s that? In his spirit. What did Jesus tell the disciples in the garden? “‘Spirit is willing. Flesh is weak.’” Right? He says, “For the willing, is present in me, but the working out (that’s in the body and including the brain) of the good is not.” There will be a day where the working out of it will be your greatest joy, and you’ll have no hindrance. Why? Because you’ll have a new body. Yes, and you know what, you’ll also have a new brain. Isn’t that cool? Aren’t you glad that when people are raised from the dead, who are in Christ, they get new brains? Now some of you are glad because you’ll have a new brain. Some of you are glad that somebody else you know will have a new brain. Either way, it will be a brain that is no longer under construction or under renovation. It will be perfect in holiness the way God creates it at recreation. He goes on verse 19, “For the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” He calls it what it is. Now again, the “good” is sinless perfection. The “evil” is any sin, any falling short, any lack of loving. The Lord is God with his heart, soul, mind and strength and his neighbor as himself perfectly. And only one person has ever done that perfectly, one perfect Jew named Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. That’s it. That’s why we need His righteousness. We can never pull that off. So, he’s saying, “I can’t, I can’t do that in this present condition.” And if you’re here, and you’re going, “Yeah, I feel that struggle.” That’s because you’ve been born again. An unregenerate person has no idea what the struggle is like because they’re perfectly dead in their sin.

Verse 20, “But if I’m doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.” And then he says this, “I find then a principle that in me (look) evil is present the one who wants to do good.” That’s the war inside of you. That’s what Paul tells the Galatians, “For the flesh opposes the Spirit, and the Spirit opposes the flesh to keep you from doing the things that you want to do.” Cover these through the weeks, but I want you to see the entire context as we go through this. Verse 22, “For I joyfully concur with the law of God.” Where? Where, Paul? “In the inner man.” “In the inner man.” Wow. Well, that’s way different, isn’t it? Way different than what he says, you know, “There’s nothing good that dwells in me, that is in my flesh.” He’s saying, “But in my inner man, I joyfully I want to keep the law. I’d love to, I want to. I want to please God. I want to walk uprightly. I want to stop doing these things. I want to start doing those things.” “Joyfully concur with it.” He says verse 23, “But I see a different law in my members.” That’s a way of saying the body. That doesn’t mean the body is evil. It means it’s been corrupted by sin, and what is it doing? It’s “Waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin.” Where is it, Paul? It’s in my members. This is the common struggle of the true disciples.

And then he cries out what all of us cry out at various points in our Christian life, usually before we tend to grow more and more, “Wretched man that I am! (And he asked the question, who?) Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” How is this ever going to get fixed? Year after year after year. I’m in my 40th year of walking with Jesus. I got saved at 19, and I used to think early on in my walk, that by the time I reached, you know, an age where I could hurt myself in my sleep, that I would be so holy, that my wife and kids would be like, “Oh Father, who aren’t quite yet in heaven,” and I would float, and I’d have victory over every thought, every intention, every motive. I would never have to keep repenting. I’d never need to go to pastors still and say, “Man, I still need prayer for this. This is what God has His hand on now.” And it’s not the things that it used to be. It isn’t, but the things of the mind, the things of the motive that you realize are still latent in there, and it’s still existing, and they hurt more because you’re going against love, because you love Him more the older you know that you are in Christ, because you’ve grown to know Him more, and you love your neighbor more like yourself, and you’re growing up in love and oh, I thought I would be that way. Maybe you’re under that delusion. Sorry to pop your bubble. “Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” Can I give you a hint? It’s not you. Verse 25 he says, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” That’s who will deliver you from the body of this death. “So then, on the one hand, I myself, with my mind, am serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh, the law of sin.” What is he saying? I’m in a condition where there’s conflict inside of me. I know I love God, and I know I don’t love Him as I should. I know I love others, but I know I don’t love them as I should. I know I love His word but I don’t love it as I should. I know I love His church, but I know I don’t love her as I should. All these things that I wish I could be that’s the standard, because the law is good and right and holy, but when I measure it against what I still struggle with, I feel like it’s wretched, but thank God, He’ll deliver me. And even though I go through this life and it’s a stumble and it’s a struggle. Go to the next verse, the next verse in your Bible. There is no chapter break at all in any of the Greek at all, or the Hebrew mind you. He says, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” I’m in the war. I’m worn out with it. I feel wretched about it. When will I get my stuff together? How can I walk a more holy life? I should be much more mature by now. Why am I not being sanctified quicker? What is going on with me and the Word of God is at work in you, and the first thing the Spirit wants you to know is this, there’s no condemnation. Why does He want you to know that? So that you will feel secure in your relationship with your heavenly Father that loves you, with the Son of God who died for you, and with the Spirit who lives in you. So that when you stumble, and you struggle and you fall, you don’t shrink back, you don’t back up to give God time to cool off, you press in and what do you do? You come boldly before His throne of grace Hebrews 4:16. You humble yourself under His mighty hand. You come to the throne of grace in humility, confessing your sin and your need, that you may find mercy and grace to help in time of need. That’s the life of a real Christian. It’s not a backing off. We tell you every week, “You’re loved.” I get encouraged because I think some of you are starting to believe it. Isn’t that incredible? No condemnation.

Why? “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do weak as it was to the flesh, God did it, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh so 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. For those who are according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death (that’s the old nature, that’s a sinful, unregenerate person) but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (with who? with God) Because the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God. (Right? That’s the opposite of 7:22 isn’t it? What do he say in 7:22? I delight in the Law of God in my inner man. This is talking about an unbeliever) It does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God. However, (you Christian) you’re not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if (it’s the only condition if) indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, He does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin (and you know it, and you feel wretched about it, and you get convicted, and you feel that war) yet the Spirit is life (is alive, “Zoe”) because of righteousness.”

If you are understanding this, you are understanding the authorial intent of Romans 7:14-8:10, and in case you didn’t know, there’s a theological term for that. It’s called, “Big Fat Hairy Deal.” This is huge. It’s enormous that you have that grasp. And what this does when you get it, it puts rock underneath your feet, not shifting sand, but the solid rock of the love of God of what He’s accomplished for you in Christ that you deserve condemnation He gave you justification. And as He carries you through sanctification, He wants you to feel secure in that. And so, as we pick up in verse 11 next week, you’re gonna start hearing them the words of like “adoption”, you’re gonna be like, “Whoa. It gets even better?” It does. It’s gonna go to new heights. And then we’re gonna come to chapters 9, 10, and 11, and He’s gonna give you an illustration of the people of Israel and His absolute faithfulness, even though they have disqualified themselves and should have been permanently, He remains faithful to His Word. Therefore, when you get to chapter 12, first word you’re going to read is “therefore”, and then He starts saying, “This is how you live it out.” It’s the first time it talks about, this is what you’re going to do. “Therefore, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” Why? “Because it’s your reasonable service of worship” he says. Why will you have that? Well, because you have the foundation here. This is your true condition. Okay, if you’re in Christ, this is your true condition. This is your blessed assurance. This is the Divine Decree, the will of Almighty God the Father. This is what the Son absolutely accomplished, and this is what the Holy Spirit applied to your life when He regenerated you, filled you with Himself, begins to be your Comforter, your Teacher, the Seal of your redemption against that day when Christ returns and the one who disciplines you so you can share in God’s holiness. He is the true discipler. He uses creaturely means but He’s the one doing the work. And if you’re getting this, you’re growing up in Christ, and I can guarantee you this, by the authority of the Word of God, not because of me, and certainly not because of anybody here. But I started talking 42 minutes ago. Believe this. You’re like, “Yeah, it seems like two hours.” Sorry. Not because of my words, but because of exposure to His Word, believe this, you’re now more sanctified than you were 42 minutes ago. And maybe you’re here going, “I don’t feel it.” Okay? But sanctify them in Your truth.

Look, finally, we’ll end on this, John 17:17. Again, “Sanctify them by the truth (by the truth, there’s a means, it’s this). Your word is truth.”

KEYWORDS

Sanctify, Sanctification, Bible, Scripture, God’s Word, Romans 7, Romans 8, Holy Spirit, Scripture, Discipleship, Disciple, Righteousness, Spiritual Growth, Sinless Perfection, Evil, Principle, Law Of Sin, Flesh, Fleshly, Spirit, New Nature, Eternal Life, Peace, Unbelievers, Condemnation, Expiation, Imputation, Divine Exchange, Branch, Pruning, Clean, Fellowship, Prune, Gospel, Hagiazō, Koinonia, Yeshua HaMashiach, Zoe, Online Sermon, Texas, Grayson County

Speaker

Steve LeBlanc