Participants: Mark Howard & Jim Howard
Series Code: GBOTB
Program Code: GBOTB000011B
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00:06 Well welcome back, when we left before the break we were
00:10 looking in Romans 7, addressing the idea of the flesh and the 00:15 Spirit and the fight that goes on inside every person. 00:18 Drawing from that reference in Galatians we came over to 00:21 Romans to take a look. 00:23 Romans 7:25 word says, "so then, with the mind I myself 00:27 "serve the law of God, but what the flesh the law of sin. " 00:31 So we have this conflict inside the person. 00:34 The idea of this is that someone here is going through a 00:38 process where the Holy Spirit has been 00:40 working upon the heart. 00:42 The Lord Jesus is revealing Himself to a person, His will, 00:44 yet there is this battle because they are missing 00:47 the vital ingredient of the Spirit of God that will 00:51 enable them to be able to live in the way that 00:53 God is calling them to. 00:55 What we talked about is the fact that sometimes we can 00:59 settle down at this spot and say, God knows my heart. 01:03 He knows that I want to do what is right, but I have this 01:08 problem with certain things, but He knows deep down 01:11 what my intentions are. 01:12 The apostle Paul says that is not where the fight ends. 01:17 There is victory that can be gained. 01:19 It is not just for someone who is first coming to the Lord 01:23 Jesus, but this can happen for someone who has been with 01:27 the Lord Jesus for a long time and in some other new area 01:29 of their life that the Lord Jesus has revealed to them 01:32 they go through a similar struggle. 01:34 What happens is he cries out, and just to back up for a 01:38 moment, in verse 24 he says, "O wretched man that I am, 01:42 "who will deliver me from this body of death?" 01:45 This is a cry of need. Then he says, "I thank God 01:49 "through Jesus Christ our Lord. " 01:51 Then leading into verse one of Chapter 8 he gives this 01:55 beautiful declaration, "there is therefore now no 01:59 "condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do 02:03 "not walk according to the flesh, but according to the 02:07 "Spirit. " So this reiterates what the apostle Paul is 02:10 saying, walking in the Spirit gives you a victory, 02:13 peace with God, and the knowledge that you are not 02:16 under condemnation of the law any longer. 02:19 That's right, I think Jim it is important to note that 02:21 the man in verse 24 is in the flesh. 02:24 If we want to hang out in verse 24 we have to reckon we 02:28 are in the flesh and in verse 25 the way he words it, 02:31 people get mixed up. 02:33 He says, I thank God, in other words the man in verse 24 02:34 is wanting deliverance from his condition. 02:38 He is not saying this is fine, this is who I am. 02:41 I'm just a center and we are all sinners and nobody is 02:44 perfect, he wants deliverance so he cries out and because 02:47 he cries out for deliverance he finds deliverance in Jesus 02:50 Christ and he thanks God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 02:53 Then he says so than with the mind that people assume that 02:56 this the delivered condition, but he is not. 02:58 It does not and here in verse one of Chapter 8, you know 03:01 the chapter breaks weren't there in the original text. 03:04 He is just carrying his thought on. 03:06 He is describing what he has found in his condition. 03:09 "so then, with my mind I myself serve 03:11 "the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. " 03:14 This is the condition we come into when we accept Jesus. 03:16 He gives us that new mind and He gives is that new heart. 03:19 But we still have the flesh and so then we have a choice 03:22 to make and that is where verse one comes in Chapter 8. 03:25 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are 03:28 "in Jesus Christ, who do not walk according to the flesh," 03:31 who have chosen to walk not according to the flesh but 03:33 have chosen to walk according to the Spirit. 03:35 They are walking according to the mind that wants to serve 03:40 the law of God instead of a flesh that wants to serve 03:42 the law of the flesh. 03:43 That's right, now in some translations, some of the newer 03:46 translations, the NIV and others this second half of the 03:48 verse isn't there. 03:49 It says, "there is therefore now no condemnation to those 03:52 "who are in Christ Jesus. " 03:53 It does not say who do not walk according to the flesh but 03:56 according to the Spirit. 03:58 But that doesn't need to confuse anybody because all we 04:01 need to do is to look over to verse 13 and we'll start in 04:04 verse 12 of Chapter 8, it says, "therefore brother and, 04:07 "we are debtors-not to the flesh, to live according to the 04:10 "flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will 04:13 "die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of 04:17 "the body, you will live. " 04:19 So life depends upon putting to death the deeds of the 04:23 body, the deeds of the flesh, the works of the flesh which 04:27 I believe the apostle Paul talks about. 04:29 That's right we are going to go back to Galatians and look 04:31 at these works of the flesh. 04:32 We don't need to be confused about what the works of 04:35 the flesh are because Paul spells it out here in 04:38 Galatians 5:19 he says, "now the works of the flesh are 04:42 "evident," in other words these are things we can all 04:46 see and reckon we can know, "which are adultery, 04:50 "fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, 04:56 "hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, 05:01 "selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, 05:05 "murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like," 05:08 I think it is important that we note he puts murders 05:11 right in the list with envy and revelry. 05:14 He doesn't say well now you're a murderer and way bad off, 05:17 know they are all works of the flesh. 05:19 - right. - then he says, "murders, drunkenness, 05:23 "revelries, and the like," - add that onto the list. 05:26 In other wards if there is something I haven't mentioned 05:28 here, or anything like this other stuff or remotely 05:31 resembling it, those are works of the flesh. 05:33 "I wish I tell you before hand, and just as I also told 05:36 "you in time past, that those who practice such things 05:40 "will not inherit the kingdom of God. " 05:43 He says something similar again in 1 Corinthians 6 and 05:47 just so we get another take on this. 05:49 1 Corinthians 6:9 because notice he says, that those who 05:53 practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 05:57 He is very plain, there's no excusing by saying you know 06:00 this is just the way I am, well fine you are not going to 06:03 inherit the kingdom of God unless those practices change. 06:06 That is what he is saying and he picks it up in 06:08 1 Corinthians 6:9 where he says, "do not know that the 06:12 "unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not 06:16 "be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor 06:20 "adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, 06:24 "nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor 06:26 "extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. " 06:29 And then in verse 11 he says, "and such were some of you. " 06:32 I think we need to understand that God is not trying to 06:35 downgrade one person or one sin over another. 06:40 But we have to reckon that it doesn't matter what my sin 06:43 is, whether my sin is fortification or adultery or 06:49 homosexuality or drunkenness or the like. 06:53 Whatever it is I'm a sinner in need of salvation. 06:56 I mean that is the point and he says in verse 11, 06:59 "and such were some of you, but you were washed, but you 07:03 "were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of 07:06 "the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. " 07:09 So it doesn't matter what the sin is. 07:10 If you are willing to a knowledge it, 07:12 God can wash you from it. 07:13 And in that passage there are, as such were some of you. 07:17 I can think to myself such a person I was. 07:21 When I think back to my early experience I'm always drawn 07:25 back when I read this verse to one time when I read it, 07:30 which was different than any other. 07:31 I had been a Christian for just a few short weeks. 07:34 I had started to read my Bible and the Lord was working on 07:37 my heart, but all the changes that come from exposure to 07:41 the Word of God had really happened yet. 07:43 In fact there was a special party that was planned just 07:47 three weeks after my conversion experience and 07:51 I remembered I was supposed to go to this party. 07:54 I started thinking, old boy this is going to change 07:58 my life but I am learning. 07:59 I started wondering for the first time should I be going 08:03 to this? I hadn't really thought that much about the 08:06 changes that were going to come. 08:07 Well I was struggling and wrestling with this and 08:11 I remember going into my dads bedroom and sitting down and 08:14 talking to him, he had just started reading the Bible. 08:17 You remember he used to have his bed and there was bed 08:20 right across and I would sit on that bed and just talked 08:23 to him about things that were my heart. 08:26 I remember talking to him about the struggle that was going on. 08:29 I said, does God really want me to stop drinking and going 08:32 to parties because I'm not really hurting anybody? 08:34 Does He really want me to do that? Does He not know that if 08:37 I do that everything will be over? 08:39 My friends are not going to want to hang out with me or my 08:41 whole life is going to be over as I know it. 08:43 My dad looked at me and said, um, I think you're asking 08:48 the wrong person. That struck my heart. 08:53 He was basically saying I didn't tell you these things 08:57 were not something you should be doing. 08:59 That was the Holy Spirit, you need to be talking to God. 09:03 Oh I resisted that thought and dad had on his tray right 09:07 by his bed, his Bible open and I pulled his Bible out and 09:11 read just what happened to be there. 09:13 We have both been talking about the Bible those last few 09:16 weeks and I pulled out and looked at what he had there. 09:19 It was Galatians 5:19-21 where it talks about the works 09:22 of the flesh and it included in there drunkenness and 09:26 revelry, exactly what I was going to do. 09:28 And it said, "of which I tell you before hand and just as 09:31 "I told you in time past that those that practice such 09:33 "things will not inherit the kingdom of God. " 09:35 I started thinking, oh, I will not inherit the kingdom 09:39 of God and I started wrestling with this thought and the 09:42 Spirit of God was working on my heart. 09:44 I resisted, I thought I can't imagine not doing this and 09:48 losing out on these friends. 09:51 So I went on ahead and went to the party. 09:52 I smiled and what have you but there was turmoil and 09:58 I was miserable inside. 09:59 The next day was church and I went to church and the 10:04 speaker preached a sermon, this speaker normally didn't 10:08 speak very challenging types of sermons. 10:11 But this particular day he talked about how we can't 10:15 serve two masters, it's either one or the other. 10:18 While I was sitting there with that guilt on my heart 10:21 I started to weep in my chair and I started to recognize 10:25 that I can't serve two masters. 10:27 As that guilt began to be washed away I said Lord Jesus 10:30 it is not worth it, it is not worth it, this life that 10:33 I'm living, I want that peace with You that I have gained 10:35 these last three weeks. 10:37 I'm going to let this stuff go, the works of the flesh 10:39 are going to go and when I did peace and joy came 10:42 into my heart. 10:43 The flesh when it died and the Spirit came in, what 10:47 happened was described by the apostle Paul in verse 22. 10:50 It says, "but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace 10:54 "long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 10:56 "gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law. " 11:00 You see now I wasn't under guilt because there was no law 11:03 against these things, I was now in harmony with the law. 11:06 The law is against the works of the flesh not 11:08 the fruit of the Spirit. 11:09 - exactly and that next verse says, "those who are 11:11 "Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and 11:14 "desires. " And that is exactly what happened in my life. 11:18 The Lord Jesus had convicted me and I let it go. 11:21 I allowed it to be crucified with Christ and joy and 11:24 peace filled my life. 11:25 Well you know Jim it goes on there and he tells us to do 11:28 just what you did in verse 25, "if we lived in the Spirit 11:31 "let us walk in the Spirit. " Sometimes people say what 11:34 does that mean? How am I supposed to walk in the Spirit? 11:37 We are going to jump to Romans 8:5 again. 11:40 Paul says something here that we need to take to heart 11:43 and to put into practice. 11:45 Romans 8:5 says, "for those who live according to the 11:48 "flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those 11:51 "who live according to the Spirit, things of the Spirit. " 11:54 When you were thinking about that party it was a thing of 11:56 the flesh, you had set your mind on it. 11:58 We have to realize, and so few really seem to grasp, that 12:02 when we give our hearts to Christ we still have the flesh 12:06 battling against the Spirit. 12:09 - that's right. - we need to, in essence we have two natures 12:12 there are going to battle for the ascendancy. 12:17 Whichever one we happen to be feeding is going to 12:22 be the strongest nature. 12:23 So if I continue to set my mind on the things of the 12:27 flesh, if all through my week I live for the world and 12:30 then I come to church on the weekend, that is not setting 12:33 my mind all the things of the Spirit. 12:35 I am setting my mind on the things of the flesh. 12:37 But if when the Spirit of God convicts me of my sin, and I 12:40 choose to mortify it in Romans 8:13, put to death those 12:44 fleshly desires and choose what the Spirit of God is 12:48 telling me is right. 12:50 Like you choosing to resist those parties and drunkenness 12:53 and revelry, when I choose the right the Spirit of God 12:57 comes in and gives me a new heart, a new life, new desires 13:01 and reconciles me to God's will. 13:04 - Amen. - Amen! |
Revised 2023-04-24