[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Now, turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 7. And we have come to one of those passages of Scripture that's controversial, and they argue about it all through history.
[0:17] But let me just ask you, you've been going through the book of Romans, and you've gone from finding out what wicked sinners we are, or were, we've found out how we were desperately wicked.
[0:27] It doesn't matter who you are, or where you come from. It doesn't matter if you were Jewish or Gentile. It doesn't matter if you had the law, or you didn't have the law. We have completely and utterly failed.
[0:38] And the only way to be saved would be the mighty work of a mighty, awesome, grace-filled God to do a work in our life. Then we've learned in Romans chapter 6 and Romans chapter 7 some great truths.
[0:51] We're not under the law. The old nature is dead. He has no power. He can't make us sin. We have learned that in Him we have the grace of God. And no matter how bad you sin or how much you mess up, God's grace is greater than your sin.
[1:08] And those have been wonderful truths that we have been literally flying up there with the eagles and excited about it. And then we come to Romans chapter 7 and the verses I'm about to read to you. And as you come to them, it's really going to be probably more where you live.
[1:21] How many of you have learned great and wonderful truths from the Word of God about the grace of God and the salvation we have? Say amen. How many of you love it that we're new creatures? Say amen. How many of you love it that it's the grace of God and not the law and not what I do?
[1:37] Can you say amen right there? Boy, now are you in for a treat. Paul's fixing to say this. I'm dealing with sin. After all this stuff about me being victorious.
[1:49] About all this stuff about sin not reigning over me. After all this stuff about how I have victory in Jesus. I'll just tell you I have really got a mess going on in my life.
[2:01] I have really got stuff happening in my life. And he's going to say, you know, I know all the truths, but it doesn't seem to live out near as easy as that. And you may have been coming to church here and going through Romans and thinking, boy, it is great.
[2:16] It's fantastic. And then you go home and you say, I don't know. It just doesn't seem to work out. And we're fixing to burst into chapter 8 and get great victory again. But today he's going to show you the struggle, victory, and the struggle against sin.
[2:30] He's going to show you that you're always going to struggle with sin. That we are not free from the presence of sin. We're not free from what it can do in our lives.
[2:41] And we're not free from that. Even though the power's gone and sin doesn't have any power over me, it's still all around me and I have a problem. I'm going to read some verses with you. 11 verses.
[2:51] And if you've got your ink pen handy, look at all the personal pronouns. He's going to use 28 times in 11 verses. I think that's right. 28 times in 11 verses the word I, me, or myself.
[3:05] He's got a personal, selfish problem going on. By the way, before we read it, let me show you. That's where I get. Sometimes I know all the promises and I know all the beautiful truth and I expect all the great victory.
[3:18] And I get into this trouble because I slip back into doing things myself. So maybe you take an ink pen and underline some words and I think you'll enjoy that. Romans chapter 7 verse 14.
[3:29] The Bible says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not.
[3:42] But what I hate, that do I. And if then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but the sin that dwells in me.
[3:53] For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not.
[4:04] For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil that I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me.
[4:15] 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 embered 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.
[4:32] O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[4:43] So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God. But with the flesh, the law of sin. Well Paul is feeling so wretched. He wants to love God and serve God.
[4:55] And as he wants to love God and serve God, he finds out sin is with him. He finds out he's still got a lot of mess going on in his life. And he wants to do right, but he ends up doing wrong. And he doesn't want to do wrong, but he ends up doing wrong.
[5:07] And so today I think there's some great truths you can have, we can have victory over sin. But let me just tell you that from today on until the day you see Jesus, we will struggle.
[5:21] We will fight to live out the truths that are true about us. Father, I pray now that you would drive home these truths. Lord, I know that you have blessed me as I've studied this.
[5:32] And Lord, I know that I was concerned and worried about how to preach this. And I needed your guidance and direction. And I pray God that you'd help this passage to become clear.
[5:43] That they'd understand that we're not schizophrenic. We're not two people living in one body. We are a new creature. We do have victory. But somehow sin still dwells in us and with us.
[5:53] And I pray God that you'd help us to get victory today and to trust you and to understand what you're doing. And I'll give you great honor and glory and praise. In Jesus' name, amen. This is one of those wild passages where everybody in the world argues about what's going on.
[6:09] And if you get all the commentaries to lay them down, you'll find out there's like four or five positions about who is this guy. When Paul says, I hear what I is it. Some even think it's two I's, two different people he's talking about.
[6:21] Now, historically, godly men have argued about who Paul's referring to. Paul refers to himself very differently than a lost man would. Paul says, I love the law. The law is good.
[6:32] The law is great. The law is spiritual. No lost man thinks that a lost man thinks horribly about the law. He doesn't agree with the law. He doesn't believe in the law. But then he says he sold as a slave to sin. After sin, he was free in the preceding verses.
[6:44] He just got through telling me, hey, we're free from sin. Sin has no power. Now he says he's not. Many thought he was speaking of a lost person or maybe himself before he got saved. At the same time, he talks like a saved man, realize that he's not good of himself and not able in himself.
[6:59] He calls the law good, which a lost person wouldn't do. The argument is whether he's speaking of the lost, the carnal, some under conviction, or as I'm going to present to you, a mature Christian who is hungry to serve God and live out who he really is in Christ.
[7:17] I believe Paul's going to be talking about us. I believe Paul will be talking about a born-again man, a mature man in Christ who wants to live out his faith. Do we have two natures?
[7:28] In a sense, we do. In a sense, we don't. You are one and you are whole in Christ, but sin's still here and we have to deal with it. We must know that in position, we have many and great promises and truths.
[7:41] We have to learn to live them out in practice. We have to learn to live out who we are in Christ. Now, before I get into the message, let me just say this. We have no excuse to sin.
[7:55] You need to listen to that. We have no excuse to sin. You shouldn't leave here today and say, hey, not my fault. Even Paul said sin and him and he couldn't help it.
[8:05] That's the way it is. So I'll go out here and I'll just live like the devil and blame it all on God. That's not the teaching of this passage at all. Victory is ours, even though sin and the desire for sin is still there.
[8:16] Don't play the carnal Christian game like an excuse to be saved and live like a lost man. We have for too long acted like here's a born again person who lives like the devil and that's okay.
[8:29] That's not a very biblical approach. If you're a lost, if you're a saved person, listen to this. You can live like you want and you can live in sin and you can walk away from God.
[8:41] But you mark this one down. If you're a born again Christian, you will either be changed or chastised. Christians do not, real born again people do not continue to live in sin without consequences.
[8:55] Real born again Christians will be, look like and become like Jesus. We are predestined to be conformed to the very image of Christ. He's in the process of changing us.
[9:08] From the day you got saved to the day it's over, God's forming you into the very image of Jesus Christ. Don't make excuses for sin. It really bothers me that you would try to use grace as a license to sin.
[9:23] It bothers me that you would hear these wonderful truths preached about us and preached about what Jesus did on the cross and walk away from here and say, I can live in sin. I hate the way Baptists have turned once saved, always saved.
[9:36] That's their favorite term into. I got saved once so I can live like a stinking devil all I want. That's not Bible truth. That's not Bible truth. That is some hypocrite lost guy's excuse for blaming it on God and he's not doing right.
[9:52] So let me just give you some lessons from this passage of scripture if I can. Verse 14. Number one, lessons about the law. This passage teaches me some lessons about the law.
[10:03] The law cannot change me or make me holy. Look, if you would, in Romans chapter 7 and verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal and sold under sin.
[10:16] You see, the law is good. The law is good and it reveals to us the holiness of God. It helps us see the need of a savior. The law is spiritual and it deals with our inner man.
[10:27] The spiritual part of us and not just our external actions. The old nature knows no law. The new nature needs no law. The law cannot transform the old nature.
[10:39] It can only reveal how sinful we are or how sinful we were, how sinful the old nature is. Trying to live under the law will only activate the old nature. It will not eradicate it.
[10:53] Now listen to this real quickly, if you will. The law can't change you. The law doesn't make you holy. That's a work of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. We were saved by grace.
[11:03] We were justified by grace and we'll be sanctified by grace. But there is a part I'm to play in doing that. The second thing I want you to see. You should have said the law can't change me or make me holy.
[11:14] The law cannot help me to do good. The law cannot help me to do good. The law cannot help me to do good. You can write the Ten Commandments on every building in the country.
[11:25] You can write them on the walls in your house. And my wife bought the Ten Commandments and they're hanging somewhere in the building. We bought that as a decoration and put it here. But the law won't change us and the law won't make us do good.
[11:37] Paul said in verse 15, that which I do, I allow not. I'm doing what I don't want to do. And for that I would, that do I not. But that what I hate, that's what I do.
[11:49] If I do then that which I would not, I can send the law that it's good. It's no more I that do it but the sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that's in my flesh, dwells no good thing.
[12:01] For me to will is present, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil in which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not.
[12:13] It is the more I that do it but the sin that dwells in me. The problem with this passage is self. Notice the personal pronouns. 27 times the word I. 7 times the word me.
[12:26] 4 times the word my or myself. And only 11 verses. And I think I said it wrong a while ago. It said it would be 27, 34, 38. It said at least 38 times in 11 verses that he says a personal pronoun.
[12:40] Here's some truths that we find in the passage. Sin still dwells in us. I'm saved. Now in Romans 6 I was clearly told sin is deactivated.
[12:51] It's power. It's deactivated. I am no longer a slave to sin. I no longer have to sin. But it's still there. He said, I don't understand it. Well, don't worry about it. You don't have to understand it.
[13:02] It's just a fact. You are free from sin. You do not have to obey sin. You're under grace. But we're not out of this world yet. And look what it says. We are sold under sin in verse 14.
[13:14] In verse 14 it says, I'm carnal. Sold under sin. Verse 18 he says, there's nothing good in me. There's nothing in good. That is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
[13:26] Sin dwells in me in verse 20. It says, but sin that dwelleth in me. Though I'm saved, I will never be anything more than an unprofitable servant.
[13:38] You know, I'm saved by grace. And let me just tell you, the more holy I live and the more righteous I live and the more I live out who I am, I need to always realize it's not me.
[13:50] I'm not the one who's getting victory. I'm not the one that's doing right. It's not about me keeping a list of rules. It's not about me keeping a list of commandments.
[14:01] It's not about me being able to walk around and say, hey, I'm a three-star Christian. I'm a five-star Christian. I got ten things down. I'm doing pretty good. And you've only got eight things down. I need to know I'm just an unprofitable servant.
[14:12] In Luke chapter 17 and verse 10, the Bible says, so likewise ye, when you shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable service.
[14:24] We've done that which was our duty to do. By the way, something in me rebels against the law. The law never enables me to do good.
[14:35] Now, I'm sure this didn't happen where you come from, but in the hills of Tennessee, back where the country people live, often on the playground, you'd stand out there and two boys would be arguing and fighting.
[14:46] One of them is trying to be more macho than the other macho. And we'd take our shoe and we'd draw a line in the dirt and step back and say, you want to fight, cross that line. And sometimes they cross that line, so I just draw another one and say, well, if you really want to fight, cross that one.
[14:59] And I just keep drawing lines because I didn't really want to fight. I was just trying to bluff them. But there's something about it. If there's a rule, we want to break it. There's a rule, we want to break it. If there's something we're not supposed to do, we want to do it. The law never enables me to do good.
[15:13] The law can't set me free. No matter how many times I decide I will not do wrong, I do it again. I don't know how many times I've been in an altar and said, oh God, I will never do that again.
[15:28] God, I promise you I'll do right. God, I promise you you don't have to worry about me. And before I can get to the door, I'll have problems. I try and try and I can't succeed.
[15:39] Did you know that the law actually gives strength to sin? Please understand we are not under law. Law doesn't help us.
[15:50] It gives strength to sin. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 56. The Bible says, the sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
[16:02] Not lawlessness. The law. The strength of sin is lawlessness. Is the law. The flesh can't help us. I can't help me.
[16:14] I'm not going to change me. I couldn't save me. I couldn't make myself live a new life. It was God who did the work. In John chapter 6. In verse 63.
[16:25] The Bible says, it's the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 3, Paul said, I have no confidence in the flesh.
[16:42] Victory is found when I learn to yield to the Holy Spirit who works in me. Listen to this. Victory is when I learn to yield to the Holy Spirit. I don't know if you've noticed it in Romans chapter 6 and chapter 7.
[16:56] I don't know if you've paid attention. But there are great and wonderful truths. And one of those truths is that sin can no longer control me. I am no longer a robot. I'm no longer under His control.
[17:10] I'm no longer a slave to sin. I am free to live a holy life. I am free to obey God. But when he said that, he didn't say, that means you'll never sin again. You'll realize what he said was, he said, so act like it.
[17:23] In Romans chapter 6, he said, you know what I'm saying is true. Because I've taught you this truth. So act on the truth. And then he took us one further step. He said, and yield. He said, you will decide on a daily basis to yield.
[17:37] You'll either yield your members to sin and do wrong, or you'll yield your members to righteousness and do right. You're going to make a choice. Hey, we didn't get saved. And all of a sudden, no more sin.
[17:48] We're perfect. And everything's great. And the old nature's eradicated. Some of you, some of you, in a sense, it is because it's not powerful. Can't make me. But hey, I didn't wake up yesterday.
[17:58] I said, hey, man, I just got perfection's mine now. No, that's not what happened. I determined every day to yield or not yield. The Bible says in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 13, that it is God that both willeth and doeth in us of his good pleasure.
[18:16] It's God working in me. It's me deciding that it's not me keeping rules. You know what were the big problems Paul's facing in Romans 7 is? He keeps saying, I too much.
[18:28] That's the Holy Spirit writing it down. Don't get me wrong. It's the Holy Spirit writing it down because he wanted us to see it. Because that's my problem. Man, I'm over here in Romans 6 saying, glory to God, sin has no more power.
[18:38] And I'm victorious. And I'm a new creature. And life's wonderful. And everything's great. And I'm excited. Man, I'm like, wow, I got it knocked. Then I step over here and I forget. I don't have it knocked.
[18:49] He's got it knocked. I don't have it knocked. He's got it knocked. I didn't get victory. He got victory. But from here, where he had victory, to here, I swapped gears and put it into I, me, mine, myself.
[19:02] I, me, mine, myself 38 times in 11 verses. More than three times every verse. He keeps saying, I, I, I, I. So I now yield, Philippians 2.13.
[19:15] Legalism makes a believer wretched, wore out, tired. That's really what that word means. Because it grieves the new nature and it aggravates the old nature.
[19:26] If you keep trying to keep the rules, you'll get so worn out and so tired and so exhausted. You'll be like, what's the use? No matter how much I try. No matter how many things I do.
[19:39] I just can't live up to it. I can't make a difference. The legalist becomes a Pharisee whose outward actions are acceptable, but whose inward attitudes are despicable.
[19:54] That's who we become. Because somewhere along the way, we took the grace of God and turned it into something that we did or we're doing.
[20:05] It was law that brought me to see my wickedness and to give up on myself. And I got saved because I said, the law shows me I'm filthy.
[20:15] The law shows me I'm wicked. The law shows me I'm helpless. And I'm trusting Jesus. And I trusted Jesus. And then somewhere along the way over here, I got to thinking, well, the law's pretty good to help me live.
[20:27] But the law wasn't good to help me live. The law was good to help me not live. The law was good to help me see I was sick. And it's not me obeying law. It's God living in me.
[20:40] Galatians 2.20 says, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The great truths of this passage are here.
[20:52] They are. That's the second thing you might not note down. The great truths. I'll give you four great truths from the passage. Sin dwells in us even though we delight in the law of God.
[21:04] Whoa. Whoa. I thought it was gone. I thought I had no problem with it. I thought I had victory. Sin dwells in us even though we delight. We are powerless against sin in ourselves.
[21:17] You didn't get saved and all of a sudden wake up with strength in yourself to overcome sin. Here's another truth he said. I don't want to sin now.
[21:29] He said, sometimes I do what I don't want to do, but I don't want to do it. I do it. I didn't want to do it. I don't want to do it. The only way to have victory is to yield to Jesus and his working in my life.
[21:44] Third thing. Here's some truths that lead to victory. This is what you get. I, this is what I get out of Romans 7, 14 down to 25. There's victory in Christ over sin.
[21:55] We can reckon that to be true. There's victory in Christ. Look if you would at verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[22:08] So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. As we yield to the Lord Jesus, we'll be willing for him to show us our sin and our selfishness.
[22:21] We will agree with God about our sin and selfishness by his grace. He will help us to reckon ourselves to really be dead to sin and alive to him.
[22:32] I want you to look at this one and listen to me. If you're a mature Christian, you probably know more about your sin now than you ever did before in your life.
[22:42] When you're a lost God, you don't even see your sin. And when you're immature, you hardly see your sin either. But the more mature you get, the more you see your sin.
[22:54] It's kind of like the brighter the light gets, the more the dirt shows. And before I was saved, I was in darkness and I thought I was pretty clean.
[23:05] Then they turned the lights on. I found out I'm a sinner. And even though I'm a born again person, now the light's brighter as I serve Jesus. As I was, when I was a boy, my mother would get very angry if I came home with my clothes too dirty.
[23:21] And I'd often be playing out in the woods. We had a, my parents own 210 acres of land and 100 acres of that was woods. That was like, I was Robin Hood in the Sherwood Forest, except it was the Gardner Forest.
[23:34] I had tents and hideouts built. I mean, I was always building stuff out there. I mean, I promise you, I used to think I could hide from the law there for the rest of my life. And I would get out there and I'd get so dirty playing in the mud and everything.
[23:47] But I'd look down, I got ready to go to the house and I would be clean. I mean, I would see nothing on me. But it's pretty dark under the woods way back in there. And whenever you get to the edge of the woods and you start heading towards the house and you look down, you realize I'm fixing to get my rear end tore up.
[24:02] Because she ain't going to be happy because the lights are on. And that's what's happening. Look, if you would, we struggle with sin. A believer is going to struggle with sin.
[24:13] In James chapter 4 and verse 4, the Bible said, You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
[24:24] Chapter 4, verse 6, James 4, 6. But he gives more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resists the proud and gives grace unto the humble. Verse 7, submit yourselves unto God.
[24:38] Resist the devil. Draw nigh to God. And he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hearts, you sinners. Purify, cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Humble yourselves in verse 10.
[24:49] See, it's not about more information, but it's about more application. In truth, I know great things about who I am in Christ.
[25:00] Man, we've learned a lot. But God doesn't want us to have real big heads and tiny little feet. He doesn't want us to have these real big melon heads full of all this knowledge about God.
[25:11] And we're walking around on a little tiptoed like twinkle toes. And we go outside. We can't live that out. We know a bunch. You ask us a question, we can answer a question. God's not interested. You're knowing a lot of Bible. You don't live.
[25:23] Here's what happened in Romans 6. He said, great truths, great truths, great truths, great truths. And they're all true. But when I step out there, man, it's hard to live it. It's hard for it to live out in my life.
[25:35] So let me give you, last of all, some take-home truths in the passage. And I'll stop. And there's a whole message here, but I will speed through it. God's people will have a lifetime of struggle against sin.
[25:48] I want you to write this down. You're going to have a lifetime struggle. Now, I've only been saved 51 years. I got saved May the 6th, 1962.
[26:00] And somewhere along the way, you would think that I would no longer have to deal with sin. But here I am all those years later, and I still have problems.
[26:12] So be prepared. Stay awake and alert. Jesus said, watch and pray. Watch and pray. Determine to live out who you are.
[26:24] Trust the Lord to bring holiness to pass in your life. Another truth. Number one is, you're going to have a struggle. That's the first truth I want you to have. I want you to go home knowing this.
[26:35] Don't you dare. There's not going to be a second work of grace that just makes you perfect all of a sudden. I'm going to speak in tongues, and la-dee-da-dee, boo-boo. And all of a sudden, I'm in good shape, and I'll never have another problem.
[26:47] Not happening. We're not going to have a revival meeting here that God comes out and shoots you with a lightning bolt. Whoa, glory to God, all the sins gone, and I'm right. It's not going to happen. You're going to struggle.
[26:58] The Apostle Paul said, hey, I have the waters right in Romans 6, and I'm doing what I don't want to do. We will never have victory in and by ourselves.
[27:10] There's no quick fix. There's no list of sins to stop or good deeds to start. No conference, no revival.
[27:20] We'll just fix things from here on out. We decide to walk in faith, loving Jesus, listening to Him, and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Listen to me.
[27:31] I grew up in church, so often I look for God to do something where the law will be fixed. I want a one-time quick fix. I'm an American, bless God. We got a microwave oven.
[27:43] I bought Betty one of them things when they cost 500 bucks. I remember bringing that thing. It was about this big. You know, I blew an egg up in it the first day to see if it would work. That's the truth. I mean, I want to be able to push the button and get it done.
[27:56] I want it done. I want to have it happen. I want it over. I want my marriage perfect. I want my prayers answered now. I want a holy life now. There's no quick fix.
[28:08] We're going to struggle with sin the rest of our lives. But we can have victory. Even in victory, we're still unprofitable servants. Because we never win the victory. It's always Him.
[28:19] We're too prone to think of ourselves. In Romans chapter 4 and verse 11, he said, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are.
[28:31] He's worthy. Austin's not worthy. And Austin will never win any victory. It's not Austin. By the way, we have been given tools to fight with. And we should use them. Do you not understand that the Christian life's a war?
[28:45] We don't war to get saved, but we war to live for Jesus. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. There it is.
[28:56] Finally, brother, I'll just sum it all up out of Ephesians. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the walls of the devil.
[29:08] Philippians chapter 3 and verse 12, Paul said, I have not attained. Either were I already perfect. I have not arrived. I am not there. I have not got it done. But I follow after this.
[29:20] He grabbed a hold of me and I'm grabbing a hold of Him. If that I may apprehend that by which I was apprehended of Christ. Brethren, I forget those things that are behind me. I reach forward to those things that are forward.
[29:30] I press. I press toward the mark of the high prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. In Hebrews chapter 12, we've got a great cloud of witness surrounding us.
[29:41] And we're to run with patience. I don't like that word. I do not like that word. I want to pray. God, fill me. Boom.
[29:52] God, help me be right. Boom. God, let me know some Bible lines. Boom. That's how I want it to happen. It doesn't work that way, does it? Here's what works. Every day I get out of bed and every day I realize I have victory in Jesus.
[30:06] Sin has no power over me. I can serve Jesus. I can, but I don't have to. It's not like he just fixed it. I'm not a new robot.
[30:18] So I look unto Jesus and I consider him the word of God, Bible study and preaching and Christian fellowship and service to others and worship and accountability.
[30:29] Mature Christians struggle against sin. Well, you got to get this. So easy for you to go home thinking, I want to pray that one prayer.
[30:44] I got saved easy and quick. And then for God will be easy and quick. And it really is easy when we realize this. It's not about trying to keep rules. That'll just get you tired. But it's about knowing this. You're going to have some thoughts you ought not have.
[30:57] You're going to do some things you ought not do. Sins all around us. It's in us even. I don't understand that. It doesn't make a lick of sense. It really doesn't. I mean, Romans 6. I mean, good night.
[31:08] You put all the great minds that study the Bible together and they got five opinions and they're all arguing about them. One of them said, so-and-so says so-and-so and I think he's ridiculous. So the other guy writes back and says, well, so-and-so said I was ridiculous.
[31:20] I'll just tell you he's ridiculous. And so every one of them is like, I don't get it. Well, I think I got it. Now, they can all say I'm ridiculous. Because I'm a peon. Ain't nobody going to listen to me anyway. But I'll just tell you, here's what it is.
[31:31] He's the only way to have victory. He's the only way to have victory. Mature Christians know that victory is found only in the person and the work of Jesus.
[31:43] Verse 25, 725. I thank God. Who will get me out of this? Who will help me have victory? Who will help me quit living like I don't want to live? Verse 24.
[31:54] Verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God with the flesh and the law of sin. Never trust yourself to live the Christian life.
[32:06] Never think you have it down. Never think you're beyond sin. If you think you stand, take heed lest you fall. Though we struggle with sin, His grace is sufficient and should motivate us to seek holiness.
[32:21] Just listen to what I'm going to tell you right here. I don't know how much longer I'm going to live. I don't know if God will give me 20 years or maybe 78. Maybe give me 30 years, I'll be 88. Hey, He could give me 40 years, I'll be 98.
[32:33] That'd be a miracle. Poor Betty. She'd have to put up with me all that long. If she comes out of good genes, she'll live to 120. But you know what?
[32:44] His mercy should motivate you this morning. In Romans 12, 1, it says, I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God that you present your bodies, that you yield your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God.
[32:58] Verse 2. And transform your mind. Don't stay where you are. Don't stay where you are. It is Jesus that saved us and He's saving us even now. Our victory is just another proof of His grace over sin.
[33:13] Grace and triumph over sin. Remember this. Let me give you a couple of verses to end. In Philippians chapter 1 and verse 6, it says, He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
[33:29] You see, I got saved on May the 6th, 1962, not by anything my parents did, not by anything my church did, not by anything my pastor did, and certainly by nothing I did, but by the almighty grace of God, He saved me.
[33:41] And I will continue to grow, and I will have my struggles, and I'll step out of the path, and I'll step back into the path, and I won't be all out of being, I'll have thoughts I'll not have, but I can mark this down.
[33:52] If I am truly born again, He's working in me. He's working in me. He's working in me. Nuts and the downs, He's working in me. I've got a good God. Amen. By the way, He'll spank my little backside, my big backside.
[34:06] He'll spank your little one. By the way, He's going to work in us. He's going to work in us and bring it to pass. Let me give you one last verse. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, There is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
[34:22] But God is faithful. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. I want you to listen to me real quickly, please.
[34:33] This is it. I'm through. Watch this. You can have victory. I get so tired of hearing Christians try to find Bible verses that give them excuses for sin.
[34:45] And in Romans chapter 7, verse 14 down to verse 24, there's a passage so many people like to go to and say, I can't help it. Even Paul said sin was in him, and he was carnal soul in their sin.
[34:58] Even Paul said he couldn't do what he wanted to do, and he did what he didn't want to do. He did. But that's not where he left it. By verse 24, he's going, Oh, God, I've got to have victory.
[35:09] God, who can deliver me? God, somebody get me out of this. And in verse 25, he said, Blessed be Jesus. That's the one that saved me. That's the one that will bring me to holiness.
[35:21] It's in Jesus. And you can have victory. In Romans chapter 8, the airplane's going to take off again, and we're going to fly way above the clouds. We're going to fly way out into outer space and find the glories and the greatness of our God.
[35:37] Watch this. Great truths might lead you to selfish thinking and selfish living, where you say, I, me, my, myself, 30-something times in 11 verses.
[35:50] Or today, you could say, I have been there, and I am there, but I want to get to verse 25, where I realize it's Jesus.
[36:01] Don't walk out of here, you're a rules keeper. See, rules on the outside won't change us. It's rules on the inside He placed in us. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. Yield to Him.
[36:12] Tomorrow morning, this afternoon, know that you have victory. Act like you have victory. And yield yourself to do what's right. Yield yourself to do the godly thoughts and the Word of God.
[36:24] Now you listen to me. Stop skipping church. Stop not reading your Bible. Stop not praying. Stop not putting all the spiritual influences in you.
[36:36] You need each other. We need each other. I need people to motivate me to serve Jesus. I need people to encourage me. Because it's a battle. It's a struggle.
[36:47] We need a family. We have it in Christ. Let's go forward. God, who will get me out of this? I hate the way I'm living.
[36:58] I hate doing what I don't want to do. I hate not doing what I want to do. God, I want to do right. I don't understand this. Who will get me out of it? Jesus. That's how He ends the chapter.
[37:10] Jesus. He'll get us out of it. Father in heaven, I love you. I thank you for the chance to serve you. And I pray, God, that you'd help Christians this morning to make decisions that bring honor and glory to your name.
[37:21] And I pray, God, that we'd yield ourselves and we'd confess our wickedness and confess our sin and give you the opportunity to make a big difference in us. God, help us today to determine that we will just simply go step by step, day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute, even second by second, knowing the truth, believing it to be true and acting like it, and yielding or presenting ourselves to you to be used of you.
[37:46] God, help us today. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.