WWUTT 1258 Who Will Save Me From This Body of Death? (Romans 7:21-25)

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Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Not you.

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Try as you may, you will keep on failing. Our Savior is Christ, who saves us from death and sin, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the Word of God that we may be conformed to the image of Christ.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. All right, we're finishing up that kick in the pants that Romans 7 has been for us.

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These are the last few verses of this chapter, Romans 7, verses 21 through 25.

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The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, so I find it to be a law that when

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I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

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Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then

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I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

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Now this section that we're looking at here at the end of Romans 7, this really brings home everything that we've been studying through verse 7 to verse 20.

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If you have found this to be a bit of a puzzle, as we've been going through Romans 7 starting

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Wednesday last week, and then Monday and Tuesday, and now we're finishing this up today.

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If you've found trying to piece together verses 7 through 20 to be a perplexing puzzle, 21 through 25 is like the box top.

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It's like you've got all these puzzle pieces in front of you, you're putting it all together, you're trying to see the picture, and then you look over at the box top, and you see what the picture of the puzzle is supposed to look like.

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You're like, oh, I see, and then you take the pieces and you're trying to form that picture that's on the box top, right?

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But don't hear me saying that if only Paul had taken this section and put it at the start of Romans 7, verse 7, then this would be easier for us to understand.

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That's not my point, because the scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. It is perfect the way that God meant for it to be written.

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So this closing section here is bringing it home. It's not that Paul mistakenly put it in the wrong spot, but he's summarizing for us everything that may have been confusing to us up to this point.

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Because like I said, Monday and Tuesday, sin is complicated. So it's complicated to figure these things out.

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How is it that we are justified by faith? And how is it that we, as Paul had argued back in chapter 6, that we are dead to sin and alive to Christ?

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If that's the case, if we're dead to sin and alive to Christ, why is it that I still want to sin?

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Why is it that as a Christian, I'm still struggling with doing things that I know are contrary to God's will for me?

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If God does not desire it for me, it's a sin for me to even desire it for myself. So why do

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I desire those things? Why is there still that hunger in my flesh to do something that is wrong?

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That would be sin. And we agree that sin is rebellion against God. So if I have this new heart that desires

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God and is not supposed to desire sin, why am I still desiring sin?

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That's what Paul has kind of been laying out here in Romans 7. It's to argue that our sanctification is not by our power.

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Because though you are now justified in Christ, you are not yet fully sanctified.

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And that sanctification that you need, growing in holiness, being made more like Christ, specifically the way that Paul puts it in Romans 8, 29, is those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his

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Son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. So as you're being sanctified, as you're being grown in holiness, you're being conformed to the image of Christ.

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You don't completely conform to Christ's image when you get saved, but you are continually being conformed to his image.

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As Paul will say in Romans 12, too, do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

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And that is a daily work, a daily submission to have the mind of Christ, to flush out the toxic things of this world, to stomp down the sinful man that is within us that is still trying to rise back up again.

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He's dead. He's buried. He's down. But he's still trying to zombify himself and crawl back out. And you need to wage war against those zombies and bash him back down into the grave.

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So all of this is a daily submission unto Christ, and that work, that power to accomplish that comes from the

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Spirit. It does not come from ourself. We don't save ourselves, nor do we keep ourselves saved, nor do we grow ourselves in the salvation that we have.

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Christ is the one who does this work in us. So as we've been reading these laments, really, that Paul is making here over the sin that still exists in his members, his soul is saved, his mind wants to do what is obedient to God, but his flesh still is wanting to do the sinful thing.

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He's got a restored, raised -to -life soul living in a sinful body, in a flesh that has been subject to corruption that is coming unto death.

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So how is it that this soul now that desires to do the godly thing, how do we wrestle with it and the sinfulness that still exists in the world of corruption in which we exist?

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So verse 21, I find it to be a law that when

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I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. And once again, it's only the person who has been raised to life in Christ who wants to do the right thing.

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Because as we said back in Romans 3, no one wants to do right. There is no one righteous, not even one.

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No one does good. So the one that even desires good, that is the person who has been given the goodness of God in their spirits when the

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Holy Spirit was poured into us through the hearing of the gospel and the repenting of sin and the turning to Jesus Christ.

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But Paul says, I find it to be a law. Now, we're not talking about the law, okay?

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We're not talking about the moral code here. But there is something established that we cannot overcome, like the law of gravity.

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You're not going to break the law of gravity and just immediately start being able to fly around and whip in the air to your free will.

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So there is a binding law that exists, Paul is arguing here in verse 21. I find it to be a law that when

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I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. We, as human beings living on fallen planet

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Earth, have not overcome evil. Yes, Paul is going to say when we get to Romans 12, he's going to say, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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But those are respective instances where we encounter those evil circumstances in our lives.

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When evil is presented with you, overcome it with good. But that doesn't mean you're overcoming that circumstance makes all evil go away.

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Evil is still going to exist in the world. It's still going to be here until Christ returns.

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So whatever we want to do that is right, evil is going to lie close at hand.

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And this is the scheme of Satan to try to discourage us from doing the right thing. But what is the action that James encourages us to do in his epistle?

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He says that we need to draw near to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

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Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. This is something I stated yesterday.

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When you are tempted with something, don't focus on that temptation thinking that like some sort of mind over matter thing is going to help you to overcome that.

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Like a temptation is presented to you and you're looking at that going, hmm, I'm being tempted by something.

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Now, how do I overcome this temptation? Let's see. Maybe if I go around it, you're still getting way too close to the temptation.

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What you must do is turn to Christ, taking every thought captive, making it obedient to Christ, drawing near to God, he will draw near to you, resist the devil, he will flee from you.

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Evil is going to lie close at hand to try to get you to do the thing that is going to be contrary to the will of God, to discourage you, to make you far from God, to make you even doubt your own salvation or the love of God.

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Whenever you start entertaining sin and you are too focused on temptation and not on Christ, maybe you're not even giving into the temptation, but the temptation just still kind of dwells there, and you dwell on it.

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So your meditation is on the temptation rather than meditating on Christ. When your mindset becomes that way, you're either captivated by the sin and you do the sin, or you're just standing there looking at it, though you're not even doing it.

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And maybe in your heart, you're like, I desire to turn away from this, but you don't. You're still focusing on the sin. What's going to happen there is you will doubt the promises of God for you that are given in Christ, because you're not looking to Christ.

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You're looking at worldly things. You're even staring at your own hands, doubting your flesh.

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Don't look at your hands thinking, how do I use these hands to overcome this thing? Look to Christ.

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Jesus has overcome the world. So we are more than overcomers through him who loves us.

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Something that Paul is going to say when we get to Romans chapter eight, look to Christ.

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Evil is going to lie close at hand. And that's a law, Paul says here. It's a law.

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I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. There's evil there. Just waiting, sitting there like a prowling lion, waiting to overtake me.

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I want to do the right thing, but I'm still there's still a battle going on here. I still have to wage war against monsters that want to eat me up, that want to devour me.

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Peter warns in first Peter chapter five, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

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God even warned Cain when hatred welled up in his heart for his brother

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Abel against his brother Abel. God warned him, sin is lying at the door.

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It is crouching at the door and its desire is to have you, but you must resist it.

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And Cain did not. He was overcome by that predator and gave in to the temptation that was in his flesh and murdered his brother

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Abel. He was unable in the power of his own flesh to overcome the desire of his flesh.

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This overcoming power comes only through Christ that we turn to Christ, the power of the

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Holy Spirit within us to overcome these things. Paul said to the Corinthians, God will never give you a temptation beyond your ability to resist it.

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And beyond your ability does not mean beyond your human fleshly ability, but beyond an ability that you have given to you by the

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Holy Spirit of God that dwells in you. That's how we have the power to overcome sin and temptation in the schemes of the devil.

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It's by the power of Christ that is within us. And so, yeah, it's true, whenever we want to do the right thing, evil is going to lie close at hand.

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The devil wants to have you. But you must resist him firm in your faith and turn to Christ.

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Paul goes on, verse 22, I delight in the law of God in my inner being.

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Once again, as I've said, you know, the last four or five days we've been in this particular section, we're not talking about an unregenerate man here.

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We're talking about a person who indeed loves God, which is why he delights in the law of God.

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The rebellious man does not delight in the law of God. He's against the law to do what is contrary to the law.

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Paul had even rebuked the Jews back in Romans chapter two. You had the law and couldn't do what it said.

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So so don't be shaking your heads at the Gentiles described in Romans chapter one who did not have the law.

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They had all this sin and depravity and everything. You're standing there shaking your heads at them. You had the law and you didn't keep it.

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The law was never meant to save us. Paul said to the Galatians that the law was a tutor. The law was a safeguard for you.

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The law kept you from going into worse evil than you would have fallen into. It taught you, but it didn't save you.

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The law was never meant to save because you're a sinner and you can't keep the law. Doesn't make the law evil means you're evil and it awakens sin in you.

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It brings about in your mind the knowledge of sin. And as Paul said back in verse 13, even to show sin and become sinful beyond measure, we become all the more knowledgeable of our sin.

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When we look into the law of God, we see God's holiness. And in light of his holiness, just how depraved we are, the more we see

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God and how great he is, the smaller we see ourselves being and the need for a savior that we have.

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So I delight in the law of God because in the Holy Spirit that has been given to us,

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I know that God's law is good in my inner being. But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

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It's still there because your body is flesh and is subject to corruption. So Paul had said back in Romans six, do not be slaves to unrighteousness, but commit your members as slaves to righteousness.

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Commit your members to slay as being slaves of righteousness, the righteousness that we have been given in Christ.

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Your members in and of themselves are not righteous. You can do righteous deeds all day long.

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It's not going to make your body righteous. But as we have in Romans 12, 1, submit yourselves unto

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God as living sacrifices. Submit your bodies unto God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God.

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This is your spiritual act of worship. God is the one who is making you righteous.

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You wear the righteousness of Christ now, you've been justified, but you're also being made unto righteousness as you're growing in sanctification and holiness.

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So in your inner being, you delight in the law of God, but in your members, there's another law that's waging war against the law of the mind, making you captive to the law of sin that still dwells there in your members.

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Now I, I struggled with this so much in my young adult life when I was in my twenties, when, and it was

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Roman seven, Roman seven would be that one that I would come back to and go, boy, I want to do the right thing, but I can't seem to do the right thing.

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I always seem to be doing the wrong thing. That thing that I want to do, which is right, is not the thing

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I do. It's the thing that I don't want to do. It's the thing that I keep on doing wretched man that I am who will save me from this body of death.

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That's exactly where I was in my twenties when I was wrestling with the passions of my flesh and also the desire to please

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God and do his will. So, so when I got to verse 24 and I just kind of spoiled it cause

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I just said what 24 is, but when I got to verse 24 wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death,

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I remember reading that and going, yeah, that's me. I am wretched. I want to be delivered from this.

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How am I delivered from this? And when I was asking that question, what I was expecting from Paul, when

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I was reading this in Romans seven, what I was expecting, who will deliver me from this body of death? You know what

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I was expecting? I was expecting the five point sermon to a better life. I was expecting

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Paul to go, okay, well here's what you do. Here's how you overcome this body of death. Point number one, you need to do this.

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Point number two, you've got to go and do this. Point number three, you know you're a person that does this. You can't be doing that.

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You have to do this instead, right? You know what kind of sermons I'm talking about? They are do -do sermons because that's what the sermons are doing.

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They're telling you to do something. It's do this, do this, but it's also do -do because the do this sermon is not going to be the thing that saves you.

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You cannot be saved by your works. You can't be justified by your works. You cannot be sanctified by your works.

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Those are do -do sermons. What is it that Paul says is the resolution here?

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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now once again, when I'm looking for a solution to the sin problem and I'm wanting the five point sermon to give me that solution and instead what

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I read in verse 25 is thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, I'm looking at that and I'm going,

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Paul, you didn't answer your own question. Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

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But that's because in my flesh, I'm reading that question and I'm thinking that the answer to who will deliver me from this body of death, the answer to that question is me.

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And I need to do this, this, and this to overcome this body of death because I'm already presupposing that the who is me, but the who is not me.

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Paul is answering the question. Who will save me from this body of death? Jesus. Jesus saves me from the wretched man that I am.

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He saved me from the wretch that was wallowing in my sin and misery unto my death and he is saving me from the wretch that is still trying to claw itself out and entertain itself with some of the passions and things like that that exist in this world.

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Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, Colossians 3 5 and be raised to new life in Christ by looking to Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

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I'm a wretched man. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Jesus will.

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Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is the resurrection and the life.

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Whoever believes in him, though your body dies, yet shall you live.

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Paul says, so then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh

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I serve the law of sin. Now he's that's not a conclusion. That's not a conclusion statement because the first verse in Romans 8 1 is there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

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So don't think that Romans 7 25, the end of Romans 7 25 has brought to a conclusion this argument that he's been raising here in Romans chapter 7.

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We've still got more to go. We're going to get into Romans chapter 8 next week. But how this is wrapping up here is with Paul saying that if he is focusing on Christ, who is the salvation of the wretched man that I am,

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I myself serve the law of God with my mind. You have the desire in your mind to serve the law of God, but in your flesh you cannot serve the law of God.

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If you're trying to do it by your flesh, you are serving the law of sin. So that that's the summation that he's making here, at least at the conclusion of Romans chapter 7 is that the focus still must be on Christ.

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You try to do it with your flesh. You're going to be subject to the law of sin. You're never going to be able to overcome that, because once again,

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I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is right, evil lies close at hand. I delight in the law of God in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

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These are laws so that they are binding on us. No one can overcome this. You cannot in your flesh overcome sin.

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You overcome sin through Christ. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for what we've been reading here in Romans 7. What tough truth this is to read and therefore even to apply.

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But I pray that we do so, that today we understand dying to sin and being alive in Christ.

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That doesn't mean that the temptation is not still there. But when those moments arise, it causes us to focus more on Christ.

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These are trials that we may draw all the more near to our Savior, and the devil will flee from us.

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So deliver us from this body of death, wretched man that I am. Wretched women, even, that may be listening to this going, yes, that's me too.

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Help us to turn to Christ, that we may be made righteous, sanctified unto glory when we are with you forever in heaven.

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And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

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Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.