Know Your Enemy: The Flesh Examined by the Worst of Sinners (2) | Romans 6

ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church

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I want to go ahead and start out today by noting, as you can see from the sermon title, that we're going to continue harmonizing and examining the flesh with its interrelated doctrines, what doctrines it relates to, especially in light of what the chief of sinners, who is the

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Apostle Paul, says in Romans 6 in particular. And so thus far, we've been answering some very important questions throughout these past few sermons, such as, what is the source and seat of corruption in man?

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And the extent, the influence, the dominion, and the power of the flesh, especially in regenerated believers.

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Okay, keep this in mind. And actually, so before I continue here,

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I did want to mention to everybody to please be sure, as much as possible, to attend the

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Lord's Day worship on Sundays, and the Wednesday Bible studies as well. We've been covering a lot of important stuff in the

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Bible studies too, and stuff that we don't cover here on Sundays.

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So I do want to encourage everybody to participate as much as you are able in the

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Lord's Day services, in the means of grace, and in the Bible studies, as much as you can.

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And it was funny, because I was actually reading R .C.

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Sproul's commentary on Romans, and he said something that really stood out to me, and it really kind of blew me away, because I had never really heard him say something this strong.

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And so he says, We are to make diligent use of the means of grace, and make sure our souls are being fed regularly by the

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Word of God. We have responsibility to be on our faces before God, in prayer, earnestly, on a regular basis, and never to miss the corporate worship of the people of God, unless we are absolutely indisposed.

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So this is like hardcore. Those are some strong, that's very strong language, but I must say that I do think that's biblical, and it's important because the

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Scripture itself tells us, let us not forsake the gathering of ourselves, corporately as a people, right?

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Because you can be sanctified by reading Scripture on your own time, and by studying books and things like that, but you're not going to get the primary means of sanctification, which is our, as our

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Reformed Confessions and Catechisms and the Bible teaches, is primarily through the preaching of the

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Word of God in a public, corporate setting as a church. That is where we get the most benefit as believers.

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You will often find solo Christians, people who don't go to church regularly, they will often have imbalances, and they will have a lot of weird ideas and teachings because they're not being checked by, or being held, sharpened by the preaching of the

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Word, and by like -minded believers who are helping them to see, hey, you got something going on here, let's work on those things.

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Very extremely important, and I really want to encourage us to do that, to be faithful in the corporate worship and in the studies, what we try to provide for you all, for your edification, for your benefit.

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Very important stuff, because we're going to need this in order to be prepared for our last and evil day.

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And so, that being said now, last week

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I also preached on the importance of having a balanced, biblical understanding of man, of the flesh, of mortification, putting to death the sin in our lives, as opposed to, and in contrast to, asceticism, which is a sinful, you know, denying ourselves to the point of it being like causing harm to ourselves, like the

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Roman Catholic Church teaches. And of true worship as well, of true worship as well.

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Because God Himself, we know, is good, and created good things for us to enjoy with thanksgiving and prayer, which is why

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He also condemns asceticism. God, it is good for us to get married, in other words.

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It is good for pastors to get married. It is good for everybody to get married if they so desire to. It is good to eat and enjoy good food and the things of this life, within balance and discipline and all of those things, of course, not overindulging.

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But they are good things for us to enjoy that God has given us. And even though God created everything good, including man, however, the fall and disobedience of our first parents, that is, sin or original sin, as the doctrine is called, original sin has nevertheless corrupted every single part of us to the very core of our nature.

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Everything, mind and spirit, is affected by sin, by the fall, and the curse that God brought on, that Adam brought on the earth, the whole earth, because of his first disobedience.

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This includes, like I said, our mortal bodies and our spirits and the body of death.

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Well, the mortal body of sin and death is how scripture explains it. We're going to get into that a little bit more in chapter 6.

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So we need balance. I can't stress this enough. I've tried to mention it as much as I can.

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We need balance when it comes to weighing out the doctrines of scripture and putting them together properly, not sacrificing one for the other or overextending or overexerting or emphasizing one to the expense of another doctrine.

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That balances it out. So, just like we talked about last time, regeneration versus the flesh.

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How do we balance those things out? The corruption of man that remains and the regenerating power of God.

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And also, we need to apply the analogies of scripture and of faith.

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These are very important hermeneutical principles and principles of interpreting the

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Bible correctly in which we use scripture to interpret scripture, where the clear passages interpret the less clear passages, and all scripture interprets scripture.

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So we interpret scripture in light of its immediate context and in light of its whole entire biblical context.

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What does the Bible as a whole teach about the flesh or these related doctrines?

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And the analogy of faith, because now we also need to know what the Bible, not just what it says, but what it teaches.

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What doctrines does the Bible teach? And how do we systematize and harmonize what the

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Bible teaches as a whole? That's the analogy of faith. We must, therefore, also avoid the extreme views of regeneration like I covered last week.

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The first being instant or entire sanctification or perfectionism, which is an overly optimistic or triumphalist view of sanctification, which is sort of a self -deceived view of the reality of sin that still remains in our lives.

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The second view, extreme, is the belief that Christians are forgiven but don't really change after they're regenerated and converted by the

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Spirit of God. And they essentially remain vile, wicked sinners who have an abyss of hell in their hearts, like I quoted some of the well -renowned men of the past who expressed things us, described us in that way, which is, of course, unbiblical because it is overly pessimistic and a defeatist view of sanctification because God is the one who is working in us.

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He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. Amen?

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And I was dealing with 1 Timothy 1 in verse 15 specifically, where Paul says that this is a trustworthy saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom

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I am the foremost, the chief, the worst. And why does he say that?

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Is he saying that because he's still a wretched sinner? No, he says he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.

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That's why he calls himself the worst of sinners because as the worst, in the next verse we read that as the worst, for this reason he was shown mercy because being the foremost or the worst,

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Christ Jesus might demonstrate all his patience as an example for those who are going to believe upon him for eternal life.

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So if Paul is that bad and God can give him grace and transform him to make him an apostle of his will, then

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God can save us and make us whole and actively, progressively better and good.

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Right? Amen? So we need to be careful not to overemphasize the power and extent and control that the flesh has in our lives as believers, especially when we read or when we study men from the

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Reformed faith and tradition because you have to be careful to discern when they're overstepping, when they are becoming imbalanced and saying things that are not biblical.

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And one of the key texts, of course, that I want to keep emphasizing to give us that right mindset and the right amount of hope that we as believers have the power to overcome sin in our lives because Christ has overcome it and nailed that body of sin and death to that cross is 2nd

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Corinthians 5 17. This should be a memory verse for all of us, right? We should all memorize this verse.

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It's a very important verse for our lives. And when it comes to sharing the gospel as well, because this is where we have a very powerful promise and indicative that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation reborn, renewed by the

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Spirit of God. The old things, the previous moral, spiritual lifestyle and condition and sin has passed away.

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Behold, new things have come. But all these things are from God himself.

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They come from God. God gives us to them, gives them to us.

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There are major obvious differences between unbelievers and believers.

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There should be. There should be. We're supposed to be salt and light. Amen. We're supposed to be salt and light to the world.

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We should be a peculiar people like the Bible says, a royal priesthood on a holy nation of people that stands out in contrast to the world.

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They should wonder what is it that's different about you? Why are you so different from everybody else?

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Why don't you curse and look like like the devil and like the things of the world and the music and the movies?

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And why don't why don't you? Why are you so different? Because we have the spirit of God.

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That's why we're different. Amen. So I want to reiterate this maxim.

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Very important theological maxim for us to internalize as well. Our aim.

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Our goal is not self debasement. OK, it is not to beat yourself up or flagellate yourself like Rome teaches and and to try to destroy your your body.

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But self humiliation, humility of mind.

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Humbling yourselves. Not self confidence, but God confidence.

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OK, confidence in God. That God is powerful enough to deal with our issues and help us to overcome them.

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As well as the sins that we struggle with in our lives. Not self esteem, but spiritual esteem.

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The esteem and the confidence that comes from God. That is because God is all powerful.

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And he cares for his people, for his sheep. Which we belong to if you indeed believe the gospel.

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Repent and believe the gospel. God does not save us and leave us in a state of wretchedness.

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He saves us for good works. He saves us to conform us to the image of his son.

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To make us perfect like his son Christ Jesus. OK, so that being said, however, we cannot as well over correct our understanding of the flesh and of regeneration either.

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We have to watch out for imbalances once again. Because theology is all about making right and proper distinctions.

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And more specifically what I'm referring to is by thinking that we become a completely different person altogether when we are saved and converted.

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OK, there are very notable examples of this false understanding of regeneration and of the popular,

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I'm sorry, there are some notable examples of this misunderstanding of regeneration.

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It comes from the very popular lordship salvation missionary

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Paul Washer, whom I've criticized before regarding his lordship salvation and things like that.

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And also the Plymouth Brethren, which is a sort of denominational group that was founded in London by John Nelson Darby.

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He was not a good guy, by the way. He was a very bad guy. He was a diatrophist.

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So I used to, regarding Paul Washer, I actually used to wholeheartedly recommend one of Paul Washer's sermons called

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Being What You Are. Having too low a view of regeneration. And he's preaching on Romans 6.

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And some things in that sermon are good. And you can listen to it yourself.

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Just always, as always, be discerning. We must always be discerning and watch out for imbalances and biases that are not biblical.

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But as I matured in the faith, I started noticing some problems with the sermon that I had overlooked before.

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Because at certain points,

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Paul Washer actually claims that our nature itself is changed in regeneration.

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And then he actually gives the illustration of a pig wolfing down, like chomping down on, you know, pig.

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What's that pig stuff called? Sloth. Yeah, pig sloth. And enjoying himself and loving it.

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And then suddenly he's supernaturally converted or transformed into a man. And then the man realizes what he's doing and he's all disgusted with himself.

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And he's like, why am I eating this disgusting sloth? This is disgusting. And now his nature finds it repulsive what he used to love.

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And he uses that as an illustration of describing what happens to us in regeneration when we are transformed by God's spirit, when we are transformed by God's spirit and changed.

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But this does not mean, this is known as a category error,

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OK? Yes, God does change us, but he doesn't change our nature. OK, he does not change our nature.

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We are still human beings, right? We are still the same person.

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We're going to get into this a little bit more. It's not that God changes us from a man to something else.

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We are still men. And likewise, in one of his other studies called

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Discerning the Plight of Man, Paul Washer claims that God does not draw men to himself by dragging them against their will.

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Rather, he first regenerates the hearts of men, giving them a new nature.

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This new nature, which has been recreated in the image of God, possesses new and righteous affections that then draw men irresistibly to Christ.

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OK, there's a big problem here. We need to be able to identify it. Recreated in the image of God, right?

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So that's actually implying that we did not have the image of God beforehand, before we were regenerated.

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We are still creatures in the image of God. We are still the image of God. It's just that our nature, what the

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Bible teaches, and what theologians have taught of old, is that the image of God has been distorted.

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It has been marred in us because of sin. So, God does not give us a new nature.

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It is not a new nature, OK? It is a renewed nature.

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A renewed nature. Also remember that the image of God in man is primarily a rational, thinking knowledge of the truth, like I preached on a few weeks ago.

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It is not primarily the affections, OK? But rather, the mind.

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The mind, the spirit, or the spirit embracing truth. Because affections, at least in the sense that Paul Washer seems to define them, are more like desires.

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Or expressions of what the mind thinks and believes. They are outward expressions of what we think and believe.

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And that is what the image is. It's knowledge of the truth of God, of His Word.

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And theologians of old spoke of how, in regeneration, God implants in us a new, not a new nature, but a new disposition.

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Disposition, OK? New desires. New habits.

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New... Yes, it's a disposition,

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OK? And behaviors, new behaviors. And in his critique of the

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Plymouth Brethren, which is, this is what they also teach. The Plymouth Brethren, more sharply than anybody else probably, teach that you become a different person when you are regenerated.

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And that, of course, is very problematic, because that would imply that the old person that you were, then who was saved?

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Who was actually saved then? If the old person wasn't saved, then that person was never saved.

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So there's a big... It's just a very dangerously false, unorthodox, false teaching on the nature of man and regeneration.

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We need to be careful with. So R .L. Dabney, an excellent, excellent

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Southern Presbyterian theologian in the time of the Civil War, highly commend him to you. He has his imbalances and things like that, just like everybody does, but nevertheless an outstanding theologian that we should all make ourselves familiar with.

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Dabney clarifies that regeneration is not a change of nature, because that would imply, that would mean that we are no longer, we would no longer be human, which is absurd.

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It's a new disposition, okay? And I appreciate what

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Dabney does in his article on the Theology of the Plymouth Brethren. Again, I highly recommend that you all read it.

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It's called Theology of the Plymouth Brethren. Dabney first asks this question, what is a nature?

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What is a nature? We always need to define our terms first.

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If you do not define your terms, you do not know what you're talking about. You do not understand what is being said.

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We must know. That's why I'm spending so much time defining what man is, what the spirit is, what the body is, what the flesh is.

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We must understand what these things mean in order for us to understand what the Bible teaches about them.

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So that when we read these words in the Bible, the flesh, the body, the body of sin, we don't misunderstand them and impose a false meaning on them.

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That's called eisegesis, rather than exegesis, by which we draw out the meaning from the text, from the passage.

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So, what is a nature? And Dabney explains for us that a nature is a collection of permanent characteristics or attributes or predicates.

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Okay? An example of permanent, that's a key word. You know, this kind of reminds me of this whole

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LGBT agenda, right? Of transgenderism and how people try to act like, you know, gender is fluid and it can change.

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But guess what, folks? Gender is not fluid. Your gender does not change. You cannot change your gender no matter how hard you try.

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Once a man, always a man. Amen? Once a woman, always a woman.

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And you see the utter disgusting perversion. I hope you all didn't see it, but if you did, the disgusting, vile display of perversion from the

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Olympics and how totally perverted it has become, you know, allowing, not just allowing men to compete with women and women to compete with men, but the disgusting display of transgenders, of men in dresses, with beards, still, it's just vile.

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God despises that corruption of our nature. That is not natural. That is why

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Romans 1 says it is against nature to pursue homosexual desires or lesbian desires.

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It goes against our nature as humans. By nature, you are a man or a woman.

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That is not something that can change. That is what also a predicate is. A predicate is like God is holy.

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Holy is a predicate that describes God. Man is fallen.

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Man is body and spirit. Man is created in the image of God.

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Those are all predicates that describe our nature and that describe God's nature, any nature, the nature of anything.

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That is what nature is. A nature is. Now, Dabney continues here.

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In strictest speech, man's nature is never actually changed, either by the fall or even by redemption.

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For if he were, he would no longer be a man, like we've been saying.

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He would become another animal altogether with a different nature from that which made him a man.

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This is very basic. Basic, right? Very basic. Man is a man.

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Woman is a woman. Yet our society has no sense of this anymore. That's a sign of God's judgment on a people when

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He gives them over to a debased mind of foolishness, to their darkened hearts, to their vile, degrading perversions and lusts.

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So there is... So he continues.

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But there is a popular use of the word nature. So there's a different colloquial use of the word nature and more frequently of the phrase moral nature.

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Okay? Moral nature. Men mean by it the moral abitus.

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Abitus. That's a Latin word for disposition. Okay? Disposition.

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And in the Greek, like in 1 John, as I've been preaching in 1 John, the word is peripateo.

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Okay? Peripateo. That means your walk, your lifestyle, your thoughts, your habits, your words.

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How do you carry yourself? Do you carry yourself as one who walks in darkness like an unbeliever in sin without repentance, without mortification, without sanctification, without belief in Christ?

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Or do you walk in light, in truth, in holiness, in faith, in Christ, in his word, in the gospel?

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How do you walk? That is what this disposition is.

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That is what has changed. Not our nature. It's our lifestyle, our desires, our behaviors, our actions, thoughts, words, and deeds.

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So, very important to understand.

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This is that which permanently qualifies the disposition. It's what permanently qualifies the active powers of the soul, of man, for good or for evil.

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That's exactly what he's describing. What is your disposition? Are you inclined towards evil?

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Are you an unbeliever? Or are you inclined towards good? And you are a believer. It's one or the other, okay?

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There is no other. There's nothing else. Either you are lost in Adam, dead in sin, and bound for hellfire and damnation for eternity.

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Or, you are a believer in Christ and have been declared righteous and good by God because of what

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Christ did on the cross for you and are therefore being made actively good through sanctification, through God's Spirit living in you and becoming more and more righteous and conformed to the will of God and His law.

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So, in other words, your deepest convictions, your habitus, your peripateo, your disposition, your lifestyle, this, your deepest convictions, this is what drive your thoughts, words, and actions.

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It is who you, it is what the Bible refers to as the inner man, the heart. The Bible refers to as the heart.

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It is what you really are and believe on the inside. It's like Jesus said, these people honor me with their lips, with their words, but their hearts, their true selves, their inner man is far from me.

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They don't actually believe what they claim to believe. Right? That's what James 2 also talks about.

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Faith without works is dead. You're a hypocrite if you claim to believe and you don't have a walk, a lifestyle, a disposition, a peripateo of good works to show for it.

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That's a dead faith. It's a false faith. Right? So, therefore, this is a better definition of the word affections.

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Okay? They are your deepest rooted convictions, your deepest beliefs that drive everything else that you do.

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And that is what God changes. He changes what we believe. He changes our, our desires and our belief.

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He changes our minds. That's what metanoia means. Repent. Repent. To repent means to change your mind.

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And that is what God does for us through His Spirit, the regenerating power of His Spirit.

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That is conversion from believing a lie to believing the truth of God.

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Amen? So, this may have been what

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Paul Washer was trying to explain, but unfortunately, he was just too confusing. We have to be very careful how we explain things and the kind of illustrations that we use, which

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I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to bite my own tongue shortly, but um,

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Dabney, R .L. Dabney, who has, who has become a very good friend, a personal friend of mine.

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I just really enjoy reading his work. Furthermore, gives us a nice summary of the whole, of this whole matter that is reminiscent of Augustine.

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He says, In the carnal state of the unbeliever, the abitus, the lifestyle, the disposition of the sinner's will is absolutely and exclusively godless.

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Okay? It is no good at all. He is completely controlled by the flesh, the evil sinful desires of the flesh.

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In the regenerate state of believers, that is those who believe in Christ, it is prevalently, commonly, normally, there, but not completely godly.

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So we are now prevalently, or more commonly, normally godly.

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We tend to doing good works, doing good, thinking good thoughts, saying good words, and performing good actions, good works, but not exclusively, right?

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Because we still sin, and we still have to wrestle against the flesh. And yet in the glorified state,

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Dabney says, it is absolutely and exclusively godly. So just as unbelievers were only and exclusively evil, believers in the glorified state will be only and exclusively perfect, holy, and righteous, and good.

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Because we will be made like unto Christ our Savior. Now, very important to understand.

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So we need to test these claims, even when they come from those who profess to be reformed.

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You know, I've mentioned this before. We have to be careful. Just because somebody says they're reformed doesn't mean that what they're teaching or preaching is sound, or reformed, or biblical, right?

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We have to always examine all things, like the word says, including what

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I preach and teach. Always be discerning. Always. It's a lifestyle that we exercise our powers of discernment through constant practice.

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That is a mark of a believer who has been made good by God.

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You are a discerning individual who can tell good from evil, lies from truth.

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One of the primary marks of believers is that discernment, to know, because my sheep...

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What did Jesus say? My sheep know me and hear my voice.

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Right? My words. They recognize the voice, the words, the teaching of their shepherd, the savior,

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Christ, of our God. Now, we must remember to examine all things with the whole counsel of God, using the analogies of faith and of scripture to prevent us from becoming imbalanced or from believing falsehoods or lies or false doctrine, which happens often, especially when sound, confessional, systematic preaching and teaching and doctrine is neglected or ignored.

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Okay? So it's not just important to attend the faithful preaching of the word, to attend Bible studies and attend the fellowship of God's people and attend the corporate worship of God, of God's people in a local church and to participate in the means of grace like the

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Lord's Supper and baptism and especially and most importantly the preaching of the word.

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But you have to attend a true church that preaches faithfully, right?

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It does you no good if you attend a Mormon church that preaches a false gospel or a

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Jehovah's Witnesses church that preaches a false gospel or a Roman Catholic church that teaches a false gospel because they don't teach that justification is by faith alone apart from works of the law, apart from anything that we do.

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It is by grace and grace alone through faith alone in the right gospel.

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So you must attend a church that preaches the word faithfully in order to be sanctified, edified properly.

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We all have a responsibility to do that and to do it regularly like Sproul says and like the word says to not neglect the assembling of ourselves.

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This is how you are not going to grow by becoming a lone ranger, a lone wolf, right?

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That is not healthy. That often leads to despair, to apostasy, to depression, to an imbalance like I said.

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So we must be very diligent to attend, to participate, to cooperate with the means that God has given us and receive them regularly in addition to of course the private means of grace.

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Yes, you do need to do your own study as well. Prayer, study, reading good books, good theology in the

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Bible. But, very important, now we get a chance to dive into Romans to continue examining and unpacking our doctrine of the flesh, our understanding of the flesh.

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And I'll confess this at first that I actually wanted to jump right into Romans 7.

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But then we have to realize that we need to examine the broader context of what scripture teaches in Romans 6, 7, and 8.

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Okay? We need to check all three of those chapters because all three of those chapters deal substantially with the flesh.

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So instead of cherry picking verses from them, it's better to just preach through them with a specific topical focus on the flesh.

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Okay, that's my goal for these next messages. To preach through Romans 6 -8 specifically focusing on the flesh.

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And interestingly enough, when I was reading Sproul's commentary on Romans, he mentioned that Romans 6 can be difficult to understand, this chapter that I'm preaching on, because of the language that Paul uses.

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Now, why is that? It can be challenging because it can be challenging to determine when

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Paul is speaking in a physical or literal sense as opposed to a spiritual or figurative sense.

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So have these categories in your mind as we read and go through, plow through Romans 6.

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Because we have to make sure we understand these terms that Paul is using correctly. Do we understand them more literally or more figuratively?

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So turn with me to Romans 5 to the end of Romans 5 so that we can transition into Romans 6.

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Romans 5, starting in verse 20. God's Word says, and I'm reading from the

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LSB. Now the law came in so that the transgression, the sin, would increase.

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But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Now, Romans 6. What shall we say then?

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Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Okay, so based on what you told us,

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Paul, should we continue sinning so that God's grace may continue to abound and be poured out to us?

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What is Paul's answer? May it never be. God forbid.

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Absolutely not. Why? How shall we, who actually died to sin, what is this past tense?

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Died to sin. Still live in it. Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

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Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the

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Father, so we too might walk in newness of life as new creations with a new disposition, a new habitus, a new peripateo, a new lifestyle, a renewed nature.

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For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.

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Amen. So, this is why we need to make sure we don't go off the reservation like this phrase goes.

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We have to keep the doctrines of Scripture in balance. And that's what

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Paul was addressing. He was addressing these perverters, these perverters of God's grace, of God's Word.

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They were saying, oh, well, let's keep sinning then so God's grace can continue to be poured out to us. Like, you fool!

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You fool! Do you not know that when you die to sin, you no longer live in it?

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Right? Amen? Why? Because God changes our disposition to now desire and to walk after the

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Word of God, the Law of God, and the means of grace. Those are diametrically opposed, mutually exclusive.

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You cannot walk both roads. They are totally different divergent roads.

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Like Jesus said, you cannot serve two masters. Right? You cannot serve the world, possessions, mammon, the love of the world, and the love of God.

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Just like 1 John 2 says, which I catapulted us this series from.

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The love of the world means that the love of the Father is not in you.

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You are not saved if you love the things that you are not supposed to be loving that God prohibits as sin.

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Okay? So, continuing now. Very important verses here.

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Romans 6, 6. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

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For he who has died has been justified, has been set free from sin.

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Okay? From sin. From the power, from the bondage, from the slavery of sin.

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Remember the question that I asked before. After a believer dies, does he or she continue to sin?

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After a believer dies, and the spirit departs from his body, does he or she continue to sin?

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But here we see a clear explanation as to why.

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When you have died, you have been justified from sin.

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You have been released from sin. You have been released from the power of sin, from the bondage of sin.

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So it is very important. That's why I have been preaching, I have been explaining that the flesh, what the flesh means is primarily our physical bodies and our senses, because that is why we still sin.

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Our spirit, our inner man is renewed. Our inner man has been regenerated by God.

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Our spirit has been renewed, but we are still trapped in this mortal body of sin. And that is why we still sin primarily.

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Even though, yes, we still sin with our minds. Of course, all sin is mental.

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But the reason is because we are still in this physical body of death.

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And when we depart from our bodies in death, we no longer sin. And that's why.

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That is why. Because our physical bodies are not glorified, are not restored until the resurrection.

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That is those of us who believe in Christ. Right? Because if you don't believe, you will be resurrected, but you're going to be resurrected with a body of shame and of damnation, like I covered in Revelation 20, the

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Sermon on Revelation 20. So now, have this in mind, okay?

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As we deal with what's coming, these issues that are coming here with the flesh. And I want to remind us of the quote from Samuel Rutherford as well, the

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Westminster theologian. He says, Sin, sin, sin.

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This body of sin and corruption and bitters and poisons, all our enjoyments.

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Oh, that I were where I shall sin no more. He is longing.

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He is expressing a desire that we all should have. Right? We all should have a desire to no longer sin.

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Right? That is what the Apostle John says. My little children,

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I write these things to you so that you may what? Not sin.

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And he longs for it. But he can't. He knows he can't.

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In this life, enjoy the perfection of sinlessness. Why? Because we are still trapped in this body.

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In this body of death. That is why we still sin. That is the primary reason why we still sin.

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So yes, we should express the same sentiment. We should all. If you do not desire to sin no more and long to be with Christ like Paul did, it's better for me to depart and be with Christ because then

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I will be sinless. Then I will no longer struggle against the flesh. Now I will no longer struggle against my ungodly sinful desires and appetites and all of those things.

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But then I will be perfect like my Savior Christ Jesus. We should long for heaven with Christ.

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And if you do not desire those things, if you do not have that conviction of longing to be with Christ, there's something wrong that you need to examine yourself with.

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Okay? You need to examine yourself. It may not necessarily mean that you're not saved. Okay? I'm not going to go

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John Piper on you and tell you, well, you're not saved unless you're always desiring God every moment of your life.

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Right? Because that itself is impossible. Right? We still sin and we falter.

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And that is why when we sin, well, every time you sin, you fail to desire

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God. You desire sin. You desire something else. And that's why you sin. So we need to be balanced.

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But we have to remember that we need to examine ourselves. Nonetheless, to check ourselves.

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What are we? What are what are? That's how you examine yourself.

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What are we? What are we? What are we thinking? What are the things that I think about? Do I set my mind on heavenly things like the

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Bible says on heavenly things, on the things of God, on the Bible, on his word, on on sound doctrine, on reading good books and reading the

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Bible and studying and fellowshipping with God's people. Do I set my mind on those things or do I set my mind on ungodly things, ungodly desires, sin, lust, pornography, sensuality, pride, wanting to selfishness, wanting to get what you want, even at the expense of others or not even caring for others.

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Because the Bible says we should regard as others more important than ourselves, right? Love your neighbor as yourself.

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These are all signs, right? What words do you speak? Do you speak filthy, foul language?

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I hope none of us do. We should not be using coarse, filthy language.

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The Bible explicitly condemns that as sin. Colossians 3, several places.

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Every idle word that we speak, we will give account of it on that day of judgment,

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Jesus said. Every idle word. Now, of course, he's talking about unbelievers because every idle word that we spoke in sin,

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God paid for on that cross. So, amen.

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So we need to have, as always, a proper understanding of the most, what is, what primary issues, what's most important and how do we make sense of everything else in light of what we are seeing here.

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So, this is extremely important for us to wrestle with.

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And I want us to end here and we'll pick up next

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Lord's Day on this same chapter in Romans 6 and just have the understanding of how we need to examine ourselves.

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The Bible says very clearly, we need to discern not just our external world, not just what's outside of us, but what is inside of us as well.

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We need to discern ourselves. That is what examining yourself means, to discern, to be honest with yourself and do not be self -deceived.

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Right? Do not allow the devil or your flesh or your unbelief or your false belief to mislead you into death or error or hell.

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Do not have a false assurance. Do not be deceived by lies.

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And the only way to know that is to know God. And everybody says that, right?

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Oh, I know God. I believe in... You will hear people all the time say that they believe in God. But when you look at their lifestyle, you look at what they think and what they express and what they do, and that's what

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James says. You're a hypocrite. Your lifestyle will reflect who you really are on the inside because God changes us, regenerates us and transforms us.

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You're making God a liar. In other words, if you say that you know Him and you haven't been made good and more actively righteous, that two -stage process, like the

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Confession says and like Romans talks about, that we actively put to death sin in our lives, the flesh in our lives, and also more actively walk in holiness and in righteousness and loving our neighbor and in loving

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God. Right? So, very important to have these things in mind as we reflect on this throughout the week.

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I'm really excited to continue to go through these chapters in Romans to really help us to understand what it is that the flesh...

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to cement our understanding of the flesh so that we can properly deal with it as believers and as unbelievers, right?

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As unbelievers, of course, the first step is we need the Gospel. We need the Gospel. We need to believe in Christ because no matter how hard you try, that's part of what makes

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Rome's teaching on asceticism so perverted because you cannot deny your flesh unless you first have the

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Spirit of God in you, unless you first believe. We have to have a priority of what's most important.

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There's no point in denying your flesh, at least for spiritual reasons, unless you first are made right with God and believe

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His Word, His Gospel. Okay? So let's go ahead and close out with a word of prayer then.

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Our gracious Lord and almighty Heavenly Father, we thank You so much,

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Father God, for the preaching of Your Word as a means of grace. We ask, Father, that You would help me to continue to study diligently and to manage my time to be able to prepare

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Your Word, Father, to really bless and edify Your people, Father, knowing that the

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Word of God preached is one of the primary means of grace that You have given us as believers in this life.

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Father, help us, Lord, to make diligent use of the means of grace that You have given us in our lives,

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Lord, and to continue to seek out, to understand and know our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, the flesh in particular, as we dive into Romans 6 -8,

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Father, to make good and proper sense of how to deal with our sin and our flesh, having a good sound discernment and sound doctrine so that we can help ourselves and each other and to identify these problems, to diagnose them and to attack them by Your means.

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We thank You, Father. We ask that You would help us also to fight and wrestle against the flesh, to give us the confidence, knowing that You have put to death sin in our lives and that You have broken the power and dominion of sin over our lives so that we are now in the dominion of Your Spirit and of Your grace and that we can have and overcome the evil one and the world and our flesh by denying ourselves and by actively engaging in these means of grace to put sin to death and to actively practice and do and say righteousness,

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Lord, according to Your Word. We thank You, Father, and we ask these things in Jesus' almighty, precious name.

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Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church, where the

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Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety is applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional, loving, discerning

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Christians who evangelize, stand firm in, and earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

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If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area or for more information about our church, sermons, and ministries such as Semper Reformanda Radio and Thorn Crown Network Podcasts, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com.