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SIN / SELF

SELF - Incapable in Relation to Right Living

Chuck Lindsey · Sunday, 27 July 2025 · Romans 7:13-25 · 56:57 · 9,062 words

Romans S14 · 7:13-25 Grand Blanc

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

The sermon explains that Romans 7 reveals a conflict inside every believer, showing that God's law exposes the rebellious desires of our old self. It describes three persons living within a Christian: the old self, the new self, and the Lord, and says the old self will always fight the new. Victory over sin comes by stopping personal effort, turning to Christ for salvation, and asking God to fill us with His Spirit. The message calls listeners to admit their need, trust God's power, and depend on Him.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

old 85 new 58 want 95 win 15 inside 19 body 32 dead 30 wrong 24 driven 8 man 42 live 60 drawn 7

Topics

Sin 9 The Law 8 The Holy Spirit 3 The Flesh 2 Prayer 2 Salvation 1

Scripture referenced 31

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 7 1:15 Romans 7 1:23 Romans 7 2:41 Romans 7:13 2:56 Romans 7 5:25 Romans 7 6:14 Romans 7:13 6:21 Romans 7:13 6:24 Romans 7:13 7:54 Romans 7:13 8:17 Romans 7:13 10:44 Romans 7:14 25:29 Romans 7:14 25:35 Romans 7:15 28:58 Romans 7:15 30:05 Romans 7:15 30:35 Romans 7:17 35:56 Romans 7:18 36:56 Romans 7:18 37:39 Romans 7:19 39:04 Romans 7:20 39:46 Romans 7:21 39:58 Romans 7:22 41:28 Romans 7:23 41:28 Romans 7:24 43:14 Romans 8 50:20 Romans 8:25 50:20 Romans 8:25 50:20 Romans 8:25 50:55 Romans 8:25 54:10 Zechariah 4 55:14

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 9 lines, 0:41. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

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Thanks again for joining us, and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

All right, so, well, we continue today in the incredible Book of Romans.

And I am not trying to be sensational or exaggerate,

but this is one of the most important passages in all of the Bible.

That is no exaggeration. It is life-changing, this passage, if you will allow it.

It is amazing.

It has absolutely transformed my life, this passage of Scripture.

Maybe more than any other passage in the Scriptures.

It has transformed my life.

And every Christian needs to hear and truly understand the words of Romans chapter 7,

the end of Romans 7 here.

And so, because of that, I just want to ask you to really try to give your full attention to this today.

Not for my sake, but for yours.

For the next 45 minutes, I want to ask you to really try to give your full attention to this today.

For the next 45 minutes or so, really try to, you know, put your focus towards this,

because this is not something that the enemy wants you to grab hold of.

He would love for you to be thinking about whoever is playing in the sports games today.

That shows you my sports knowledge, right?

Or whatever you're going to eat for lunch today, or whatever.

He would love for you to be thinking about nearly anything else,

because this is so transformative to every Christian who really gets it.

So it's going to take work to stay focused.

And not drift, and to push out distraction.

And I guess what I'm saying is this, you're not going to grab hold of this passively,

if that makes sense, right?

That does not happen with the scriptures.

You know, it just doesn't passively come into your ears and become a part of your life.

Like, that's not how it works.

We have to actively listen today and pray that God will put these things into our lives.

You have to be engaged and really look to the Lord to change us.

Otherwise, this really life-changing passage will just be,

you know, very little impact on you, okay?

And so, Romans chapter 7 has absolutely changed so many people.

And there's a reason for it, and it's a very important understanding,

and we'll get to it today.

It's a simple thing, but it's very, very important.

So, we're going to pick up where we left off in verse 13.

I've been looking forward to this since we began Romans.

And let's do this.

Before we go into it, let's pray.

Let's ask.

Let's ask the Lord to help us today and for him to speak.

Lord, we love you, and we need you,

and we just come to your word with awe and amazement and expectation, Lord.

I pray today that you would transform the words of a foolish man to be your words, Lord.

I pray you would speak.

I pray you would teach.

I pray, God, you would change.

You would change us today through the power of your word.

Please open your word to us and help us to grow today in it.

It's in Jesus' holy and precious name we pray.

All right, well, let me ask you a question.

I'm being very serious about this, but do you ever wish that you could get away from you?

You can get away from other people, but you can't seem to get away from you.

What do you do when you are the problem?

When you're done blaming everybody else,

when you're done blaming all the circumstances in your life

and the things that are going on around you,

when you come down to the reality that the problem is really just you.

I've had these moments in my life, and I have hated them,

but they have been very, very important.

How do you get away from you?

And that's really like asking, how do I change, right?

Because this is something that for the Christian,

this is a common.

Real, continual, it's an everyday problem.

Every true Christian wants to be like Jesus.

We do.

We want to reflect him in what we say and what we do and what we think and what we feel.

In everything and in every way, we want to.

We want to be like him.

But then there is something in us.

If we're being honest, there's a very real part of us that,

also, does not want to be like Jesus.

You're like, you can't say that.

It's true.

And it's part of what you have to understand here in Romans 7.

There's part of us that doesn't want to be like him.

There's part of us that doesn't want to do right.

There's part of us that wants to sin and wants to rebel

and wants to do our own thing and worship ourselves.

That is in us.

And we,

we know what we should do and what we should be.

And we hate ourselves because that is not what we were.

That's not what we are.

And so we want to be free.

We wish we could be free.

I wish I could be free of me.

So what is happening in all of this?

What is this problem that exists in every believer?

What's happening here?

Well, that is what Romans chapter 7 is all about.

It is so important.

It's so important to understand.

So let's pick up where we left off there in verse 13.

The apostle Paul, he says, yeah, he begins with a question there in verse 13.

He says, has then what is good become death to me?

Okay.

So the question is simple.

He's saying is something that is supposed to be good.

Is it actually evil?

Is it actually the problem he's talking about?

If you remember last week, he's talking about the law of God, right?

He's talking about God's law, his commandments.

And he showed us last week.

That the law did not make him good.

The law demanded that he would be good, but could not make him good, right?

And so the law only revealed that Paul was not good.

And the law, that's what it does in you.

It's what it does in me.

The law reveals that we are not good.

We said, that's the point of the law.

It doesn't make us good.

It reveals that we aren't.

That's the point.

We've said it before.

The law of God is like a mirror.

It just shows us us.

If you don't like it, you don't like it.

If you don't like what you see, it's not the mirror's fault, right?

It just revealed the issue.

It revealed the problem.

And the point of this is to show us our need to be saved.

So when Paul says, has then what is good, the law, has it become death to me?

He's asking, did the law of God, did the rules cause me to become a rule breaker?

And of course, did the law force him to break the law?

The answer is what we said last week.

Look, verse 13.

Certainly not, Paul said.

Of course not, right?

The rules don't make people break the rules.

The rules only reveal the inward desire of us as people to do wrong and to break rules.

The law revealed the truth about us.

It illuminated something.

It illuminated the condition of our own hearts.

And that is what Paul says in the rest of verse 13.

Look what he says.

But sin, that it might appear to be sin, that it might appear sin, was producing,

was producing death in me through what was good, so that sin through the commandment

or through the law might become exceedingly sinful.

What's Paul saying?

The word appear there, it refers to light shining on something to reveal what it is.

At night, if you hear a weird noise, you're going to hopefully investigate or you're going

to try to go back to sleep and tell yourself it was nothing, right?

That's a good strategy.

As well.

So you're going to grab a flashlight of some kind.

Probably you're going to grab, you know, maybe it's your phone flashlight or if you've got

the old school mag light, you know what I'm talking about?

That is a weapon in and of itself.

It's practically a baseball bat with an LED light at the end of it.

It's fantastic.

You're going to grab that.

You're going to go and investigate what is going on to try to, you're going to shine

that into the darkness to try to reveal what the issue is.

Well, that's what this word here means.

And in the same way, we,

we read here that the law of God is like that flashlight shining into our

hearts and revealing the truth in the darkness, right?

And so what the law revealed is that the problem every person has is actually at

our core.

It's not on the surface.

It's deep within.

There is a deep desire inside of every person to do wrong.

And if you don't agree with that, your problem is with God and the Bible because

he says it over and over and over.

And it's also the reason that you're not doing right because you don't understand

the deep desire to do wrong.

It's at the core of us as people.

And we've got to know this and the law shine this light and said, don't do these

things.

And then all of a sudden we found out, wait a minute, I'm not supposed to, but

now suddenly I want to.

We have a strong desire to do wrong.

We have a strong desire to do wrong.

And the law didn't cause that.

It only revealed the truth of this.

Okay.

Does this make sense?

So it revealed this.

So verse 13 says it revealed that we are exceedingly sinful.

Now, if you have a wrong view of yourself, you're going to have a problem with the

idea of the Bible saying that you and I are exceedingly sinful.

You're gonna have a problem with that.

Do you know this though about you?

I say,

I say it to you.

I say it to me.

There is a deep desire in us as people to do wrong.

We are drawn to it at our core as people.

We are rebels.

That's not my words.

It's God's.

We rebel against God at our core as people.

We want, we are drawn to what is wrong and what is wicked and what is evil.

Do you know this about you?

Do you believe this about you?

Our self esteem culture pumped into us messages that at our core, we are good.

We are right.

We are okay.

And it, and it nuked the family and it destroyed lives.

The self esteem messaging is a death sentence.

It doesn't help people.

It hurts people at the core.

God says opposite.

He says our core, we want, we are drawn to wickedness.

That is our problem as people.

There is an appeal deep within to things that are wrong and sinful and evil and destructive.

We're drawn to them.

We're pulled towards them.

If we're honest, we admit this.

And if you are a Christian, you feel crazy.

Do you ever feel nuts?

I feel nuts all the time, right?

I feel crazy because part of you does not want to do wrong.

I don't want to do wrong.

But then there's a part of you that does want.

To do wrong.

And so you feel crazy.

What is this?

Well, you got to pause here for a second because we really got to talk about this because the rest of the chapter is not going to make any sense to you if we don't get this.

Okay.

What Paul is saying here is one of the most important things that anyone could ever understand.

And it's this.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, please hear this.

There are three people living inside of you.

You wonder why?

You feel crazy.

Okay, that's right.

Three people live inside of you.

And again, one of the most important doctrines you could possibly understand.

So three people live inside every Christian.

Now, side note, if you are not a Christian, one person lives in you.

Just one.

If you are a believer, three people live inside of you.

And it might be a surprise to you.

The first person that lives inside of you is the old you.

This is, please hear me, this is the unsaved version of you.

The unsaved, old, rebellious, wicked Chuck lives inside my body.

Okay.

And it's called the dead man in the Bible.

And everybody that is a believer has this.

Now, again, if you are not a believer, you have one person living in you and that is the dead man.

You are dead to God.

You're dead in every possible way, the scriptures say.

You can be made alive.

You can be made alive today, but that is what you are.

You are, you are dead.

And so, so this, this, this whole thing, right?

So for a Christian, if you've been a Christian for more than three minutes, you know that the dead man that is inside of you doesn't seem very dead.

In fact, very alive is what the dead man feels like.

That old dead version of you is not at all inactive.

He or she has not been inactive this morning.

Am I right?

You have seen his face.

You have seen his face or her face today.

Very active all the time.

And it's like some zombie living inside of you.

Right?

And that is the next thing that you have to understand about this old dead version of us is that it is very much alive.

We might hear the word dead and we think that it's inactive.

That is not the case.

You might hear dead and you think it's gone forever, buried, and you don't have to deal.

It's not a problem anymore.

This.

That is not the case.

And if you don't understand this, you are setting yourself up.

You're going to be frustrated.

Very, very frustrated.

Dead in the Bible is a word that describes being separated from God.

It refers to being godless.

It refers to being driven by sinful, wicked, evil desires, fleshly desires.

That's what the word dead means.

And so dead is used to describe unsaved version of you that is living in you.

It's dead in.

Every way.

Again, this is so important to understand because let me just say it this way.

Please hear this.

The old you is just as unsaved as you were when you did not know Jesus.

In fact, worse, no doubt.

Just as unsaved.

That's what's living in you.

Hear that again.

The old you just as unsaved as you always were.

Hasn't gotten any better.

And so this means that the old you that lives in you still wants all the same old things.

All the same.

Still drawn to all the same stuff you were drawn to before you knew Christ.

It wants its own ways.

It wants to please itself.

It's destructive.

It's rebellious to God in every single way.

Please hear this.

The dead man that is living in you has not been changed at all.

Not at all.

Not by coming to church.

Not by reading the Bible.

Not by praying.

Not by being baptized.

Not by anything.

The old man that lives inside of you.

The old you is as wicked, is as evil, is as rebellious to God as it has always been.

And it's so important you understand this.

And let me just go further.

And it never will be.

It will never be converted.

It will never be saved.

It has to be done away with.

And that is exactly what's going to happen.

Now, spoiler alert.

Okay.

When you die, praise God.

One of the blessings of this is that the old you is now gone forever.

No more fight.

Against, you know, the evil desires of your flesh.

It is just the new you forever.

That's it.

No more old you.

It is the new you in heaven forever.

This is so important to understand the doctrine of the old man or woman living in you.

But as we said, there are three people that live in you.

Okay.

So who's the second one that lives in you?

Well, you will be happy to hear this.

The second person living in you as a Christian is the new you.

Okay.

The new you.

By the way, again, this is only true.

This is only true of born-again people, Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, the unsaved person.

They only have that one dead man living inside of them.

They are not alive.

And so, but for the person that loves the Lord Jesus and follows the Lord Jesus, has

turned to him and calls him Lord and Savior, that you are an entirely new person.

And this new you lives in the same body.

With the old dead you.

Now hear this.

That new you is totally saved.

Wonderfully saved.

I mean, that new you, please hear this, always wants to do what God wants you to do.

I mean, that new you loves the Lord, wants to glorify him, wants to serve him, never

wants to sin, would always choose to go the way God wants, is always trying to draw closer

to the Lord.

He's always trying to do what God wants him to do.

He's always trying to do what God wants him to do.

He's always trying to do what God wants him to do.

He's always trying to do what God wants him to do.

He's always trying to do what God wants him to do.

He's always trying to do what God wants him to do.

He's always trying to draw closer to the Lord.

Wants to do what God says, wants what God wants.

That's the new you living inside of you.

And you go, well, that's awesome.

I know.

But because of the two living in you, the old you and the new you, there is a conflict,

a major conflict.

There is war, the Bible says, between these two yous, a fight for control.

And it's at the core of you as a person.

The new you versus the old you.

The new you.

Pulling you towards good and right.

And the old you pulling you towards evil and wrong.

The new you wanted to get up this morning and come here.

The old you was like, it might rain.

You know what I'm saying?

And all the people watching online that did that.

You're totally just kidding.

I'm totally kidding.

Right.

But you wonder why you feel nuts.

Why you feel crazy.

You get up like, you know what?

I'm going to read my Bible.

And then you're like, you know what?

I don't have time for that.

What is happening?

You know?

Here's an example of the difference between these two.

If you had a button in front of you that would make it so you would instantly never sin again.

You would never do anything wrong ever again.

The new you would instantly hit that button.

The old you would be like, well, maybe not today.

I still got some stuff I want to do.

Right?

I mean, that's the difference.

And this is what is happening inside of every true believer.

Every unsaved person does not have the ability to sin.

They do not have this conflict.

They don't have this conflict because they're not alive because there's only one person living in them.

They are ruled, the Bible says, by their desires, by their flesh.

So there is a war for control.

This fight is the evidence that you're alive.

And so here now is the million dollar question.

If these two are at conflict, are in conflict inside of you, which one wins?

Does the new one win or does the old one win?

And if you think I'm about to tell you,

that you just need to let the new one win, you are mistaken.

That is not today's message.

Here's the question.

Which one wins most often in your life?

You see, you might be tempted to think that the new you will always win out over the old you.

That the new you is actually stronger than the old you and can always win out.

Please hear this.

This is the game changer.

No, no.

This is why you fail.

Understand that the old you is more powerful than the new you.

Your good intentions, not enough.

You're not strong enough.

Please hear this.

The new you is not strong enough to defeat or to overcome the old you.

It's not.

And I'm going to show you that in this passage in just a moment.

But if it's just you versus you, the old versus the new, you are going to lose.

The new you is going to lose.

Every single day.

Every single time.

You're going to lose.

And this is the like loop that so many Christians are stuck in.

You say, well, that's not very positive.

That's not very affirming.

That's not good for my self-esteem.

And I say, yeah, but it's true.

And Jesus said this, that truth will set you free.

And that's the goal today.

To set you free from what keeps you in this.

Hear it again.

The new you who wants to obey God, follow God, serve God, not sin, not given to temptation,

is not strong enough.

From the old you.

That only ever wants to sin and do wrong and do its own thing.

And so that is why you say, so what's the solution?

Well, that is why there is a third person living in you.

That third person who is living in you is the Lord himself.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit of God lives inside of every true believer.

How good is the Lord?

And this changes everything.

Every single thing.

Every single thing changes as a result of this.

And this is what this chapter and the next is all about.

This chapter is trying to convince you that you can't defeat you so that you will rely upon him.

Because he lives in you, this means that it is not just the new you versus the old you.

If it was, as I said, you would always lose.

But instead, here's the key.

If you learn to depend on God.

Depend upon him.

And not upon yourself.

If you stop trying to trust in your ability.

And you start to depend upon his power.

It's you and him against the old you.

And guess what?

You will actually have consistent, steady obedience to God.

I know that's a big statement.

But it's real.

And Paul shows it.

So we're prepared now to go into this passage.

Which, admittedly, is crazy.

It's crazy.

But it will make a lot more sense.

It will make a lot more sense now.

So Paul begins to explain this problem in verse 14.

And he starts to explain this whole three people living in us thing.

Look at verse 14.

He says,

For we know, right?

We know that the law is spiritual.

That's him saying God's law is good.

The problem is me.

He goes on.

He says,

But I.

So God's law is good.

But I am carnal, sold under sin.

When he says I am carnal, the word there means fleshly.

It's a word that describes everything we said before.

It's a word that describes everything we said before.

It's like I'm driven by what my body wants.

That's the way the Bible describes the unsaved person.

They are driven by what their body wants.

They are driven by their appetites.

And so it's a word that describes being led by my body instead of by the Lord.

And so it's describing a life that is owned by the inward desire for what is wrong.

It's another word for being dead.

And so Paul says,

He says,

I am carnal.

He goes,

This is Paul.

The Apostle Paul saying this.

Then he says,

I'm sold under sin.

You go,

are you like speaking like metaphorically?

Are you speaking like figuratively?

You know,

he's talking about himself.

And I'm so thankful for this.

He says he's literally a slave to sin.

Sin is a master over him.

There's no way to soften that.

again,

we're talking about the Apostle Paul.

So what does this mean?

Well,

this is what is so important to understand,

about all of this.

Paul is describing what we've already said.

He's describing the old Paul.

The old Paul is driven by his flesh.

The old Paul is a slave to sin.

The old dead Paul,

the old man that lives in him,

that one cannot be redeemed.

It cannot be made better.

And what he says is that that old man is only ever this way,

driven by the flesh.

That old man is a slave to sin.

Sin is its master.

And it's the same thing for you.

If you're a follower of Jesus,

that old version of you is a slave to sin driven by the flesh.

Always never better.

The old you is driven,

absorbed by the flesh,

by the physical desires instead of what God wants.

The old you is a slave to sin and there is no cure for the old you.

It's a slave to sin.

Sin is its master.

Sin calls the shots for the old man living in you.

Paul explains all of this with shocking detail,

shocking detail.

And by the way,

this is why we,

we are always counseling and why the Bible is always saying for you to be as a

to be careful with how you live.

If you think that you can handle what your flesh wants,

you cannot.

Bible says you cannot bring fire to yourself and not be burned.

So many people I know,

they,

they,

they play around with things that will absolutely consume their lives.

They think they,

they think somehow their old man is dead and gone and,

and that they,

they are,

they are okay and they don't need to have protection and,

and guards in place for these things.

Yeah,

that's crazy.

And Paul makes it clear.

Look what he says.

Maybe you've said this before for what I am doing.

I do not understand.

This is Paul.

Please recognize the apostle.

Paul is expressing his frustration over wanting to do good and not being able to.

He wants to do good,

but he's not able to.

He's frustrated as he fights the old him who wants to do wrong.

there is,

there is so much vulnerability in this passage and I,

I'm so grateful for it because this tells me,

if there was anybody that I would have thought really did it as a human being,

like got it,

I would have said it was Paul.

You know what I mean?

Like just doctrinally,

like so stable,

I would have said if anybody had it figured out,

it's Paul,

but here he is.

He is frustrated.

And this tells me this is every Christian's struggle.

that Paul will give us is also every Christian's solution and it's beautiful.

So Paul says there in verse 15,

I don't understand what is happening inside of me.

Do you have you said this before?

I don't know what is going on,

but notice he alludes to two different versions of him in this very sentence.

Did you catch it?

He says,

for what I am,

that's the old me for what I,

the old me is doing.

I,

the new me does not understand.

I don't know what's going on.

You see the rest of it there.

Verse 15 for what I,

the new me wants or wills to do that.

I,

the old me does not practice,

but what I,

the new me hates.

That is what I,

the old me does.

Do you see what's happening here?

It is so,

it is so important.

He says what,

what I want to do has as a follower of Jesus Christ,

the good,

the right,

the,

what God wants.

Watch this.

The old me does not practice that.

And he's frustrated.

He says,

I,

I'm not doing what I want to be doing.

You ever been there?

I've had people look at me and say,

I cannot,

I cannot get drunk again.

I can't do it.

I'm going to lose everything.

If I do it,

how do I stop the desire even to get there again?

How do I stop this desperate?

I know what I should do.

I know what I want to do.

I can't seem to actually do it.

Maybe you're living there today.

You want to be free of the evil thoughts and hatred towards the person that hurt you.

You cannot go down those roads anymore.

It's eaten your life up,

but then there's part of you,

this other part of you that hopes they will go through pain,

that hopes they will go through difficulty,

that hopes they will go through trouble and you feel crazy.

You want to think pure thoughts,

but there's a part of you that wants to pull open those apps.

To pull open that browser,

to look at that pornography.

There's part of you that wants to,

you're drawn to it.

You want to be free of the pain medication,

but there's a part of you that loves it.

You want to be free of the love of money and the countless endless pursuit of it,

but there's a part of it you really,

really love.

And so you go on and on,

whatever it is,

you go on and on.

And he's describing this internal war inside between the new and the old,

the saved Paul versus the very old.

This is the very unsaved Paul.

And please notice Paul's not winning the new man.

He isn't winning the new Paul isn't winning against the old.

In fact, he's losing.

He says what I the new one want to continually do.

That is what I the new man do not continually do.

Instead, it's the opposite.

I have good intentions.

I do well for a minute,

but then right back to the vomit,

right back to the old,

right back to what destroys when the motivation is worn off.

I'm right back to it.

You tell me this isn't the common problem.

Sound familiar in your own life,

in the lives of the people around you.

Sound familiar because this is as real as it gets.

And Paul says what I the new me hates.

I hate it.

That is what I the old me does.

He's stuck in this terrible loop that so many of God's people are in.

Here's the loop.

I want to be free of it.

I hate it.

I hate what it does to my life.

I hate it.

And there are times where it does.

It causes me so many problems that I determine I'm going to get it out of my life because I hate it.

But after a while, I end up back.

I end up back where I started and I end up worse.

Is this not your story?

Mine is your story this morning.

You hate it, but it holds you.

You've tried. You've tried.

You fought. You promised.

You determined you found that you are not strong enough to fight you.

You end up where Paul ended up in frustration, saying, I don't understand what is happening.

I don't know how to get there.

Well, here's what I would say to you.

Hang in there. The answer is coming.

But it goes on for 16.

Paul says, if then I the old me does what I the new me does not want to do.

I agree with the law that it is good.

So Paul says what every true believer says.

I hate the sin in my life.

I'm not.

I'm not excusing it.

I'm not dismissing it.

It's wrong.

It's evil.

I want to be rid of it.

I'm not saying it's good.

I'm not saying it's OK.

I admit that I'm not excusing my hatred for them.

I know it's wrong.

I just can't seem to get rid of it.

I'm not excusing my love for those substances.

I know it's wrong.

I just can't break free of it.

I'm not dismissing my anger issues.

I agree that it's evil, but I can't seem to actually change.

I need to be different, but I don't know how to be.

And I'm asking you again, is this you this morning?

You're done excusing it.

You need to change.

You can't keep doing this.

You can't keep going back to that.

You can't be that person anymore.

Are you there today?

Because this is where Paul was, and he begins in verse 17 to understand the situation.

Look what he says.

But now it is no longer I the new me.

It's no longer I the new me.

Who does it?

But sin.

Now he's calling the old him.

He's calling him sin.

It is now the sin, right?

Sin, that old man that watch this dwells in me.

You catch that sin dwells in me.

I mean, look what he says.

It's no longer I who is doing these things.

And you go, oh, come on, Paul.

You got to take some responsibility for yourself.

If it's not you doing it, who's doing it?

But he's describing what we've been talking about.

He's saying that there are two people.

People living in him, the new him that doesn't want to do wrong.

And the old him here, he calls sin that dwells in him.

The old man, the dead man living in him with the new man.

So verse 18, he goes on.

He says, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells.

Do you know this?

Paul says, I know this.

Here's what I know.

In that old man, in that old version of me, nothing good dwells.

So we said it before.

Your old you know better.

No more say than it ever was.

It's as rebellious to God as ever here at this way.

The old you not one good thing dwells in the old you.

Not one good thing.

Only evil continually.

That would be God's summary.

Crazy, right?

So verse 18 goes on for to will or to want to do right is present with me.

The new me, but how to perform what is good.

I cannot find it.

I don't know how to.

I don't know how to do it.

Paul says, I want to do what's right.

I want to please God with my thoughts, my words, my life.

I want to be free of these things, but how to actually perform the word means

accomplish how to accomplish it.

I cannot figure it out.

Maybe I get a week break or I get, you know, a month break.

But it's not years and years and years.

It's not consistency.

It's up. It's down.

It's all over the place and everything in between.

This shows that it is not enough to just really want to be different.

You might be there today.

You really want to be different.

It's not enough.

You really have to be different.

It's not enough this time.

You can't go back.

I'm going to put my head down.

I'm going to grind it out.

I'm going to make it happen.

I'm going to promise.

I'm going to determine I'm going to get people around me.

I'm going to tell everybody that I am determined to do this.

That's going to last about three minutes.

It's not enough.

Paul really, really, really, really, really, really wanted to do what was

right, but could not actually figure out how to do it consistently.

That's what he says.

So verse 19, he says for the good that I want to do.

I do not do but the evil that I do not want to do.

That is what I practice just total frustration here.

I mean just again, this is the Apostle Paul.

Like why are swear words flying out of my mouth?

I do not want to dishonor God with these words.

Why am I flirting and seeking attention?

I don't want to do that.

Why do I keep going back to those things that are so destructive?

God wants me free of these things.

Why do I why do I keep?

Ending up back there just insert whatever it is for you.

This is where Paul's at the evil that I don't want to do.

This is all I'm regularly doing.

So he says in verse 20.

Now if I the old me does what I the new me does not want to do it is no

longer I the new me who does it but sin the old man that dwells in me and

then he lays it out look at verse 21 and here it is.

I find then a law.

It means the word means truth.

I find in a truth.

I find in a principle.

That evil is present with me.

You see that evil is present with me.

The one who wants to do good Paul says I've learned there's another me and he wants to do evil.

He says I've learned something about all of this and this is a truth here for all believers.

Evil is present with you an evil man lives in me rebellious wicked sinful godless man.

Inside of me inside of the new Chuck who wants to please God with my life Paul says the new him who wants to do good and this is what we said about the new you the new you always wants to do right and if there was no old you you would only ever do what God wanted you to do but there is an old you and thankfully that old you will be gone forever one day and you will only ever do what what is right that is because the new you is saved connected to the Lord Jesus born again.

New in every way and so Paul describes a new man's desires in verse 22 look what he says for I the new man delight can you say this right now don't you just you feel it in your soul right as a believer you delight in the law of God according to the inward man the new you wants to please God wants to do what's right loves the Lord loves his word wants to follow and obey him you delight in the Lord but verse 23 but I see another law Paul says another truth.

In my members there's something else in my members literally in my body that's what the word member there means in my body warring there there it is right this isn't a gentle toggle you know struggle what's a toggle I don't know what a toggle is words get ahead of brain a little bit there this isn't a gentle struggle this is war warring watch this against the law of my mind and bringing me watch this he doesn't win into captivity to the law of sin which is in my body so Paul

here says the old man he doesn't just fight he wins he wars against me but he wins in frustration Paul says I feel trapped held shackled by the old man he says the old man in his sinful ways bring him into slavery that's the word captivity there and in real terms here's what it means in real terms here's what it meant in Paul's life he was failing he was sinning he was failing to do what God wanted him to do that's what it looked like this isn't just a you know doctrine this is what it was in his life.

He was screaming at people at his kids I don't know if he had kids but right he was reacting the wrong ways he was wanting the wrong things he was doing the wrong things that's what it was really looking like in real life he was failing in his quote unquote fight against sin and so in total despair Paul gives one of the most graphic it may be the most graphic outside of the crucifixion the most graphic picture in all of the Bible verse 24 Paul says oh wretched man.

that I am who will deliver me from this body of death what Paul says here is shocking and I can't help but think he wrote this through tears I can't help think you know if he dictated Romans to someone as he did very often in his writing that he screamed this I mean you definitely don't hear this as oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death please don't hear it that way this is everything in him this is total.

desperation now everybody in Rome reading this would have gasped when Paul said the words body of death they knew exactly what he was talking about see Rome they developed a lot of torture methods that were particularly gruesome this one though this one may take the cake they had developed so many different ones crucifixion was one of them it was designed to hurt you before you died I mean just exact everything out of you before you died but the one that Paul alludes to here.

it's a Roman torture device essentially it's disturbing and I recently found out more information about this than I knew previously and somehow it got worse you see if you if they really wanted a prisoner to not just die but to really suffer when they died they would strip the prisoner of their clothing and then they would take a dead body usually the corpse of another prisoner and then they would wrap the two together.

almost mummifying the two together and the purpose of this was that the as the dead body decomposed it would infect and affect and eat through the live body and and and please hear this the live body was not able as you can imagine the live body was not able to fend off all of the decay and and all of that and so the power of the dead body.

would overcome the live body and so the dead body would essentially overtake the living body and kill it now to make matters worse I recently I read some of the ancient writings concerning this and I found out that they did this all of this took place face to face yeah Virgil wrote in the Aeneid he wrote the living and the dead at his command were coupled face to face and hand to hand.

till choked with stench in loathed embraces tied the lingering wretches pined away pined away and died.

Jack was.

Bronswig explains the practice he wrote this a living man or woman was tied to a rotting corpse face to face mouth to mouth limb to limb with an obsessive exactitude in which each part of the body corresponded with its matching putrefying counterpart shackled to their.

rotting double the man or woman was left to decay to avoid starvation the true skins continue to feed the victim appropriately only once the superficial difference between the corpse and the living body started to rot away through the agency of worms which bridge the two bodies establishing a differential continuity between them did the true skins stop feeding the living once both the living and the dead had turned black through putrefaction the true skins deemed it appropriate to unshackle.

the bodies you say why are you telling us this because this is what Paul means when he says body of death read it again oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death and so again everyone reading this in Rome would have known exactly what Paul was talking about but look what he calls him his old self this wretched.

body of death living in him this body of death that he has been wrapped to the can't get free of and just like that living body cannot fight off that dying that dead body in the same way this is Paul's point in the same way you cannot fend off the old you Paul's new man wasn't able to fight off and win against the old man and neither are you and so Paul here he says he is completely defeated.

the old man is killing him and he is defeated and and by the way folks this is where our ability takes us it's where it leaves us completely defeated completely discouraged just done and so what do you do if you're in that spot well it comes down to who you turn to for help notice the question that Paul asks it is not what will deliver me it is not how can I deliver myself in this situation he asks the right question look what he says he says.

who will deliver me from this body of death here's here's the secret ready Paul knew he could not deliver himself that simple isn't it he wasn't strong enough can't do it that is the key to the Christian life right there that's where everything lives and dies where everything hangs you either believe you can or you know you cannot and so the question is who can help me not what not what book do I need to turn to.

not what program do I need to be on not how many times going to church is this going to fix me who can deliver me because I know I cannot this is the game changing question for the person that is caught in sin the solution is not to double down on your effort to free yourself it is not to really put your head down and make it happen it is not to find yet another counselor or another self-help book to make it happen that is not the answer the answer is actually to recognize.

that you are not strong enough you're not good enough you're not able to fight off the old man you cannot do it and then to not let that you know put you into a place of of despair just with that answer but then to turn as Paul did and to ask the question who can help me and so the answer is found verse twenty five and then on to all of chapter eight the answers in verse twenty five what is the answer the only one who can help you here it is like a.

verse twenty five I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord there's the answer this is where your help comes from here is what must happen if you aren't first of all if you are not born again this is where it begins you have no chance of ever being free of that old man you cannot redeem that old man you can't get better if you're if you're not born again that's where it begins you've got to turn to the Lord and be saved but if you're a follower of Jesus Christ this is what has to happen you must understand there are three people living in you.

the old you the new you and the Lord himself and then you must understand that the old you and the new you are always at conflict always at war and that the old you is very very rotten and will always win over the new you you have to understand this you must see that the old you is not strong enough to overcome the new you you're going to lose every time and so that's going to get you to give up on trying your best do this and instead once you know these things we look to the old you.

the only one who can actually help us and that is the Lord Jesus himself and what this means is that we look to him for his power instead of relying on our own power to defeat sin in our lives this is real this is actually the answer it actually is the answer it actually is how you begin to live a consistent life you live in desperation of God's power you need him in

every single moment in every single thing you don't trust yourself anymore you trust him and then we're going to talk about this next week but lastly you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and that's the natural progression you're not going to trust your power and so you need God's power and so you are going to be constantly asking God to fill you with his Holy Spirit and you're going to depend upon his power and so it practically it means we are asking God continually and then he

gives us the ability we are looking to him to give what is needed and he is constantly giving to us as we know our weakness the Christian life if you want to if you want to move forward in the Christian life you move forward in weakness you move forward in weakness in knowing you can't that's how you move forward when you double down and think you can you are not moving forward you're sliding back we look to him to give what is needed we deeply distrust ourselves and this is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit

we look to him for his power and we are led by him and again we'll talk about that next week but this is how we practically get out of the cycle that Paul was in we lose our trust in our ability we gain trust in his ability we depend upon him and his power and practically speaking that means that then we just we stay close to him we watch over the things in our lives we're we're careful over the things in our lives practically we stay in God's word like all of these things but how do you get there by understanding these things

and so Paul says to sum it up and he sets us up for next week he says verse 25 so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin so there's the grand summary of the chapter he says he himself the new Paul serves the Lord does what is right but the flesh will only ever want to serve sin and so he's just reemphasizing but he does this to tell us the truth that this is what it will be during the duration of your lives here on earth I wish I could tell you the longer you're

in the Lord this all goes away I wish I could tell you that but that is not the case the tension the fight the war it does not go away here's what I would say you will not be sinless this side of heaven but please hear me you should be sinning less the longer you're in the Lord okay the longer you understand this you should be sinning less you're never gonna be sinless and the war is never gonna go away but you should be giving more and more control to him you should be more and more convinced of his power and less and less convinced of your own power please hear this you really can

you really can have victory over sin you really can become a new person you can become a changed person a person that is not always giving in to the demands of the old man but instead having victory it is being led by the Holy Spirit of God and putting to death the body living for the Lord now let me sum it up with this verse Zechariah 4 6 not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts that's the only way to do it

not by your power, by his power. Whose power are you depending on today? Do you know Jesus Christ?

Have you given your life to him? Have you turned to him in repentance for salvation? If not, you

can do that right now. You can turn to him. He's listening to you. Let's pray together. Lord, we

love you. We thank you for your mercy and your kindness. Thank you for your word. We pray, Lord,

you would use it to help us, Lord, to become like you. If that's you this morning, you've not turned

to Jesus Christ right now. Just turn towards him. Humble yourself before him. Admit your need. Go to

God in repentance of sin. Turn to him, asking him to save you. You must admit your need today, and he

will do it. He will save you because he is good. We love you, Lord. We thank you. We give this

morning to you. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.