Cannot do the law

Okay, Romans 7. If you just open your Bibles there, we'll get going. And we're going to be covering verses 19 down through verse 23 this morning. But I want to start by reading verse 15, which is where Roger started last week. He took us from 15 through 18 last week. And there's a lot of repetition from 15 through 18 or 19. So, let's just start off there in Romans chapter 7 verse 15 and I'm going to read down through verse 23.

For that which I am doing I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the law, confessing that it is good. So now, it is no longer I No longer am I the one doing it, but sin, which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin, which dwells in me.

I find in the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death?

Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh for a while, so we're going to cover 24 and 25 next week. So, review, this is exactly, should be the last slide that you guys saw last week, so I figured, hey, what better way to start off this week than to look at the last slide from last week. So, summary of what Roger presented, 15 through 18, for what I am doing, I don't understand, that which I desire, This I do not practice, but that which I hate, this I am doing.

What I do not desire, this I do. I agree with the law, that the law is good. No longer am I the one doing that which I hate. It is the sinful nature which indwells me that is doing that which I hate. I know that nothing good from God dwells in me that is in my flesh, the seed of my sinful For the willing to do good is present in thee, but the doing of the good is not present. So that's where we left off last week with Roger, so thanks Roger for taking us through those lessons last week. If you weren't here, you can either download the lessons off the internet, or they have extra copies back in the office there in the file cabinet, so avail yourself to those. So this morning, in verse 19. For the good that I wish, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.

Yeah, that's Henry back there laughing. That's good. Laughing as opposed to crying. That's great. For the good that I wish. So what is happening here is that Paul sees the morality of the law as good and he wants to do it. So there's this desire in him to do what it is that God wants him to do.

The law is good, covered last week. We've talked about that extensively now for four or five weeks. The problem isn't the law, the problem is man's sinfulness. We've, I think, exhausted that idea. So, what it is that the morality of the law, he wants to do. The idea here of this wish, or also sometimes it's translated desire, is the word fellow to will or to wish it was also used back in verse 15 which is the NAS uses what I would like to do or what I would desire to do it's interesting that this word is used seven times in just a few verses of verses 15 down through verse 21 this idea here of fellow or to will or to wish so it's a pretty concentrated section talking about Paul's will, his desire to do something, and what he desires to do, he's finding himself in a state in which he can't carry out what it is that he is desiring to do. So, for the good that I wish, he sees that the law is good, he wants to do it, but by golly day, he can't do it. So, what's going on here? I do not practice what I do not do, to practice a habit. I took that straight off of Roger's slides from last week. There are a lot of similarities. And this verse also used in verse 15. So, yeah, there's no need to go over the similarities there.

So, we're going to ask this question. Why is it that Paul cannot do the good that he wants to do? I'm not going to answer right now. But we're going to get to, hopefully, unpacking this question here towards the end of the class and see why is it that I keep going through this kind of a struggle because the probability is that 100% of us in this class go through this very similar kind of a struggle in our lives on a daily basis.

Okay, so I think it's worth our while. If we're seeing the idea here, fellow, to will or to wish, being used in such a concentrated way of just these few verses, I think it's worth our while to look at this idea here of the man's will as being a part of man's soul. So, let's do that.

If you'll just go to the next slide. And this is a slide that Hal made up. It comes out of major Bible themes. And we see, simply see that man is made up of three parts, the body, the soul, and the spirit. Pretty straight forward here. And the unity, the heart, mind, essence, natures, and then the flesh.

We're going to really, for the sake of our talk this morning, we're going to focus on this part here of man's soul. So another slide from one of Hal's notes on major biology as well. He talks about the soul, right here, and notice that he talks about the soul, or soulish in light of the emotions, the intellect, the will, the reason, the senses, and the conscience. And maybe you've heard, you know, the man's soul was made up of his mind, and of his will, and of his emotions.

Okay, so this morning what we're going to really focus in on is the will. because it's used in such a concentrated way in these verses here that we're looking at, where I just started last week, and what we're going to conclude this morning. So, we have the will.

Now, there's going to be this slide and two more slides upcoming that is a write-up put together by the elders here at the church, and I think I put a big section of it here in our slide this morning, but I think that you should have the whole article in its entirety in your notes. Is that right? Is it the last page? Okay, great.

I thought this was very helpful because as we get kind of towards the concluding section of this of Romans 7, this really helps to put everything into, I think, a good perspective and context for us. Okay, so, you can follow along here on your on the screen, or if you want to follow along on your handout, on page 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, the 7th line down from the top, you'll see Romans 6, 12, and then it says, The Believer, and that's where we'll be starting, where we start reading from. So, put together by the elders, we'll just read this through in its entirety, starting with The Believer. The believer must operate at any time under either one nature or the other. You can't be in both. You can't be, well, I'm 50% in the sin nature and I'm 50% in the new nature. We've talked about that in the past. You're either all in the sin nature or you're either all in the new nature. It's not a mixture, a combination of both.

So the believer must operate at any time under either one nature or the other but can will to change from abiding by faith in one to abiding by faith in the other. So what that indicates to us is that it's important for us to understand that the will is neutral. The will isn't in and of itself sinful. and the will isn't in and of itself good in the sense of the new life, of the new nature. So it's going to be influenced. The will, being neutral, is going to be influenced by either the new nature or by the sin nature.

Once abiding in the new nature, the believer's will is influenced so as to will within the character of that new nature. but it has the latitude of will to trust in the sin nature, but not without spiritual consequences. Once abiding in the sin nature, the believer also has the latitude to stop trusting the sin nature and so to abide by faith in the new nature. This, of course, is the origin of Scripture and the singular direction of the ministries of the Holy Spirit to abide in the new nature.

There is no ability to remain in some hypothetical position apart from one nature or the other. The believer may not simply will to have some specific attitude or behavioral outcome on his own. However desirable that might falsely appear, there is no such place of directly willing outcomes apart from one nature or the other.

I think this is what's going on in Romans 7. Paul is seeing the good of the law. He inwardly desires to do what's what's right, what God wants him to do, but he's just trying to will it out. He's trying to make his will carry out what it is that God wants him to do, apart from the new life and apart from walking by faith. And he can't. He can't do that. It's not going to work. It's going to end up in frustration and failure and discouragement as we see as the characteristic of this section of Romans chapter 7.

The believer wills in which nature to abide, but the choice is exclusively entirely one or the other, Galatians 5.16, and all other choices are within the range of that chosen nature for as long as the believer abides in that chosen nature.

So if I'm by faith, walking in the new nature, then my will is going to be in line with God's will. Bob brought that point out maybe 4 or 5 weeks ago for us. But if I'm not walking by faith in God's revealed word, I'm walking in the sin nature, my will is going to be in line with what? The sin nature, sure, exactly right.

So based on the believer's eternal position in Christ, the only logical course of action is to abide in the new nature. which is in Christ. The motivation of a believer in the ministries of the Holy Spirit are all grace. So Paul will typically convey the believer's position and then present the imperatives. Rather to convey the believer's eternal position into daily condition.

11-13, we looked at about maybe 12 weeks ago now, for example, conveys that though the believer could choose to allow the sin nature to reign, the only conclusion that makes any spiritual sense at all, in view of the revealed spiritual facts, is to choose to reckon oneself dead to the sin nature and alive to God, which is actively placing faith in what God has accomplished in Christ. The believer's will is exercised biblically in his responding by faith to what God has done. Biblical faith is expressed as he reckons himself dead to the sin nature and alive to God.

Romans 6.11 walks in him.

Colossians 2.6 walks in the Spirit.

Galatians 5.16 Aaron bides in him.

John 15.4 Any questions? Let's go through the rest of the lesson, and then we're going to flush it all out. I have a question.

Is the abiding that the elders speak of the same as walking or living? I think those are all phenomenal terms and descriptions. Last week I had that chart on spiritual Christians. versus the carnal Christian, I think abiding, walking, they're all in terms of faith. They're all synonymous basically. That's trusting the Lord moment by moment, and walking with Him. Walking, abiding, they're all synonymous. Okay, let's go through the rest of the verses in light of what we've seen so far, and then At the end, I suppose the question is why is this struggle going on? What's happening here? And at the end, I think we can flush it all out.

I found this to be very helpful. I don't know about you guys. That's why I wanted to give you... My parents were in town. I was sick. I was kind of putting the final touches on this thing. moment last night, and I wasn't going to call Roger, but I thought it was too late. But I at least did call her and say, Hey, can we get that thing out?

I think it's really helpful. So anyways, reading it in its entirety, I think it's good. What's the date on it, August? October 13th. We've been working on this for a couple of months now. And eventually it's going to be posted on the website. I don't think we have a few little tweaks, you know, we're never quite satisfied with every single word, you know. Even when it makes it to the website, you probably will pull it down and put another one up, you know. I give them my, you know, the guys take the notes off of the computers here and they post them to the website and, you know, a few days later I'll be thinking something's through and I'll make a couple of adjustments to my slides and I'll send them off to the website and say, Roy, can you please pull those down and put this one up, you know. Not major stuff, but little tweaks here and there. Most of the time it's typos that Rachel finds as I'm going through the class because I didn't give her a chance to read through my lesson.

Back to verse 19. Here we are. For the good that I wish, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. So we looked at those first two phrases. We get to this but here, which is this strong contrast, which is a repeated theme. throughout this section of verses. But, I'm practicing the very evil that I do not wish. He wants to do it, he's not doing it, but he's doing this. He's doing the very evil that he does not want to be doing.

So, the idea here of evil is referring to the outward or the external expression of the sin nature. Not only is he having this inward struggle, but this is talking about the outward manifestation. So, it's one thing to inwardly be walking in the flesh and to be not letting people see it, so to speak. But what's being talked about here when he comes up with a practice that is very evil, it's coming out. There is this outward manifestation of the sin nature, which is ugly. When Rachel sees the outward manifestation of my sin nature, it's not a very pleasant sight, and when I see her as well, it's not a very pleasant sight. That's the same way that it is for all of us. That's what he's talking about here, when he, I practice the very evil.

So, he's practicing this, because he's walking in the flesh, he's not walking by faith, it's outward manifestation of the sin nature. Okay, so, down in Hinny verse 20, But if I am doing the very thing, I do not wish I'm no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells within me." So, this is simply reiterating the end of verse 19. He is, if he's doing the very thing that he doesn't want to do, I am no longer the one doing it. It's not him in the new nature that's doing it. It's not him in Christ that is doing this. The outward walking of the flesh, the external deeds of the flesh being manifested as Galatians tells us very clearly in chapter 5. It's not him in the nature, he's not walking in the spirit here. And again, Roger, exact same phrase. I don't know if you have anything to... I wasn't here last week, and I've read your notes, but I kind of...

Well, obviously, it was in his practice. He was making all the technical stuff, so I had to hear all the words from practice. It was part of his lifestyle. He was a carnal Christian. I have one of the key verses in your quotations, verse 14, where he says, and it says, I am carnal, filled in the body supreme. He states plainly where he's at.

And then the rest of it just kind of flows out. It says, I'm doing all this stuff because I want to be different. But the bottom line is, I'm a carnal Christian. And he declares that, which I think is a real key to unlock this whole passage. And it's easy to think, well, he says he's carnal Christian. Yeah, so we have this big picture of a carnal believer. Okay, so verse 20, continuing on. Again, but there, the strong contrast, but I'm no longer the one that's doing it.

I'm not in Christ here, but it's sin which dwells in me. So because of trying to keep the law, Carl, Carl the believer is going to be living under the law, because of trying to keep the law, not being able to just will it into action because he's operating it in the flesh, the sin nature is aroused and takes over and he's walking in the flesh. Therefore what's happening is sin is ruling his life and there's the outward manifestation of the sin nature of life because he's Carl. Not walking by faith in God's word. Okay, so verse 21, I find in the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. Because of the inward sin nature, there is an external or outward manifestation of it in his life. This principle of evil is there. I mean, we all know that the sin nature hasn't been eradicated. It's still there. This principle of evil is still there.

The one who wishes to do good. He sees the morality of the law as good, and he wants to do it. He desires to do what's good, but boy, there's this principle of law, or principle of sin, which so often times brings him into bondage. Every one of us can very clearly relate to that. For I joyfully concur with the law of God and the inner man. The law of God is good. he agrees with it, and inwardly, he wants to do it. There's a desire in there that he wants to do it, but, again, a strong contrast here, I see a different law in the members of my body.

A different law from the law God has mentioned above, a different law in his members. I think the law that he's talking about here is the law of sin and death. I think if we look down in chapter 8, verse 2, There's a couple of verses down there. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. What a wonderful verse that is. We're going to get to it. Here's the carnal Christian being set up in the latter part, second half of Romans 7. Gets into Romans 8. Boom, here it is.

The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is going to set us free from the law of sin and death. I think this law here, I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. Boy, I want to do it. but what's happening is I see this law of sin and death that is in my body and it's bringing me into bondage. Any thoughts there? We talked about it maybe five weeks ago how the body is is neutral, it's going to be influenced by either the sin nature or by either the new nature. And so the law of sin and death is influencing his physical body.

That's what we're talking about. So the idea of the body being neutral, of the will being neutral, I think that the mind is is neutral. It's going to be influenced by how our emotions are neutral. See, those aren't either good or evil. Okay, so, what's happened this year, I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind.

The law of sin and death is at war with the law of God, which he wants to do. So in his mind, he wants to do the good, that the law spoke of because it's what God wants him to do. You know, we see the practical instructions of God and his written word that he's given to us. We naturally want to do what it is that God wants us to do. But also, at the same time, there's that, but then there's this law of sin and death that's coming in and there's this war against the law of sin and death. It's a war with what it is that I want to do with my mind. that I know that God wants me to do. The will there, see?

And what happens is, it makes me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members. We find ourselves simply just bound up. We're in bondage, which he described very graphically, what he wants to do, he can't do, and he's just stuck. So he ends up in bondage, to the sin nature and the sin nature outwardly shows itself as evil through his members. So, why is it that Paul is going through this struggle?

He saw what was good and was trying to exercise his will in that direction. I think that's very clear. He was wanting to do it, he was trying to do it, but he couldn't do it. He was trying to make the choice to do good. Simply trying to make the choice to do good is not going to get us anywhere. We're going to unpack that. a little bit more here in a minute.

He was not walking by faith, he was operating in nature, walking in the flesh, and he was living under the law. Any thoughts? About this struggle going on, and what Paul is describing, why is he there? Previously you said it was kind of like the will, to live by the Spirit or will to live by the flesh. And it looks like he was trying to make a choice or will to live by the Spirit, but he couldn't do it by that second line up.

Paul in his carnality he was. See? When he was in his carnal, he's walking in the flesh, not walking by faith. He's just trying to, in his own power, And in his own stream, just make it happen. Trying to will himself, I will do it. His mind says, I will do this, what it is that God wants me to do.

And that's not right, that's wrong. Because it wasn't based on the principle of faith. We'll get to that. Good question though. Later on in the epistle, he says, I have kept the faith. Yeah. When does that change come from his incarnality to apparently his own statement that he's just a faith? Maybe I shouldn't ask that now. Maybe now. Yeah, I think contextually there.

Paul is writing at the conclusion of, was it one of the Timothys? I can't remember which one it was. Paul is writing, I think, contextually about his life at large. He's saying, hey, I am nearing the end of my days. And you know what? I've kept the faith. I've fought the fight. I've run the race. that kind of stuff. I think contextually that's what he's reflecting back on years of his life. I've done that. But at the same time, the point is to be walking by faith. Yes, that's right. Yeah, there's no one, no non-perfect, no not one, except for the Lord and what she says. Sure, that's right. Yeah.

Oops, wrong way. Okay, so what is the solution to Paul's struggles? It's always hard to boil it down. to be as simple as we possibly can, but that's really what we want to try to do. Okay, so let's sort this through a little bit together. Instead of trying to exercise, and Tom, this is going to get to exactly what I think you were saying.

Instead of trying to exercise his will to carry out the law, he needs to exercise his will to believe and reckon on the truths laid out in chapters 6, 7, and 8. You see, his choice was in simply trying, in his own strength, to carry out what it is the guy wanted him to do. wrong place to put your dependence, wrong place to put your trust, wrong place to put your emphasis in a choice.

The choice needed to be, hey, I'm going to trust the Lord. I'm going to put my faith in God's Word, in His revealed facts, as we've seen in chapter 6, in chapter 7, we're going to see in chapter 8. And if that happens, then He'll be walking in the Spirit, He'll be walking in my faith, in God's revealed Word. His will is going to be in line with God's will. Therefore, he'll be doing what it is that God wants him to do.

Donna? At this point, is there an understanding that exactly the same? I think so. You mean his identification with Christ? Yeah, I think so. Specifically for Paul? Is that what you're asking? Yeah. Yeah. When you're talking about instead of trying to exercise, I mean, part of what he's believing is that he's dead. Yes. I mean, there's an understanding. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Because I think that he, I mean, he's written it, you know, and in order for him to have written it, he had to have had knowledge of it. So, yeah, I think that there's a knowledge of his death and of his identification with Christ. Matt, were you going to point something out? Oh no, I was just pondering. I was thinking that answers that.

I'll tell you what, I was privately thinking how well he answers that question in Galatians 5 where he says, that I say, walk by the Spirit and you will no longer carry out the desire of the flesh. That's really the answer. Unless it's desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. He's in opposition there. Good point, Matt. Thank you.

So, the choice is not to do good, but to choose to believe and reckon on God's word. And that comes all the way back from about 12 weeks ago, back to Romans chapter 6, verse 13, where it talks about reckoning. And the idea here of it's an imperative, and God does want us to reckon, calls us to reckon. So that, the choice isn't for me just to make sure I'm doing good. It's simply to believe. It's a choice of faith.

It's a choice to believe in God's revealed word and what it is that he has said to be true. Once believing and reckoning on God's word, his will is influenced by the new nature of the very life of Christ. See, there's the old nature and there's the new nature.

And so simply put, which one of those is going to be influencing the will? I think the will is really a central focus of this passage based on the number of times that he's used the word fellow so which one is going to be influencing the will we can say the same thing for our emotions or our minds but in this passage we're talking about the will so for by faith believing in God's revealed scriptures and specifically of our death and resurrection with him then the new nature is going to be influencing our will. Paul here, as Roger brought out, is carnal. And so, what is influencing his will? It's the latter part of Romans 7. What's influencing his will?

It's the nature. Boom. Here it is. Why? Because he's not believing in, he's not walking in, for God's revealed truth of his death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. Therefore he's finding himself not being able to do what he wants to do, what he wants to stop. That's what he keeps doing. What are more thoughts? I know this is...

He knew it in his mind, but he wasn't at that moment depending upon it. He wasn't at that moment actively believing in that truth to be real, therefore receiving the benefits from it moment by moment in his life. To be real for him. Sure. He knew intellectually that that had happened to Christ, but to be believing in that truth for yourself, that you in fact were led, buried, and resurrected. That's right. I think that's what he was doing. No, not abiding. Intellectually, he knew. Wouldn't the operative word there be, not abiding? He is not abiding in the spirit of science. He cognitively understands it. Sure. That's right. And we do that every day. Every day, yeah.

Yeah, there's a knowledge that I have and that all of us have. that of what we took nine weeks to go through in Romans 6 and we've been talking about now in Romans 7 of how we died with Christ and therefore we were separated from the influence and power of the sin nature we were raised to walk in newness of Christ we've been given a new nature of the very life of Christ and that's how we find freedom from the sin nature we enjoy fellowship with the Lord that's abiding in Christ and we believe in that now do I Do I? I know that. I know that to be true. But am I always actively, moment by moment, depending upon that? No. Now I know it to be true.

Praise the Lord that I know that to be true. But sometimes I'm trusting in that, and sometimes I'm trusting in myself, or I'm trusting in somebody else, or I'm trusting in something else. There's that moment by moment, in and out of walking by faith in God's revealed word, or walking by faith in my own wisdom, the wisdom of somebody else. Yeah, that's like you said at the beginning, you can't keep straddling. one or the other, and you're straddling it, and it's part of each. It doesn't happen. Seems like Paul knew that more than I ever will, though. Yeah. Isn't that true? Yeah. He knew more than I ever will. If he struggles, so will I. My cups always have empty, you see. My cups always have empty. I always look on the negative. Where's my hope?

Well, same as Paul's. And now look. Look at the last verse. We're going to get to it next week. Verse 24. Who is going to set me free? from this body of sin and death. And we talked about it a couple weeks ago. It's not something that Paul must do to find himself free from this carnality and free from this struggle that he's describing to us. It's a person. Who's going to set me free from this body of sin and death?

And that who there is the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's faith in what it is. It's faith in Christ and what it is that he's done for us and is continuing to do for us and is going to do for us in the future. Thanks be to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then we're going to get more into the, you know, I've got in Romans 8, my note says victory chapter, you know. So we're, you know, we're, I don't know how many weeks I've been in the latter part of Romans 7 talking about this carnality of this guy, which often times describes the carnality of ourselves.

Yeah, it's kind of like, gee whiz, point well taken, Collins, that's great. But Paul's hope is in the Lord, who's going to set me free? So is ours. Paul knew he had that time with the Lord that none of us have had up to this point. I personally find it to be very encouraging. because it addresses my very specific problems. There's times that I can't do the things I want to do. I find myself trapped in doing those things. So the Bible is giving me a very specific answer. What's happening? What's going on? Paul struggled with it. I struggled with it. Here's Paul's answer. Here's what he did.

This can be my answer. This can be what I do. Trust in the Lord and His revealed word. I think that I have spent most of my Christian life in Catholic settings. I really do. And I think it was the challenging of what I had been through. A severe challenge.

What do you believe in? Why do you believe it? Because everything was dark. And I think that's what... I don't think I really understood You don't know what to say. I believe. You can shout for me. I think I believed it most of the time. But believing it and the impact of what really happens when you die to Christ is so big. It's what happens.

And I don't think I knew that and understood that. And once I did, because I learned it, Yeah, yeah. And I'm still in chapter 7 a lot. But, I mean, I was constantly saying, oh, here's the man that I am, you know, because that's the way it was every day. But to finally get to the point where you look at page 1, and you really understand what Christ is talking about.

That, I think, has been the best thing that's ever happened to me, other than being sick. Sure, sure. Yeah, that's right. Thanks. Any other thoughts? I think when we studied through Chapter 6, 7, and 8, throughout 6, we were taught the facts of our confessional truth. And I think many of us, when we're studying Chapter 6, I say that's all real good. We're done with Christ. We're buried. It should be a finished fact, but we realize it's not. And I can't be thankful for Chapter 7. Paul admits that it's not just a done deal here on earth. It's a done deal in heaven, but not on earth.

But I think if they do it specifically in Chapter 7, they're going to use the word I probably like 19 times. Yes, that's right. Many times. And then when we get to Chapter 8, It's not I anymore, it's the Holy Spirit throughout Chapter 8. I think we need to reckon with the fact that we need to get ourselves, our minds off the I of Chapter 7 and on to the Holy Spirit. That's right. Yeah, good point. Very good point. Anything else? Can you say something, Bob? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Alright.

Well, maybe it was just a brief comment. I think that, Larry, I think you kind of really brought us into the truth of Romans six, three and four, though, that we have been crucified, buried in reason and we miss in life. And then we turn to Ephesians and see that we've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. So, I mean, you know, And Paul talks about citizenship a lot.

So God sees this in Romans 8.1, there's no condemnation, right?

And so this, I think the will as it becomes intellectualized returns us under a legal system, does it not? I mean, you don't need Christ to obey the law or to fail the law. The law is holy, it bites us, right? So with or without being born again, the law still creates a knowledge and outworking the sin nature within us. So the issue is, where's the victory? Well, the victory has been accomplished, and the act of faith is in the fact that we see ourselves as not being condemned any longer. And it's only the Spirit of God that enactments that in our life.

Paul's struggle here isn't in the facts of who he is as a believer, right? It's the enactment of the Spirit-led life. I guess the issue is we get involved so much in intellectualizing all of this, and really that's not the life. The life is one that's empowered by the Spirit. So what's different between Romans 6 where the facts are, Romans 7 the experience, and Romans 8 is that the Holy Spirit now is leading that life to what God would have it to be, right? So I think that's one of the crucial questions that we all have as believers. What enables the abiding process to be Spirit-led, Spirit-held, and Spirit-preoccupied?

That's where we're going to get there. But it's the Holy Spirit that makes a difference in whether the light can be turned on or not. The light is fixed, it's plugged in, but in fact, until you turn the switch, it's really a life of sin and death, because it's all empowered by the flesh and the intellect. That's kind of a complex thought, in a sense. I think we need to get on realizing our position, our citizenship, and the life that can be led down through the power of turning the switch on.

Sure. Then it's a life. Then our will becomes as you mentioned, it becomes more consistent with who we are. That's right. That's right. Good. Good thought. Anything else? It's pretty, I mean, this is where where it plays out, where the rubber meets the road and looking forward to chapter 8 with the role of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so I have this little diagram here. We've talked about it already before.

The will is always influenced by one or the other, not both at the same time. And so how is it that I will do what it is that God wants me to do? That's what we're talking about here by the human will. I will do what it is that God wants me to do. It's by believing in, by choosing to reckon, on God's word, that we're back to Romans 6, that we're identified with Christ by believing in that, we're dead to sin, we're alive in the God, and then when that happens, it's already done.

In essence, the choice has already been made. The choice is of faith. The choice is to believe, and that allows our will to be influenced by the new nature, and in the Christian life is the life of Christ. abiding, resting in Him, walking in the Spirit as we look forward to in the next, not next week, but the following week after that. Sure.

And as God, working all the while in our lives to draw us to this point of walking by faith and you bet ya. This isn't something, back to Romans 6, this isn't something that we have to reckon on independent of God. God is all the while through his Holy Spirit working in our lives drawing us to him, to believe in him, to put our faith and our trust in that truth for sanctification, to where we'll be walking in spirit and not walking in flesh.

Teaching how it all ties together, doesn't it? So we have to go back to chapter And then, as Bob and Larry so appropriately point out, you have to look forward to chapter 8. And so that's the joy of the whole thing, of how all this does, this wonderful section of scripture of 6, 7, and 8, how it all does work and relate together. And that's what we're all wanting to know and searching after, depending upon the Lord, how does it all work together.

Any other thoughts? Okay, let's pray. Lord, thank you for this morning. Thanks for our time. And we just pray for Vern as he continues through Isaiah that your spirit will just lead him and guide him in what it is that he has to say. And thanks for the discussion this morning. Thanks for the things that were shared. Thanks for your word. We look forward to the victory chapter or however people think of it in their minds where you bring forth to us that it's not what but it's who is going to deliver us from this body of sin and death. So thank you for that and we look forward to that. In your name we pray. Amen.