The Sin Nature
James 4:9; James 5:1; Romans 7:23-25 · Roger Henderson · Nov 12, 2006
Romans (2005-07), No. 57
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49260881839

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

This morning, we're coming to the last two verses in chapter 7. And I thought it would be appropriate maybe to, I'm not going to try to review the whole chapter, but I thought this section starting in verse 14 really was a block of scripture that Paul really, in a way, shows us something of himself and where he's at and the difficulty he had in his life.

And I think it's for us to see that and to learn by it, to benefit by it. So I thought I wanted to go through this, and actually I was looking for a volunteer to read these verses. You can read them off the chart if you like, or from your Bible. Just to read these 14 through 25. If you would like to, that would be great. Well, we know that the law is spiritual, but I am a class sold unto bondage to sin. For what 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 want to do, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good. So now 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 willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil of it that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me.

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants 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, the law of sin. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Okay, well this morning, what I'd like to do is I have a chart that follows this that kind of pulls out, I think, an important point. But this is, you know, we're getting down the last two verses here and, you know, Paul is describing a struggle he had in his life. And as I pointed out before, I think one of the key, at least what I found as I went through this, if you look at verse 14, and actually this little pointer thing, it doesn't point very well.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh. And that word flesh is a word for carnal, for Sarxas, basically. I am of the flesh, sold into bondage to sin. So he starts off this section of Romans 7, and he makes a declaration that he basically is operating in a carnal fashion. He's a carnal Christian. And for me, that just unlocked the rest of this. Well, if I'm a carnal Christian, I'm not taking input from the Spirit of God. I'm trying to work things out on my own. And so I think that really was helpful.

And he goes through and he describes the struggle that he had. And some of the neat things that fall out of this struggle is that he really clearly defines his sin nature and how it interacts with him in a sense. And I tried to highlight and I picked these verses out. I think these describe statements that Paul made about his sin nature. The first statement is in verse 14.

He says, I'm sold into bondage to sin. The definite article is there so we could translate the sin nature. I'm sold into bondage to the sin nature, or I'm under the control of the sin nature. As a carnal Christian, that's where a carnal Christian is at.

Verse 17. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but the sin nature which dwells in me. So he identifies that as he is abiding in his sin nature, the sin nature is driving him. And it's his sin nature that's producing the sin. So he says, hey, that's where I'm at. And in verse 18, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. And typically, if you look at the rendering of flesh, flesh can be good or bad. In this sense, I think it's a bad sense. It's speaking of the seed of the sin nature, with the sin nature under control. In verse 20, I'm no longer the one doing it, but the sin nature which dwells in me.

So if you notice, he's clearly identifying. What's the issue? He doesn't mention He doesn't mention the world or the flesh. We have the world, the flesh, and the devil are the three opponents to the believer. He mentioned, it's my sin nature. It's my sin nature. It's my sin nature. That's what the issue I'm having here. So I think it's a wonderful declaration for us to say, well, what's the issue? The issue here is the sin nature. It's not the world or the devil. I'm 20. That's 21. I find then the principle of evil is present in me, the sin nature. And that's by the context. You can get that on the 23.

Making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members. The law of sin seems to be, and I kind of struggle with that a little bit. We're going to cover that more as we go through this. The law of sin seems to be the rules by which the sin nature operates, which is not good, right? It's sin, right? So the law of the sin nature is how it operates, how it conducts its business, which is sin. Then 25, but on the other hand, with my flesh, again, the sin nature, the law of sin. And we'll explain 25 in more detail as we get into this. But he makes a clear declaration that the sin nature is the issue that he's having. That's the issue that Paul's having in these passages here. Okay. So questions or thoughts on that before we move on? Go ahead.

I don't know where the scripture is, God in the Lord said that nothing from without defiles the man, it's only what's within the man that defiles the man. if you think about that, that's the world, that's the devil, that's all of those things. Right, and they're external, and the gateway to that is our sin nature. So if we're, as Paul said, if he's a carnal Christian, he's hanging out as a carnal Christian, it's not going to be too good. And we see his struggles, and as we've gone through this, it's not a pretty picture. But the wonderful thing is, at the end, we're going to see it's a wonderful thing. He's going to say, hey, there's a sin nature, Wait a minute. Where have I been? I've been hanging out with my sin nature And so we're gonna see that there's gonna be a dramatic change here in in 24 and 25 and as we go into chapter 8 Yeah, thanks Margaret.

That was good Okay, so here are the two verses wretched man that I am who will set me free from the body of this death and Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then on the one hand, I myself with my mind and serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh, the law of sin. So I kind of tried to break down the first verse into kind of phrases or clauses. So basically, wretched man that I am is a declaration. He's declaring Hey, this is a distressful situation. Hanging out with my sin nature is not any fun. In fact, it's awful. It's terrible. And that word could be miserable, another translation.

But the wonderful thing is, he asks about the who. Who will set me free? And the from the body of sin is a prepositional phrase which modifies will set me free. So I kind of broke it down into chunks like that. Hopefully that's helpful. And then we're going to kind of dissect each of those chunks.

So basically, wretched man that I am is really in the original. Wretched man, I, is what he's saying. Wretched man, I. And it's important to remember, we just talked about the fact that Paul says, I'm carnal. So somebody put in there, wretched Christian man, I, or I think it's even better, wretched carnal Christian man, I. Because that really nails down where he's at. wretched Christian man I, you think, well, a believer is a saint, positionally. But Paul's saying, I'm wretched because I'm acting in a carnal fashion. So I think wretched carnal man I, I liked as maybe a transliteration of that. So that was kind of neat. So the word wretched is telephoros. It means distress, miserable. And it's from the word for afflicted. Actually, that word for afflicted is a compound word in the Greek. It's to bear or to undergo. Actually, a hard surface. So it's sort of like you're bumping up against something that's hard. So Paul's banging up against something that's hard. His sin nature, in a sense. He's afflicted by his sin nature.

And there's a verse that uses that same word in Revelation may not quite in the same sense, but it says because you say I am rich and these were that this is the church at This is the one that are lukewarm late to see you. Is that right? Thank you. Okay. Yeah, Luke warm this is Luke warm church because you say I am rich have become wealthy and have need of nothing and and And you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, and blind.

So wretched in this sense is the same Greek word, but maybe used in a little bit different way. Paul was wretched or miserable because of the struggle. They're wretched. They've got some problems. Maybe you could boil it down to the same issue. But because they're lukewarm, they have They're not focusing on the Lord, basically. They're wretched, miserable, poor, and blind.

It could be exactly the same. Actually, it could be. The more I thought about it, the more I thought, well, maybe it isn't. They could be carnal, because he said, you say, I am rooted for carnality, have need of nothing. I mean, they could certainly do things carnally, too. Absolutely. You don't know you're wretched. That's good. Well, actually, I thought, wait a minute, Roger. That's right. They could be in the same place. And the passages in James I have quoted there, they talk about being miserable and mourn.

In fact, let's look at one of those, James 4.9. And could someone read that? And maybe let's go back. Let's see. Let me look at here first. It's actually used twice in James here. Could someone read A to 9?

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn, and let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into mourning. So basically, if you go back to verse 7, he's talking about submit yourself therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So basically, he's saying trust in me, walk with me, draw near to me. And he's talking about basically confession of sin possibly, be sinners, purify your hearts, and be miserable over your sin, I think.

All right, so that's the word wretched. So wretched man I. And then who will set me free? Actually, the set free in the New American Standard is the word deliver, will deliver. And it's looking forward. It's a future tense. It's looking forward to being delivered. Who will deliver me? And one thing to kind of point out, and this has been pointed out quite a few times, it's a who that he's looking for. It's a person he's looking for. He's not looking for a what?

A program? What program do I need? Do I need some spiritual journey program? Seven steps to spiritual health? He's looking for a person. And the focus of scripture is on a person, right? The Lord Jesus Christ. Not on a program. Not on a set of what's. What shall I do? What list of things shall I do? Now, it's not to say that that we don't know facts about our Savior, and know who He is, and who we are in Him, and what He's done. That's key. But it's not a what. It's not what should I do. It's who. Who will deliver me? Who will deliver me from the situation I'm in?

And deliver is this word to rescue, to preserve, and it's connected to deliver. and somewhat synonymous with sozo, which is to save. So basically what's in view here, and this is kind of neat, this is kind of neat. So he's asking for deliverance or to be saved out of something.

So what can you remind me about in scripture, it talks about three kinds of aspects of salvation. Can somebody tell me what those three aspects are? I was going to tell you, but maybe I won't. And actually, I think we've taught this quite a few times. There's three aspects of our salvation. So there's a past aspect. There's a future aspect, obviously, to go be with the Lord. And there's a present aspect. Actually, I have my questions down there, too. We have to deliver a report. Actually, I didn't ask you that question. We'll get there in a second. I'm jumping down to the bottom part.

So this aspect is an aspect of salvation of the present aspect. He's asking to be delivered or saved from this issue he's going through. To be delivered from this issue. To be saved from. So that's his focus. It's good as you go through scripture to look and say, well, in this passage is a focus on the present aspect of salvation. or the past aspect or the future aspect.

And Paul's asking here for deliverance from the reigning power of sin in his life. And that's where he was at. Sin was reigning in his life. The Lord wasn't reigning. He says, you know, grace is to reign. Christ is to reign in our life. Well, the sin nature was reigning in his life here. And he's asking for deliverance from that. So that's the focus.

And then, obviously, the deliverer, I mean, there's not, you know, There's only one deliverer, right? So the will deliver is, who will deliver me? So it's passive to Paul. Because no one's going to deliver him. He's looking for someone, who will deliver me? He's asking that question. Who will deliver me? Is his question. And it's a future thing he's looking for. Right, but he's passive in that. Right, well the passive doesn't come into this, well he's looking for, he's passive. Because it's not what do I need to do to be freed from the death. Right, he didn't ask that.

Who will deliver me? Well he's looking for someone who has the ability. And the question is, who has the ability to save us? I mean, can we save ourselves? I mean, the whole salvation picture, who has the ability to save us? There's only one Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. So, he's asking, who will deliver me from this present aspect I'm in?

I'm in a position where I'm not, he realizes he's not in fellowship, he doesn't say that, with the Lord. He is in his carnal state, doing his thing. And he's asking, who will deliver me? He's looking for a person. He's not saying, well, like you said, what set of rules? Who's that person? And he's obviously going to answer that question, the other half of the verse here, very shortly. Did that answer what you?

Yeah. Well, the idea is that the subject is performing the action. And so the who is someone other than Paul. And that's a good point. OK. Other than myself. Right. Will deliver me. Right. And we know that that who is going to be God. Right. Christ himself. That's a good point.

It seems to me that if Paul is going to be delivered and I think that certainly he's the important thing for us to understand is that if Paul is being delivered and he's using himself as an example. What great hope we have. If Paul is a sinner, certainly we are. And jumping ahead, which probably I shouldn't.

That's fine. No, that's fine. The reason that there is no condemnation Even for Paul, as an example, who is a carnal Christian, how much more can we depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver us from our sin? I agree. That's great. That's great. That's right. Okay, good. Okay. So now he's going to answer the question. Let me see if there's anything else I wanted to say about this. Actually, what I want to do next is, and this is kind of back on my... I wanted to kind of go through here, and maybe this is a little bit laborious, but I think it's worth the time. We have, what, six verses here? And in these six verses, sometimes it will talk about the past aspect of our salvation, and sometimes the present aspect. I'll kind of want to go through and identify and have you help me do this. So the first one, and I'll read it in Romans 11, 26.

And this is just to help you when you go through scripture to have your eye looking for, well, wait a minute, is he talking about the present aspect of salvation, the past aspect, or the future aspect? So the first one is, And so, all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, the Deliverer will come from Zion, and He will rescue and remove the ungodly from Jacob. And sometimes it will be both. Is the focus here on the past being saved from the penalty of sin? Well, I think also he's talking about Israel, they're not believers. He's talking about all of Israel will be saved.

That's going to happen in the future. I was thinking, well, he's talking about them coming to know the Lord, and I look at that. The initial aspect of that for us, for the church, is payment for the penalty of sin. But that's a good point. It was happening in the future, and I was looking at, well, they haven't been saved before, and they were coming to know him, and that's a good point. Thank you. All right.

2 Corinthians 1.10, who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us. He whom we have set our hope, and he will yet deliver us. So are there one or two aspects here, do you think? Good. Good. That's neat. It occurs in there three times, so he's covered the bases here. That's wonderful.

Colossians 1.13 For he rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.

1 Thessalonians 1.10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." Let's see, what did I say? This one might be, let's see. I would say that's past and... And possibly, and looking to the future, yeah. And future and... And maybe... And rescues us, I mean, that's, you know, could also be present. Okay, okay. Well, some are real clear, some are, have all of them in there, okay.

2 Timothy 4.18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

2 Peter 2.9 Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.

I thought, present, you think? Yeah, and future, right, okay. Actually, what's happening there? I thought I was doing this, I thought I'm shaking. I said, no, I'm not. The building's shaking. Okay, all right. So, the idea here was just to kind of keep your focus, so what's being talked about in those passages? That's great. Well, thanks. That was good. Basically, who will set me free or rescue me from this body of death? In the Greek, that little preposition, from, can be either out of or from. Out of this body of death or from this body of death.

And there's a similar phraseology earlier in Romans 6.6.

Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves of sin. So, there seems to be, as you go through 6 and 7, and actually 8 as well, there's various phraseologies, and this is one of these, you know, body of death, body of sin, and it seems like it's focused on the sin nature, it's an aspect, but not directly stated. Obviously, our body is not necessarily sinful. It's sinful. Our body can be sinful if we're abiding or operating carnally out of our sin nature.

So I think it's a reference to that, who will set me free? It's alluding to the sin nature, this body of death, because he's operating as a carnal Christian, and he sees his sin nature driving his body, basically, driving whatever he thinks and whatever he does.

So I think that's what... And then another thing is that, as our favorite question here at Holly Hills, what does death mean in Scripture? Right, good. They all said separation. So basically, the body of separation, if we're a carnal Christian abiding in our sin nature, we've separated ourselves from God. Not positionally, we're always His, but conditionally we have. I'm sorry, did you say the body was the sin nature? Well, I'm saying the body is, when the sin nature, I think he's referring to the fact that Body of death is a phraseology he uses when the sin nature is in control of the body. Who will set me free from the body of this death? And I believe he's alluding to the fact that when he's a carnal Christian operating that way, he's dead and separated from input from the Lord, the Holy Spirit. And some of these are tough. I don't claim I have this all... Go ahead, Sue. No, they're different words. They're different words. And what happens is, the word flesh can have a good sense and a bad sense. Body can have a good sense and a bad sense. So you've got to... Exactly. Is my body being driven by the Lord? Am I abiding in Him? Walking with Him? my new nature is driving me, or is my old nature driving me? I think that's why he says his body of death. It is death. It is separation.

Paul uses different phraseologies. Like I said, it's not easy sometimes. I don't claim I have exactly the right, but I'd be interested in other thoughts too. OK. Let's look at another. There's actually another one I want to look at, too. Let's look at Romans 613. I didn't put it up there, but it has another phraseology along this line. Yeah. Can someone read Romans 613?

And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Okay. Well, this isn't exactly the same phraseology, but I think it makes an allusion to what we're talking about. Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin.

I think that's what this body of death is sort of talking about. Paul's been doing that. He's been letting his sin nature drive him, therefore his body is operating that way. He calls it a body of death. So, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from this body of death?

So he will now answer the question. Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. I just want to cover the first half. What's cool about this verse, verse 25, is He answers the question about who will deliver me, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And then he makes an observation about his old sinful nature and his new nature. And it's not obvious at first, maybe, but boy, I just really... So he kind of clarified. It's like the light finally went on. Wait a minute. I can be driven by my sin nature, or I can be driven by my new nature, which is Christ's nature. And he makes that declaration in the last half of the verse. But the first half of the verse is answering the question of, who will deliver me?

And he says, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ my Lord. And another preposition there, dia, through, could be through or by means of. So thanks be to God by means of or through Jesus Christ our Lord. So what I did, I just kind of did a quick search in the computer and just looked at there's just tons of verses about thanks be to God. And it's interesting when you see that phrase, thanks be to God, you know, High number of times, 97% of the time, it's always thanking for the Lord Jesus Christ or some aspect of what Christ has done. It's always, thanks be to God. And I listed a few here. Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. So in this case, he was not exactly talking about the Lord, but it's certainly implied there.

1 Corinthians 15.57, but thanks be to God who gives us a victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And then 2 Corinthians 2.14, but thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of knowledge of Him in every place. This is one of my favorite verses, the next one.

2 Corinthians 9.15, even though it doesn't say who it is, I've heard some people argue about that, but there is no other indescribable gift that I know about. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

So when we see, thanks be to God, the Lord Jesus is in view so much of the time. And then I did what's nice in the computer, you can search all kinds of ways. So I searched the other way, through Jesus Christ. And what you find is, it's kind of packaged a little bit different way.

Romans 1.8, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because of your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

Then Romans 5.21, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

If you think about it, Paul was in the state that sin was reigning, right? And that struggle he's having. Grace is to reign. Sin is not. Grace is to reign through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul's in there trying to live a life that's pleasing to God and sin is reigning. His sin nature as he points out.

Ephesians 1.5 He predestined us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ our Lord to himself according to the kind intention of his will.

Philippians 1.11 having been filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ to the glory and the praise of God.

And then Titus 3.6, whom he poured out, and this is talking about, let's see here, this is talking about the verse before us, by the washing and regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out richly through Jesus Christ our Lord. So thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

And Paul's words are here. And this is the answer to his problem. Who will deliver me? OK. Any other thoughts on that part of the verse? OK. All right. So the next part is kind of a neat thing. And if you had the privilege of taking some some Greek classes and stuff, it's kind of neat. This is one of these constructions that you kind of, I didn't notice initially and then there's a phraseology, the part in the green here, it's basically, it's kind of, he says, so then, and so then could be therefore.

So Paul says, he's identified the Lord Jesus Christ as being the answer to the wretched man that I am. And now he's going to say therefore, or so then, and it's on the one hand, but on the other hand." So he makes a statement on one hand, and then he makes a statement, but on the other hand. And this is really describing what Paul has learned, I think, through this struggle that he had. He's learned about serving the law of God, as he calls it, and serving the law of sin. He's learned something about that.

Actually, depending upon your translation, this construction, and in the Greek, it's this Greek word transliterated M-E-N on the one hand, and then D-E on the other hand construction. Actually, in the American Standard, at least if my computer program is right, there's only one other case where at least in the English it pops out, but in the Greek you can find it more often. a search of how many times that construction occurs.

So in this case, just as a comparison in Romans 5.16, it says, the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.

For on the one hand, judgment arose from one transgression. So it would be Adam's transgression resulted in condemnation to all men. That's on the one hand. But on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. So, on the other hand, God saw man's transgressions and sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

So, a kind of phraseology, this versus that, this with that. So, we're going to see that in the verse to follow here. Okay, let's do the first part. On the one hand, I myself, with my mind, am serving the law of God. So mind here is this nous, n-o-u-s, transliterated in the Greek. It basically denotes the mind, the seat of reflection, the faculties of perception. And actually, it seems like here, and this is what's cool.

He's going to start, he's going to identify our new nature. This is the first time. He's going to identify, well, not the first time. He alludes to it earlier. But he's going to identify it more clearly here. And he's going to call it with my mind. It's basically, with my mind, the new nature, I am serving the law of God. There's actually a passage that Jim covered last week, and that's why I said it was the first time it wasn't.

Let's look at Romans 7.23. 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. So I think the law of my mind is another phraseology that alludes to his new nature from God. Now the word serving, and this is really cool. This is another really key word in here.

It's derived from the word doulos, to be a slave. Does someone remember what the idea of a doulos is in scripture? It's called bond servant sometimes. What was the hallmark of a bondservant? What made a bondservant different than a servant in the New Testament times? Someone remember about that?

Excellent, excellent. So a bondservant willingly, willingly went into servitude. He willingly, of his own volition, he would And I guess they take a little thing, almost like going back to that today. It doesn't mean the same thing. Anyway, so they put a little thing in their ear, so they would know that was... Exactly.

So a person would willingly become a bond slave of a person. So Paul is going to use that word in serving, a form of due loss, to kind of convey the idea in terms of the law of God and the law of sin. He's going to say that we're a duos, a bond-servant, either to the law of God or the law of sin. I mean, boy, to me, that shows us clearly that we have two opposing forces and we can be a bond-slave to either one.

To me, that was just so key in dissecting. And it's wonderful. It comes at the end, hey, I realize I'm a carnal Christian. I realize that I can be a bond-slave to the law of God. And we're going to see the other half. I can be a bond-slave to the law of sin. to me that really unlocked this whole passage and put it there.

And then he's ready to say, let's move on. I'm not going to spend time on the law of sin. I want to move on and walk with the Lord and do that. So it was a nice closing. Here's the way it is, guys. You can operate from the law of God or the law of sin. He just makes that statement. So I thought that was just really neat.

In Romans 6.19, it says, and this is another place where it uses this word for for slaves, or the word for doulos. It says, I'm speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity, to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members to slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. And actually, I didn't really color in the other slaves. So here's the contrast right here. You can be slaves to impurity, further lawlessness, or you can be slaves to righteousness. It's where you're trusting, where you're abiding, where you're walking. You can be in one place or the other. And he realizes that within his body, he has those aspects.

I think it's a very clear declaration. So the one naturist, I don't know what he does with this. He has a tough time. He probably says something else which makes him want to do that. Yes, right. He says, I'm a bond... He uses the word bond slave, which I thought just... He willingly enters into that arrangement. And don't we do that? Don't we willingly? We say, that person cut me off. I'm going after him.

I hate to say it, I've done that. I say this as a Christian, and it's true, but have I done that in a Christian way? I probably thought about doing it. I think as Art pointed out, it's so encouraging to see that as Paul struggled with all his knowledge, with all his understanding, he struggled with trying to do it on his own, his own self. And we may be there too at some point. It's so wonderful to see that it's a who, who will deliver us? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's wonderful to know that we have... It's all day, every day. It is, every moment, moment by moment. Are we going to be serving the law of God or serving the law of sin? Serving the law of sin.

Exactly, exactly. And actually that second Peter passage talks about being bond slaves to God. I won't look at that right now. All right, so then I actually had just a couple of verses here on the law of God. So we have, on the one hand, with my mind, I'm serving the law of God.

And the law of God here seems to be focused on God's very holy character. The law of God is how God operates. He operates in a holy fashion. Interesting, he kind of saw that earlier on, it seems like. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. He saw that the law of God could be operating in his inner man. He was off someplace else, but he seemed to realize that. And then we're going to see later on here coming up.

Because the mindset of the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. So basically saying, if you're in the flesh, if you're a carnal Christian, you're a bond slave to that. You're cut off from God. And it's good to see that. Like he was. He was cut off from God's work in his life.

And we can be there too. So that's the first half of it. The other half, but on the other, and implied in the original text is, I serve with my I serve is kind of implied. I serve with my flesh the law of sin. And then here we have our favorite word for, this is flesh, as we had before, and it's sarxis. And it seems like it's referring to the seed of the sin nature, or the sin nature. It's in my flesh, and the flesh, like I said, it can be either good or bad, but this context is the seed of the sin nature.

A couple of examples, back to Romans 7.23, again, the law of sin. But I see a different law in my members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin. So here again, the law of my mind being the new nature, and the law of sin implying the old nature, or the sinful nature.

Romans 8.2, which actually Bob will be covering next week, for the law of sin, or the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." So he's going to give the answer. He declares that we got these two places. He says, God has provided for freedom to set you free from the law of sin, for that sinful nature driving your life. That's a wonderful declaration of Romans chapter 8.

Okay, so here's a little summary. I tried to Wretched man I, and you could put in parentheses there, wretched man I, wretched man, carnal Christian I, who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then we have the two kind of parallel statements.

I myself, with my mind, the new nature, am a bondservant to the law of God, his holy character. So as we abide with him, walk with him, we have God's very very character, his very life living through us. But on the flip side, I myself with my flesh, the seed of my sin nature, am a bondservant to the law of sin. And I put all that the sin nature can be. It's how the sin nature operates, which is exceedingly sinful. So there are the two contrasts that Paul saw after realizing the who was the Lord Jesus Christ. And then one more thing. There's sort of a progression of understanding, it seems like. So I have this Paul's timeline. He starts out, verse 14, I am of the flesh, I'm carnal. We've talked about that before. I'm carnal. And then he says, I don't understand what's going on here, basically. He's carnal, so he can't think clearly. I don't understand.

No longer am I doing it, but sin which dwells in me. And then it seems like, And he knows something about that. I know that nothing good dwells in me. And that seems like in 21, I find that the principle of evil is present in me. And in 22, he says, I joyfully concur with the law of God and the inner man. The door kind of opens a little bit. And then he kind of comes to the end of himself. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of death? And then lastly, thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's wonderful. I'm thankful we got through that struggle.

Roger, in regard to that timeline that you just referred to, was this the point that Paul changed from being carnal to, was that a point in time or was it a matter of growing and growing? Oh boy, you ask easy questions, Art. My question is either or. Did he actually change in a point in time or rather than that was it a matter of the process of his growing up in Christ?

I'm not sure I know, but I'll tell you what I have heard. I've heard people go through Paul's writings and identify Paul before he was a believer. So they have, like, here's Paul's life before he was a believer. They point to this, and then they have other aspects, like in Romans, you know, other times. So they've tried to have a timeline of his life. How this fits in, I guess I don't know. I think for us, for our Advent, this is an example of what Paul did, and it's for our our edification to say, hey, I can be there. I can go down that path.

Paul was a believer all the time. And he was a believer. I don't know that in scripture, other than when he was Paul, after Damascus, how could anyone say that after spending three years in the wilderness with the Lord, he was unsaved? No, no, no, I was saying in terms of before he was, not saying after he became a believer, that they divided his life up into segments. Paul as an unbeliever, Paul as a believer, Paul struggling, Paul walking with water, that kind of idea. Who knows, Paul might have struggled. I don't know that it's a time and from that point forward, he never, was carnal again, I don't think anyone but the Lord could be in that position. We may not see that in scripture, but I am sure that Paul, at other times in his life, was carnal.

Because we are. But I think it's more of the realization that this is the process. And we're going to be here in our life on and off. I mean, I hope it's more off than on, but I think that's the process. But at least we know there is a process and what the result is. And also we know we're looking for a who. We're not looking for a system of lists, a refrigerator list, or some set of rules. You follow these rules and you'll be a spiritual Christian.

Or the law. I mean, anything. Right. Absolutely. It's who. Well, let's go ahead and close. Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for this day, Father. We thank you for your word and for the blessings we have, Lord. We thank you that we have a who, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we can trust him and walk with him day by day and moment by moment. In Christ's name, amen.