Lesson 24c & begin 7:7-11 Lesson 25a
Romans 7:1-6 · Courtney Hemenway · Jan 6, 2019
Romans (2018-21), No. 48
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261913332753

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

So we are going to finish up Lesson 24. We are in the Romans class. We are continuing in Romans. I'm going to go back just because it's been several weeks since we have been actually in this class. So I'm going to go over the verses we're covering in Lesson 24, which are, excuse me, tickle.

Romans 7 verses 1 through 6. So I'm going to read those first and then I'll go back. I want to go back to one of the questions we ended on last time. And Joanne actually had some thoughts on that that I didn't forget. Some of the people when we get in there about the husband and wife and that. So let's go to Romans 7. I'll read it. Romans 7, 1 through 6.

Or do you not know, brethren, for I am speaking to those who know the law, that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

Therefore, my brethren, you are also made to die to the law through the body of Christ, you may be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the law, were at work in the members of our body, to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter."

So I went through a lot of that, a lot of different things. I want to go back in, I think it was question five. No, question six. Excuse me. Where we have all the, from verses two and three, all the different characters, the husband and the wife and what that meant. And we saw about how the correlation, he's using a very obvious relationship to show our relationship to the law.

And about if you are joined to a husband, if you go off and go to somebody else, you're an adulteress. But if your husband dies, you're free from that bond, that contract, that bond. Anything that joined you, you're now free from it because the husband died. or the spouse, whichever one. And so that was about how we have died, which was in Romans 6. It went through our co-crucifixion, so it talked about our death or separation. And now, so we are free from the law. Paul's trying to get here about we're free from the law. And we're going to get into a little bit later here about human effort and different things.

But this is about the adulterous. And Joe had a point. So if we go back to the law, what would we be called? Adulterouses. We're going back to something or going back to a relationship that's not ours. So, you had a good point. It talks about if you are joined to someone and you go off and you do whatever in that relationship, you're an adulterous. Well, if we're with Christ and we try to go back to the law, what is the similar principle?

We're committed to adultery against Christ. Exactly. So that was a good point. I thought you had a good point about showing that. That if we try to go back to the law, that's almost adulterous to our relationship with Christ. So I think that's an important thing.

And it shows, again, about us trying to go back to the law, how dumb that is, how bad that is, that we try and go back and put ourselves under that. So again, I thought that was a great point that she brought out at the last class that we had. So I think we, where did we get to? I think, where did I get to? Question 8. So we're in question 8.

So, describe what the term in the flesh means in verse 5. So I'll read 5. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. So what does the term in the flesh mean?

Fleshly nature. Sin nature. A source. Source. Yeah. Sin nature. The ACSB has a footnote, a person's life before accepting Christ. Yes. In the flesh. Yeah. Before accepting Christ, there's no option. You only got one. One sin nature and flesh. We are in the flesh. We're in the flesh. That's it. No choice. No nada. Yeah. So, the expression in the flesh refers to the condition of a person, a non-believer, in the absolute control of the evil nature as clearly seen by the actions and different results of being in the flesh.

So, I looked up in Zoyates, in the flesh, implying sinfulness. proneness to sin, the carnal nature, the seat of carnal appetites and desires, of sinful passions and affections, whether physical or moral." Is this a good place to be? In the flesh? Is that really where you want to be described as?

So this is opposed to Numa which is the spirit. So this is the opposite of the spirit is the flesh. So, Newell has this, when we are in the flesh, note it does not say in the body, which I think is important, for we are all that. Being the body has no moral significance, but the words are in the flesh.

The condition of those not saved, as we see from chapters 8, 8 and 9, for ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God dwelleth in you. That does not describe a moral state or condition, absence of life or absence of the Holy Spirit. That does describe a moral state or condition, absence of life, absence of the Holy Spirit, and control by the fallen nature. So again, in the flesh is not a good place to be. Again, that's where the root of all the sinful passions, the desires, the carnal appetites, all that is dwelling in the flesh.

And we see that as Paul goes through chapter 7, he struggles with this. All the desires that he has. And I always think about this, Paul being the one who spent years with the Lord, being taught, and he struggles with this. I'm going, man, this is the guy who spent... And he's struggling. And he's trying to do it on his own, what we'll find. And he finally realizes, that's not what I need to do. And realizing that the seed of all this is in his flesh.

The flesh, in the flesh dwells nothing good. That's why I keep thinking when we go home to be with the Lord, that's going to be the greatest day, is to shirt these shells with all the sin and all that. And we don't have that at all anymore. So I'm excited about that day. when we don't have to fight the battle between the flesh and the spirit.

We also have from Wiest, For when we were in the sphere of the flesh, the impulses of sin which were through the law were operative in our members, resulting in the production of fruit with respect to death. I thought that was pretty good. The impulses of sin, which were through the law, remember that.

The law is what arouses the sin nature. That always is contrary to most Christian teaching or belief, is the law is great and we need to hold on to those and do everything, which is absolutely the wrong thing to do. And again, we said, one of the earlier questions, is it the law's fault that we sin? The law is holy and just. It's perfect. It's just showing us and arouses our sin nature. So it's not, as I said, it's not like the old Flip Wills saying, the devil made me do it. The law made me do it. No, that's not it.

So in question nine, is a believer to serve something other than himself going forward? That's ten. God has two methods of service. That's number nine. But you were at number ten. I was on nine. Is that ten? Yeah, that's ten. I must have switched the numbers around when I did that. Okay, ten. Is a believer to serve something other than himself going forward? No. Yeah. No? Yeah, well, I must have messed it up on mine. Sometimes when I do my notes, if I hit it, it may renumber my things. Should he ever be serving himself?

Okay. I think, well, I must have, am I? Let's see. Number 9 says God has two methods of service. What are they? I think that should come before 10. That's like I said, I should. Let me let me see. I must have remembered these when I did my notes. The story for me, we're going to be nine. Oh, I think I remember those. There we go. Okay, I have them renumbered.

God has two methods of service. What are they? Life in the Spirit and Life in the Law. And Lord, Life in the Spirit and the Church. Okay. Others? Law or Grace. Yeah? Did somebody else have something? Sorry, I missed that one. I renumbered it, didn't I? So all mine are off by one number now. Anything else? What are the two? I think the spirit. Spirit is one. And the letter of the law. Law. Yeah. So which do we serve? The spirit. We just saw how wonderful the law is, right?

And why is that? I'm kind of going back. We really want to get why this transfer. Paul's going into great detail in this about our separation. Why do we serve this spirit now versus the law? What happened? Serving under the law would be like trying to fight sin. Exactly. That's a losing battle. That's all of what Paul's explaining here. Remember where Paul came from. Paul was one of the top legal scholars of his time. This guy knew the law inside and out and he was a keeper of the law. I think he said, I'm the best keeper of the law. But now what's he saying?

Until he found out what the covenant is. Well, until he met the Lord on the road. That kind of had a big impact on him. Because he was persecuting the church going after because they were not following the law. And he was going after them for everything about the law. So when the Lord met him, it obviously changed. completely changed his whole ministry from attacking the church to building the church up through his ministry. So yeah, it went from the law, which he served, and he's going through that in here. He tries to, he wants to, he really knows the law, but he can't accomplish it.

So then, which is the best part of the end, who will deliver me from this? My attempts at trying to live a life under the law. Who will deliver me? We died to the law. We died to it. Exactly. And that's what he's bringing out here. That's the whole point of it. Is that we've died to it. But see, he's showing the struggle that he's going back and he's trying to do it on his own or as what was the law was based on human response. You know, do this, you get this. Do this, you get this. So he was trying to do it on his own.

But he's telling us we've died to the law. You know, it's this kind of spiritual insanity again that we go through this and we try and do it, but why do we go back to it? Again, it goes back to, Joanne's commented, it's like we're an adulteress if we try and go back there. Yeah. I thought you were going to say, Joanne, were you going to say something?

I was going to say, when you realize that Paul was a literal genius in the law and his whole life was based and he spent his whole life learning about it. And then he says, we're not under the law. That is saying something. He gave up all of that. being worthless compared to knowing price. Well not only that, see him saying that this is what the root of all your carnal, this actually excites the sinful nature. I mean this is from a guy who said you had to keep it. Now he's saying that is what excites your sinful passion. What a switch. Yeah.

You got to realize too that Paul served a lot that was watered down by the Pharisees. It was much easier to obey that law because it was watered down. When Jesus came and said, this is what the law really says, and you can't obey it, then he understood. I think Jesus probably taught him that himself. He taught him all this. Again, what the law was for, it was to arouse and to show the sinful passion, the sinful nature. And what that created was a need for what? A savior. And the personal relationship that we have, that was all that he was pointing out through this.

And then, we're dead to it. We're dead to the law. So, again, I have to get the question here because it got erased here. The two methods of service, again, there's one which we'll see in the next question, which is by the Spirit and then the other was by law. So, and again, we'll get into now the next question. Is a believer to serve something other than himself going forward? And what is that? The Lord, the living God, by the Spirit living, empowering human soul. Other thoughts? Look at verse six.

But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound. So again, that severance, that release from the law, we're not under the law anymore. So what happens now? So that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter. So what was the new service? Newness in the spirit. So again, we've severed ourselves from the law and now we serve in newness of the spirit. That's the services through the spirit. So Newell has it this way.

What wonderful paradoxes of the gospel. In verse 4, having died, they bear fruit. In verse 6, having been discharged, they serve. So, you die and you bear fruit. You've been discharged from service, so you can serve. You can't serve too much. But it's kind of the weird part. You've died, so now you can bear fruit. Tell that to somebody out on the street.

And you've been discharged, so now you can serve. You know, usually if you're in the service, you're, you know, you get discharged, you're no longer in service. So it's kind of, that was kind of one of the good, as Newell puts it, the paradoxes. That you died, so now you can serve, or bear fruit, and you've been discharged from service, so you can serve. Well, we were discharged from one service to another service. Right. But that's the, you know, you've been discharged from serving who? Satan. Well, the flesh. And now we serve in newness of the spirit. So it's kind of, he said, it's just kind of, I hadn't thought about it there, but Newell had kind of pointed out the dichotomy there.

So, what an unspeakable satisfaction filled the Apostle's heart at finding himself serving God in all the capacities of his love-filled being, the more he felt his complete freedom from the law that once held him. In the old days it was, I verily thought I ought to do, now it is, I delight to do. As we say elsewhere, the instructed believer finds himself doing the will of God as it is in heaven, that is, in the very spirit of service, and not by forms or ordinances which are earthly rudiments.

So again, I like the one part that he has here, I verily thought ought to do that, we ought to do something, to now I desire to do it. I think that's a real transformation that we see going from a law-based system to a spirit-based system or grace-based. I'd like to do it. I want to do it. It's not that I ought to do it because I'm going to gain something from it. I get a little bit of a difference there.

So in question 11, what does serving in newness of spirit mean? Now that we've talked about that in verse 6, I'll read it again. But now we've been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the spirit and not in oldness of the letter. So what is serving in newness of the spirit? doing the will of God, but not by any law or ordinance, but by the Spirit. By the Spirit. He's the one directing it. He's the one who gives you the power. He's the one who does everything about it.

What we're seeing in verse 7 is, if you do it by yourself, crash and burn. We serve in newness and the Spirit will guide, direct, convince us of the Word, give us the very faith that we need to believe. You know, he's the one who actually gives us the facts and the knowledge and the source being that he convinces us of these truths and then we believe. And the things that we do in the Spirit are already prepared for us.

Yeah. Well, that's why, you know, in my prayers I always say about the sovereignty of God, you know, he's in control of all this and he's directing us through and by trials and blessings he is directing us to what? What is the ultimate end? Being conformed. He uses all of this. The Spirit is not here just as a power source. It's to conform us to the image of Christ. That's what is there. And He uses both the indwelling of the Spirit and His Word to conform us to the image of Christ.

And again, you know, In 2 Peter 3.18, grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. That's his prayer. In the grace, grow in the grace, understanding what operating system, but also in the knowledge of Christ. That's really, and I think what's in John's eternal life is to know him. Knowing him. That's the key.

And as we, through His Word and through the indwelling of Spirit, as we know Him, as we spend time with Him, we're conformed to the image of Christ. And so that's the, in serving the newness of the Spirit, it's completely different than a law-based system which was earthly-based. If I do this, I get this. So a completely different system. Serving in the newness.

Paul says the word letter, which is in the last part of this, and not the oldness of the letter. It's used of a bond, a document, a letter one writes. He refers to the written law of God as found in the Old Testament. So that's the letter. So we're serving in the newness of spirit, but not in the oldness of the letter or the bond that we had through the law.

And the other kind of important words in there are in newness. There are two types of words for that, and we've talked about this a lot. There's neos and kynos. Neos, which means just in time. It's just new. It showed up now. Or kynos is a different one.

It's new in quality, new in type. So when we say in the newness of the Spirit, is this something we've seen before? Was this in the Old Testament? So this is newness of the Spirit. It's new in kind, new in quality. It's completely different than what was before. So we're now serving in something that's completely new, and that is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

And the old, again you can kind of get into some of the words. There are two words for old in the Greek, which is archaos, which is an old and point of time, or paleos, and that which is old and point of use, worn out or useless. So what do you think? We're referring to the old of the letter. The last definition. The last definition. It's old, worn out, not of use. We get to the point of this where it says, or we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

So he's referring back to the law. He's now explained it for the 10th time. We've been separated. We've died to the law. We're not under the old letter or under the law anymore. We were never under law. We weren't. Again, we get into law principle too. You can get into some of that too. We as Christians get into law principles and make up our own laws. But we were not under the Judaic laws or Mosaic laws. Does the word spirit here in the end, or pneuma, refer to a man's human spirit or to the Holy Spirit? Now this should be an easy one. Is this newness of the spirit? Are we talking about our spirit, the human spirit, or the Holy Spirit?

If you just look at your Bible and it's capitalized, you've got the answer to this one. A logical contrast would suggest that there is a distinction here between the Holy Spirit as a new method of divine dealing and the law which was God's old method.

Paul's thought here is not that the believer serves in a new spirit, that is, in a new attitude with new motives, but he now serves in the power of the Holy Spirit under a new energy and control rather than an attempt to obey an objective law. Again, kynos, new in quality, new in kind. We have a new spirit, an indwelling spirit, which is different than being run under a law-based system. So again, Paul is pounding into us about we're not under the law, we're under a new system, which is led by the Holy Spirit. Newness of life, newness in the spirit. So, he's going through all this after, remember we just come through Romans 6, which talked about a co-crucifixion, death. And now he's saying, okay, what did that death accomplish? It got us out of the law. And now what?

Into a new life. Service under the spirit. Newness of life, newness of spirit, newness of service, not old. Of letter, of law. of earthly things. I was wondering, how does this part fit in where we're new creatures in Christ? It's totally that. Where in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, we're new creatures in Christ. New in kind, new in quality. Same new word is used there, kainos. So we are a new creature in Christ.

And it perfectly matches with this. And we have the Spirit of God indwelling in us. brings that life forth. And again, the two things are the Word and the Holy Spirit. Those two things are what bring out spiritual growth, bring our life out. That's all through this relationship that he's saying here. Severed from the law, newness of life, newness of everything in Christ.

You want to go for one question, Judy? We'll now move on to Lesson 25. I've got an iPad. He works at a bank, and he had several old ones, and he said, you want one? And he commissioned it, and I said, yeah, I'll try it. I want to be like Russ. He even has a keyboard. I have a little keyboard.

Ooh, man. Ooh. So you guys just wait and see what happens. Yeah. See how far it messes you up at the beginning. I know. I'm scared of it. With my new computer, that was the first thing. I was like, oh. I know. Now I'm going to get all gummed up. What's that? MacBooks are better. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I could have carried that in, too, but I'm trying. Cool. OK, so we're transitioning to lesson 25. I'm just going to get rid of this. I think you guys memorized that, right? Yeah. No more grace. No. We're not under grace anymore? I don't think so. I can't wait till Mike hears this statement. Now we're under law. All right, so lesson 25. Chapter 7 verses 7-11 Let's read that together. What shall we say then? Is the law sin?

May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law. For I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, You shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law, sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died. And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me. For sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it, killed me. So question number one. We read verses one through six. Courtney read those earlier. We just read verses seven. Oh, thirteen. I got two more verses.

So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be. Rather, it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful.

Does that make sense? That's a lot of thoughts there, huh? I mean, really. You're like, whoa. About seven or eight. There's a lot packed in there. There's a theme. There's definitely a theme. So in verses 1 through 6, you have a theme. Verses 7 through 13, you have a theme. And the question is, what is the difference in subject between the two? What do you notice there? I think 1 through 6.

Not under law. All right. That's easy for us. Like we said earlier, we were never under the law, at least not the Mosaic law. But you're not under the principle of law either. We've nailed that down in the last several lessons. What about 7-13? What is Paul describing his understanding of what the law does? What's the subject change in 7-13? to do it through the wall and he's totally defeated. He's just not going anywhere.

Because the sin, and I think through this is talking about the old sin nature, right? The sin is always there just ready to pounce. In my Bible, Christian Standard Bible, it titles that section, Sin's Use of the Law. In other words, you know, sin, you know, the law has, what am I trying to say? There's a point to the law, and it's to bring out, you know, bring sin into broad daylight. It's to show us what sin is. Without the law, we can't see what sin is.

That's proven in Romans further on in this chapter. I really appreciate you bringing that out. This is a very good title for this section. So, verses 1-6, you're dead to this. But let me explain to you how sin uses the law. And that's what 7-13 is all about.

It's interesting to me, I hadn't thought of it this way, and Paul hasn't explained everything yet. So in context, in chronological sequence of how Paul's describing things, he hasn't fully explained grace in its entirety. We have the advantage of being able to view what we're studying in Romans with a broader understanding of grace. What Paul is doing is he is laying a ton of foundation for a new believer. All this stuff is on the board. Some of this has been borrowed outside of Romans to paint a complete picture, but there's a lot that has been described through Romans 1, 6, and now into 7.

We talked about the fact that the law produces this fear of condemnation. That's what you live under. There's a constant fear of that, right? But one of the things that Paul is now describing is, you're here, but yet you want to place yourself back under the law. Well, no. 1-6 you're not under the law. Okay, fine. I'm not under the law. But if you do that, if you begin to behave that way, what does sin do with the law? Right? Sin's use of the law. I like that term. And all of a sudden you realize that, hey, I'm an adulteress. That's what Paul says in verse 6. But an adulteress from what? I mean, obviously you're an adulteress and you're joining yourself to the law, but what are you leaving the realm of?

Grace. Grace. And yeah, I mean, absolutely, but you're, you're, you're, you're, um, let's see what I'll say. I might want to say this differently later, but I'm going to say it this way. You're leaving grace and you're saying, hey, I don't want to be married to grace anymore.

I want to be married to the law. And all of a sudden you find yourself in Romans 7 through 13. It's really failing to avail himself of the resources of grace. You are choosing to be, the moment you begin to operate under the law, you are choosing to be a defeated believer. So I'm going to write that too. I didn't spell that right. Because the law, you put yourself under the law and it will do nothing but condemn you. It will show the sin that we live under basically, that we live with. Yeah, but we're not condemned. We don't lose our salvation. E.A. E.A. What?

D.E.N.N.T.O.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M.M. Well, now you have a laptop like me and we can't spell.

We're close together. Spell check. Yeah, I'm too close to the spell check for sure. Condemnation. From the condemnation standpoint, we're going to give it an 8-1. Therefore, there is no condemnation. There is. There is condemnation because we're talking about law. Yeah, but the next one is where we get it. Therefore, there is no condemnation. So question number two, before we have, I'm going to try to get two questions out. Was Paul interested in, verse seven, forgiveness or something else? What's he interested in? Did Paul want forgiveness? What should we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law. For I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet. Well, there's no forgiveness under the law. That is absolutely rigorous. Only by blood sacrifice.

So was Paul interested in it? He was interested in it in a way to reveal what sin does to him. Okay. That's important. What does sin do to him? It condemns him. Nothing but condemnation. And you need to know that in order to come to grace. It makes him covet. Okay. Along with all the other 613 commandments. Exerting power makes him covet. Another word, lust, there. The desire for something that's not yours.

That's what the law produces in him. You ever experience that? Not even under the Mosaic law. You ever experience the principle of that law? Money, you want some money? Sure. You want your neighbor's car, his acreage? Keeping up with the Joneses. Oh yeah. You want to win the lottery. You want your neighbor's ox or his donkey? No. That's the context. Maybe his wife. I skipped that part for a reason. Aiden's back there going like this.

That's what Deuteronomy 5.21 says. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and not your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. And what did that do in Paul? It made him want it more. I should say, what did Paul's sin do with that? Paul wasn't interested in being forgiven for having coveted or the desire to covet.

He wanted delivery. Complete and total delivery. And that's what he's explaining to his listeners and his readers is that There's no forgiveness about this stuff. That's not what we're aiming for. We need complete and total delivery. We need an entire newness of everything. He had just set that up in verse 6, and now he's talking about how sin uses the law to show him what's really going on with the sin nature. So, he's looking not for forgiveness, but that complete and total delivery. He's concerned about, not about that pardon. He doesn't want to be pardoned from the law. He doesn't want to be pardoned from the sin that the law produces. He's explaining the need and complete and total desire for delivery. Yeah. That's what Mike has said. He said God did not forgive the sin nature. He condemned it. Condemned it.

Yeah. And that's what we need. We need it. We don't need forgiveness. We need forgiveness of sins. But not forgiveness of the sin nature. We need total condemnation there. That's right. What happened to the sin nature? It was separated from us. Death or separation? Yeah. Well, why is it still producing covetedness? It's still attached. We got the baggage. Got some baggage. What's that attached to? The flesh. To the flesh. And what does it do constantly? Bark. Barks at us. But, what do we know about that sin nature? It's a word that I... I love it. That's exactly the way I refer to it constantly. And that's why I think of it in my own mind.

You can barf all you want, but you're a deposed monarch. Now, what happens when you follow through with it? I think this is kind of going back to, you know, as you say, 1 through 6, we're not under the law and all the truths in verse 5. for while we are in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the law."

So he tells us about that. Now he's explaining in him how that was acted out. You know, I would never have known about company had I not had the law that told me about company. So he's now expanding on, you know, when you fall back under what he just told us. The law was to incite sinful passion. He's now saying for himself, I never would have known coming necessarily, not knowing the law. But now, boom. We'll talk about that going from black and white to full color of sin next week in the question number three. Does that analogy make sense? Black and white versus full color? I'll explain it next week.

Laurie, we thank you so much for the truth of your word. We thank you for Paul, just his honesty and just being able to look at not only how you used him to communicate your very words, but how he did it just in such a way that we can relate and we can understand. We thank you that you used men in the scripture. It's not a perfection. It's a complete and total dependence upon what you've done. I really appreciate being able to look at these verses and relate to where Paul is in his experience and know that there is an entirely newness of life that you've given to us as a gift through grace. I thank you for that.

I thank you that I have the opportunity to serve you in the newness of spirit and that your spirit is producing in me that transformation and producing the very image of Christ himself. And so I just thank you for the privileges to be a believer and to walk by faith. And most of all, Lord, for your love and your grace. It's in your name that we pray. Amen.