Lesson 27b
Romans 7:19-24 · JD McCulley · Feb 10, 2019
Romans (2018-21), No. 53
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492619135652

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

Okay, so we're on lesson 27, and thank you Mike for covering ad hoc last week, the first two questions, and I think he kind of left you guys with a little bit of a cliffhanger on question number three, so we're going to pick up with question number three. We're covering Romans 7, 19 through 24, so let's go ahead and read that together, and just get in mind this straddle. Right? It's a struggle. A conflict. So let's read verse 19 through 24 together.

For the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing that I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which 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?

If we stop there, sounds like bad news, doesn't it? Or is it good news? So, Paul is presenting your week, right? He just basically summarized your week. A little bit? Maybe. Let's turn over to Galatians 2.20. Last week you guys distinguished the I's in verses 19-20. in this chapter of Romans.

And so, we want to look at Galatians 2.20. There's a lot of eyes and knees in this verse as well. And I think it's important to understand these. This is one of those verses that I go back to over and over and over in my Christian life. In fact, it's probably the one that comes to mind at the top of my mind every time I start dealing with this conflict that Paul talks about.

Can someone read Galatians 2.20 for me? I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. So, in verse 20, the entire verse starts off with an I. Alright?

Let's talk about it. Who is it? Who's Paul? So was Paul crucified with Christ? Yes. Physically? No. Spiritually. Okay, so who is it? Paul's spiritual being. Okay. Okay. We talk about... Vernon used the term continuous person or eternal person. So each of you have an eternal person. You are unique, one of a kind, created in the mind of God. Prior to even being born on this earth, you were in the mind of God.

So is that our position or condition? This is not. This is your condition. Your conditional position? Condition is never conditional. Oh yeah. Well, so let's get back to verse 20. It is really important that we get this eye correctly identified. We've got to make sure we've got that on the radar, on the map.

Who is it? God conceived you in His heart. How ever are you being born? We talked about Paul's spiritual being, and that's who the eye is. It's that eternal person of Paul. Right? So does Galatians 2.20 relate to you? It can. It can be a direct correlation. It's a direct correlation? Yeah. How so? Well, because Paul is speaking of himself, but he writes it in such a way that it can be true of every person who believes in Jesus Christ. Okay. So it relates to believers. Yeah. Do you guys buy that? Is Jim right? I think he is.

So, the I is the eternal person of Paul, but who else is the I? Me. Me. As a believer. Okay? So let's go on. I, Paul, the eternal person, having crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live. Okay? It's no longer I who live. So we have this second instance of the I. Who's that? He crucified me. But would that be the flesh? No. Oh man, yeah. It would be, don't forget, nevertheless I live. And there's two parts here.

And it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Last week, this is what I brought up on the differences between the I's and the me's. The me's to me are the eternal person. That's me. If you dissect this, when it talks about me, it seems like that's the eternal person, Courtney.

The I's are either the sinful or the sin nature, and the other one is the new The me is the eternal. Without one or the other nature, can the eternal me be identified? In other words, I have to be united to one of those two natures or lives for identification, don't I? float out there as an eternal person with neither one of these natures attached to me?

What do you think? That's what I'm saying. The first two I's are the crucified ones. The sinful nature, that's what we've been separated from. And the, no longer the I, wherever it is. The I live. It's no longer I live, but Christ lives in me in the life which I now live. That's the spiritual I, the new identified in Christ I. So wouldn't that be one is the first Adam, first man, and the other one would be the second man, the last Adam?

But if you go to Ephesians 1.4, God sees me, has seen me in Christ from the foundations of eternity. That's positional truth. That's who I am as God sees me. Let's read that, Ephesians 1-4.

For just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love. So I was chosen as a human being, person, in Christ before he ever created anything, before there ever was an old man, before there ever was sin, before any of that. I was created in Christ, then. That's kind of hard to say because in eternity there is no then or future.

Yeah, and when you say a floating person, yeah, you were a unique entity in God's mind. before the foundation of the world. So is that our conditional position? No, it's not. It's then our positional condition. If you take position and condition out of it, then what you're looking at is who I am from God's perspective and have been that for all eternity. It's his unique design of you. That's right. One of a kind. Prior to birth and then what has to happen? I have been what? And that changes everything, right? And now I no longer live.

It changes everything because when we enter into time and become in time a living, breathing human being, our identity is with Adam because that's the race we come from. What's interesting is at the same time God sees us in Christ. But when we're born from above, we can look at time as a line. Because we see it as God sees it. If you look at the timeline from my being created, It's our history. But as I see myself in Christ, I'm eternal. So it's our future too. Our history and future. So let me ask you a question.

Time is a sticky subject, obviously. We're bound by it because we're creatures. Time is a created thing. God created time. He exists outside of it. Can we understand it? Not fully. Do we hope to in this class? No. Go to Ray's class. He can explain it a lot better. I'm just kidding. God exists outside of time, and so he sees all of time existing at the exact same moment. He's eternal, by definition.

But I want to know who you are, right? So, I no longer live. What happened to you? What happened to that you? I was crucified. Why is that necessary? Had to be a death. Had to be a death? And what did death do? Death separates us from you. So it's separating you from something. What is it separating you from?

From the sin. From the authority of the sin nature. From the creation. The I changes. Your entire identity, I, changes. Right. Changes from the old man to what? The new man. That's right. That's what we've been talking about, really. I mean, this whole book of Romans so far, we've dealt with this situation where the old I was a slave to sin.

My will was 100% controlled. I could do nothing but operate according to the sin nature. Now, we also said that that me, that person, was bound to Satan. Death reigned. We had all of Adam's history. And the law brought nothing but fear and condemnation to us, right? Sorrow and suffering were the result of that. And we said there's no neutrality. You can't say, oh, I'm still thinking about changing who I am. You are. the old man. This is who we were. But thanks be to God for the work of the Spirit. He convicted and convinced us of the truth of his gospel message and it was through grace that the free gift was given and I personally exercised faith in that truth.

And through the crucifixion I was placed into Christ's death and then on the other side of the coin, not just crucified but what? Made alive. And that's what Paul's talking about. I've been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And now, I'm sealed by the Holy Spirit, and I'm a bond slave of righteousness. My will is swallowed up in God's will. I have a new nature, bound to Christ. Life reigns through grace. I now have Christ's history, and grace, not law, is my operating system. Is that your Christian life?

What? What about this part? So, sitting out here is the sin nature, who's still present, but we call him a deposed monarch. He's no longer in authority, as you mentioned, Jim. He no longer has the authority to control my will. But does he? Yeah, he barks, he barks, he barks all day. All day today, all day tomorrow, he's never going to shut up. We choose to walk in that sin nature and what do we call that? Spiritual insanity.

Could you say that my choice is really to allow one or the other to control me? It's interesting because One of them is a deposed monarch, the other is who you actually are. So it's not, and this is what I've been wrestling with, it's not two equal authorities. And it's not even, it's not an authority versus another authority, it's a, it's who I am in Christ versus the sin nature. And that sin nature is deposed, it has no authority whatsoever, but my identity is not at all related to this, but yet it barks. So the decision is not so much of one voice, like you've got little guys on your shoulder and one devil and one angel, but absolutely there is a decision, but it's not weighted in the same way in terms of an authority, if that makes sense. Did you have another thought? Can somebody write this down?

On February 10th, 926. Wow. That is awesome. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, thoughts? Yes. Well, what's interesting about that is that you could go legal with that if you choose You know, that puts you in control, that puts you under the law, I think. I was thinking about like the hungry heart this morning, you know.

We're dependent on the Lord for everything, including our growth, including moment by moment. So how do you reconcile those two? Well, Mike's not going to answer. What about this part where it says, in the life which I now live in the flesh? What's that? Wait a minute, we haven't finished I no longer live. Who's the I in the I no longer live? Is it the old man that no longer lives? Or is it the new man that does live?

You tell me. Now free from Adam the first, God recreated you in Christ, the last Adam, and that is the life you now live as the Christian, the Christian, the new Adamic I. No longer I, the old I, you as you were in Adam is no longer your life. Christ is now the source of your life, for to me to live is Christ. Philippians 121. So the second I is the new Adam. The new Adam. The last Adam, sorry. The last Adam, right. Yeah, the last Adam. It's about last. So it actually is Christ, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. He's your life. The second eye is the one in whom Christ lives, right? Yeah, your life in Christ.

So when he says, I no longer live, he's saying my soul? I don't understand. I'm confused. What's he mean by I no longer live? Is it the old sin nature that no longer lives? No. It's the endemic life. The old Adamic life? You have been rooted. That's right. Now freed from the first Adam, God recreated you in Christ, the last Adam. And that is the life you now live as a Christian, the new Adamic I. So the old Adam no longer lives? The new. The new Adam does live? Yes.

So he says, I no longer live. He's talking about the old Adam that no longer lives. The old Adam is still alive. I'm not alive to it. Yeah, because we're talking about death meaning separation. You're separated from it. The old Adam does live, but I no longer live according to the old Adam's wishes.

I'm trying to understand this. This is new to me. You're doing a good job. But it goes on, it says, but Christ lives in me. So this is number three. Who's this? Me? You were baptized in Christ. What does that mean, baptized? He is your life. You've been completely identified, immersed, right? So you no longer have Because of your complete and total immersion in Christ, that is your identity. That is completely who you are. And that's why we call this what we do. Because that's not who we are. It's not related to us in that way at all anymore.

But Christ lives in me. You, the new creation, me, are indwelt by Christ. It is not Christ living instead of you, but rather He is the source of your new life as a recreated person. the eternal, chosen, and elected entity. Let's read Colossians 127. Someone grab that for me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Why? Is there any hope outside of Christ?

Remember, this is where you are. All of this. Fear, condemnation, there is no hope. There is no glory for you outside of Him. But, When Christ lives in us, this is what Paul is communicating here, and it's true of all believers, there is the hope of glory. Yeah.

It goes back to Ephesians 1.4, because Ephesians 1.4 says that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love. It's interesting that God has determined that I, the man in Christ, the new man, the one that He chose from eternity past, will live in eternity before God, in His presence, holy and blameless, and I'll do it in love.

That's the hope. That's the glory. Because wherever God is, the glory is. And I'm going to be right in the middle of that. Or right in the middle with Him. So I think the hope of the glory is that, yeah, When the day comes that I get to get out of this planet, where do I go? I go to be right with the Lord, holy and blameless, in glory.

That's a great prospect. It's a different kind of State of the Union address, isn't it? We have hope. It's real. In the life which I now live, I live in the flesh. What's going on there? Well, the new man is still in the flesh. And the flesh is corrupted. What do you mean by flesh? This physical body. Physical body.

This physical body is infected with the sin nature. Yeah, sin nature, isn't it? As long as we have the flesh, and we brought it down here, We have the potential to walk according to the authority of that sin nature. It's spiritual insanity and we do it all the time.

That's what Paul's talking about. And he's coming to terms with this. And this is very, very telling for us because Paul didn't just all of a sudden, after three years with the Lord, come back and announce that he was a perfect saint. He's like, I have some stuff to tell you. I've been baptized, I've been crucified, but let me tell you about this conflict that's going on in my heart. There's two natures, and they're battling one another, but the battle is not an equal battle.

But he does get to the point where he starts to recognize some things, and Galatians 2.20 helps us bring to light some of the things that he was dealing with in this passage in Romans.

So, the flesh, so long as we have this flesh and the burning stones grab his armor I'll grab my ear. As long as we're bound in this flesh, this thing barks. But the hope of glory is just what Mike talked about. If that goes, and we're separated from that, we all will be separated from that, pending the rapture.

One or the other. Jim, could you say that this flesh is infected with the sin nature, or is it just affected with the sin nature? I would say both. It's a matter of whether or not, I mean it's present and it's also affected. So we're infected with it, it's part of being bound to the flesh temporarily.

And it dies, right? That's what God, the Adam and Eve scenario had us in a three part type of death, right? So when we disobeyed in Adam, and all of us were present in that choice, that's our seed, that's our federal head, we were separated or placed into death in three ways. So there was the spiritual death that we experienced, there was the physical death, and then there was the eternal death, pending your faith in God's offer of salvation.

And so the flesh is present in that physical component, but it's also necessary to be removed in order to have the eternal. life that we have in Christ. Right? So the only way to be separated from the sin nature is to get this flesh dead. Yeah. Physically dead. Physically dead. That's right. Yep. I think he's going to go live in Corky's house when I die. I think he's got his own to do with it. I'm having nightmares already. Yeah. So, what about, uh, I live by faith in the Son of God? Who's that guy? That's the new man. Hmm. I live by faith in the Son of God. Is that the soul? Is that our soul that lives by faith? Soul consists of mind, emotions, and will. It's your new man. And is your new man in Christ? The new man is completely and totally whole. Why are you not whole and completely totally exactly like Christ? Because of what? What's God doing? We did a study years ago now here. It was the first time I taught with Vern. It was, what is God doing in the life of the believer? It's pretty interesting. You can say it. What's that? That's right. That's exactly right.

Conforming, transforming. Before I spell this wrong. There's a number of different things that he's doing, but to sum it up, he is conforming us to the very image of Christ. I live by faith in the Son of God. That is the only way this works. Goes back to our faith class. Right?

Is that eye the same as the second eye? I mean, I'm differentiating with, obviously he's acknowledging the flesh, and over here he's acknowledging the conforming factor. So there's just those two distinguishing points, but no, it's the new man. And then in six it says, who loved me. Who's that guy? Huh? Who's the me? I think you're right. When were you loved? Always. Have you ever thought of that? Or do you think of that often? I don't think of that very often, to be honest. But if you did, you would feel so much better.

Oh, you're so right. So, the me that Christ loves is the you whom the Father elected, chose, and called back in eternity. He continued to love you even when you were in enmity with Him, dead in trespasses and sins as related to the first Adam. Oh my goodness, He loves those guys?

Not everybody thinks so. It's better than having a parent. Don't tell him, my kids are right there. My kids are right there. But God is so much better. Oh, I just got an amen from Addie. Amen. God is so much better. He is. It's better than having a parent in that way. You're absolutely right. And he gave himself for me. Isn't that the thing? And he gave. Who's that? You are the chosen, eternal Me, for whom He gave Himself in order to redeem you from endemic death and have you for Himself both now and throughout all eternity. He gave Himself to have you for all eternity. The eternal person.

Yep. So, kind of thinking back to Romans 7.20, let's go back and read that.

Because we just talked about a lot of I's and Me's in Galatians 2.20, but here we go back to Chapter 7, 20 Romans. But if I'm doing the very thing I do not want, I'm no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

He's talking about the eternal person. What's the facts here? What's the blessed fact? It is no longer the real I, but indwelling sin that is working out the hated life of defeat. And that's where I kind of get back to this this idea of, a lot of times we think about having two personalities. It's like I do sin and then I'm walking with God. So I've got these two conflicting personalities. And it was laid on my heart when I'm looking at this is that that indwelling sin It has a purpose. It absolutely has a purpose.

But that's not who I am. And it's not equal to who I am. And it's not an equal option. It's not an option. That's why we say it's insanity spiritually. Because it's not who you are. And it should never be given the same weight as who you are in Christ. It's a deposed mark. And it will be defeated in terms of spiritual death physical death when we leave these bodies.

It's temporal. So, before we believed in Jesus Christ, the sin of nature was who we were. Yes, absolutely. It was. And to think of ourselves as being half Christian and half new man and half old man, is not what Paul is saying because he comes to a place in this set of verses that helps us to really understand where this sin nature's place is in his life. I might mention too that the entire makeup, environment and system of the old man is based on the principle of good and evil because that's the tree in the garden The new man in Christ, good and evil are not the issue. It's holiness.

And so one of the problems we have as growing believers is we hold on to that good and evil concept. Think that when I'm good I'm being spiritual and when I'm evil I'm not. Well the goodness of the flesh is just as abhorrent to God as the evilness is. And I think here one of the...

It's that law, right? It's the whole flesh, good and evil. It's all of it. Yep, it is, because it's performance, right? And that's another word we might use for good. I'm performing. I am, under fear of condemnation, I'm going to do this. Right? And if you don't do it, you're condemned. You're in big trouble.

So is Paul shirking his responsibility here? Is he kind of saying, hey, it's not me. I mean, he is saying that. No, he's just saying that it's no longer the real I, but indwelling sin that is working out. It's not who I am. It's sin. Number five, what is the law or principle that Paul has found in verse 21? Someone read 21 for us. Okay, I'll read it. I find the principle that evil is present in me the one who wants to do good. What is the law principle that Paul has found here? He's got a conclusion. What he has experimentally discovered. What has he experimented? with and found out to be true. But he's got to contend with the sin nature every time he wants to do something good. But how do you do that? Oh, how do you do it? Good thing he didn't stop in verse 21.

See, and I think this is clear evidence of two natures. Clear evidence. That for all the one nature people who, once I'm a believer the old nature is gone. Some ghost of the past. Clearly evil is present in me. And this is obviously after he's a believer. So he is confirming that there is a sin nature and it's in his flesh. So there are two natures clearly presented here that he knows that evil is present in me.

And if you deny that, what will happen? You'll serve the sin nature. It will wreck your life. I deny it. You doubt your salvation. You probably do. You screw up and you're like, oh man, I didn't really believe. I got to go back. You're going to come to the same conclusion he did. You're going to come, oh wretched man. Oh wretched man. You can't do what you want to do.

By all your fleshly efforts, it's not going to work. That's the beauty of this whole chapter of Romans that Paul comes to. I think for our demonstration that if you try this, this is the logical outcome. If you try and do it in and of your flesh, or not the Holy Spirit doing it, you're going to fail. How many lives do you think this has wrecked as Christians? Maybe yours too? Like mine?

Oh yeah, I went through, it was Neil Anderson I think's One Nature thing a long, long time ago, and I got so frustrated and confused. I was... I just wasn't good enough. You know? And it was just this constant, like, I don't have that One Nature thing. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. You guys ever been there? Or thought that... Hey! I got this. And then you turn around and you pretend like that wasn't a big deal and that wasn't really a sin. It was just kind of a shadow, a ghost of what was in the past. I think that's important.

You know, this is the foundation of Christianity 101, which begins, well, it begins all through Romans, but again, Romans 6, understanding the co-crucifixion and that there's now two, that we have died and we've been placed in the cross baptized And then the struggle happens when you realize there are two, and you're struggling to try and overcome it in and of yourself. And then there's the condemnation, fear of condemnation. Well, guess what's innate? Therefore, there is now no condemnation. So it's a perfect picture of the crucifixion, the need for it, and there are still two. But there are still two entities, the sin and the So could you, without understanding this truth, that it is sin at work in me, me, can you grow as a believer? Okay.

Is it crucial, I may be skipping a little bit ahead and we'll come back to this next week, but is it crucial to understand that evil is present within you? I think so. And the sooner you recognize that as a new believer or an old believer in the sense of time, the opportunity to go into verse 22 is there. Because all of a sudden, he says in verse 22, I find that the principle of evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. That sounds pretty sad. And then all of a sudden he says, for I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. joyfully concurred with? Just one other thing, when you say that, that we know that there is one in here.

I think the important part is understanding that we're not supposed to fix up the old man. The Romans 6 says crucified. The best thing that could ever happen was to crucify the old man. And I think a lot of the struggles now are people are trying to, you know, the fix the old Adam club. And I think that's probably the biggest frustration I think believers find now is trying to fix the old Adam. Yeah, can you fix this thing? Are you sure? Because I think you're right. We can get bound in a lot of doing good trying to fix this guy. And it ain't gonna happen. God was right. Crucify it. God was right.

And he goes on to say that this first principle from the next two verses, and we'll get into this next week. I've got about four minutes, so I want to cover this first principle. What does this joyfully concur with? I mean, if you look at that term, it's very unique. In fact, I think it's only in the scripture this one time, this exact term. But it's this idea of rejoicing in. joyfully concurring with the light in God's law.

Is this an unregenerate Paul? How could he joyfully concur with the law of God as an unbeliever? So all the ideas of Paul not being a believer through this thing saying that now he is of just the one nature and he's perfect. But that's not what he's saying. I rejoice in the law of God, in the inner man. He's revealing as a regenerate, throughout this struggle, he's saying, no unregenerate man would say, unless profane, it's no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. That would be a profane thing to say for an unregenerate man.

In Ephesians 3.16 he says, I pray that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power in the inner man. The reason he said that is because he was. And he wanted that for all the people within his realm.

Yeah, and you. Yeah. Yeah. So here he's saying about, I mean we wrote down all this stuff. Right? About the law. He's concurring with the law of God. Even though he concurs with it or he says he delights in it, he isn't going to use it. No, because he says he's a different law in verse 23. He's already experienced up to this point through 7 that he's tried to do this and it didn't work. But here he says, I concur with it, verse 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 now, we might say, one, there's delight, and two, what's he seeing? There's a discernment in there. What's he discerning? That's what we'll get into next week. That's a big breakdown. I've got one minute.

Alright, let's pray. Father, we just thank you so much for the very crucifixion of the old man and the separation that we now experience from the sin nature because we are whole and complete in you. And we just thank you that you are using opportunities of faith in our own life to conform us and transform us into your very image. So Lord, we just pray that we might recognize the evil presence of the sin nature within us. And treat it as what you have said is true of it. It has been crucified. And it no longer has the power to dictate and rule our minds and our thoughts that we literally have the mind of Christ. And we just thank you for the joy it is to be believers in the hope of glory that is eternal for us. And it's in your name that we pray. Amen.