Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Portrait of a Struggling Christian │ Msg 1644 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Portrait of a Struggling Christian │ Msg 1644 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In our journey through the Letter to the Romans, we've
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Speaker 1: arrived at the classic section that describes what I have
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Speaker 1: called the portrait of a struggling Christian. I don't know
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Speaker 1: how many people, upon seeing that title, said they could
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Speaker 1: pose as a poster child for that title. They feel
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Speaker 1: like that we all do on occasion, even the Apostle Paul,
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Speaker 1: as we read his testimony of the other side of
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Speaker 1: his life that is rarely even addressed, so glad he
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Speaker 1: does it. In Romans seven, let me read a few
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Speaker 1: of these verses selectively through the chapter. You have an
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Speaker 1: outline for the message provided for you. You may want
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Speaker 1: to place it here as we close our Bibles in
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Speaker 1: a moment preparation for the message Romans seven to one.
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Speaker 1: Or do you not know, brethren? Or I am speaking
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Speaker 1: to those who know the law that the law has
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Speaker 1: jurisdic over a person as long as he lives. For
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Speaker 1: the married woman is bound by law to her husband
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Speaker 1: while he is living. But if her husband dies, she
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Speaker 1: is released from the law concerning the husband. So then
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Speaker 1: if while her husband is living she is joined to
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Speaker 1: another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if
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Speaker 1: her husband dies, she's free from the law, so that
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Speaker 1: she is not an adultress, though she is joined to
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Speaker 1: another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to
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Speaker 1: die to the law through the body of Christ, so
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Speaker 1: that you might be joined to another, to him who
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Speaker 1: was raised from the dead, in order that we might
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Speaker 1: bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh,
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Speaker 1: the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were
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Speaker 1: at work in the members of our body to bear
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Speaker 1: fruit for death. But now we have been released from
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Speaker 1: the law, having died to that by which we were bound,
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Speaker 1: so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and
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Speaker 1: not in oldness of the letter verse fourteen. For we
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Speaker 1: know that the law is spiritual. But I am a
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Speaker 1: flesh sold into bondage to sin. For what I am
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Speaker 1: doing I do not understand. For I am not practicing
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Speaker 1: what I would like to do. But I'm doing the
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Speaker 1: very thing I hate. But if I do the very
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Speaker 1: thing I do not want to do, I agree with
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Speaker 1: the law, confessing that the law is good. No now,
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Speaker 1: no longer am I the one doing it, but sin
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Speaker 1: which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good
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Speaker 1: dwells in me that is in my fleace. For the
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Speaker 1: willingness present in me. But the doing of the good
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Speaker 1: is not now follow this closely. For the good that
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Speaker 1: I want, I do not do, but I practice the
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Speaker 1: very evil that I do not want. But if I
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Speaker 1: am doing the very thing I do not want, I
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Speaker 1: am no longer the one doing it. But sin which
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Speaker 1: dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil
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Speaker 1: is present in me the one who wants to do
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Speaker 1: good Verse twenty four. Wretched man that I am, who
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Speaker 1: will set me free from the body of this death,
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Speaker 1: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then,
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Speaker 1: on the one hand, I myself, with my mind, am
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Speaker 1: serving the law of God, but on the other, with
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Speaker 1: my flesh the law of sin. Our worship through the
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Speaker 1: morning is meaningful because we pay attention to the words
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Speaker 1: we sing and to the truths that they set forth.
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Speaker 1: We desire to be a church where truth is faithfully
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Speaker 1: set forth in whatever may be the act of worship.
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Speaker 1: We come now to a time of receiving the offering.
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Speaker 1: In doing so, I think it's helpful for it to
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Speaker 1: be understood that you who come today as our guests,
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Speaker 1: are not obligated in any way to help support the
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Speaker 1: ministry of Stonebrier Community Church. The work of this menacy
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Speaker 1: is carried on by those who are a part of
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Speaker 1: this church, and you're welcome to give. But if you
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Speaker 1: are without Christ as our guest, we urge you to
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Speaker 1: receive a gift rather than give anything today. In fact,
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Speaker 1: if you're here without Christ, just let the plate pass
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Speaker 1: by with no sense of guilt. Whatever. It's your opportunity
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Speaker 1: to receive what God offers you in his son, Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: You see, the support of a ministry is dependent upon
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Speaker 1: the people who are a part of that ministry. We
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Speaker 1: who know the Lord have the joy, and I might
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Speaker 1: add a responsibility to give, and even to give sacrificially.
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Speaker 1: I came across a story recently that helps get a
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Speaker 1: point across. Some years ago, Dwight L. Moody was walking
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Speaker 1: the streets of Chicago and came upon an atheist who
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Speaker 1: stood in the corner, ranting and raving against the idea
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Speaker 1: of God. As Moody stepped back and listened, the atheist
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Speaker 1: took out his watch and said, I'll give God, if
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Speaker 1: there is a God, sixty seconds to knock me on
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Speaker 1: the ground. This was too much for mister Moody, who
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Speaker 1: was a man of considerable proportions. He took off his coat,
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Speaker 1: went up to the fellow and knocked him to the
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Speaker 1: ground with his own fist. Then he said, never ask
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Speaker 1: God to do something that his humble servant can mighty
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Speaker 1: well take care of. Whether or not that story is true,
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Speaker 1: it may even be apocryphal, but he gets the point across.
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Speaker 1: God is well able to do everything everything. He could
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Speaker 1: automatically and miraculously put gas lean in our tanks and
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Speaker 1: we'd never run out, but he expects us to be
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Speaker 1: responsible and fill the tank if we intend to drive
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Speaker 1: the car. God could fill our homes with light at
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Speaker 1: night because he is light. He could keep our homes
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Speaker 1: warm on cold days. He is truth and warmth and love.
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Speaker 1: But he expects us to take care of our own
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Speaker 1: utilities and to pay our bills. God could provide every meal,
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Speaker 1: just as he catered the meal to Elijah, but he
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Speaker 1: expects us to go to the store and buy the
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Speaker 1: groceries and fix our own meals. That's our responsibility. God,
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Speaker 1: who has no problem with any amount of money since
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Speaker 1: he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, is able
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Speaker 1: to bring millions and millions and millions of dollars and
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Speaker 1: just place it in the offering of Stone our Church,
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Speaker 1: and we never have another need. He could do that,
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Speaker 1: but he chooses not to. He chooses to use his
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Speaker 1: own people to give, and to give to the point
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Speaker 1: where we understand what generosity is all about, which is
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Speaker 1: the way Jesus gave, though he was rich, yet for
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Speaker 1: our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, might
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Speaker 1: be rich. That's how Stonebrier Community Church will be sustained
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Speaker 1: as God's people worship by taking this time of giving. Seriously,
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Speaker 1: let's pause for prayer. Father, thank you for leaving us
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Speaker 1: responsible in this life. Thank You for smiling on obedience
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Speaker 1: and for rewarding it. Thank You for faithful men and
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Speaker 1: women who were the reason, humanly speaking, that this ministry
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Speaker 1: ever got off the ground and will ever be able
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Speaker 1: to have a future. We also realize, Lord, by your
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Speaker 1: grace and because of your grace, you freely give to
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Speaker 1: those of us who were so unworthy of it. Thank
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Speaker 1: You for enabling us in so many areas of our lives,
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Speaker 1: whereas if we relied on ourselves we could never make it.
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Speaker 1: We all not in understanding, as the Great Apostle declares,
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Speaker 1: wretched man that I am. Today in our world of need,
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Speaker 1: we remember those who are in lonely places, those serving
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Speaker 1: their country, those serving you your work, those serving their families,
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Speaker 1: those who are giving, those who are a part of
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Speaker 1: our wonderful patrol that watches over our city and our state,
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Speaker 1: our nation. Thank you for public servants. Remind them often
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Speaker 1: that they are that guard all of us from selfishness
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Speaker 1: and self centered motives. Protect those in dark and dangerous
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Speaker 1: places this day. Comfort their families who await their arrival
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Speaker 1: back home. Take care of us, our Father, in these
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Speaker 1: days of war. Watch over the little children when we're
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Speaker 1: not with them. Protect them Lord, and keep them from
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Speaker 1: the predators who would hurt them. Take care of the
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Speaker 1: aging and the dying, and the broken and the discouraged.
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Speaker 1: Remind us, our Father, that we are your children, and
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Speaker 1: you do all things well. We have no power, but
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Speaker 1: you have it all. So we hail the power of
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Speaker 1: Jesus' name, even making angels fall before him, who is holy, Holy, Holy.
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Speaker 1: Accept our gifts, our Father, as we first give ourselves
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Speaker 1: and then our offerings in the name of Jesus, our
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Speaker 1: powerful Redeemer. We pray, and everyone said, AMENI was once
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Speaker 1: a famous portrait painter. In the words of artists, he
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Speaker 1: was an artistic literalist. His portraits were so carefully shaded
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Speaker 1: and colored, with just the right touch of the oil
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Speaker 1: on the canvas, that you had to look closely to
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Speaker 1: determine whether it was in fact a painting or a photograph.
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Speaker 1: Beautiful work. His gallery hung for a long time, many
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Speaker 1: years ago in the old city of Dallas, and you
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Speaker 1: could visit it, and as you did, it was like
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Speaker 1: passing through time among those great celebrities and well known
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Speaker 1: figures and entertainers of years pasted. Each one was framed,
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Speaker 1: and each frame included a name at the bottom, as
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Speaker 1: if you needed the name. There was Betty Goodman with
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Speaker 1: his clarinet, and Tommy Dorsey with his trombone. There was
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Speaker 1: Jack Benny with his famous violin and that smile on
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Speaker 1: his face. Comedians Rowan and Martin and Dean Martin and
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Speaker 1: Jerry Lewis, Red Buttons, Red Skelton, Sophie Tucker was there,
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Speaker 1: as well as Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, James Dean, several
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Speaker 1: former presidents that had set for their portraits to be painted,
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Speaker 1: along with a couple of astronauts and even some world
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Speaker 1: class athletes. I remember visiting the gallery it was over
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Speaker 1: forty years ago, and taking my time and studying. The
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Speaker 1: man's work was magnificent. Toward the end of the little
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Speaker 1: corridor where the pictures hung, I came to a shaded area.
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Speaker 1: The lights seemed to be more dim, and the single
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Speaker 1: painting hanging alone, smaller in size than the others, and
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Speaker 1: not at all glitzy or glamorous as the other paintings
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Speaker 1: had been. Was this one framed picture of a rather
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Speaker 1: somber looking gentleman. His face was drawn and his eyes
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Speaker 1: were dark, and there was no name. I stood long
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Speaker 1: enough to realize that I do not know the man,
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Speaker 1: and I would not know him, and so I asked
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Speaker 1: the attendant to identify who this is. She smiled and said,
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Speaker 1: I'm often asked who this picture is. Actually, it's a
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Speaker 1: self portrait. This is mister Vale himself, painted rather recently,
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Speaker 1: as he has gone through a deep struggling period in
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Speaker 1: his life. I found myself, if not shocked, at least surprised.
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Speaker 1: You would think that a man who ran with people
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Speaker 1: like this, those in high places and entertain and comedians
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Speaker 1: and musicians and athletes and astronauts, would have a wow
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Speaker 1: an enviable life, but in fact he revealed the life
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Speaker 1: of a struggler, just like me, just like you. As
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Speaker 1: far as we know, the Apostle Paul was no artist,
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Speaker 1: never held a brush and put paint on canvas, but
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Speaker 1: he was a genius in theology and a master with
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Speaker 1: pen portraits. In fact, you can walk through the gallery
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Speaker 1: of Paul's paintings and you can see one frame after another.
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Speaker 1: As the hall of the Letter to the Romans opens
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Speaker 1: up to those who read its pages. You see the
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Speaker 1: first frame and you you are looking into the eyes
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Speaker 1: of the Lost Person chapters one, two, and three. He
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Speaker 1: is portrayed there in all the truth, and it's a
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Speaker 1: literal painting, depraved, unashamed, inexcusable, guilty, lost. The eyes are vacant,
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Speaker 1: the look is hollow, the colors are somber. The next
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Speaker 1: frame is titled the Justified Center in its chapters four
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Speaker 1: and five, where this person has been transformed into another.
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Speaker 1: Now you see a glimmer of a smile, and the
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Speaker 1: light is brighter. You remember that to be justified as
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Speaker 1: the sovereign act of God, whereby he decay Claire's righteous,
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Speaker 1: the believing sinner. While we're still in a sinning state,
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Speaker 1: and you realize as you're looking into the eyes of
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Speaker 1: the person inside the frame you're seeing in chapters four
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Speaker 1: and five to one who has discovered peace with God
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Speaker 1: through our Lord Jesus Christ. The next frame is chapter six.
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Speaker 1: It's titled the Victorious Believer. And now our hopes are high.
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Speaker 1: Here is a man with a broad smile. In fact,
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Speaker 1: he's laughing. He has just heard that he has been
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Speaker 1: emancipated from Sin's power. He no longer has to serve
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Speaker 1: the enemy whom he once was dominated by Satan himself.
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Speaker 1: Sin has been dethroned in his life and Satan defanged.
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Speaker 1: And as a result, this individual in chapter six is
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Speaker 1: now able to know and to consider it true, and
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Speaker 1: then to present himself before God in victory and joy.
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Speaker 1: This is the Victorious Believer. And then you get to
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Speaker 1: chapter seven, and all of a sudden, without warning, there
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Speaker 1: is a portrait that doesn't seem to fit at least
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Speaker 1: in the progress from the loss to the justified to
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Speaker 1: the victorious. And now this one is titled a wretched Man,
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Speaker 1: And adding surprise to the shock, you discover it's a
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Speaker 1: self portrait over thirty times in the seventh of Romans,
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Speaker 1: Paul uses the word I, or me or my. For
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Speaker 1: some reason, scholars struggle over who Paul is writing about
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Speaker 1: in chapter seven. I don't know what the struggle is over.
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Speaker 1: That sounds to me like the pronoun points the arrows inward.
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Speaker 1: And so one must deal with this theology in order
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Speaker 1: to understand in chapter seven how this could be the
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Speaker 1: same one who has been portrayed as justified and victorious.
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Speaker 1: Because when we get to chapter seven, we are brought
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Speaker 1: face to face with the reality of an old sin
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Speaker 1: nature that has never left. It just moves over as
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, bringing a new nature, moves in. And
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Speaker 1: there is now the warfare, the battle that rages between
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Speaker 1: the ugly and bad and the beautiful and good, between
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Speaker 1: ill motives and wrong desires and the heavenly motives and
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Speaker 1: wonderful desires. The battle creates the struggling Christian, and it's
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Speaker 1: the story of every believer's life. Is there any person
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Speaker 1: in this room today who hasn't felt that way? John
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Speaker 1: Newton writing one of our favorite hymns, amazing Grace, How
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Speaker 1: sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me? We
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Speaker 1: don't use the word today. It's a little bit of
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Speaker 1: a put down. No, it's a dmitrivailed kind of realistic word.
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Speaker 1: Say it like it is. We're a bunch of wretches
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Speaker 1: that God, by his grace, reached down to save. Not
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Speaker 1: surprising me, Paul doesn't just suddenly plunge into this, but
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Speaker 1: he prepares us for it. In chapter six he has
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Speaker 1: addressed the sin nature and he's made the announcement for
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Speaker 1: all to read. The Christian is freed from sin's domination.
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Speaker 1: We are free from the clutches the grip of sin.
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Speaker 1: We do not have to sin. I have a good
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Speaker 1: friend with the navigator's Leroy Aims, who used to put
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Speaker 1: it like this. We sin because we have a secret,
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Speaker 1: private love for sin. We love to sin, not the
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Speaker 1: new nature, but the old nature that never will be
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Speaker 1: any better than it is from start of life to
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Speaker 1: the end of life. The old nature doesn't improve, it
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Speaker 1: keeps loving to sin. But Chapter six says you don't
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Speaker 1: have to You have been freed from sin's domination. Now
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Speaker 1: that we have come to Christ, we have died in Christ,
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Speaker 1: and positionally we are as righteous as God. The Son
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Speaker 1: is righteous, nearer still nearer nearer we cannot be, for
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Speaker 1: in the person of His Son we are as near
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Speaker 1: as he that's chapter six of Romans. The Christian is
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Speaker 1: freed from Sin's domination. When you get into chapter seven,
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Speaker 1: the whole subject of the law appears. At first, it's
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Speaker 1: the civil law he addresses, and then the Mosaic law.
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Speaker 1: And we're going to learn today that the Christian is
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Speaker 1: relieved from the demands of the law. That's chapter seven.
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Speaker 1: Chapter seven is a wonderful reminder for believers who are
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Speaker 1: plagued by legalism and have trouble coming out of that background.
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Speaker 1: At least we hear again that we are freed from
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Speaker 1: the condemnation and the shame of the Old Testament law.
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Speaker 1: But we'll get there to begin with. Let's notice in
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Speaker 1: verse one of chapter seven, Paul's using an analogy that
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Speaker 1: we today would be very familiar with. He turns to
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Speaker 1: civil law. That's why the l in law is not
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Speaker 1: capitalized before he gets to the mosaic law, where it
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Speaker 1: is capitalized beginning at verse four. But look first at
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Speaker 1: seven to one. Or do you not know, brethren, I'm
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Speaker 1: speaking to those who know the law, meaning civil law,
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Speaker 1: domestic law, life as we know it in Texas, life
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Speaker 1: as we know it in these United States, life as
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Speaker 1: we know it on the planet that the law has
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Speaker 1: jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. For
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Speaker 1: the married woman is bound by that civil law to
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Speaker 1: her husband as long as he is living. But if
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Speaker 1: her husband dies, obviously she is released from the law
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Speaker 1: concerning the husband. Now we all know that if there
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Speaker 1: are widows who are hearing me speak, right now, you
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Speaker 1: have been freed from all of the responsibilities and obligations
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Speaker 1: of your first marriage. Your husband having died, you are
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Speaker 1: even free to marry again. He goes further verse three.
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Speaker 1: So then if while her husband is living, she is
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Speaker 1: joined to another man, she shall be called an adultress.
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Speaker 1: That happens while being married to one person, and yet
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Speaker 1: one is unfaithful and in the infidelity, is involved in
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Speaker 1: a sexual relationship with someone not her husband. But everything
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Speaker 1: is different if a husband has died. If the husband dies,
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Speaker 1: she is free from the law, so that she is
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Speaker 1: not an adultress though she is joined to another man.
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Speaker 1: The implication is she marries again. What's the point. It's
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Speaker 1: obvious the woman's second marriage is morally legitimate because death
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Speaker 1: terminated the first marriage. So to all widows, we could
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Speaker 1: announce on the basis of this you are free to
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Speaker 1: remarry in the Lord as you you are led to
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Speaker 1: another mate, if that happens to be God's will for you.
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Speaker 1: Now he's developing not marriage and home and family, but
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Speaker 1: a theological truth on which this analogy becomes a foundation.
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Speaker 1: Watch closely. Therefore, by the way, just a little tip
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Speaker 1: an electra charge when you run across the word Therefore
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Speaker 1: in the Bible, think of a little arrow pointing up
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Speaker 1: into the context of the verses before it. This is
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Speaker 1: a contextual particle, if you will. This connects you with
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Speaker 1: what has come before and prepares you for what is
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Speaker 1: yet to be presented. It's like the hinge on the door.
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Speaker 1: It's the turning point, so much for the analogy of
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Speaker 1: the husband and the wife and the marriage that's now
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Speaker 1: over by death. Therefore, my brethren, he's addressing believers. You
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Speaker 1: also were made to die to the capitol law when
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Speaker 1: you were born again. You were you. You died to
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Speaker 1: the Mosaic law through the body of Christ, so that
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Speaker 1: you might be joined to another, to him who was
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Speaker 1: raised from the dead, in order that we might bear
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Speaker 1: fruit for God. Now this will help. Your first husband
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Speaker 1: was the Mosaic law. Your second husband is the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. The wife in this case is the believer.
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Speaker 1: So having died to the first husband, you're now married
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Speaker 1: to the second. So the obligations of the first marriage
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Speaker 1: do not apply to the second marriage. Theologically speaking, we
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Speaker 1: are freed from the law. We died to that first
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Speaker 1: obligation Verse six. We were released from the law having
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Speaker 1: died that by which we were bound, so that we
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Speaker 1: serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter.
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Speaker 1: That's an important statement. Grace has come to our rescue,
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Speaker 1: and because of the presence of grace, we now have
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Speaker 1: a new kind of life, called other places in the
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Speaker 1: New Testament, the abundant life. One poet. Let's put it
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Speaker 1: like this, do this and live. The law demands, but
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Speaker 1: gives us neither feet nor hands. A better word, God's
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Speaker 1: grace does bring it, bids me fly and gives me wings.
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Speaker 1: Grace comes along and says, you're now able to fly,
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Speaker 1: and here are the wings to enable you to do it.
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Speaker 1: The law, all the while anchors us to condemnation and
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Speaker 1: to sinfulness. The point is, we're no longer slaves to
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Speaker 1: sin because we have a new husband. We are now
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Speaker 1: slaves to God and our new husband in Christ, who
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Speaker 1: is Christ, causes us to want to please him. Now
27:53
Speaker 1: at this point, and I realize it's a little bit
27:56
Speaker 1: tedious so far, welcome to Pauline theology. I realized that
28:02
Speaker 1: if you happen to be Jewish, or you have friends
28:06
Speaker 1: who are, undoubtedly by now you're questioning how paul could
28:11
Speaker 1: write such a thing, because it sounds as though he's
28:13
Speaker 1: saying there's something wrong with the law, and you've been
28:17
Speaker 1: reared to revere the law. A Jew could hardly live
28:21
Speaker 1: a week of his or her life without addressing the Torah,
28:25
Speaker 1: the first five books of the Bible, especially the Commandments
28:30
Speaker 1: of God. It sounds as though he's saying there's something
28:34
Speaker 1: wrong with the law. So for the sake of the
28:37
Speaker 1: Jewish reader, I think personal opinion, he writes verses seven
28:42
Speaker 1: through thirteen just to help the reader understand it's not
28:46
Speaker 1: the law problem, it's the sin problem. Let me go
28:50
Speaker 1: further verse seven. What shall we say, then, is the
28:53
Speaker 1: law sinful? May it never be strong vocative of negative nature?
29:00
Speaker 1: Never never no perish the thought the law isn't sinful.
29:05
Speaker 1: On the contrary, there are benefits in the law. I
29:09
Speaker 1: would not have come to know sin except through the law,
29:13
Speaker 1: And he gives an example. I would not have known
29:16
Speaker 1: about coveting if the law had not said you shall
29:20
Speaker 1: not covet. But please notice, the law gave me no
29:24
Speaker 1: power to keep from coveting see the next verse. But sin,
29:28
Speaker 1: taking an opportunity through that commandment produced in me coveting
29:32
Speaker 1: of every kind. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
29:36
Speaker 1: If I don't know something's wrong, I'm not drawn by
29:39
Speaker 1: curiosity to do what's wrong. Once I know it's wrong,
29:42
Speaker 1: there's something inside me that says, give it a try.
29:45
Speaker 1: Sounds interesting. For example, keep off the grass. You just
29:51
Speaker 1: have to put a foot on grass that says keep off.
29:55
Speaker 1: I've been to public parks where there's a big sign
29:57
Speaker 1: keep off the grass. People are laying all round on
30:00
Speaker 1: the grass. They even hung their jackets on their sign
30:03
Speaker 1: that says keep off the grass. For almost twenty five
30:06
Speaker 1: years we lived in North Orange County in southern California,
30:10
Speaker 1: and that ought to tell you right away what the
30:11
Speaker 1: county is known for. For years had vast number of
30:15
Speaker 1: orange orchards, and the smell of the fragrance of the
30:20
Speaker 1: orange blossom could be enjoyed all across that county. Of course,
30:26
Speaker 1: as time is calm and the development happened, a lot
30:28
Speaker 1: of those orange groves and orchards have been removed. But
30:33
Speaker 1: even when we were living there, you would drive along
30:35
Speaker 1: a road and to the side, behind a fence would
30:38
Speaker 1: be just one orange tree after another. I remember, is
30:42
Speaker 1: driving along things, What beautiful is that luscious orange? And
30:46
Speaker 1: they would drop and land on the ground, and I thought,
30:49
Speaker 1: look at that, what a waste. And then one day
30:52
Speaker 1: I saw a sign that says prohibited, do not eat
30:58
Speaker 1: fallen oranges. All of a sudden, I could only imagine
31:05
Speaker 1: how succulent they must be. And I can tell you
31:09
Speaker 1: by experience that I tried one. I never would have
31:15
Speaker 1: fought to do that if it hadn't been for the
31:17
Speaker 1: rule that said don't touch the fallen oranges. Before it
31:21
Speaker 1: was just, oh, what a waste. Now it's oh, man,
31:25
Speaker 1: am I hungry? Or what why? Verse eight sin taking
31:33
Speaker 1: an opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting of
31:39
Speaker 1: every kind. So let me give you, just as a sidebar.
31:42
Speaker 1: Here three of the benefits of the law. Number one,
31:45
Speaker 1: it defines sin. It tells me what's wrong. It tells
31:50
Speaker 1: me what's right. If I didn't know coveting was wrong,
31:54
Speaker 1: I would covet and not know it's wrong. But if
31:56
Speaker 1: I know it's wrong, it now tells me. That's part
31:58
Speaker 1: of what defined some of you are into tennis. Okay,
32:03
Speaker 1: that's your sport. You play it, you enjoy it. You
32:06
Speaker 1: know the rules of the game, and the rules define
32:09
Speaker 1: the game. Right. For example, you know that a rule
32:14
Speaker 1: in tennis is not you cannot bounce the ball two
32:18
Speaker 1: or three times if it's cloudy. It's another rule that
32:24
Speaker 1: doesn't apply. You cannot serve two balls at the same time.
32:28
Speaker 1: Can only serve one ball at a time. Here's another
32:32
Speaker 1: one that's not true. You cannot serve the ball on
32:34
Speaker 1: either side of the court just because you're tired. And
32:39
Speaker 1: another one very familiar to all of us, you can't
32:41
Speaker 1: play outside the lines. The laws of tennis define the game,
32:48
Speaker 1: and the best players know those rules. If you don't
32:51
Speaker 1: think they're important, you need to watch a tennis match
32:54
Speaker 1: on television. I mean the ball, tiny little part of it. Wait,
32:59
Speaker 1: wait in out, in out stop. Put the camera on.
33:03
Speaker 1: It shows out back and forth all about what the line. Why?
33:11
Speaker 1: Because you can't play the game without knowing the rules,
33:14
Speaker 1: and you can't play it fairly without keeping the rules.
33:17
Speaker 1: The law gives us the boundaries, but does it give
33:21
Speaker 1: us any power to stop doing what's wrong. There's another
33:25
Speaker 1: benefit to the law Verses eight through eleven. It arouses
33:30
Speaker 1: my desire to do wrong. Now that sounds almost blasphemous,
33:35
Speaker 1: but it's true Verses eight through eleven. Look at this
33:39
Speaker 1: sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting
33:42
Speaker 1: of every kind. Verse nine. I was once alive apart
33:46
Speaker 1: from the law. But when the commandment came, sin became alive,
33:49
Speaker 1: and I and I entered into a deathlike existence. But
33:52
Speaker 1: this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to
33:55
Speaker 1: result in death from me. For sin taking an opportunity
33:58
Speaker 1: through the commandment deceive me, and through it killed me. Now,
34:02
Speaker 1: the commandment is not deceptive, but sin is deceptive, and
34:06
Speaker 1: I fell into it because of my old nature Verse twelve.
34:10
Speaker 1: So then so then the law is holy. The commandment
34:14
Speaker 1: is holy and righteous and good. It's not a problem
34:18
Speaker 1: with the law, it's the problem with me. Third third
34:22
Speaker 1: benefit of the law. It exposes the cause of sin.
34:26
Speaker 1: I am the problem. The law is doing its job,
34:30
Speaker 1: but it is not the cause of my wrongdoing. Illustration,
34:36
Speaker 1: you have a pain in your side while showering. One day,
34:40
Speaker 1: you reach over and you begin to feel a lump
34:44
Speaker 1: a swelling. It grows over time, and you know that
34:49
Speaker 1: you can't ignore it any longer, so you go to
34:51
Speaker 1: your doctor and the doctor says, yep, there's something in there.
34:54
Speaker 1: Let's check it out, and he puts you through it.
34:58
Speaker 1: In an unguarded moment, I call it a it's an
35:01
Speaker 1: mr I. He puts you through an mr. Hope it's
35:03
Speaker 1: not a CSI. He put you through an Mr I.
35:06
Speaker 1: And you come out and he looks at the thing
35:08
Speaker 1: and he goes, hmm, it's a lump okay. And I
35:16
Speaker 1: say in return, your problem is your machine. It's the
35:21
Speaker 1: machine problem. And it's it's no, no, no, no. The
35:25
Speaker 1: machine just shows you what's wrong. It's a very delicate,
35:30
Speaker 1: very expensive instrument, but it shows you what you need
35:32
Speaker 1: to know. Hey, it's not my problem, it's the machine.
35:35
Speaker 1: It's like the missionary medical missionary that spent half his
35:38
Speaker 1: life in the jungle serving a tribe that got its
35:41
Speaker 1: water from the river. They didn't know it, but the
35:44
Speaker 1: river was polluted, and before long a plague stretched across
35:48
Speaker 1: this tribe. They began to get sick and even began
35:51
Speaker 1: to die. Medical missionary checked the water in his microscope.
35:55
Speaker 1: He saw the germ, and he wanted to convince the
35:58
Speaker 1: chief that if they would just boil the water and
36:00
Speaker 1: stopped drinking water out of the river, they could, they'd
36:04
Speaker 1: be healthy, they live. So it brings the chief in.
36:07
Speaker 1: He looks through this thing, explains it to him. Is
36:09
Speaker 1: this chiefs sitting there getting all the scoop about the germs?
36:13
Speaker 1: The next morning, the medical missionary gets up, goes to
36:15
Speaker 1: his lab and the microscope is smashed. What's wrong? They
36:21
Speaker 1: missed the point. The problem is not in the scope.
36:25
Speaker 1: The problem is in the water. The problem is not
36:29
Speaker 1: in the law. It's holy and righteous and good. But
36:33
Speaker 1: when the law reveals and magnifies wrong, it says to us,
36:39
Speaker 1: we're bad. We got a nature that never will be improved.
36:46
Speaker 1: We've got to deal with that. And it's from that
36:48
Speaker 1: nature the struggle begins. And we're going to read of
36:53
Speaker 1: the struggle when we get to verse fourteen and on,
36:56
Speaker 1: and here's the reason why we struggle. It's virtually the
37:00
Speaker 1: same thing twice. He begins by acknowledging an innate sinfulness.
37:07
Speaker 1: He then goes to a description of the conflict, and
37:10
Speaker 1: then he says, the indwelling sin is my problem, not
37:13
Speaker 1: the law. He does that twice between verses fourteen and
37:16
Speaker 1: twenty five. Look at fourteen. We know the law is spirit.
37:19
Speaker 1: So what I'm a flesh sold into bondage to sin.
37:22
Speaker 1: Let me give you a way to remember this. See
37:25
Speaker 1: the word flesh. Think of the word carne, my favorite food,
37:29
Speaker 1: chili kuncarne, chili with meat. Our problem is not our spirit.
37:36
Speaker 1: Our problem is the meat. Our problem is in this
37:40
Speaker 1: body as an old nature. It's meaty, it's fleshly. And
37:45
Speaker 1: every time Paul refers to this flesh, he's referring to
37:48
Speaker 1: an old sin nature that we've had with us since
37:52
Speaker 1: birth and will go with us. Don't miss this till death.
37:58
Speaker 1: It will never improve, It'll never get better, even though
38:03
Speaker 1: the spirit of God is living inside the believer. There
38:06
Speaker 1: is this battle back and forth, back and forth, which
38:09
Speaker 1: describes what he's saying. Here. Listen to the way he
38:12
Speaker 1: puts it. Fifteen. What I am doing I do not understand,
38:17
Speaker 1: for I am not practicing what I would like to do. See,
38:21
Speaker 1: his mind would like to obey the truths of Jesus,
38:27
Speaker 1: to follow in his footsteps. I would like to do that,
38:30
Speaker 1: but my carne, my meat, my flesh, is doing the
38:34
Speaker 1: very thing I hate. Sixteen, I do the very thing
38:38
Speaker 1: I do not want to do. If I do that,
38:41
Speaker 1: I agree with the law, confessing the law is good,
38:44
Speaker 1: it shows up that it's wrong. So now no longer
38:48
Speaker 1: am I the one doing it. But sin dwells in me,
38:51
Speaker 1: meaning I'm not planning it. I'm not a driven by it.
38:56
Speaker 1: But down inside me is a nature, a rooted nature
39:00
Speaker 1: of sinfulness that wants to act out. He describes the root,
39:04
Speaker 1: and then the fruit would be the actions of sinfulness.
39:08
Speaker 1: He says, it's the sin that dwells in me. Look
39:11
Speaker 1: at eighteen, for I know that nothing good dwells in me.
39:15
Speaker 1: That is in my carnate, in my flesh. The willing
39:19
Speaker 1: is present in me, but the doing of the good
39:22
Speaker 1: is not. Eugene Peterson in the message renders that I
39:25
Speaker 1: can will it, but I can't do it. The good
39:31
Speaker 1: that I want to do I do not do. But
39:33
Speaker 1: I practice the very evil that I do not want.
39:38
Speaker 1: Let me give you several things here. Number one, we
39:40
Speaker 1: cannot curb our own disobedience. We cannot make that old
39:46
Speaker 1: sin nature nicer. We cannot stop the old sin nature
39:52
Speaker 1: from wanting to disobey. We can't curb it, not in ourselves. Second,
39:57
Speaker 1: we do not fulfill our own desires. We desire to
40:02
Speaker 1: do what's right, but we do what's wrong. Ray Stedmond
40:07
Speaker 1: said with tongue in cheek after reading these verses, Paul
40:10
Speaker 1: must have been a golfer, because all the golfers know
40:14
Speaker 1: that what you want to do you do not do,
40:17
Speaker 1: and what you do not want to do, those are
40:20
Speaker 1: the very same things you keep on doing. I know
40:24
Speaker 1: it's a battle because I watch golf. I don't play golf.
40:26
Speaker 1: The holes are too little. That's the dumbest thing in
40:28
Speaker 1: the world. They got little tiny holes and a little
40:31
Speaker 1: tiny ball and a club with a long shak Expect
40:35
Speaker 1: you to put that little thing in that little tiny hole.
40:37
Speaker 1: Make the holes big, make a bigger Give you a
40:40
Speaker 1: gun to shoot that poem. You get that thing right
40:43
Speaker 1: in there every time. That's a sport. Get that thing
40:47
Speaker 1: with a long club like that. Now, wonder guys learned
40:50
Speaker 1: to cuss in a whole new different language when they
40:52
Speaker 1: start playing a game of golf. I mean, that is
40:56
Speaker 1: no fun at all. You cannot stop doing it. And
41:01
Speaker 1: the pro stands there. It is a niola like this,
41:03
Speaker 1: you put like, Okay, whoop, you didn't do it. I know,
41:07
Speaker 1: I know I didn't do it, but I want to
41:08
Speaker 1: do it. It's that kind of thing. Except this isn't golf,
41:11
Speaker 1: this isn't a game. This is life. This is the
41:16
Speaker 1: way you live. It's the way I live. It's the
41:20
Speaker 1: way we live. What's the problem. Third thing, we dare
41:25
Speaker 1: not ignore our own sinful nature. You just can't ignore it.
41:29
Speaker 1: It is forever with you, forever with you. It's like
41:34
Speaker 1: dust in a house. You notice, think see the word
41:41
Speaker 1: dwell in verse seventeen. That's where I got the thought,
41:43
Speaker 1: send dwells in me, verse twenty. End of it, send
41:46
Speaker 1: dwells in me. It means to be at home in
41:50
Speaker 1: It's like dust. You clean, you dust, you vacuum, you mop,
41:54
Speaker 1: you scour, you scrub, you wipe. Then you go in
41:57
Speaker 1: on your bed on a sunny day and you go whoo,
42:00
Speaker 1: and it's like a whole new meaning to desert storm.
42:05
Speaker 1: You've got dust everywhere. Think I just dusted. It's all
42:10
Speaker 1: over us, It's all around us. So it is with
42:15
Speaker 1: that sinful nature. And the worst thing you can do
42:18
Speaker 1: is act like it's not true. It's easy to give
42:22
Speaker 1: an impression to those around you that you know. You
42:28
Speaker 1: don't struggle with that when you and I do, false
42:32
Speaker 1: impressions are easily given. Friend sent me the story. A
42:37
Speaker 1: woman was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the
42:42
Speaker 1: plane was diverted to Sacramento. Along the way. The flight
42:46
Speaker 1: attendants explained that there would be a delay and if
42:48
Speaker 1: the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft plane would
42:51
Speaker 1: reboard in about fifty minutes. Everybody got off the plane
42:55
Speaker 1: except one lady who was blind. The man had noticed
42:58
Speaker 1: as he walked by and could tell she was blind
43:01
Speaker 1: because her seeing eye dog lay quietly underneath the seat
43:04
Speaker 1: in front of her throughout the entire flight. He could
43:09
Speaker 1: also tell she had flown the flight often before, because
43:12
Speaker 1: the pilot approached her and called her by name, Kathy.
43:15
Speaker 1: He said, we're in Sacramento for about an hour. Would
43:18
Speaker 1: you like to get off and stretch your legs? The
43:21
Speaker 1: blind lady responded, no, thanks, but maybe my dog would
43:25
Speaker 1: like to stretch his legs. Picture this. All the people
43:30
Speaker 1: in the gate area came to a complete standstill when
43:34
Speaker 1: they looked up and they saw the pilot walk off
43:38
Speaker 1: the plane with a seeing eye dog. To make matters worse,
43:49
Speaker 1: he was wearing dark glasses. People scattered. They didn't they
43:58
Speaker 1: didn't want to take that place on to their destination.
44:01
Speaker 1: They've even tried to change airlines. Wrong impression. The greatest
44:08
Speaker 1: thing we can do is a Christians when we're around
44:10
Speaker 1: non Christians, is telling the struggles we have and remind
44:14
Speaker 1: them that when you come to Christ, you don't become
44:16
Speaker 1: suddenly perfect. So quit acting like you are. Quit strutting
44:22
Speaker 1: your stuff around those who are struggling with things you
44:24
Speaker 1: now have victory over. The truth is there's a civil
44:30
Speaker 1: war waging inside all of us. Twenty two and twenty
44:34
Speaker 1: three even use the words waging war. Look at I
44:37
Speaker 1: joyfully concur with the law on the inner man, but
44:39
Speaker 1: I see a different law in the members of my body,
44:42
Speaker 1: my carnate, my flesh, waging war against the law of
44:47
Speaker 1: my mind, making me a prisoner of the law of
44:52
Speaker 1: sin which is in my members. Isn't that the truth? Example,
44:56
Speaker 1: every new year we promise this year I'm losing weight.
45:03
Speaker 1: This year I'm gonna get as thin as my wedding picture.
45:08
Speaker 1: I tell people to keep wedding pictures just don't put
45:10
Speaker 1: them up because you look like a concentration camp victim.
45:14
Speaker 1: You're so you're so thin. Back then, nobody's ever thinner
45:17
Speaker 1: than in their wedding picture. But I'm gonna be I'm
45:23
Speaker 1: gonna be really disciplined. By the fourth day, you're at
45:26
Speaker 1: Maggiano's eating a nine course meal, going, how come I
45:31
Speaker 1: can't lose weight? Because there's a war waging between the
45:37
Speaker 1: mind and the will. There's an old nature that says,
45:41
Speaker 1: that's not a big problem with Luttney. You know, after all,
45:44
Speaker 1: you can practice that in public and it's not even scandalous.
45:48
Speaker 1: People are just laugh at you for being fat, when
45:51
Speaker 1: in fact it's as wrong as any other sin. But
45:59
Speaker 1: you can't seem to stop it. Why Because you got
46:03
Speaker 1: an old nature that loves to feed your body more
46:06
Speaker 1: than you ought to be eating, so do why. I mean,
46:10
Speaker 1: I'm no big deal in this. At the same battle,
46:13
Speaker 1: you've got past the biscuits, yes, the gravy. Whoever heard
46:19
Speaker 1: eating biscuits without gravy? Crazy? We have fun with it
46:27
Speaker 1: because I'm using food, But as soon as I turn
46:32
Speaker 1: to a real scandalous subject, nobody laughs. Old habits are
46:42
Speaker 1: hard to break, and the old nature prompts that sense
46:48
Speaker 1: of fulfillment when you do what's wrong, A deep abiding
46:53
Speaker 1: love for sin. You love to gossip, That's why you gossip.
47:01
Speaker 1: You love to lust, That's why you lust. You and
47:06
Speaker 1: I love to drive too fast. That's why we speed.
47:11
Speaker 1: We love it. Why am I yelling? We have this
47:16
Speaker 1: thing inside us that says, boy, this could be good.
47:19
Speaker 1: You know that guy just went around You go in
47:21
Speaker 1: eighty you can catch him. On and on it goes.
47:28
Speaker 1: We do not fulfill our own desires. The war never ends.
47:38
Speaker 1: We lose when we fight it in the flesh. Remember that,
47:42
Speaker 1: Zechariah four to six. It's not by might nor by power,
47:46
Speaker 1: but it's by my spirit. So how do I fight it?
47:49
Speaker 1: Spirit of God? I trust you now to strengthen me
47:53
Speaker 1: in this moment of temptation. Lord God, you live within me,
47:57
Speaker 1: and I don't have the strength to stop this. Help
47:59
Speaker 1: me stop this. You put the brakes on and I'll
48:03
Speaker 1: cooperate with you. Remind me before I sit down that
48:07
Speaker 1: overeating is not the thing I ought to be doing.
48:10
Speaker 1: Keep me from looking at the wrong place when I'm
48:12
Speaker 1: with that other person. Focus my attention when I am
48:17
Speaker 1: on the internet, so that I behave myself, and don't
48:20
Speaker 1: go to sites that are going to be hurtful for me.
48:24
Speaker 1: Get control of the drives of my mind and my
48:28
Speaker 1: sin nature. We lose if we fight it into the flesh,
48:32
Speaker 1: and by the way, we quit if we focus on
48:35
Speaker 1: the flesh. Paul is to the point of quitting when
48:38
Speaker 1: he says, wretched man that I am. This is a
48:42
Speaker 1: regenerate believer yearning for final deliverance. The only time you're
48:48
Speaker 1: going to be delivered from this battle is when you die.
48:54
Speaker 1: By the way, little comfort for you who have reasoned,
48:57
Speaker 1: and I mean this sincerely. You may be grieving the
49:01
Speaker 1: loss of a love. Let me tell you something. Where
49:03
Speaker 1: they are in Christ, they would never think about coming
49:06
Speaker 1: back to live with what we live with here. The
49:11
Speaker 1: joy and the peace and the delight and the freedom
49:13
Speaker 1: from the old nature. Oh how good is that? But
49:18
Speaker 1: here we are inseparably linked to this bag of bones
49:25
Speaker 1: called the old nature. I found this very interesting. In
49:30
Speaker 1: the work by Donald Barnhouse, it is reported that near Tarsus,
49:33
Speaker 1: where Saul was born, a tribe of people lived who
49:37
Speaker 1: inflicted a most terrible penalty upon a killer, a murderer.
49:43
Speaker 1: They fastened the body of the victim to the back
49:47
Speaker 1: of the killer, tying shoulder to shoulder, back to back,
49:54
Speaker 1: thigh to thigh, arm to arm, and then drove the
49:57
Speaker 1: murderer from the community. So tight were the bonds that
50:03
Speaker 1: he could not free himself. And after a few days
50:07
Speaker 1: the death in the body communicated itself to his living
50:10
Speaker 1: flesh of the murderer, the flesh of the murderer. As
50:14
Speaker 1: he stalked the land, there was none to help him
50:17
Speaker 1: or free him. He had only the frightful prospect of
50:22
Speaker 1: gangrenous death. He could well cry in horror, oh, wretched man,
50:28
Speaker 1: that I am. Not what will set me free, but who?
50:36
Speaker 1: It's a person. And that's chapter eight. That's a whole
50:42
Speaker 1: new frame in this gallery. This is the believer flying
50:47
Speaker 1: free in the spirit for the first and only time
50:52
Speaker 1: thus far. The work of the spirit is set forth
50:56
Speaker 1: by the apostle addressing the wretched man who's ready to
50:59
Speaker 1: quit it. Three or four tips in re thruit. First
51:07
Speaker 1: of all, freely say I do not understand. Add that
51:12
Speaker 1: to your vocabulary, especially if you're an older believer and
51:15
Speaker 1: you're about to start believing your own stuff. You know,
51:18
Speaker 1: you become a Bible answer person of the office. Practice
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Speaker 1: saying I don't understand. It'll help you when you're dealing
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Speaker 1: with your kids. Okay, it'll help the kids when they're
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Speaker 1: dealing with you. It'll help you when you work with coworkers.
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Speaker 1: There'll be things that happen you don't understand. Paul says
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Speaker 1: it in verse fifteen. What I am doing I do
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Speaker 1: not understand. I mean, as far long as I am
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Speaker 1: in this Christian life, I'm still practicing things that I
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Speaker 1: know better than to do. I don't understand. So leave
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Speaker 1: room for that. Freely say it. Second Fully, accept that
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Speaker 1: there's nothing good in your old nature called the flesh.
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Speaker 1: There's nothing good in your flesh verse eighteen. I know
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Speaker 1: that nothing good dwells in me. I'll give you tip here.
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Speaker 1: If you're relying on the flesh to get you through
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Speaker 1: a situation, you're gonna be sorry because the flesh is
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Speaker 1: going to turn on you. The flesh is gonna have
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Speaker 1: you come out on top, and Christ will not win
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Speaker 1: the victory, or you'll short circuit what the Lord wants
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Speaker 1: to teach you in the process of waiting for him
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Speaker 1: to work. Fully, except that nothing good comes from the
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Speaker 1: from the carnate, from the meat, from the flesh within you,
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Speaker 1: the old nature. Third, always leave room for imperfection Verse twenty.
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Speaker 1: Always leave room for imperfection. I'm no longer doing it,
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Speaker 1: but what's doing it is the sin nature within me.
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Speaker 1: Remember that when you're around other people, it'll keep you
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Speaker 1: from pride. I'll keep you from judging. You want other
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Speaker 1: people to walk on all fours, and you realize you
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Speaker 1: haven't done that in years. You want other people to
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Speaker 1: get in line, when in fact you weren't getting in line.
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Speaker 1: Just without any guilt or without any shame. Just learned
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Speaker 1: to say, it's a fallen world, and you never grow
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Speaker 1: past that. It's just always going to be fallen. I
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Speaker 1: remember when Lauren Sandy was interviewing an eighty one year
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Speaker 1: old missionary the Navigators. He'd come back for a furlough,
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Speaker 1: and he put his arm around this gentleman. He said,
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Speaker 1: tell me, when did you gain victory over lust? Lauren
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Speaker 1: asked this ady. The old eighty one year old missionary said, well, Lauren,
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Speaker 1: it hasn't happened yet. Eighty one year old dude still
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Speaker 1: fighting lust. Why because he's got an old nature. He
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Speaker 1: just honest, just honest, leave room for imperfection. That doesn't
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Speaker 1: mean you don't seek the Spirit's control. It means when
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Speaker 1: the Spirit of God works and is grieved, wrong will happen.
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Speaker 1: Just acknowledge it, bring it to the Lord, and lay
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Speaker 1: it before him. Number four, openly admit your true feelings
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Speaker 1: of frustration, Paul, do us wretched man that I am.
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Speaker 1: I still remember the attendant at the Dmitri Veil gallery
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Speaker 1: saying to me, you need to realize, sir, that there's
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Speaker 1: another side of mister Veil that isn't painted yet. And
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Speaker 1: someday we're all hoping he will paint that picture. Paul
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Speaker 1: has not yet painted the other side, that part of
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Speaker 1: him where the Spirit of God is now in control.
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Speaker 1: And that's chapter eight. For neither life, nor death, nor principalities,
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Speaker 1: nor powers, nor things present or things to come, nor height,
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Speaker 1: our depth, nor any other creation shall be able to
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Speaker 1: separate us from the Love of God which is in
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Speaker 1: Christ Jesus our Lord. Yes, yes, And as Paul Harvey
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Speaker 1: would say, and that's the rest of the story, you
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Speaker 1: bow your heads with me, please. Well, we've feasted in
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Speaker 1: the Seventh of Romans. Today, we've gone through it. But
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Speaker 1: the challenge is to have it go through us. My
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Speaker 1: prayer is that it will make a difference in the
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Speaker 1: way you live and how you relate to others. That
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Speaker 1: it will intensify your patience and understanding of those who
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Speaker 1: can't quite keep up, and it will keep you from
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Speaker 1: self condemnation and shame, which helps nobody. The only one
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Speaker 1: for whom I really have no hope apart from Christ
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Speaker 1: is you, who are without the Savior. We spoke to
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Speaker 1: you during the offering, and now I speak to you
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Speaker 1: as I close. You know you're a sinner. Nobody has
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Speaker 1: to explain that to you. You know that God is
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Speaker 1: holy in can't fellowship with sinfulness. What you may not
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Speaker 1: know is that He built a bridge between you and Him,
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Speaker 1: and it was in the shape of a cross. But remember,
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Speaker 1: He doesn't do everything for us. He doesn't walk across
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Speaker 1: that bridge for us. Each one of us, on his
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Speaker 1: own or her own, needs to walk across that bridge
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Speaker 1: and receive Christ and with him forgiveness, the presence of
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Speaker 1: His power in our lives, and for the first time ever,
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Speaker 1: freedom from the grip of what has controlled you long enough.
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Speaker 1: If you need someone to talk to, our prayer room
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Speaker 1: is always open, and that's especially true following our worship services,
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Speaker 1: you will find someone from our sole care ministry there
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Speaker 1: to help. How grateful we are, our Father, for your
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Speaker 1: presence and your word. Thank you for telling us the truth,
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Speaker 1: for giving us an understanding of it so that it
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Speaker 1: begins to make sense. And as we square our lives
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Speaker 1: with its directives, we realize, our Father, how often we
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Speaker 1: have settled for so much less than what you have
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Speaker 1: for us. Thank you for your long suffering and patience
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Speaker 1: with us. Thank you for taking good care of us
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Speaker 1: even when we're on the run. For your grace, even
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Speaker 1: when we're not pleasing you. We pray that that grace
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Speaker 1: will woo and win us back, that the hounds of
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Speaker 1: heaven will turn us to the things of God. Now
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Speaker 1: to him who is able to guard us from stumbling,
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Speaker 1: and to present us faultless, faultless before the presence of
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Speaker 1: His glory, with exceeding joy, to the only wise God,
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Speaker 1: our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power forever
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Speaker 1: and ever and ever and ever, and all his people
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Speaker 1: said Amen.
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Speaker 2: The preceding message, Portrait of a Struggling Christian, was copyrighted
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Speaker 2: in two thousand and seven, twenty ten, and twenty twenty five,
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Speaker 2: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty five
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Speaker 2: by Charles Rswindahul Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
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Speaker 2: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited