Lesson 26c & begin 7:19-24 Lesson 27a
Romans 7:12-18 · Courtney Hemenway · Feb 3, 2019
Romans (2018-21), No. 52
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261913526191

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

All right, we will just kind of go over quickly in, what are we, lesson 25, 26? Yeah, 926. Question, I believe, my numbers are all messed up. I think it's question 9. Why isn't there anything good dwelling in our flesh? We kind of went over that and we kind of rushed it a little bit. Everybody okay with that? Do we get through all that last time? Basically, my one's about reading Romans 1 and Romans 3, where it kind of says how we are in the flesh. And was there anything good in there? pre-condemic as to what we are in our flesh or where the same nature dwells in our flesh.

There's nothing good. There's no not one. So there's nobody who can claim an exclusion and say, well, that's not really me. That's really not describing me. Every one of us in the flesh is like that. But what about Paul saying in Galatians And the life that I live in the flesh, I live by faith. That's correct. Yeah, and that is, I've been crucified, it's no longer I live, but Christ lives in me. Christ is the guiding, is the one who is the leading one in a believer's life. But that says, we still have the flesh. We're crucified, but the power is, we're not succumbing, we don't have to succumb because of bondage.

We've been released from that. We may willingly choose to yield to the sin nature. In the next lesson, question three, we're going to go through relations to 20 and identify all the guys there. OK. Yeah. So, basically, did we get rid of our sin nature when we were co-crucified? No. That's really the one thing I wanted to reiterate from that question, is that we're not one nature now. Some people will say we're one nature, that we're only new creatures in Christ, that's all that is here.

Clearly in chapter 7 here, we see that that is not the case. that there is still nothing good in his flesh, is what he says. Nothing good. So, let's get to the last one, which is, why isn't my will strong enough to overcome sin? There isn't any power in our will.

Good. Others? Well, the will is used for belief. Yeah, I mean, you use your will to believe or not to believe. But there's no real power in the will itself. All you're doing is believing what is true of you in Christ, or you're falling back under the mutinous captain calling you and you're answering.

So, but, why is it strong? What demonstrates that? What demonstrates that my will is not strong enough? There are a couple of things I'm thinking about here. What would demonstrate that? Because the law is stronger than the will. I don't know what the law is, but it's still the flesh and the sin nature. It's the sin nature is what we're dealing with and not particularly the law. The law is what excites the sin nature.

What kind of demonstrates that your will is not enough? Well Jesus says, apart from me you can do nothing. Good, getting there. When we succumb to our own sin nature. Why isn't, you know, what says it strong enough? What demonstrates the will or our ability is not strong enough? Two things I'm thinking of. The fact that we sin. The fact that we sin. What is it, Paul? Paul demonstrates it right here. He's trying his hardest to do what he thinks is right. And this is a guy I remember who spent years with the Lord. I saw him the first time seeing the glorified Lord. And he's trying to do it. How's our chances of that? Not pretty good.

But what else demonstrates it? As I was preparing for this question, I really thought this was kind of what really demonstrates how bad the sin nature is. Well, verses 19 and 20 said that what he wants to do, he can do, and will do it. And what he doesn't want to do, he does.

That's on the Paul side. What's for another reason that, as I was preparing this, I suddenly thought about this. Mary Wolfson Crabb Shelley said, No man chooses evil because it is evil. He only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks. Well that's what we were saying last week. Do you ever not want to do the thing you choose to do? You choose to do it. So that's kind of what that is. I guess it's hard for you. I'm trying to lead you where I was.

The biggest thing I thought about how strong it is, is because Christ had to die. That's how strong it was. He had to die and our co-crucifixion, which was in Romans 6, we had to die. That was the only way to get over our sin nature, is to co-crucify us. That's how strong the sin nature is, that we had to die. And I thought, that's the real demonstration of how strong the will is, or the sin nature is. He demonstrated it. If it wasn't, I was kind of going back to the Old Testament saints.

A lot of times the Holy Spirit would come upon them in that. Were they able to overcome the sin nature by momentary indwelling of the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit coming upon them. Were they able to overcome the sin nature? Were they perfect people after that? No. I guess the point being is, a lot of people think that now that you're a believer, you just, you now have the power in you to overcome that sin nature in you.

Is that, is that what happens? Is that the only thing I should say? Is that the only thing that happens? It's not. We had to die. That's how bad the sin nature is. We had to die. God didn't have another plan that said, well, I can work with what I started with. That old Adam, I can work with it. I can give you the Holy Spirit and I can make that guy really dance well. Is that what happened?

No, we had to die. That's how bad the sin nature is. And that's where I thought, you know, to get an idea about how bad our sin nature is, that's the only solution, is co-crucifixion, our death. That's the only way we can get away from that sin nature. There is no effort that we can do to overcome it. Even with the Holy Spirit, just the Holy Spirit, we can't overcome it. The Old Testament saints couldn't do that.

So we had to die, we had to have the 2 Corinthians 5.17, new creatures in Christ.

The new creature, that's the Holy Spirit working on that new creature in Christ. So again, that's demonstrating how bad our sin nature is, is that Christ had to co-crucify us. The other thing I thought was really good was in The Hungry Heart, this was a couple days ago, And this is kind of a summary of what I think chapter 7 goes over. It's in yesterday's Hungry Heart.

Christian progress is not a question of attaining to some abstract standard or of pressing through to some far-off goal. It is wholly a question of seeing God's standard in God's Word. And this is one that I highlighted. You advance spiritually by finding out what you really are in Christ, not by trying to become what you hope to be. Is that what Paul was trying to do? That goal you will never reach, however earnestly you may strive.

It is when you see you are dead in a sin that you die to it daily. It is when you see you are risen that you arise. It is when you see you are a new creation in him that you progressively grow. Seeing the accomplished fact in the Word determines the pathway to the realizing of that fact. The end is reached by seeing, not by desiring or working. The only possibility of spiritual progress lies in our discovering the truth as God sees it, the truth concerning Christ, the truth concerning ourselves in Christ. So again, I really like that when you advance spiritually by finding out what you really are in Christ, not by trying to become what you hope to be.

And I think that's what a lot of people struggle with. I'm going to try to be that really good Christian. I'm going to try. And kind of what Paul's trying, I tried to do, I tried, I tried to be and do and hold and it didn't work. And then the end is reached by seeing, not by desiring or working.

So I think those are some good ending ones to this section. So, any other things? Regarding the co-crucifixion, is that what Paul was talking about when he says, I die daily? I think that's reckoning yourself dead, is where that comes in, the daily, is reckoning yourself dead all the time. And then the other part, alignment of God. So yeah.

Others? All right. Well, I think Mike is going to take 27. All right. We're on lesson 27. Everybody have one? Primarily, we're going to talk about verses 19 through 24. First two verses we'll deal with is 19 and 20. And then I made a detour. over to Galatians 2.20 which I want to go through that and identify the eyes that are in there because it's important I think for us to understand we're talking about two natures within the believers here and what the nature does it's the source of how you behave. So that's why I may have a born again will, a desire to be good, but I still have a sin nature.

Why do you think God would put Paul and actually growing believers through this whole exercise of Romans 7? Why do you think he does that? Why do you think he did it to Paul? That's not one of the questions. Why do you think he did it? Now that's kind of a generic answer but why did he have to have this exercise of Paul failing and wanting to do good and failing and wanting to avoid evil and failing. Why that? So that we depend on Christ. So he would?

I was going to say for our sake Because when Paul says, should we sin and grace may abound, may it never be, the next chapter he's falling short. We fall short. It kind of helps us realize if Paul had the struggle when we sometimes fall short, we kind of can grasp a little better what it is we're trying to get through. In Romans chapter 6, starting in 5.12, there is this discussion about two men, and when we get to 6 we find out that we were crucified, buried and resurrected with Christ.

But then we discover we have two natures, and Christians are the only human beings that have two natures. Both of them vying for control. They want to express their nature through you. The problem that you have with growing believers is that that concept takes a while for the Spirit of God to explain and to show us, I really do have these two natures. I have this resurrected nature of Christ that wants to do good and admires and loves God's law and that kind of thing, but at the same time it seems to be powerless against this other nature I have. that leads me into bondage. A believer who is growing, who wants to rest in all that Christ has done for him, has to go through this exercise in order to get the education he needs, or she needs, so that she can identify what nature is songing and dancing around inside of them. If you don't understand Romans 6, which most believers don't, Reformed theology never teaches Romans 6 co-crucifixion. Then you're stuck in your mind from your perspective with one nature. I am who I am, before I was saved, after I was saved, and I look at it as though salvation was something that was added on to me. Right? Me who? Me the old man. And God said, now look, I want you, I want a race of humanity that will be with me where I am and share me for all eternity. And that old man isn't the guy I'm talking about. I'm not bringing him in.

So the necessity to co-crucify us with Christ was important to God in order to recreate us into a new life so that we can do that, but we don't think about ourselves. Our viewpoint is always from the old man until I think you get into an exercise of Romans 7 and you begin to see, wait a minute, there are two forces here, and which one am I? Unless you see that, you're stuck with the old man and all you try to do is polish him up, put holy water on him and make him act like a Christian. Well, what 7 tells us is good luck with that. That's not going to happen.

So that's why the exercise is really important. I would say this, that every growing believer, is going to find themselves in Romans 7. And that struggle is going to be there, and it's going to be part of their life, for a time, to learn this lesson. To learn this lesson. Yeah. So what I'm hearing you saying is that the reason we have this struggle is so that we realize that we have two natures, and that it's impossible to serve God in the flesh. That's right. You have to learn that.

Because we instinctively try to circumvent the flesh. Well, we do. I did it for 40 years. Well, I did. I thought I did it. It's the old attitude we had back in Roman Street. I got this, Scott. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it." Really? He says, OK. How about these commandments? How are you doing with those? That kind of thing.

So, on the other hand, this new life in Christ doesn't operate like the old life operated. So not only do we have to learn that we have two natures, but this new nature we have operates on a totally different principle. It operates on the principle of grace and faith. Not by doing, not by achieving, not by accumulating. It starts, we have everything to start with. That's where it begins. Spiritual growth is entering into what's already ours and what we already have. And the way that you appropriate that is through faith.

I was just thinking that Paul was the perfect man because he had all the commandments, he was the Pharisee of the Pharisees, he was set up to really work this out in the flesh, and he couldn't do it. Yeah, and you know the biggest problem Paul had, which I'll talk about later, when he met Christ, who did he meet? He met the glorified Christ. Well that blew his whole deal.

I mean, it's like, oh my goodness, here's this man in heaven manifesting his glory to me to the point that I'm blinded. Oh my goodness, this is a whole new thing. This is not religion. This is something totally different. That's how he starts. So his viewpoint is much different than the other apostles. I'll start going down my sermon if I don't shut up. Verse 19. My question is, what does verse 19 express about our daily walk?

Other than the fact that we learn to be powerless against the evil of the flesh. That's a tough day. Right? That's a really tough day. I can imagine any of you sitting in your living room thinking, oh my goodness, this evil flesh I have, I can't control it. It's got me, I don't have it. What a revelation.

But you only learn that by going through the process. You can be told that, you can read Loman 726 times. Unless you're shown it, you don't know it. You don't know you're in jail until you see it. You could be under Moses' law as Paul was, or I could be convicted by the power of an awakened conscience that we ought to have a deliverance from sinful, selfish selves and walk in victory in Christ.

Don't we all think that way? I ought to be doing better. I just cussed at my neighbor. I probably shouldn't be doing that. I had bad thoughts about it. Would you say verse 19 is the normal Christian expression? I would say it's the normal Christian experience if you're growing, but this is not the Christian life. The Christian life is Romans 8, which we're coming to. This struggle is not normal Christianity. It's normal in the growth process, but it's not the way the Christian life is to be lived. Is it struggling with in-belief? Unbelief? Struggling with unbelief? Yeah. Sure. Sure. Think about it.

Struggling with what belief? That I'm a new creature in Christ? No. Back in Romans 6, what did I do? I reckoned myself dead unto sin and alive unto God. Here we go. I'm rocking. That's all I need. Oh, and it said present my members. Okay, I did that. I got it. Right? until the law comes along and starts laying out the principles of a holy righteous God and you think, oh my goodness, I got the first three but the other 600 I didn't do too well with.

So, Romans 7.19 expresses that in my walk I'm powerless to do anything about controlling this in nature. I can't do anything about that. in and of myself, in my own strength. It's impossible to do. But I recognize at the same time that I'm not to live like this forever for the rest of my days. I'm not to have this struggle going on.

So what happens right there if the ignorance continues? You either take the rules that you really have been living by and you water them down to a point where you think you can live under them, or you start to eliminate a few Or you just give up. You just give up. And so you become what Miles Danford used to call a pew parasite. You sit in a pew every Sunday, fulfill your obligation and go home. And nothing is really happening.

So, let's look at 1920, question two, and let's distinguish the I's. My version says in 19 and 20, for the good that I want, I don't do. But I practice the very evil that I don't want. But if I'm doing the very thing I don't want, I am no longer the one doing it but sin which dwells in me. Verse 19, for the good that I want, who's the I there?

Old man or new man? New man. Everybody agree? The thing that I do not do, what I is that? Old man or new man? Now think about this. Verse 19, the good that I want, new man, no problem. I do not do. Old man. Because the new man could do it. Old man can't. But I practice, who's the I there? The very evil that I don't want. Old man, new man. Old man, right? But if I'm doing the very thing I don't want, First one, if I am doing, that's the old man, the very thing I don't want, who's that man? The new man. You with me? Sticking with me? I am no longer the one doing it. Who's the I am no longer?

The new man. The new man doing it, but sin which dwells in me. singular, definite article, the sin that dwells in me. Old man, new man. New man. The sin. Old man, new man. Old man. Old man. Okay. So I think it gets confusing if you don't slow down and take a look. Let's go to... So how about me in 20? Sin that dwells in me. Oh yeah, who's in me? Sin that dwells in me.

Has to be the old man. That's the new man. I think that's the new man. I've got two new men, two old men. We're going to have the chicken test now. Sin does dwell in the new man. All those that think it's the old man, raise your hand. All those who think I'm a good man, raise your hand. The rest of you are chickens. Isn't this just the soulish man?

The who I am dwells in me. See, because I think it's dwelling in me, which is both. So the me in this one, I think, is the soulish man. The who I am. To me, I think, is the soulish man. But you don't get three choices. Well, that's why I didn't answer it. Does the old man have any recognition that the new man exists? Does the old man have any recognition that the new man exists? The new man is what? Exists?

Yeah, I think so. But not to the point that it's... Well, let me say it this way. Until the Holy Spirit grows us up to a certain point, our entire frame of reference is the old man, isn't it? This is who I am. My mom and dad conceived me. I'm Mike. I was born Mike. I was raised Mike. I'm Mike. I don't realize that my whole identity before I was born was in the old man.

God sees me only in the flesh. But that is only revealed to the new man. That's right. So when I'm saved, I'm crucified, buried and resurrected in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he's what? 60% new, right? He's a brand new creature, creation. How long does it take the Spirit of God to get me to frame of reference from over here in my new man?

If I see myself as who Christ sees me, I'm over here. About 40 years in the desert. I still got time. And Courtney's right, you know, so I'm kind of doing this, but still I'm seeing it from here. And I can say, well, in this sense I'm carnal. But if I start to see things from over here, then I really am above them. You see that? I'm above them because I'm resting in Christ. This all is very clear to me and it's easy for me to reject the temptations or solicitations from the old man to be good or bad. It doesn't matter. I'm not that anymore.

So if you know what the Spirit of God is doing and where he's taking us from an experiential standpoint, it helps us to hold still while he works us through it. So this is my assertion. So if I am a new creation, which I am, the Holy Spirit reveals that to the new man. And so that new man recognizes that sin dwells in me. And the way he recognizes it is he's trying to do good. Because what's interesting here, this is the new man who's having the struggle. And the new man is trying to adopt and use principles from the old man, like his will, to make it happen. That's why there's the struggle. Sure. The old man thinks that if he wills it, it can happen. Don't we all? If I want it bad enough and will it hard enough, it's going to happen.

Well, Paul just very carefully takes us through how bad do you want it? How fervent are you and how zealous are you? And the end game is, none of that matters, I'm still sinning. What is this? So sin is always way stronger than our will. The law is stronger than you.

That's right, and you have to learn that the will, whose will is it? New man's will or old man's? New man. The will of the new man, the new man himself can't overcome sin. Do you realize that? He can't in and of himself overcome sin. But the will of the old man struggles with the law. Yeah, but he'll modify it and make it work. Do you understand what I'm saying? The new man is the one that we're talking about here that wants to do good, but doesn't. And he can't find the power within this new man to do it. Why? Because the old man's whole program was to do it himself.

I got this. The new man doesn't live like that. The new man lives in dependence, total dependence on the Spirit of God. Total dependence on the Spirit of God. Walks by faith, under grace, in dependence. I mean, especially we arrogant Americans, to learn dependence is a really hard thing. Because we've got our rights, right? When we go to heaven, how many rights are you going to have?

Zero. Mike, it goes back also to proving that the new man It says the spirit goes against the flesh and flesh against the spirit. That's the battle. It's not the new man. So the battle, we can't do it. It's the Holy Spirit doing the battling. That's a huge thing to learn. Yeah, and that's what the struggle is right here.

So the grown believer who operates out of the old man reads that verse and if you say to him, okay where are you in that verse? What's his answer? Well I'm the old man. No you're not. Well I'm the spirit. No you're not. Where are you in that verse? Oh I'm the victim. No. I'm in Christ and there's a battle going on to control for the nature to live itself through me. up here, and it's going on in me, but I'm not the old man anymore, positionally, and I'm certainly not the Holy Spirit. But the battle rages. So, let's do this exercise again.

Go to Galatians 2.20. This will spin your head off. You'll be fine.

So, first phrase is, I have been crucified with Christ. The old man. I have been crucified. Is it the man before he was crucified or after? Before he was crucified. No, it's after. I have been crucified. This is the new man. This is the new man. He's saying, I have been crucified with Christ. But isn't it I am crucified with Christ? No, I have that. Because isn't that old man held inoperative on the cross?

You mean conditionally or positionally? Yeah, we're spinning again. Well, you're spinning. You people look okay to me. I had been crucified with Christ. Now I must say I had this argument with Hal for years. He would say oh that's the new man and I would say no it's the old man. And back and forth we would go because I would say how can the old man recognize the rest of this? Isn't it both?

When was I crucified? At the cross. And when did the cross happen? You know, some years ago, before the foundation of eternity. OK, because it's an eternal event, there's no time involved. But before the cross, that man is held inoperative at the cross.

Positionally or conditionally again? Conditionally. A lot of the Klan back here is going for the old man here. So they're whispering down lines and they don't speak up. So the. It's got to be the new man. I think this argument is going to go on for a long time.

We had to be crucified before we got the new man. That's right, you had to die first. So it's not the new man being crucified. Well, that's why I said, I have been. That's why I say I am crucified. The old man was crucified and we are a new creation. That's right. So who's doing the talking here? The Lamb was slain from the foundations of eternity. Does that mean that I was slain in Him? I think so. We enter into that.

I as a Christian, as a believer, whom God conceived in Christ before the foundations of eternity, did he not? Was I crucified then? He conceived me in Christ, he created me in Christ, he brought me forth in time in Adam, Right? And at some point he led me to believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus and I became at that point in time a believer but it was already true of me from eternity. So Christ opens that door so we can go in and then we close it behind us or he closes it behind us?

Yeah, anything that we do I'm not going to Okay, so you're the back rows old man. I may be both. Old and new. I've got a question. Why would the old man want to be crucified? He wouldn't. He wouldn't. No. He wouldn't. Well, the new man doesn't need to be. The new man has already been crucified. One's condition, one's position. What's that? The old man is conditioned. The new man is positioned. So you think the old man sits around and says, you know, I was crucified with Christ? I don't think so. No, it paints out with the Lord. So here's the old man verse.

This is Romans 8.3. And so he condemned sin in sinful man. Say that again. And so he condemned sin in sinful man. Doesn't that happen when our old man was crucified with Christ on the cross. That sin nature, that old man was condemned. Hadn't been carried out yet, but he is a condemned... Yeah, that's right. Right, that's why it's held inoperative. But you're the only guy I've ever met that walks around saying my sin nature is held inoperative while you commit sin.

I'm like, you can't be both. Well, are you going by your position or your condition? I have been crucified as a positional truth. Don't you think even our condition can be position and condition? No. No. I do. Think about it. It'll spin your head off. I think as we go through this we'll come back and decide.

Nevertheless, I live. New creature. New man. Recreated in Christ, the last Adam, the life I now live as a Christian, I, new man, right? Yet, not I. What I is that? The old man. Come on back row, give me an answer. Conditionally. Not I, yeah, it's the old man. Adam is no longer my life. New man. I live in Christ. But Christ lives in me. New man or old man? New man.

Back row? Positionally. New man positionally. Get the position condition out of you. Oh yeah, it helps. But Christ lives in me. New man, old man. New man. It's got to be a new man. And... the life I now live in the flesh, new man or old man? New man. Everybody says new man? Except for the chickens. I live by faith in the Son of God. New man.

Now some of your translations say that I live by the faith of the Son of God. We don't live by Christ's faith, we live by our faith. That life is lived and developed by faith in the Son of God is your life, it's your growth, it's who you are. That faith results in the spirits manifesting the life of Christ in and through us.

Who loved me, who's the me? New man. and gave himself for me, new man. Right? So, here's the problem you have with the first I, is that if we're chosen eternally, that he gave himself for me, way back when, in order to redeem me from the Adamic death, is that going to be an eternal truth about me, even though before I was a believer? I can give you the answer that Courtney and I have come up with, which I think is a really good one.

A non-believer, Adam the first, is created in time, right? Mom and Dad conceived me in time. So my beginning in Adam starts the minute I'm conceived. Paul said, in sin did my mother conceive me. So I'm in time, and so I've got a history all the way back to the time that I was conceived. And my history has been one sin upon another sin upon another sin.

At some point in my life, through the work of the Spirit, I believe in the personal work of Christ and I become a Christian. Well, I find out later that becoming a Christian meant that I left time-space and entered into eternity. Did I not? If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, everything is new.

So now I ask the question, how far back does my lineage go? Because my lineage went back to Adam all the way to the garden. He sinned, I sinned. But now that I've been taken out of Adam and placed into Christ, how far back does Christ go? Eternity. So can I say that my history is eternity and I can reasonably say that God knew me in Christ before the foundations of eternity.

I can say that. It was before and from. OK. OK. Next week. Hopefully J.D. will be better. We can assault him with this question. We'll spin his head off. Dear Father, I would thank you for your grace. And the fact that we have been separated through the cross from all that we were in Adam, and we created in the one who you find all your pleasure in, the Lord Jesus, is a truth that we continue to grow in and continue to cherish and we're so thankful about. And we pray in your son's precious name. Amen.