Dale Partridge - December 31, 2023


Romans 7_14-20： The Conflict Within All Christians with Dale Partridge


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Length

29 minutes

Words per minute

151.04126

Word count

4,446

Sentence count

265

Harmful content

Toxicity

2

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Hate speech

11

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Summary

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Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.840 So over the past few weeks, we have watched Paul's defense
00:00:06.180 that a free grace gospel would not lead to people freely sinning.
00:00:13.060 That's what he's been doing in chapter 6 and in the beginning of chapter 7.
00:00:17.700 Instead, when a person is saved by grace, they've died to the condemning power of the law.
00:00:22.700 That is that they've been separated from the condemning power of the law.
00:00:27.380 And they're no longer motivated by fear of punishment.
00:00:31.900 That's no longer their motive for obedience, but rather they obey the law by resting in
00:00:36.860 the perfect obedience of Christ.
00:00:39.400 And from this place of rest, our works of obedience, which again, outside of Christ,
00:00:46.440 our works were viewed as filthy rags before God.
00:00:50.500 But now in Christ, they can be pleasing to him.
00:00:53.360 So we don't obey because it keeps us saved.
00:00:55.940 we don't obey because it makes us saved, we obey because it pleases God. This is a vastly different
00:01:04.180 relationship with obedience. If we have a fear of punishment, then it says that in, I believe it's
00:01:10.980 1 John, then the love of God is not in you. If you fear, the love of God is not in you because
00:01:17.240 there is no fear in perfect love. And we know that God has extended that perfect love to us in Christ.
00:01:24.800 we should not fear. There is no punishment that's coming for us. There is no condemnation
00:01:30.060 in Christ. And so last week, Paul addressed a potential misinterpretation of his argument in
00:01:38.900 chapter seven, verses one through six. If you guys remember what we were talking about,
00:01:42.520 it was regarding the transition of authority from being under the law to being actually as a wife
00:01:48.920 is dying to their old spouse and being reconnected to a new spouse, which is Christ.
00:01:54.240 there's a transition of authority. And Paul was concerned that that might lead to a misunderstanding
00:02:02.220 or a misinterpretation that he was an antinomian. And that word means anti-law. He was concerned
00:02:10.400 that people might think, wait, is Paul saying that he's anti-law? Is he against the value and
00:02:17.740 the goodness of the moral law of God.
00:02:20.900 And he clarified to his readers that that was not the case,
00:02:25.340 that the law was not the thing that sentenced him to death.
00:02:29.600 The law was not the thing that caused the pain in his life,
00:02:32.740 but sin, sin was the thing that sentenced him to death.
00:02:37.500 And we learned that the law was akin to a mirror.
00:02:42.700 You guys might remember my metaphor and analogy here.
00:02:45.280 The law was akin to a mirror.
00:02:48.240 It does not cause your face to be dirty.
00:02:51.460 The mirror simply reveals the dirt.
00:02:53.600 It's not the law's fault, it's not the mirror's fault
00:02:56.340 that you have moral filth upon you.
00:02:59.180 The law reveals the dirt.
00:03:00.960 It is not responsible for putting the dirt there.
00:03:04.560 And so this reason, this is,
00:03:08.740 when I think about the law, and this is important,
00:03:10.700 the law essentially is a tutor to Christ.
00:03:13.000 is a very helpful reality, is a tool that allows you to understand the revelation of your sin.
00:03:19.720 You can start to see your sinfulness because you understand the law. And when the law shows you
00:03:25.900 how short you have fallen to the glory of God, you are now able to come to Christ. You are now
00:03:33.520 seeing how the law leads you towards Christ. And this is why Paul concluded in 7, 12 to 13,
00:03:40.060 he says, so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. These are good
00:03:46.840 things. Did that which is good then bring death to me? By no means. It was sin producing death
00:03:54.420 in me through what is good. Speaking of the law, in order that sin might be shown to be sin
00:03:59.700 and through the commandment might become sinful beyond all measure. And that was last week's
00:04:04.260 text. So the law, while it's the instrument of moral justice, it is not the cause of the moral
00:04:12.600 crimes. Do you understand that? There's a very important distinction. It is not the cause
00:04:18.480 of the immorality. It is the revealer of the immorality. Man's sinful nature, our rebellion
00:04:26.800 against God, our autonomy, our desire to not be accountable to God's law, that is the cause
00:04:35.020 of the moral filth. That is the cause of our condemnation. Let's not confuse that with the
00:04:41.120 moral law. Now today, Paul introduces another dimension of the law. He's already spoken to
00:04:49.540 the holy and the good nature of the law, but now he speaks to a different dimension. You know,
00:04:56.060 We know that the law, it reveals the sinfulness
00:04:59.300 of outward actions, it also reveals the state of the heart.
00:05:03.280 But Paul in verses 14 through 20, which is our text today,
00:05:06.480 he now speaks to the law's spiritual nature
00:05:10.180 and how the revelation of sin creates a war
00:05:14.640 or a conflict within the soul of the believer.
00:05:18.160 Okay, and I'm telling you this,
00:05:20.660 I promise you that you will relate with the sermon
00:05:23.580 because there is a very real war
00:05:25.980 between the conviction of the law on our flesh
00:05:31.180 and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
00:05:33.420 There is a war, there is a conflict and we all feel it.
00:05:37.340 Martin Luther described the conflict by saying, quote,
00:05:39.880 there be two contrary captains in you,
00:05:42.900 the spirit and the flesh.
00:05:44.940 Now I agree with the concept
00:05:46.860 that Martin Luther said right there,
00:05:48.120 but I don't agree with his specific wording.
00:05:50.500 I do not believe that you have two captains.
00:05:52.940 I believe you have one captain.
00:05:54.620 I believe you have one master, and that's Jesus Christ.
00:05:58.120 In Galatians 5.24, which we just read a few moments ago,
00:06:02.520 Paul says, and those who belong to Christ Jesus
00:06:05.280 have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
00:06:10.140 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh.
00:06:13.620 It's pinned down. 0.96
00:06:15.800 Galatians 2.20 says, I have been crucified with Christ.
00:06:18.920 it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I live now in the flesh,
00:06:25.900 I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now, again, this does
00:06:32.680 not mean that Christians no longer battle with the temptations of the flesh. Just because we've
00:06:37.820 crucified the flesh doesn't mean that we don't have a battle with the temptations of the flesh.
00:06:44.000 It simply means that the captain of the flesh has been pinned down.
00:06:48.100 He has been brought low and he no longer dominates your affections and your behavior.
00:06:53.900 You're no longer ruled by the flesh.
00:06:56.980 In Christ, the flesh is now subordinate to the spirit.
00:07:02.140 That is the biblical teaching of the relationship between the spirit and the flesh.
00:07:07.040 It's why Paul commanded the Christians in Colossians 3.5. 0.92
00:07:10.340 He says, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. 0.95
00:07:14.000 sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, covetousness, which is idolatry. 0.81
00:07:19.040 It's also why you can tell Christians in Romans 6, quote, not to let sin reign in your mortal body
00:07:24.560 and to make it obey its passions. And he says, not present your members to sin as instruments
00:07:31.320 for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death
00:07:37.040 to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. There's obviously a
00:07:43.880 real conflict, a real call that Paul's saying, no, I know you're in the spirit, but you need to
00:07:49.700 actually make those fleshly passions bow to the lordship of Jesus. Your job as a Christian is to
00:07:58.420 walk in the power of the spirit so that you can make those passions of the flesh bow down to King
00:08:04.960 Jesus. And until we're glorified with Christ, Christians are going to have an ongoing spiritual
00:08:13.340 work. We're going to have an ongoing spiritual work, making those passions submit and be 0.81
00:08:20.000 subordinate to the spirit. Thomas Watson once said, and I always say this quote,
00:08:25.700 sin will remain in the born again Christian, but sin will not reign. Sin no longer has a reigning
00:08:33.760 and ruling power over you, but the spirit, you are now a slave to Christ, has a reigning and
00:08:40.440 ruling power over you. So in today's text, we get to confront the familiar battle that wages within
00:08:50.780 us. We get to look at the conflict between the spirit and the flesh. Let's read Romans 6, 14 and
00:09:02.120 20. I want to see the tops of your heads because I want to have you guys reading your Bible.
00:09:06.220 for we know that the law is spiritual
00:09:10.960 but I am of the flesh sold under sin
00:09:15.120 for I do not understand my own actions
00:09:17.660 for I do not do what I want
00:09:19.880 but I do the very thing I hate
00:09:22.200 now if I do what I do not want
00:09:25.060 I agree with the law that it is good
00:09:27.040 so now it is no longer I who do it
00:09:30.380 but sin that dwells within me
00:09:31.840 for I know that nothing good dwells in me
00:09:34.700 that is in my flesh
00:09:35.800 For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
00:09:41.720 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep doing.
00:09:48.080 Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
00:09:56.940 John MacArthur said of this passage, it can feel schizophrenic.
00:10:01.520 It can feel a little bit like two worlds that are going on inside of one man.
00:10:07.260 And I believe that's an accurate description of how it can feel.
00:10:11.040 It can feel like a schizophrenic relationship between the flesh and the spirit.
00:10:17.340 It can feel that we're engaged in this battle between temptation
00:10:21.400 because we have the conviction of sin through the law
00:10:25.800 because we understand the righteous requirements of the law.
00:10:30.740 and our desires because we have the indwelling
00:10:34.720 of the Holy Spirit.
00:10:36.400 We have both of these realities.
00:10:38.020 We now have the law written on our hearts
00:10:40.580 and we also have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
00:10:45.120 We understand the law, but we still have this bag of bones,
00:10:48.160 this body of flesh, this body of death connected to us.
00:10:51.260 And we have this constant war and conflict.
00:10:55.340 Now, before I begin the exposition
00:10:57.480 of the verse by verse section here,
00:10:59.640 I wanna just preface this passage
00:11:01.880 with just two important points
00:11:03.420 because we wanna be smart Bible interpreters.
00:11:06.600 We wanna understand context.
00:11:08.260 We wanna understand the theological realities
00:11:12.000 so that we don't get ourselves confused
00:11:14.700 and walk down ways that are heretical or dangerous.
00:11:19.040 And so first, in this passage,
00:11:20.920 Paul is not dealing with the guilt of the law.
00:11:24.740 He's not dealing with the guilt of the law.
00:11:26.240 he's dealing with the power of the law to excite sin and cause conflict in a Holy Spirit indwelt
00:11:34.160 believer. Did you get that? That's important to grasp. He's dealing with the power of the law to
00:11:39.960 excite sin in a believer who has the Holy Spirit, and it causes this war and this conflict.
00:11:50.480 And I say that because many Christians equate conflict with condemnation.
00:11:54.240 we think that if there's some sort of conflict in us that we're condemned
00:11:59.120 we think that I'm feeling conflicted this last week therefore I must be condemned
00:12:04.840 I must not be right with God but conflict is actually the evidence that you are not condemned
00:12:11.480 if there was no war if there was no conviction if there was no discipline if there was no shame
00:12:20.120 if there was no trial in your soul, then I would be worried.
00:12:24.740 But the fact that you're actually having condemnation
00:12:28.380 or the feeling of condemnation in conflict,
00:12:31.360 this is evidence that you're actually the one that is saved
00:12:34.320 because you're having the war between the flesh and the spirit.
00:12:40.260 The lost man does not have that war.
00:12:42.560 The lost woman does not have that war.
00:12:45.280 The lost child does not have that war.
00:12:47.420 the one who is grieved over sin has that war the one who is not trusting in themselves to be
00:12:55.680 righteous before God has that war Romans 8 1 says there is therefore now no condemnation for those
00:13:03.180 who are in Christ Jesus why do you think Paul wrote that directly after the passage of scripture
00:13:07.760 that we're going to be going through over the next two weeks because conflict can cause a sense of
00:13:14.720 condemnation. He's reassuring the believers, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who
00:13:20.380 are in Christ Jesus. Second, this text further communicates Paul's thesis of the entire book of
00:13:29.400 Romans, that it is impossible to attain moral perfection. It is impossible to attain moral
00:13:37.220 perfection. Even Paul, the great Pharisee and the apostle of the New Testament, cannot keep it
00:13:43.600 together. He keeps on doing the things that he doesn't want to do. He cannot maintain the perfect
00:13:51.860 obedience that the law demands. And if the man who is called a saint and whom God has called to be
00:13:59.860 holy and is set apart to be chosen, calls himself a wretched sinner, a wretched sinner, then all of
00:14:07.300 us, regardless of our status or our gifting, we have to acknowledge our station and our reality
00:14:12.760 spiritually that we are absolutely sinful and need of a savior. This is the place that Paul
00:14:21.200 is trying to lead us. He's saying, look at me in my own life. I have this, my own conflict. I can't
00:14:26.920 keep the law. He's constantly driving you to the cross, to the perfect law keeper, Christ Jesus.
00:14:34.400 so we're going to read verse 14 line by line for we know that the law is spiritual
00:14:43.520 but I am of the flesh sold under sin okay first we need to look because we want to understand
00:14:50.540 we're smart bible interpreters we want to understand what it says by we what is the
00:14:54.580 antecedent to we who is the pronoun referring to for we know that the law is spiritual
00:15:02.520 Well, it's talking about Christians. Non-Christians don't talk, don't know that the law is spiritual. 0.97
00:15:09.540 They don't even know of the law. 1.00
00:15:13.540 It says, for we know that the law is spiritual. Paul uses this statement to really say that there's
00:15:21.520 no need for evidence here. We know by experience as believers that the law is spiritual. Jeremiah
00:15:28.600 Jeremiah 31, 33 says, I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts.
00:15:34.620 So the law is both written outwardly and it deals with the external realities.
00:15:38.960 It also is written inwardly, as the KJV would say, on the fleshy tables of the heart.
00:15:46.600 In addition, the law is not only concerned with the carnal and the external, the law
00:15:51.680 is also dealing with the spiritual and the internal.
00:15:56.420 Okay, it's not only concerned with adultery and murder, it's also concerned with lust and hate.
00:16:03.720 It's dealing with the internal realities, not just the external realities.
00:16:10.160 In the second half of verse 14, he compares the perfect spiritual nature of the law to his fallen nature
00:16:16.720 that remains until he's glorified with Christ Jesus.
00:16:20.300 He says, the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh.
00:16:24.040 the word but is a contrast right it's it's the law is spiritual but I am of the flesh
00:16:30.660 they're supposed to be sensed attention there
00:16:33.420 he's trying to demonstrate the gasping chasm between the law and him a fallen sinner 0.93
00:16:45.040 the law is perfect and because I'm regenerate I see that I'm not
00:16:50.620 that's what the law does to a regenerate person it's a mirror to show you how ugly you are morally
00:16:58.420 which I believe is a very relatable position it should be a very relatable position because the
00:17:09.040 law is not written on my heart to allow me to feel as if I can meet all of its demands
00:17:16.980 No, the law is there to help me run to Christ, constantly run to Christ.
00:17:25.080 Verse 15, it says, because I do not understand my own actions, because I do not do what I want,
00:17:33.640 but I do the very thing I hate. The evidence that his flesh is still influential in his walk with
00:17:39.080 God has shown that he struggles to understand his own actions. I don't know about you, but I
00:17:46.560 have certainly been there. Why do I keep doing the things that I don't want to do?
00:17:52.340 He's struggling in conflict between his own understanding of why is he behaving the way
00:17:57.300 that he is. He laments that he does not do what he wants to do, but instead does the very thing
00:18:04.460 that he hates. Have you not had that exact feeling? Why do I keep doing the thing that I
00:18:13.160 don't want to do. And yet I do the very thing that I hate.
00:18:19.940 He does not follow what he knows to be right according to the spirit. And at times
00:18:23.620 he follows what is according to the flesh. Spurgeon comments on this passage. He says,
00:18:29.520 this is a strange contradiction. A man who has grace enough to be, or a man who has grace enough
00:18:35.820 to do the will of good and yet does not do it. There are two men in the one man. The new nature
00:18:42.880 struggling against the old nature, end quote. This is why a regenerate David can commit murder.
00:18:52.420 This is why a regenerate Jonah goes to Tarshish. This is why a regenerate Peter denies Christ.
00:19:01.820 This is why a regenerate Paul and Barnabas have such a sharp conflict that they cannot continue
00:19:08.360 to do ministry with one another.
00:19:11.980 And I don't know about you,
00:19:13.080 but again, I can certainly relate.
00:19:17.260 I know that I ought to be gentle,
00:19:19.060 yet I still am harsh at times.
00:19:21.380 I know that I ought to hold my tongue,
00:19:23.940 and yet I speak.
00:19:25.560 And I know that I ought not to think evil thoughts,
00:19:28.220 and yet my mind runs to them.
00:19:31.780 We all experience this war.
00:19:36.140 Galatians 5.17 says,
00:19:37.500 for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit
00:19:40.020 and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh
00:19:41.820 for they are opposed to each other
00:19:43.760 to keep you from doing the things that you want to do.
00:19:47.480 In other words, the Holy Spirit acts
00:19:49.360 as a restraint to the flesh.
00:19:52.520 He wars and rules over it.
00:19:56.460 He keeps you from doing what you want to do in the flesh.
00:20:01.200 Verse 16 and 17.
00:20:02.560 it says now if I do what I do not want I agree with the law that it is good
00:20:11.180 so now it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me
00:20:16.660 okay he says if I do what I do not want in my flesh is what he's saying there I agree with
00:20:25.220 the law. That is when the flesh loses to the battle with the spirit. And essentially the spirit
00:20:33.880 mortifies the desires of the flesh. We conform to the law and that is good. When you obey, that's
00:20:40.240 good. That's a blessing. But in verse 17, when Paul says, so now it is no longer I who do it,
00:20:49.120 but sin in me. He's not attempting to escape from the responsibility of his actions right there.
00:20:54.100 He's not saying, I'm not the one sinning. It's the sin in me. That's not what he's saying.
00:20:59.160 He's simply placing the guilt of sin upon the flesh and not upon the spirit, or he's placing
00:21:04.860 the guilt of sin as a recognition of the law, not as a reality of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
00:21:12.440 He's making a distinguishing reality. He wants to essentially that the credit for his obedience
00:21:17.300 is given to the spirit and his credit for his disobedience is given to the flesh.
00:21:22.020 and this is an important distinction. He actually makes the distinction for us in verse 18. Look
00:21:27.280 down. It says, for I know that nothing good dwells in me. That is in my flesh
00:21:34.380 because I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
00:21:42.540 He knows that nothing good dwells in his flesh. Some of you need to hear that today.
00:21:47.820 he knows that nothing good dwells in his flesh do you believe that do you believe that nothing
00:21:57.180 good dwells in your flesh do you believe that without Christ nothing about you is good
00:22:04.260 and that you are fully saturated in evil in a self-love culture that is a very difficult pill
00:22:12.080 to swallow. Do you believe what God said in Genesis 6-5? It says, the Lord saw that the
00:22:19.560 wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart
00:22:25.120 was only evil continually. That is your biography. That is who we are spiritually.
00:22:33.180 there is nothing good in us, nothing. Paul knows that anything good that dwells in him, any faith,
00:22:43.900 any righteousness, any holiness, any justice, any love, any fruit of the spirit is not from him,
00:22:49.860 but from Christ in him. That is a vital distinction for the Christian.
00:22:57.300 John Calvin wrote in the very beginning of his Institutes of the Christian Religion,
00:23:03.380 quote, with the knowledge of God comes the knowledge of self.
00:23:09.520 When you look to God and you understand the scriptures, you start to see who you really are.
00:23:16.060 Theology reveals anthropology. You start to understand that God did it all. You start to
00:23:23.880 understand that God is the one of all good. He is the source of any good in you. For from him
00:23:32.480 and through him and to him are all things forever and ever. Amen. So when by the grace of God,
00:23:44.580 we are able to see ourselves as wretched, when we're able to see ourselves finally as being
00:23:51.100 wretched, we begin to do what? Understand grace. We begin to cherish grace. We begin to understand
00:24:01.620 and love the gospel. We begin to say, amazing grace that saved a wretch like me.
00:24:13.820 When our self-love is finally removed and we see that outside of Christ's intervention,
00:24:19.020 we were God haters. We were sin factories. We were flesh lovers.
00:24:27.340 We start to see the greatness of the gospel. It's beautiful. Spurgeon once says,
00:24:33.620 when you feel yourself to be utterly unworthy, you have hit the truth.
00:24:38.900 You have hit the truth. Have you hit the truth?
00:24:42.980 if the gospel is not cherished if you don't weep when you read through john
00:24:49.180 it's because you have forgotten the truth you have forgotten your station in this grand narrative
00:24:54.480 do you understand your biography do you understand who christ is in the great chasm that was crossed
00:25:01.180 this is the beauty of the gospel
00:25:06.840 verse 19 and 20 it says for I do for I do not do the good that I want but the evil I do not want
00:25:16.640 is what I keep doing now if I do what I do not want it is no longer I who do it but sin that
00:25:24.140 dwells within me Paul closes again with this confirmation of conflict that's going on in him
00:25:30.940 He loves the law and its ability to reveal sin in his life.
00:25:36.120 He loves that reality. 0.87
00:25:38.200 He loves the spirit that dwells within him and wars against the old man,
00:25:41.640 as we ought to.
00:25:43.820 But he also acknowledges the remnant of the flesh.
00:25:48.800 He acknowledges the hostility and the struggle between the conviction of the law
00:25:53.700 and his remaining sin.
00:25:57.580 He understands that.
00:25:59.160 and so this passage of scripture as I start to wrap up here this passage of scripture
00:26:05.660 is a call to eliminate spiritual complacency it's recognizing the reality and it's a call
00:26:14.700 to remove the complacency that can often come in the Christian life we are not saved and left
00:26:21.940 without a fight that is not Christianity I think we can all attest to that no we are saved and 0.66
00:26:28.960 called to war. We are called to war against the culture. We are called to war within the flesh 0.99
00:26:33.720 or within by the spirit against the flesh. And you see prior to Christ, prior to Christ,
00:26:40.920 we were ignorant of our sin. We were ignorant of God's standard of righteousness. We thought
00:26:47.480 that we were able to meet its demands. We were drifting like a lifeless corpse down the river
00:26:55.100 towards death. That is our description in Ephesians 2. But when Christ resurrects the soul,
00:27:03.800 when Christ gives us that spiritual resurrection, when we are born again, when we are made alive,
00:27:09.160 as it says in Ephesians, we are awakened to the truth. And all of a sudden, the war begins,
00:27:14.880 and we start resisting, and we start swimming against the current, and we stand up, and we
00:27:19.140 fight. And that is very true about every single person that I know who has walked faithfully the
00:27:25.080 Christian life. I think John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, where Pilgrim has to choose between
00:27:35.400 difficulty hill and the path of ease. In the book he writes, the hill, though high, I covet to ascend.
00:27:46.040 The difficulty will not me offend, for I perceive the way to life lies here.
00:27:52.220 come pluck of heart, let's neither faint nor fear. Better though difficult, the right way to go,
00:27:59.460 then wrong though easy, where the end is woe. Christ does not promise Christians an easy life. 0.51
00:28:09.380 Christ does not promise us comfort as we have a war of conflict between the convictions of
00:28:16.700 righteousness through the law by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit against the flesh that we
00:28:22.100 carry on. In fact, coming to Christ often means difficulty. It often means war. It often means
00:28:30.980 conflict. But it's that hill of difficulty that leads us to peace and eternal life. And we will,
00:28:39.580 by God's grace, be willing to walk it. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord,
00:28:46.260 for the continued work that you do in us, Lord, that you would strengthen us and fill us with
00:28:52.620 your Holy Spirit. Lord, that you would sanctify us. You would clean our hearts. Lord, that week
00:28:58.060 after week we would grow in spiritual maturity, that our lives would be more conformed to the
00:29:02.880 image of your Son. Lord, that we would be men and women and children of righteousness, not because
00:29:09.080 of our own goodness, but because of the goodness of Christ dwelling in us. Father, we pray you,
00:29:14.720 pray to you. And Lord, we ask that you would help us, that you would bless us.
00:29:20.180 You would fill us with your spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.