Dale Partridge - The Conflict Only the Believer Will Face - Romans 7_14-25

00:00:00.000 What a blessing it is to continue through Romans here.

00:00:05.300 We're at Romans 7, 21 through 25.

00:00:08.560 Last week, we saw that Paul was dealing with the conflict that is all too familiar in the Christian life.

00:00:19.540 It's a very common conflict.

00:00:22.380 The conflict that only born-again believers will experience.

00:00:25.800 It's a war between the law's ability to reveal the sin that's in our flesh, the sin that

00:00:33.720 we never even saw prior to Christ, and the conviction of righteousness through the indwelling

00:00:39.880 of the Holy Spirit, which is, again, another reality, a conviction that we did not have

00:00:45.540 prior to being born again.

00:00:46.800 So we have these two waging war against one another, the Spirit and the flesh.

00:00:53.360 In chapter 7, 14 through 20, we saw that Paul can have this sense of a schizophrenic feeling

00:01:00.340 that he's essentially going back and forth, this warring, this conflict between the way

00:01:07.460 that he is dealing with the spirit and the way that he is dealing with the flesh.

00:01:13.280 Galatians 5, 17 says, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires

00:01:18.540 of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing

00:01:23.580 the things that you want to do. Ultimately, what is being taught there is that the Holy Spirit

00:01:29.600 is there in the believer to restrain you, to restrain your flesh from doing what you want to

00:01:36.060 do. And this is normal and right. This is a good thing, right? This is a good thing by the grace of 0.98

00:01:41.580 God. And I say this because many Christians equate conflict with condemnation. We think that just

00:01:47.140 because we're having conflict, we're having such conviction that we might actually not be saved,

00:01:52.600 that we might actually be condemned. But as I said last week, conflict is actually the evidence that

00:01:57.520 you are saved. That's the evidence right there. Unbelievers have no conflict. There is no conflict

00:02:03.360 within the unbeliever. They do not submit to the law. They have no sin revealed to them. They're 1.00

00:02:08.700 not looking in the mirror of the law and seeing their own unworthiness. They do not have the Holy 0.96

00:02:14.200 Spirit giving them clarity on what is right and wrong. In other words, they have no war because

00:02:19.900 there is no conflict. And they have no conflict because the Holy Spirit is not there restraining

00:02:25.760 their flesh against the desires of their own heart. And yes, they have a conscience. Yes,

00:02:32.620 they have some sort of humanistic morality that we see in the world. But these people don't have

00:02:40.600 a sober view of the righteousness of Christ. They don't have a sober view of God's standard

00:02:47.120 regarding man's morality. But what these people do have and what they do need, I should say,

00:02:58.300 is they need a sober reality of the jurisdiction, the universal jurisdiction of the law.

00:03:05.680 Think about this for a second. This is what Paul spends for several chapters, especially chapter

00:03:09.860 three in Romans where he's saying the law doesn't just have jurisdiction of the Jews. The law

00:03:17.040 actually has a jurisdiction over all of humanity. Actually, if you guys open up your Bible real

00:03:22.460 quick to Romans chapter three, verse 19, I'll read it for you real quick. Romans three, verse 19.

00:03:32.640 it says now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law

00:03:41.000 so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God

00:03:47.080 and so essentially what these people who have no conflict are missing is an understanding that the

00:03:54.460 law has a jurisdiction over their soul they will actually be judged by the standard of the law

00:03:58.920 and they don't have a right appraisal or an estimation of their morality or their filthiness

00:04:07.160 before God as judge and they don't grasp the justice that God requires to be a righteous

00:04:16.660 and true God that's going to be afflicted upon them on judgment day and while they would deny it

00:04:24.840 what they do have is guilt. What they do have is shame. What they do have is pride.

00:04:32.400 They are like a blind man that walks into a wedding feast with filthy clothes,

00:04:37.660 not recognizing that they need to be made clean. They're unaware. They're ignorant of those 0.85

00:04:43.660 realities. But for the one who is grieved over their sin, the one that is grieved over their

00:04:51.440 think about this for a second for the one who knows that they are filthy and

00:04:55.040 that they are walking into the presence of the King and they know that they are

00:04:58.400 unrighteous and that they know that they need to be clothed with the

00:05:01.040 righteousness of Christ God gives them righteousness in Christ and that person

00:05:08.480 is going to see the standard of the law and they're gonna measure that standard

00:05:12.800 against their own reality they're gonna look into the mirror the law and

00:05:15.680 they're gonna reveal the filthiness of their current state

00:05:21.440 The beauty is, is that this person that has conflict is the very evidence that this person

00:05:26.700 is not condemned because conflict doesn't equal condemnation.

00:05:32.260 Conflict actually means grace.

00:05:34.720 It says in the very beginning of the next chapter, which we're going to get to next

00:05:37.620 week, it says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

00:05:45.280 So in today's text, before we get too far into chapter eight, which is a beautiful section

00:05:49.020 scripture today's text paul is lamenting over this conflict within him he's lamenting over

00:05:58.940 the conflict that's within him he recognizes his own filthiness

00:06:05.020 he recognizes that he has has this continued war and that essentially

00:06:10.460 the only way for it to be removed is this body of flesh to be removed so we're going to look at verse

00:06:16.620 21. It says, so I find it to be a law that when I do right, evil is close at hand. I actually

00:06:27.940 appreciate the NIV. I was looking, I always look at different translations when I'm looking at

00:06:32.480 the text that I'm studying. It says, so I find this law at work, colon, although I want to do

00:06:38.380 good, evil is right there with me. When you get to verse 23, you're going to see that this law

00:06:45.840 that he's talking about is the law of his flesh he has another law warring

00:06:51.780 against the current law Paul says that when he wants to do the right thing

00:06:54.900 according to God's law he clashes with another law I want you guys to pay

00:07:00.600 attention to how he highlights the quickness of the conflict okay this is

00:07:04.020 important the quickness of the conflict he says when I want to do good evil is

00:07:09.900 right there. It's right there. In other words, one law is so opposed to the other that the moment

00:07:19.200 that one tries to take any advancement or opportunity, the other one is right there.

00:07:25.620 And I think that we can relate with that. When you want to do good, temptation and evil desires

00:07:32.200 are right there. When we want to get into prayer, temptations and distractions are right there.

00:07:41.100 We want to go to church and be wholesome as a family. Temptations and frustrations are right

00:07:48.020 there. In war, there's no easy ground to take, right? We know that.

00:07:56.900 If you try to take an inch of any sort of vital territory, you should expect to receive some sort

00:08:02.100 fire. He clarifies in the next verse. He says, verse 23 and 24. He says, for I delight in the

00:08:20.540 law of God, my inner being, but I see in my members, another law, waging war against the

00:08:26.660 law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

00:08:32.100 Again, Paul continues here to provide this combat imagery.

00:08:37.020 He says that we're at war.

00:08:39.320 He says that we have been taken captive by this other law that wages in our flesh.

00:08:46.380 Now, we might feel at moments taken captive by our old self.

00:08:51.160 I felt that way before.

00:08:54.560 The beauty of the gospel is that we will never be overrun.

00:08:58.420 We'll never be overrun.

00:08:59.660 Paul says in 614, he says,

00:09:02.240 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace.

00:09:08.900 That is that sin will never condemn you.

00:09:12.300 It'll never condemn you.

00:09:13.420 It'll cause you sorrow.

00:09:14.960 It will cause you pain.

00:09:16.660 It'll cause you conflict and frustration in every possible area of your life.

00:09:22.280 But it cannot send you to hell.

00:09:25.460 That is the beautiful reality and peace that we have today.

00:09:29.660 in Christ with regards to sin.

00:09:34.740 Because we who have turned from sin

00:09:38.000 toward Christ and cast ourselves upon Christ,

00:09:41.040 not with our own righteousness, not with our own goodness,

00:09:44.140 but trusting the goodness of Christ,

00:09:47.340 we have an advocate with the Father.

00:09:49.640 We have a priest who is atoned with his own blood.

00:09:53.020 We have a mediator that's given us eternal peace

00:09:55.860 with our Maker.

00:09:59.660 and the freedom from the condemnation of sin guarantees that we will never be defeated.

00:10:07.140 This is why Jesus constantly says that we will not be overcome.

00:10:11.860 We cannot be overcome because it's Christ in us.

00:10:14.380 He who is greater, what's the scripture?

00:10:20.020 He who is greater in you is greater than he who is in the world.

00:10:22.600 There we go.

00:10:23.080 I had to pull that one out of the file.

00:10:24.140 and we may lose a battle here and there

00:10:29.940 we may backslide for a season we may take our thoughts and affections captive for a time

00:10:40.440 but sin will never rule us again sin will never rule us and reign over us again

00:10:49.260 and this is important and here's why all of you guys have met or known as somebody

00:10:56.620 who claims christ but seems like they're constantly losing to the flesh

00:11:02.360 all of us know a christian who ran back to pornography or to drugs or to alcohol

00:11:10.880 all of us know a christian whose life has looked like it's been slaughtered by sin

00:11:17.640 and how are you to think about these people right are you are they false converts maybe

00:11:26.100 um jesus says you're going to know them by their fruits

00:11:29.760 um second john or sorry first john says that whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the

00:11:37.460 devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning no one born of god makes the

00:11:40.140 practice of sinning because they've been born of god so those scriptures exist

00:11:44.320 so yes the stumbling man or woman could certainly be an unregenerate religious person

00:11:51.900 floundering in their morality that's very possible

00:11:57.400 however

00:12:00.920 it could also just be a genuine born-again christian who's weak in the faith

00:12:07.140 that can certainly be the case we cannot forget that paul addressed the corinthians as brothers

00:12:15.440 and sisters the corinthians that were walking in sexual immorality and turning back to idols and

00:12:20.580 indulging and quarreling with one another and the war between the flesh and the spirit was

00:12:26.360 we have to realize this varies between one person to another what might be incredibly

00:12:32.500 simple for you may be very difficult for another brother and so yes the person who claims christ

00:12:41.300 but demonstrates a patternistic and habitual walk where they are constantly stumbling that person

00:12:50.580 certainly uh we should not offer them constant assurance we should be

00:12:57.860 exhorting them and admonishing them to turn back to christ but for the person who demonstrates a

00:13:04.420 robust comprehension of the gospel for the person that bears fruit mixed with weeds

00:13:12.180 have you met these people

00:13:15.380 we should come alongside those people and we should offer them counsel and discipleship

00:13:20.260 and prayer

00:13:21.960 because that person is like us

00:13:25.160 who understands the truth of the gospel

00:13:28.600 yet flounders

00:13:31.000 and the flesh sometimes wins those battles.

00:13:34.460 It does not mean that we're condemned.

00:13:37.820 It means that we're Christian

00:13:39.120 and that we're walking out that conflict

00:13:42.060 in the church.

00:13:46.540 Paul knows that life

00:13:47.940 that's mixed with spiritual production.

00:13:56.020 He says, the wretched man that I am,

00:13:59.720 who will deliver me from this body of death?

00:14:05.020 Have you ever said that to yourself?

00:14:09.160 Have you ever sat before the Lord in prayer,

00:14:14.140 looked at your own life, 0.96

00:14:17.940 and said, I'm gross. 0.98

00:14:21.220 Lord, how did you choose me? 0.85

00:14:25.600 That is the appropriate place to be as a believer. 0.96

00:14:33.060 Only a Christian can have that kind of estimation of themselves. 0.52

00:14:37.780 That's why we know that Paul is speaking about himself as a converted believer here. 0.98

00:14:42.560 I have a Christmas sweater.

00:14:43.780 it's got John Calvin wearing a Santa hat

00:14:49.500 and it says everyone's on the naughty list.

00:14:54.800 It's a recognition of that depravity.

00:15:01.520 Recognition of depravity is a foundational reality

00:15:03.840 of coming to Christ.

00:15:06.000 It's the bad news.

00:15:08.980 It's the bad news that makes the good news so good.

00:15:11.000 Paul is only able to recognize his wretchedness because God's law

00:15:15.880 is truly functioning as a mirror. He can actually look

00:15:19.980 into the mirror of the law and it reflects his own moral filth. 1.00

00:15:28.160 The only honest conclusion a Christian 0.89

00:15:30.200 can say to this examination is, oh, wretched man that I am. 0.51

00:15:34.900 just go read the ten commandments 0.96

00:15:39.640 oh wretched man that I am

00:15:41.980 and it's the only conclusion that will lead a man to Christ

00:15:47.600 to find his righteousness

00:15:49.580 to ask for forgiveness

00:15:52.660 and when we see our fallenness like this

00:15:57.520 even as Christians

00:15:58.200 it brings us back to our first love

00:16:01.480 it helps us appreciate the grace of God anew which we often need

00:16:10.860 and lastly and this is important being wretched in the flesh does not mean that Paul

00:16:17.280 is not a Christian or holy or sanctified he is certainly all of those things

00:16:27.660 two resurrections need to take place a spiritual resurrection to be born again

00:16:33.780 and a physical resurrection of the return of Christ one has taken place so far

00:16:38.780 and he says who will deliver me from this body of death his soul's been delivered

00:16:48.580 but his body

00:16:52.080 is fallen

00:16:57.660 He says, thanks be to God, answering that question in verse 25, in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

00:17:15.880 In other words, what he's saying here is that thanks be to God, who through Christ,

00:17:21.060 at my physical death and physical resurrection, I will be made perfect finally.

00:17:25.960 What is inside will be matched on the outside.

00:17:31.460 It's a great hope for all of us.

00:17:35.500 That's why Philippians 121 can say to live is Christ, but to die is gain. 0.90

00:17:41.740 For the Christian, death is deliverance from sin.

00:17:45.820 It's freedom from the fallen flesh.

00:17:49.200 It's the end to lust and to envy and to worry and to hate.

00:17:54.980 into fear. Paul ends this chapter with these concluding words. He says,

00:18:02.880 so then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin.

00:18:10.220 We live in a world that commends self-awareness. It's a good thing to be aware of self.

00:18:17.480 Paul has another degree of self-awareness here, heavenly awareness, spiritual awareness.

00:18:23.140 Paul demonstrates a greater form.

00:18:27.420 He is sober about the conflict that wars within him.

00:18:32.900 He has appropriately discerned the differences between the spirit and the flesh.

00:18:39.600 He's not fooled or tangled up in emotionalism, intellectualism, legalism.

00:18:47.740 He sees that the law is good.

00:18:51.180 He loves the law.

00:18:52.260 it's a mirror it shows him his filth it's got a purpose to reveal sin and to

00:19:00.000 lead him to Christ he sees the spirit it's caused him to desire righteous and

00:19:06.120 holy things they're aligned with that law but most of all he sees that the

00:19:11.900 conflict according to God's plan it's temporary it's temporary

00:19:20.400 he's going to be delivered from it.

00:19:23.380 You're going to be delivered from it.

00:19:25.520 I'm going to be delivered from it.

00:19:29.800 And in the hope of that future relief,

00:19:31.900 it gives us the ability to fight on today.

00:19:37.760 In a very strange way,

00:19:39.280 Christian's hope is found in physical death.

00:19:43.220 Not that we love death, 0.93

00:19:45.300 but we love what comes through death.

00:19:48.760 We do not fear death.

00:19:50.400 because we know that it is part of God's reality

00:19:54.580 of the physical body must die,

00:19:57.020 that the new body must come.

00:20:01.640 We can rest in that beautiful peace

00:20:03.680 that I am half regenerated.

00:20:09.280 I have a new soul awakened from the dead.

00:20:12.560 It has been spiritually resurrected,

00:20:14.220 but this body of flesh,

00:20:18.000 oh, who will deliver it from me?

00:20:20.400 Paul says, Jesus Christ.

00:20:24.760 And my hope is that we understand that beautiful reality. 0.99

00:20:29.240 That we can war for the next remaining years of our lives.

00:20:34.120 That we don't have to think that it's going to be this way always.

00:20:38.600 I'm sick.

00:20:41.500 And at times, I have prayed, Lord, take this body from me.

00:20:48.700 I'm ready for my new body to the lost sickness is a foretaste of hell

00:20:55.540 to the saved sickness reminds me of what's to come

00:21:02.080 that I will have a new body that won't break down that can breathe well that doesn't have

00:21:10.200 neurological problems that doesn't constantly have thoughts of sin

00:21:19.260 And so as we reflect upon Paul's words,

00:21:22.060 as we see that he has the struggles that we have,

00:21:25.420 and he's an apostle,

00:21:28.920 he's writing by the pen of the Holy Spirit,

00:21:33.420 we have conflict like him.

00:21:38.260 It doesn't mean that we're not saved.

00:21:40.560 It actually means that we are saved.

00:21:43.320 And in that, we can say amen.

00:21:45.180 Amen?

00:21:46.000 Let's pray.

00:21:48.700 Father, we thank you, Lord, for sustaining me through this time, Lord, and we thank you for your word.

00:21:55.720 We thank you for the reality of redemption, the plan of redemption.

00:22:02.800 It's totally counterintuitive to what we would have designed.

00:22:07.980 Lord, we ask that you would continue to let us understand the mysteries and the deepness and the beauty of the gospel.

00:22:14.420 Lord that we would not forget

00:22:17.540 the conflict in us

00:22:19.860 is also in others

00:22:21.500 Lord that we would extend grace

00:22:24.080 in the same way that you've extended

00:22:25.920 grace to us

00:22:26.640 that we would have empathy

00:22:29.520 for our brothers and sisters in Christ

00:22:32.060 Lord we thank you

00:22:34.040 for this text

00:22:34.600 in Jesus name

00:22:36.260 Amen

Dale Partridge - January 01, 2024

The Conflict Only the Believer Will Face - Romans 7_14-25

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript